Backpacking: The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty.

During our  trip I learned a lot about backpacking.  Some things are good, and some things are bad.  I´m not expert by any means, our trip was only 10 days.  We met people who were backpacking for months, and a few that were even backpacking for a year, one that was out for 18 months..  Even so, I am going to share my thoughts on backpacking with you, along with some random pictures from the trip that I didn´t know what to do with them.

Puerto Barrios.  There was seriously nothing in this place! 

The Good:  I will start with some of the good things about backpacking.  The ability to see a lot of really cool things in a very short amount of time, and pretty cheaply is definitely a plus!  You also end up seeing areas off the beaten path which can be the coolest things ever! 

We stayed in two hotels that had glass doors on the bathroom.
What is the point of a glass door on a bathroom?

The number one, very best part of backpacking is the people that you meet!  I found that backpackers in general are some of the nicest and coolest people you will ever meet.  They are fun to talk to, have amazing stories, and super kind!  I was amazed that every step along the way we made friends and had fun!  I have never understood how people could travel alone, but I guess you meet enough people it can be done.  Trips are never boring with these kinds of people around!

Swinging Tarzan style from a vine!

The Bad:  Now for some of the cons of backpacking.  You carry what you pack.  Always.  Yes, you can leave it in your hostel when you are settled in an area (it´s pretty safe, everyone is in the same boat as you are so things don´t get stollen all that often, though I wouldn´t reccomend leaving your passport) but you travel A LOT and whenever you travel, you carry your bag!  And sometimes you have to be checked out of your hostel at a certain time and you end up carrying your backpack with you as you climb a volcano.  It can get heavy.

Sometimes you luck out and catch a GORGEOUS sunset!

As I mentioned, you do A LOT of traveling.  Yes, there are amazing days full of fun and adventure, but there are also a lot of days where you sit on a bus/boat/shuttle for the entire day. Of our 10 day trip, 4 of those days were spent with 6-12 hours of traveling.  Often there are not smooth roads, and the trip can be long. If you have any kind of motion sickness whatsoever, backpacking is NOT for you! 

We ended up getting quite a bit of sleep on our trip (not that sleep is a bad thing at all!) because if you are in an area that is dangerous, you want to be in your hostel by the time it gets dark.  Also, since we are not drinkers or partiers, there isn´t generally a whole lot to do after the sun goes down.  Unless you are at a super cool hostel where they turn on the music and salsa dance!

Once again, riding in the back of a Guatemalan truck.  This time with more people! 

The Dirty:  Yes, folks.  Backpacking gets dirty.  You take what you get when it comes to hostels.  Some are better than others.  You always ask to see the beds before you decide if you are going to stay there.  Krista always just stands back and waits for my response.  She knows that I have a harder time with general ickyness than she does.  One day she came out of the bathroom after a shower and said ¨I wouldn´t reccomend you take a shower here¨.  She knows me pretty well by now, so I trust her advice and skipped a shower that day.  Showers when you are backpacking are optional anyway.  Kind of gross, but true! You are generally dirty while backpacking.  But it is okay, because so is everyone else. Don´t look to closely at our pictures, por favor, or you may notice our dirtyness.  

While waiting for our boat in Punta Gorda we were dying in the heat and humidity.  We decided to grab a coke and sit.  Our coordinator suggested that we drink a coke a week to help our stomaches while we are in Guatemala.  I am NOT a fan of soda, and yet I am learning to tolerate coke, and even look forward to my weekly bottle!

Other Things I Have Learned: I have gotten MUCH better with packing my backpack!  I am still not as good as Krista, I have no idea how she gets by with so little, but I have gotten better.  I have learned a few tricks that help to keep the backpack small.  For example, a container of dental floss is small, but a baggie with precut pieces of dental floss takes up less space.  Travel sized shampoo is small, but little pouches of shampoo and conditioner are really easy to shove into the small spaces.  The less full your backpack, the better.  Also, you need to be picky with the clothes that you take.  You need to like them, because you will wear them again and again and again.  However, you need to realize that by the time you get home you will probably be so sick of them you want to throw them away!

L is for Livingston.
Not our favorite place.

Denise told me I wouldn´t need a book because we would be so busy I wouldn´t have time for it, and I wouldn´t be able to read on the road.  BIG mistake.  Have I mentioned the long travel days?  That, along with the facts that I am a sever bookaholic, and never get carsick mean that a book while backpacking is a must!  Not having one was the biggest regret of my entire trip! I always take a book along now, regardless of the extra space/weight it takes up.  Having one less shirt is totally worth it.  With or without a book, the long travel days give you lots of time to be in your head, so you better be comfortable there! 

At the end of our 12 hour traveling day.  This is truly how we felt. 

If you are going to backpack, I would HIGHLY reccomend going with someone you get along with really well.  I really lucked out with Krista.  We had never met until we were at the airport on our way to Guatemala, and it amazes me how well we get along!  It could not have been planned any better. We travel at the same speed (very fast, who needs sleep?) which works for us.  We have a lot of the same beliefs, which has been so helpful!  We agree on what to do really easily, and didn´t have any meltdowns along the way.  Plus we didn´t kill each other, and are still friends which I consider highly successful!  I think you should be really careful when you are deciding who to backpack with, because it could cause big problems!  Like I said, many people do it alone, but I enjoyed going with someone.  I think it is more fun, safer, and it makes it easier to pack (One carries the bugspray, the other sunblock, etc). 

A man in Rio Dulce gave us his phone number in case we wanted to go swimming with him.  They like Gringa´s here a  lot.  No worries, we did not use his number.  Pretty sure he would have been sorely disappointed in our overly modest swimwear anyway!

All in all, it was a great experience!  I do not think I could be one of those people who could backpack for an extended period of time (I think 2 to 3 weeks would be my maximum, a year or even 4 months would be out of the question!)  I would still like to possibly backpack around Europe one day, and the things I have learned here will change the way I do things then.  It is a very different traveling experience, some things I like, some things I don´t, but it does make for some great stories and some amazing memories!