Whirledvision.com Travel Adventure

We had just started fulltime RVing and
thought we would eventually like to travel
down into Mexico and Central America
once we had seen the US and Canada.
Just 3 months into fulltiming we saw this ad
in the August 2003 Motorhome magazine
while waiting for an oil change. Within
hours we had decided to try to go on the
trip. The rest is history.

The 10 month trip from Arizona to Panama
and back has been an incredible
experience. We crossed into Mexico on
January 2, 2004 and back into the States
on October 21, 2004. We have had to
cross rivers and bridges to get to some of
the beautiful places.

Some of the roads we have traveled have
been quite challenging, others have been
downright hazardous, and still others have
taken us to places we didn't know were on
the itinerary.

We have camped alongside beautiful
beaches, next to noisy highways, behind
gas stations, by lakes, on city streets, in
town parks,

at WalMarts and Costcos, by rivers, in
plazas, on private fincas, at Mayan ruins,
in hotel parking lots and in the occasional
RV park. Wherever we went we found
some place to stay.

As we traveled we saw lots of differences
between the ways we travel and live and
the way they travel and live down here.
We have been received with curiosity,
acceptance, and lots of smiles. Whenever
we have needed help there have been
many willing hands and offers of
assistance.

During the trip we have been joined by old
friends for segments of it and we have
made many new friends. This is our friend
Tracey who is working as a Peace Corps
volunteer in Honduras. She was with us as
we crossed into Nicaragua.

Along the way there were lots of
checkpoints where they were checking for
drugs and illegal aliens traveling north.
Each time, while the soldiers thoroughly
inspected Joyce and Larry's rig, we had a
good time joking and talking with them.

We have climbed volcanoes, rafted down
rivers, swum in all the lakes and oceans
we got close to, searched out all the great
spots of all the countries, and had an
incredible time. Colleen took this picture of
Joyce and Larry and their entourage near
the top of a volcano in El Salvador.

Colleen and Larry have taken every
opportunity to boogie board all the surf
that they could find. This picture is of
Colleen boogie boarding at Playa
Junquillal in Costa Rica. She will have to
get a new board for the next trip as she
wore it out.

There have been many incredible sunsets
like this one over a volcano in Masaya,
Nicaragua. We have been in electrical
storms, pouring rain, sweltering heat,
strength sapping humidity but no sleet or
snow.

We have worn heavy jackets at altitudes
of over 10,000 feet like at the volcano
Irazu outside of San Jose, Costa Rica.

We have worn as little as possible in the
unbelievable heat and humidity of the
tropical lowlands. This bromeliad is one of
the reasons one would want to experience
the sweltering tropics...one of the reasons
to avoid them is the ants of all sizes that
take over one's life.

We have seen cathedrals, museums, art
galleries, statues of famous dead people,
Mayan brick works beyond count, and
enough religious iconography to last a
lifetime. This particular statue is of my
favorite saint, Santa Librada. Her father
crucified her when she refused to get
married. Santa Librada is the patron saint
of Las Tablas, Peninsula de Azuero,
Panama.

At every turn there has been an
opportunity to learn something new. We
have toured coffee fincas, made
chocolate, found our way where there
were no maps, dealt with multiple
currencies, made tortillas, bargained for
food and services, appreciated how basic
infrastructure in the States makes life
easy, opened our minds to other ways of
living, and surrendered to people places
and events. In this picture Kathe is cutting
the bark of a rubber tree to allow the latex
to flow.

An entire book could be written about all
the interesting gastronomical opportunities
south of the border. Unusual offerings
were live termites, fried and salted
grasshoppers as in the picture, weird cuts
of meat, unfamiliar fruits and vegetables,
and live meal worms to be fried. Larry and
Joyce were willing to eat anything once,
Colleen would prefer to grimace as they
did, and Kathe was somewhere in between.

We have visited new places and revisited
old favorites. We have gone back time
and again to Playa Junquillal, Costa Rica
and have been new places we probably
won't ever see again. Colleen first learned
to love Mexico at the age of 16 when she
traveled to the hotel in this picture outside
of Cuernavaca.

We have been very busy for all these
months, but we always find some time to
relax. Everyone has lost weight with all the
activity. Colleen is seen here in her
favorite position of relaxation.

On the beach at Playa Junquillal are some
pools formed in the lava rock that become
hot tubs as the tide recedes. Kathe used
them to soak and read a book in between
more vigorous activities.

Larry is seen here catching a nap on a
park bench in El Salvador. He is adept at
snoozing at the drop of a hat in between
sightseeing.

Below is where a picture of Joyce would be
if she were ever to be caught
resting....that woman has more energy
than all the rest of us put together.