RE: Capn's Blog
September 15, 2018 at 4:25 pm
(This post was last modified: September 15, 2018 at 6:02 pm by CapnAwesome.)
Capn's blog, This is the true story of me and my friend Dan Hitchhiking from Las Vegas to Southern Argentina in 2011-12
Early December 2011
The Richest Man in El Salvador
The Richest Man in El Salvador
We left Cathy and Sterling, wished them well and set out in El Salvador on our own.
“What do you think the chances are that we beat Cathy and Sterling to Panama?” Dan asked me.
A small truck pulled over for us. “Looking pretty good.”
We jumped in the back, were driven to the next town dropped off with a smile and wave and almost immediately was picked up again in another little truck. We flew through the country and by midday we were at the Honduras border. (check a map) A quick 5 dollar bus ride took us through the small part of Honduras on the west coast and by afternoon we were entering our third country of the day. It’s safe to say El Salvador was the easiest country to hitchhike in that I’d ever been in.
In fact it was an El Salvadorian who gave us our first ride in Nicaragua too. We nicknamed him ‘the richest man in El Salvador. What he was doing in Nicaragua was simply ‘business’ and he said he was an import/exporter. We didn’t know exactly what that meant and didn’t ask any further questions. The Richest in El Salvador traveled in style, in a brand new giant American pick up, a driver, a body guard and in the back of the truck, an elliptical machine. He spoke a little bit of english, but most of the conversation carried on in Spanish, I could only understand a little and Dan would translate on occasion.
He explained the elliptical machine, “I like to work out at Hotels.”
The Richest Man in El Salvador did not look much like he worked out at all. He was portly and middle aged, tall, huge for an El Salvadorian. He explained the body guard.
“You can never be too careful in El Salvador. I was kidnapped once for 6 months, my wife was kidnapped too, that was a different time.”
We inquired if Nicaragua was a dangerous country.
“There is no crime in Nicaragua.” He declared. Perhaps compared to El Salvador that was true.
Pretty soon on our trip we were stopping for lunch, and the Richest man in El Salvador was buying all our food and a round of drinks for everyone, including his body guard and driver. We were on the road again and in the next town, we stopped for drinks again.
“In El Salvador, we drink until we fall down.”
Indeed that might have been the case, but Dan and I just drank until we were mildly buzzed. We drove to the Nicaraguan Capital with them that way. Suddenly Dan asked them to stop, they stopped and we got out.
I asked Dan about the sudden stop.
“Ah man, they were just starting to say some weird shit, about having me sign some papers or something like that.”
It was not the last time I was happy to have Dan with me on the trip. It was always our policy to be suspicious, and the driver had perhaps had a drink too many, though we were in the largest vehicle in Nicaragua. We jumped on a 30 cent bus to a smaller city, near the edge of the Capital City. It was getting dark and we decided to look for a place to bivy. Bivying on the edge of a large city was not ideal. We stopped in a small square. There was an old grizzled looking man sitting by the still fountain. Children were running unsupervised through the streets and most peoples doors were unlocked or just left open. Our previous rides words echoed in my head. There is no crime in Nicaragua.
Just then the old man by the fountain took an empty water bottle in his hand, filled it up in the still, garbage filled water in the town fountain and took a drink. Dan had seen also. Holy shit, that is some third world shit right there.
We walked a little further and sudden there was a small field with some trees and hedges. It was secluded and we were confident no one would bother us there if they’d even see us. We curled under a hedge and went to sleep. We were flying through Central America. Costa Rica and Panama awaited and after that was perhaps the crux of our trip, the Darian Gap. The Panamerica highway travels all the way to the southern tip of Chile, from Alaska (It is a combination of highways in the US) except for one 200 mile section in Panama called the Darian Gap. It’s the densest jungle in the world, full of Jaguars, poisonous snakes and the most dangerous of all animals: men. We had to find a way around the Darian to continue our journey.
Me in Nicaragua. That is the Masaya volcano, active in the background. It would erupt the next year.
![[Image: 400536_10150443738976314_1443045116_n.jp...e=5C27B825]](https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/400536_10150443738976314_1443045116_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=abac462d49c59e265149999c8793a307&oe=5C27B825)
Early December 2011
The Richest Man in El Salvador
The Richest Man in El Salvador
We left Cathy and Sterling, wished them well and set out in El Salvador on our own.
“What do you think the chances are that we beat Cathy and Sterling to Panama?” Dan asked me.
A small truck pulled over for us. “Looking pretty good.”
We jumped in the back, were driven to the next town dropped off with a smile and wave and almost immediately was picked up again in another little truck. We flew through the country and by midday we were at the Honduras border. (check a map) A quick 5 dollar bus ride took us through the small part of Honduras on the west coast and by afternoon we were entering our third country of the day. It’s safe to say El Salvador was the easiest country to hitchhike in that I’d ever been in.
In fact it was an El Salvadorian who gave us our first ride in Nicaragua too. We nicknamed him ‘the richest man in El Salvador. What he was doing in Nicaragua was simply ‘business’ and he said he was an import/exporter. We didn’t know exactly what that meant and didn’t ask any further questions. The Richest in El Salvador traveled in style, in a brand new giant American pick up, a driver, a body guard and in the back of the truck, an elliptical machine. He spoke a little bit of english, but most of the conversation carried on in Spanish, I could only understand a little and Dan would translate on occasion.
He explained the elliptical machine, “I like to work out at Hotels.”
The Richest Man in El Salvador did not look much like he worked out at all. He was portly and middle aged, tall, huge for an El Salvadorian. He explained the body guard.
“You can never be too careful in El Salvador. I was kidnapped once for 6 months, my wife was kidnapped too, that was a different time.”
We inquired if Nicaragua was a dangerous country.
“There is no crime in Nicaragua.” He declared. Perhaps compared to El Salvador that was true.
Pretty soon on our trip we were stopping for lunch, and the Richest man in El Salvador was buying all our food and a round of drinks for everyone, including his body guard and driver. We were on the road again and in the next town, we stopped for drinks again.
“In El Salvador, we drink until we fall down.”
Indeed that might have been the case, but Dan and I just drank until we were mildly buzzed. We drove to the Nicaraguan Capital with them that way. Suddenly Dan asked them to stop, they stopped and we got out.
I asked Dan about the sudden stop.
“Ah man, they were just starting to say some weird shit, about having me sign some papers or something like that.”
It was not the last time I was happy to have Dan with me on the trip. It was always our policy to be suspicious, and the driver had perhaps had a drink too many, though we were in the largest vehicle in Nicaragua. We jumped on a 30 cent bus to a smaller city, near the edge of the Capital City. It was getting dark and we decided to look for a place to bivy. Bivying on the edge of a large city was not ideal. We stopped in a small square. There was an old grizzled looking man sitting by the still fountain. Children were running unsupervised through the streets and most peoples doors were unlocked or just left open. Our previous rides words echoed in my head. There is no crime in Nicaragua.
Just then the old man by the fountain took an empty water bottle in his hand, filled it up in the still, garbage filled water in the town fountain and took a drink. Dan had seen also. Holy shit, that is some third world shit right there.
We walked a little further and sudden there was a small field with some trees and hedges. It was secluded and we were confident no one would bother us there if they’d even see us. We curled under a hedge and went to sleep. We were flying through Central America. Costa Rica and Panama awaited and after that was perhaps the crux of our trip, the Darian Gap. The Panamerica highway travels all the way to the southern tip of Chile, from Alaska (It is a combination of highways in the US) except for one 200 mile section in Panama called the Darian Gap. It’s the densest jungle in the world, full of Jaguars, poisonous snakes and the most dangerous of all animals: men. We had to find a way around the Darian to continue our journey.
Me in Nicaragua. That is the Masaya volcano, active in the background. It would erupt the next year.
![[Image: dcep7c.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i46.tinypic.com%2Fdcep7c.jpg)
