January 1st 2014! Pack your bags..we are backpacking our way through…Mexico, Belize Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honderous, Costa Rica & Panama!
Adventure Awaits
This trip was a full on, backpack your way through Central America…live like a local…look back at all of the crazy times…& take a deep breath because you made it through…your alive…& it wasn’t until you got home that you realized how many near death experiences you had. Slightly exaggerating depending on who’s version of events you listen to…In Andy’s there may only be a few near death experiences.. in my version everywhere I turned I thought I was going to die😂😂no really… I wouldn’t leave the hotel room after dark no matter where we were…so for 3 months I was snuggled in bed by 8:00 on a trip of a lifetime because of fear.☺️Man I am so glad I don’t live like that while traveling anymore…(maybe I do a little, again it depends on whose version you listen to & where in the world we are) This was a very long trip but I will spare you the details and get right to the near death parts…in this trip we walked across 8 borders( if you’ve never had the pleasure of walking Across a border in Central America it really is fascinating/terrifying at the same time. ..we almost fell off of a cliff side in Guatemala, came face to face with a deadly scorpion, had a girl who was traveling with us wig out drinking a beer at a gas station while the policeman holding a machine gun was yelling at her in Spanish because he thought she stole the beer, (she didn’t & we all survived) I swear there was more but my memory iludes me.
One time Andy thought he lost me at a border crossing. It wasn’t until the packed bus got to the next destination that he realized I was up front with the driver as he hung out the back of a chicken bus (it’s just a yellow bus) for dear life worried sick he lost me. Reunited & it felt so good💕💕for him…While he panicked in the back of the crammed bus I didn’t know he thought he lost me and was happily in my own little world digesting the fact that , I, Ashley Olsen, a small town girl from northern Michigan was backpacking my way through Central America with the love of my life creating memories & going on adventures people only dream of.
Guatamala was beautiful.
I barely have any pictures from El Tunco, El Salvador where some of my most precious memories are. When backpacking you come across like minded travelers & others who are on the road for months like you. Everyone we ran into warned us about El Salvador & how dangerous it was… I am so thankful we didn’t listen to them & hung out in this quiet little volcanic sand beach town for a few weeks, catching some awesome surf, drinking cube libre’s by day & eating ocean side dinner every night watching the sun go down.
If memory serves me right it is in San Juan Del Sur that we stayed in a hotel that you could only get to by pick up truck & then had to walk a good 1/2 mile up the beach to your room. It was beautiful & quant & private. Then there’s Costa Rica. We stayed away from any touristy beach & found ourselves basking in the most beautiful secluded serene beaches. Montezuma & Puerto Viejo are some of the most beautiful quiet beaches I have ever been to.
We zip lined our way through the rainforest & explored Costa Rica from coast to coast.
Then it was off to Panama where we had tried to go a few times but the borders were closed due to Banana farmers being on strike. That’s all I can remember about that.
The majority of our pictures from this trip our on an SD card somewhere around our home. I have done a terrible job at documenting each trip. I have had a talking to with myself about this and 2018’s adventure is going to be well documented & photographed💕💕
