 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 wasnât until you got home that you realized how many near death experiences you had.  Slightly exaggerating depending on whoâs version of events you listen to…In Andyâs there may only be a few near death experiences.. in my version everywhere I turned I thought I was going to dieđđno really… I wouldnât 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.âşď¸Man I am so glad I donât 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 youâve 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 didnât & we all survived) I swear there was more but my memory iludes me.
One time Andy thought he lost me at a border crossing. Â It wasnât 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 (itâs just a yellow bus) for dear life worried sick he lost me. Â Reunited & it felt so goodđđfor him…While he panicked in the back of the crammed bus I didnât 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 didnât listen to them & hung out in this quiet little  volcanic sand beach town for a few weeks, catching some awesome surf, drinking cube libreâs 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. Â It was beautiful & quant & private. Â Then thereâs Costa Rica. Â We stayed away from any touristy beach & found ourselves basking in the most beautiful secluded serene beaches. Â 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. Â Thatâs all I can remember about that.
The majority of our pictures from this trip our on an SD card somewhere around our home. Â I have done a terrible job at documenting each trip. Â I have had a talking to with myself about this and 2018âs adventure is going to be well documented & photographedđđ
