After looking at the costs of hotels in Miami this weekend, and looking at the costs of flights out of Miami this weekend, i decided to book a flight to Panama. You only live once
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I don't think bike frames really die. Individual components do wear out - i've gone through one wheel, three tires, multiple spokes and one shifter cable along the way. At some point this bike would need a new chain and a new cassette (the name for the bit with all the gear teeth on it), because they get worn down from changing gears all the time, but those can be replaced too. The one thing a lot of bike shops are warning me about is that finding exactly the right cassette can be difficult right now due to supply chain issues, so it might be that buying a whole new bike is easier if i don't have the time to wait around.
Bocas del Toro is actually exactly where i am going :) I think it should give me a bit of the island lifestyle while still being inside a bigger country so easy to get away from and experience other things if/when i get bored.
I've been to Panama, but only Panama City (and only for a day and a half), which I can't really recommend. It is essentially the Central American equivalent of Dubai, a soulless place of modern skyscrapers. There are a few things to see - the Canal, of course, and Casco Viejo (the old town, which has been cleaned up and made safe but is, hence, touristy). The Frank Gerry designed Museum of Biodiversity is said to be good.
If I were going to seriously learn Spanish, I would go to Nicaragua. I really liked Leon, which is relatively untouristed (especially compared to Grenada).
Yeah, i had a feeling Panama City would be pretty drab. It looks like the new Chinese cities, with a lot of high-rise development and shopping malls, which i find interesting from a macro urban planning perspective but generally boring to hang around in. In China, though, it was relatively safe to walk around the "poor" parts of the town that the city was being built on top of, which was always a good place to find local food and experience local culture, but i have a feeling that in Latin America tourists going to the poor areas is a much less wise idea
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I've heard good things about Bocas del Toro, but not been there.
Panama City is a good place for flight connections. (I went there because it was a convenient connecting point to Montevideo and a friend of mine flew through there on the way to Lima.)
Safety in Mexico depends on where you are. I have relatives in Oaxaca and I think it's pretty safe there.
Historically, Antigua, Guatemala was THE place to go to learn Spanish. I always thought that was dubious because there were too many English speakers there so you could get lazy.
I'm guessing enrolling in a formal class for Spanish is not your thing? I recall Cusco in Peru and Antigua in Guatemala were chock full of Spanish classes, but they are pretty touristy places, and touristy classes! (And hippish, though it was many years ago that I visited them.) Still, if you wanted an intensive top up with one-to-one training it might be a cheap option after Panama.
I absolutely would enroll in a formal class! Although at the beginner level they tend to be full of expats and people who don't really take it seriously. When i went to China i was able to afford 4 hours a day of one-on-one classes. I did that for a couple months, and it really made a huge impact on how quickly i was able to become fluent (well, fluent-ish). That's the kind of thing i am looking for. It definitely needs to be in a cheap place, though. They do offer these sorts of classes in Panama City, but it starts to get pricey if you're going for a month or more. I figured i would start by going to Bocas del Toro for the Caribbean island/meeting sailors/drinking out of a coconut experience. Then move on to a specific place with perhaps less tourists for more formal Spanish lessons
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I would suggest not going to Argentina to study Spanish. I love Argentina - especially away from Buenos Aires. But the Spanish they speak is, um, atypical. It would be like going to India to study English. Similarly with Chile, though the island of Chilioe would be a great place to hang out got a while.
Ecuador might be another possibility. There were plenty of people at the hostel I stayed at in Quito who were studying Spanish. But one potential issue there (and in Peru) is that much of the population speaks Spanish as their second language (and Quechua as their first). So, you may be limited to the larger (and, hence, pricier) cities to study.
I was super lucky to have a gran who grew up on Grand Cayman decades before it turned into the banking and tourism hub it is today. It's a beautiful island, but I wouldn't recommend it to you. The Cayman's are now the most expensive place in the Caribbean, and just don't cater to mid-range or budget travellers. If I didn't have family to stay with i'd never have thought about visiting. Plus it's once again getting locked down due to corona. My gran is very frail and elderly now, and my dad keeps meaning to get out there as soon as restrictions are lifted.
Other than Grand Cayman I haven't seen any of the other Caribbean islands other than a long weekend in Cuba. Best of luck with finding someone to give away the bike. I'm looking forward to reading about your Caribbean adventures!
I can definitely understand islands wanting to lock down hard for corona. It's a bit like indigenous communities in Canada and the US locking down - when you don't have all that many native people in the community, then an outbreak is much worse. Losing 5 or 50 or 500 people can be a huge blow to a small community, much moreso than it is in a country of millions where it's just statistical noise.
Cuba would be really interesting to visit. I don't think you can fly to it direct from the US, but as a Canadian i can visit by flying in from other locations. I am mindful of going to these poorer countries during corona, though, i don't want to place an extra burden on them. Right now i am seeing Panama as a "cheaper Florida" where i can hang out for a bit and see what's next. The trouble right now is that Christmas is the high season, so all the flights are getting expensive. I always forget about holidays when i am traveling long-term, they are terribly inconvenient.
I reckon you'd enjoy Cuba. For years you couldn't fly from the USA, and a lot of American tourists would go via Cayman. Though five years back that changed, and when I went flights from the USA had just started. Though who knows, what with corona that may all have been cancelled again.
Yeah, Cayman locked down hard. My dad was out there visiting my gran when Covid first swept round the globe, and he had to leave early on one of the last passenger planes allowed out. Cayman had most of the population vaccinated by the time they opened up again...and yet somehow corona has still swept through the island.
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Wow, end of the bike era. It feels like it went by so quickly! Here's to Panama! 🥥🍹🏝
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Did you ever figure out if your bike is km’ed out? They do have a life span with all that riding you have done.
See if you can watch Island Diaries. There is an episode covering Bocas del Toro a group of islands off the coast of Panama.
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Bocas del Toro is actually exactly where i am going :) I think it should give me a bit of the island lifestyle while still being inside a bigger country so easy to get away from and experience other things if/when i get bored.
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If I were going to seriously learn Spanish, I would go to Nicaragua. I really liked Leon, which is relatively untouristed (especially compared to Grenada).
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Panama City is a good place for flight connections. (I went there because it was a convenient connecting point to Montevideo and a friend of mine flew through there on the way to Lima.)
Safety in Mexico depends on where you are. I have relatives in Oaxaca and I think it's pretty safe there.
Historically, Antigua, Guatemala was THE place to go to learn Spanish. I always thought that was dubious because there were too many English speakers there so you could get lazy.
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Ecuador might be another possibility. There were plenty of people at the hostel I stayed at in Quito who were studying Spanish. But one potential issue there (and in Peru) is that much of the population speaks Spanish as their second language (and Quechua as their first). So, you may be limited to the larger (and, hence, pricier) cities to study.
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It's a beautiful island, but I wouldn't recommend it to you. The Cayman's are now the most expensive place in the Caribbean, and just don't cater to mid-range or budget travellers. If I didn't have family to stay with i'd never have thought about visiting.
Plus it's once again getting locked down due to corona. My gran is very frail and elderly now, and my dad keeps meaning to get out there as soon as restrictions are lifted.
Other than Grand Cayman I haven't seen any of the other Caribbean islands other than a long weekend in Cuba. Best of luck with finding someone to give away the bike. I'm looking forward to reading about your Caribbean adventures!
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Cuba would be really interesting to visit. I don't think you can fly to it direct from the US, but as a Canadian i can visit by flying in from other locations. I am mindful of going to these poorer countries during corona, though, i don't want to place an extra burden on them. Right now i am seeing Panama as a "cheaper Florida" where i can hang out for a bit and see what's next. The trouble right now is that Christmas is the high season, so all the flights are getting expensive. I always forget about holidays when i am traveling long-term, they are terribly inconvenient.
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Yeah, Cayman locked down hard. My dad was out there visiting my gran when Covid first swept round the globe, and he had to leave early on one of the last passenger planes allowed out. Cayman had most of the population vaccinated by the time they opened up again...and yet somehow corona has still swept through the island.
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