My 2003 trip to Central America started, for me, with a bit of trepidation. My Spanish hadn't had much of a workout for almost 20 years, I'd never previously traveled to Central America and the trip was supposed to take us through some of the remotest and least developed areas of two third-world countries. The maps I could find didn't show many of the destinations I'd been told we'd see. The travel part promised to be an adventure.
And it was. It was not, however, the source of
much anxiety during the trip. Making travel arrangements could have been a huge
pain in the a#! but, thanks to Juan Alejandro Samuel, it wasn't. A human rights
activist and president of Sub Ocean Safety - Central America, Juan is also a
very knowledgable and competent fixer thanks in no small part to his being one
of the most gregarious human beings I've ever watched in action. Whether
walking down the streets of Nicaragua's capital of Managua, the dusty tracks of
Honduras' bohemian West End on Roatan or every stop in-between, we regularly
encountered friends and acquaintances of Juan's. And anytime we had a few
minutes respite, Juan would be busily expanding his contacts (invariably
starting with the prettiest female within eye-shot (making him very easy to
find when you need him)).
With Juan forging the path, travel arrangements were
handled expeditiously and cheaply. Contrary to being tagged for on-the-spot
pricing, we ended up with either discounted travel or, at worst, paid the
standard going rate whether traveling by regional air, bus, pick-up truck,
canoe or panga. Juan's handling of the arrangements facilitated every leg of
the trip.
If you're traveling to Central America and can use some local knowledge to expedite your trip, you can't do much better than hiring Juan. In our case, he expected us to pay his living and traveling expenses as well as a daily rate negotiated at the beginning of the trip with an unspecified bonus at the end. All totaled, he probably saved us as much or more than his services cost us. That's a pretty good deal compared with the challenges and heartburn travel would have meant without him.
Juan's full contact information is:
| Juan Alejandro Samuel Apartado BL_27 Managua, Nicaragua 083-10471 (cell)  |
Last Modified: March 6, 2003
© 2003 Rocky Daniels
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