Questions concerning Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador
 

Well, Im currently planning a trip from Houston through Mexico into Belize. From there my friends and I plan on camping as much as possible, checking out the reefs and jungles, and then heading south through Guatemala into El Salvador straight to the coast. Then we will turn back into Guatemala and pretty much hug the coast surfing and camping everywhere. My questions are........ hahaha
1) How safe is camping in these places? I dont mean camper grounds, I mean remote pull over and camp style/beach camping.

2)i have a decent map of guatemala, belize, and el salvador, and Im seeing tons of "dotted black lines", the key defines them as "seasonal roads/trails". How safe are these roads to remote Guatemalan/Belezian villages? I will be coming through sometime in June, so Im not worried about rain/mud. Im in a 2wd toyota RAV4.

3) Generally speaking, how safe are these countries? I did a big Mexico bus/surfing/camping trip this summer and I never ran into any problems, and I definently placed myself in harms way way more than once. One of those included sleeping drunk as crap on the sidewalk next to my friends truck after we got separated, then hitchhiking back to my town/campsite the next morning. I love the remote camping and generally, I felt safe in Mexico. Guatemala and other places seems to be another story.
Im desperate about exploring some of those remote mountain/jungle roads that dead end into villages and such. There is 1 that we plan on taking on our way to Punta Gorda to make the ferry crossing into Guat. There is a little road(spotted black line) that cuts around through the jungle a ways, and being in a primarily english speaking country makes me less nervous. We are planning on exploring that road because it mates back with the highway again. Ill have a scan of my "planned" route soon so you guys can see what I mean. I reguard the travelers on this BB to generally be way more knowledgable about questionable travel/places than most other backpacking BBs i frequent.

So.... if you have been off to seriously remote stuff in these places, crazy dirt jungle roads, LET ME KNOW! Im obsessed!


OHHH, for all you camping/remote enthusiasts.... heres a MEXICO hint. When traveling on highway 200 south of Puerto Vallarta, pay close attention to the KM markings. When you start getting near 102-103, start slowing down. If headed south, look to your right. When you see the fairly large dirt turnout, TAKE IT! Its a beautiful 20+ min down this dirt road through farmland to the coast for some great camping. The fishermen have also built palapas so camp whereever you want. You will see the lighthouse at the top of the hill overlooking some great surf/beaches. Head further south on the dirt road to get away from the palapas and very light weekend crowd. If you head even further south past Chamela, start paying attention "i think" around 40-50km. There is a dirt turnout to "Arroyo Seco". This is a charming village at best, no public telephones, can barely get ice! Take the road out of town through farmland to the beach, no overnight camping its private land, and its absolutely stunning! Check my pictures out, www.flickr.com/photos/astraltx Secret spot and secret spot 1 are Arroyo Seco, Secret spot 2 is KM102 (also known as Penitas)

surfing El Salvador
 

Do not miss playa Sunzal in La Libertad, El Salvador!!! THE BEST WAVES are off the hotel called Casa de Mar (great food but meannt for high rollers lol) The waves are deceiving......look way smaller than they really are ie head high and up.

if they don't know you are there... they won't rob you
 

I camped a lot in mexico and guatemala and I never had any problems.
In my opinion it depends heavely on "who knows you are there". As long as the bad guy's don't know you are there.... they will leave you alone.
Therefore I always made it my buisness to "hide away". Try not to be to obvious, making big fire's, make lots of noise.... all those things that makes people (also the bad ones) curious and come and have a look.

Also I found it reasuring to camp on local peoples property. They usually don't mind or even welcome it. They welcome it even more if you offer them some coffee and a chat.

But... there are also plenty story's of "less fortunate" tourists.

Still, I think most of the risk is in the big citty's at the tourist-place's (bus-stations etc)

There is a road in Guatemala (around lago atitlan if I am not mistaken) that is notorious. Check the HUBB for it: use search. A few bikers have been robbed at gun-point and a few made a nearow escape (even with bulit-holes in the bike's).

Maarten