My Road Trip Through Central America Personal Essay Example

My road trip through Central America. Back in 1993 my 3-year-old daughter, mother and I took a trip through Central America. My mom thought this would be a great adventure.

We started by shipping her car with a small trailer of supplies to Tacoma Washington docks. We jumped on an airplane to the Seattle airport then took a bus to the Tacoma docks to pick up the car. After we picked up her car we drove straight to Los Angeles California.

My mother hadn't seen her sister Lourdes in 15 years. So on our way down to the Mexican border she made it a point to see her sister. Eventually, When we got down to Los Angeles, my mom told my aunt what she was planning on doing; she explained how she was going to drive through Central America and stop and vacation in Panama. Needless to say, my aunt, Lourdes was very concerned about our safety. There was a chance you could get robbed or worse, So she got us a truck driver named Juan to help us navigate through Central America. 

The next couple of days after getting the most needed supplies, off we went. First, stop the Mexican border. When you get to the border, Juan explained you need to hook up with a caravan, “It was necessary for your safety.” Juan explained. You know the line safety in numbers. 

In a word, the caravan reminded me of a wagon train in the old west.

I remember this one day on the road driving through Mexico, it was starting to get a little gloomy. Juan was just letting us know that we will be starting to ascend up to Montaña de la muerte which the locals called Mountain of Death. I don't remember the real name of the mountain road because it was so long ago.

Meanwhile, Juan suddenly yelled out, "I need you two to keep your eyes open,” Juan said. “Keep my eyes open for what,” I asked. “So that we don't drive off the road,” Juan replied. Then my heart dropped wondering if this was real.

Unknown to me, this particular mountain road is very narrow, there are no guard rails, and it goes somewhat two ways. In the end, If you make a mistake, you will drive right off a cliff, or you have a head-on collision. 

My mom and I were wide awake now. As we approached the mountain, you couldn't see the peak because it was covered with thick fog. Slowly we drove up the mount, barely able to see ten feet in front of us. Every couple of miles, you'll see a cross with fresh flowers next to the road. I am thinking this is where someone died. Juan told us he knew one of them. That really didn't make me feel any safer. At this one point of the road Juan went down the wrong road, and lucky for us there was a guard rail we didn't hit it thankfully the barrier was bright enough for us to see. I figured people have made this mistake before, and they finally decided to put a guard rail there. Evidently, He backed up and turned around.

We got about halfway, and poof out of the fog, I noticed for no apparent reason there is a restaurant slash motel there. I said to Juan, “why in the hell would someone build this restaurant here.” Juan said nothing, probably tired. The place looked eerie and quiet. We did not want to spend the night there. So we continued this time descending the mountain. It wasn't as scary this time because we knew what to expect. 

About this time, I forgot that my daughter was peacefully sleeping in the back of the car with no care in the world. Going back down the mountain is like the eye of a storm. It's very calm and then BAM! You are back in it. Juan did white-knuckled it down this mountain and eventually making it to Panama. To sum up, That was my last road trip ever going through Central America.