Hello! I'm graduating college in a couple weeks, so my brother and I are taking a trip to Central America. We're flying in to San Jose, Costa Rica on July 14 (arriving around noon), and departing from Monterrey, Mexico on July 28, so we'll work out way up there over the 2 weeks. We know it's short, and there's about 50 hours of bus travel in that time. We won't be renting a car, but I'm fluent in Spanish so we're not too worried about getting around. Our main inquiries:
Is it safe to take overnight buses between cities? I lived in Northern Mexico for a while, and this wasn't always the greatest idea, depending on the area. We would prefer to sleep on buses for the times we're going from country to country if it's not unsafe, though, so we can do more fun stuff during the day.
For the most part, can you just show up to hostels the day of and get a room for that night? We're going to have a lose itinerary, but ultimately play it by ear. We'll look up hostels ahead of time to know where to head to, but is finding a bed really hard if one place is full?
Any recommendations for stuff to do! Particularly, we want to go to the jungle (zipline and take pictures, do some day hikes), eat good food, and see Mesoamerican civilization ruins (pyramids and such). What's your favorite location? What's your favorite food?
What's one thing you wish you'd known before your trip?
Thanks so much! This is our first time doing this, so we're reading over packing lists and other travel tips, but any other help would be much appreciated!