Well of course Travel Writer Bob Payne has been there, including to all 50 states, Canada, Bermuda, Mexico and all of Central America, which was the setting for his first international solo journey, at age 16, from Mexico City to Panama City by bus. Bob Payne’s parents had let him fly to Mexico City to see a school friend, thinking that for the time being that might satisfy his wanderlust. The bus ticket was so cheap that it fit into even his budget. But his Spanish was so bad that in frustration a guard on the border between Honduras and Nicaragua unholstered his pistol, held it to his head, and pretended to pull the trigger. By the time he got to Costa Rica, Payne’s Spanish has improved so that he could rail at a bus driver who tried to drive off and leave him.
