Central America

Friends & family edition… excuse the poor grammar and typos…

Week 1: 7 border crossings, 100s of miles covered by bus, 8 new beers sampled, kilos of carbs eaten and one plastic bottle used (the refill station had ran out)!

Guatemala to Honduras 

Arriving into Antigua after a long travel day there wasn’t much more to do than wander the beautiful cobbled streets and pass time in the many quaint leafy courtyards sampling local coffee and beers all in sight of the magnificent back drop of Volcan de Agua. Not much time to relax after meeting the Intrepid group, we were up and off at 4am, Honduras bound! 

The first of many border crossings went smoothly and we were soon surrounded by the sweeping jungle covered mountains that engulf Copan Ruinas! After such a long travel day half the group took the opportunity for yet another hour behind the wheel to delve deep into the jungle to reach the hot springs. A few beers and few hours later we returned to the sleepy town feeling relaxed after a long day. 

Early mornings are a great time to get out and about here (and everywhere else in Central America), by 6.30am the town is already bustling as the clouds swept down the valley floor below me, which made for some great photos. 

The town is the perfect jumping off point to take in some Mayan ruins, not quite on a par with Tikal but very impressive nonetheless. 

El Salvador exceeded all expectations, from quaint Suchitoto on Lake Suchitlan to a little spot of paradise on the west coast, Intipuca. Suchitoto sits on a hillside overlooking the lake and forested hills. A morning walk along the hillside took us to the impressive Cascades Tercios. A slightly dodgy scramble and climb took us to the base of the falls where we could tick off a staple of Group Trips (a waterfall visit). Hitching a ride back to town on a pickup truck we spent the rest of the day by the plastic strewn man made lake (it looks a lot better from a distance) and then at our hotel pool party! 

To keep mum and dad happy I signed up for a 5am sunrise bird watching tour by kayak! Quite a nice start to the day but the quantity of rubbish on the lake was sad to see (plastic bottles and footwear were the main offenders). 

Arriving at the basic but pleasant La Tortuga Verde resort we were given a quick glimpse of paradise El Salvadoran style! Palm tree lined beaches, rolling waves and brilliant sunshine! The resort was owned by the extravagant Miami Beach expat, Loco Gringo, who has his own fly on the wall reality TV show by the same name. An incredibly interesting character. Turtle eggs are still dug up by locals so the resort buys them off the gangs and re-buries them in an effort to maintain the local population. 

Most of the time was spent with the group on the beach, in the sea or in the beach bars! On our first night we were treated to a parade of the finest horses in the area! Some beautiful horses on show. We did have plans to attend a huge beach party but the tropical weather had other ideas and it was a wash out. However, as the rain eased the tour guide and I headed down the beach and poked our heads in for a few drinks. It was being hosted by the Loco Gringo and no expense had been spared! A huge sound system and DJ stage, the locals were filing in as we left and the dance floor was hotting up  but tomorrows 3.30am wake up called had us on our way to bed by 1030 via the beach under moonlight. 

We met some of the nicest locals so far, one group approached us as they left for the day and thanked us for visiting their country. There were also very few gringos here outside of our group, I believe we spotted one non-El Salvadoran couple. (All non-Central American residents are referred to as gringos here). Another thing that took some time to get used to was eye contact, the locals maintain eye contact almost without blinking. My room mate, also Alan, and I thought we had done a good job impressing the local chicas but perhaps it was just their polite custom. 

We managed to cross the Nicaraguan border… I would not recommend attempting this without the safety net and assistance of a tour guide! With some creative tour guide assistance all my belongings made it across the border… 

First stop in our “Battle of the Capitals” was Leon followed by Granada. The two cities have a colourful history of battling over which should be the capital… neither are now! Here at Leon we had our first volcano interaction, an early morning hike to the summit of Cerro Negro followed by sand boarding our way down. The volcano hasn’t erupted since 1999 and the locals believe the next one will be huge given the gas build ups! The wind on the summit was tremendous, incredibly difficult to stand let alone trying to change into a jumpsuit! 

The local food so far has largely been delicious, thanks to tour guide recommendations and google reviews. However, it is all carb and cheese heavy… I’ve already gained a few kgs in a week! The beer is largely flavourless but quite refreshing when it’s 30 degrees plus with high humidity! 

Week 2 

We pulled into Granada on the shores of Lake Colcibloca late in the afternoon in time for a stroll through the pretty city and down to the waterfront. After a huge Mediterranean meal it was time for a few drinks down Pub Street, quite lively for a Monday! After a few Tona lagers those still out were dancing to regaton with the locals! We made friends with some local Latinas, one who was particularly taken by my “olor” (smell :/ ) thanks Mr Armani!

The early start the next day was not too welcome for the city tour but by the time we had passed through the incredible look out point and reached the lakeside resort I was feeling a lot more lively and ready for a few more Saltzers (alcoholic flavoured water introduced to us by the Oz crew) in the warm crater lake! The Laguna Beach resort was a beautiful garden bar and restaurant that looked out on to the lake complete with kayaks, paddle boards and platforms to dive in from or sunbathe on. It was a little piece of paradise that we had pretty much to ourselves! The guide had brought five gallons of local rum cocktail with him that he thought would be suffice but the group was making a good effort in finishing it off! A few rums later we were whisked off to the summit of Volcano Mombacho to peer in at the molten magma below! A great little trip, alas my room mate could not remember this part of the day… the rum had been flowing… back to the hotel for take away pizza and to play with our $100 worth of fireworks we had bought from a roadside stall… probably not the best idea after five gallons of rum and many Saltzers, nevertheless there were only a few burns and two near misses. One firework, all released from hand, flew just above the groups heads exploding over a neighbouring restaurant. Since this day the Tour Guide contacted the local guide to request he never brings five gallons again! 3 gallons is the maximum permitted now…

Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Cocibolca was our next stop, here the weather can be so changeable that it makes activity planning difficult, heavy rain and rough waters to clear skies and calm waters in 15 minutes. Two of our group attempted and successfully climbed Volcan Concepcion, a notoriously difficult climb, my knees opted for a leisurely lagoon stroll followed by the cold springs to cool off! 

Friday 12th it was unfortunately time to leave Nicaragua. El Salvador and Nicaragua both exceeded my expectations and I would like to visit both again for longer, as well as exploring more of Honduras (22 hours there wasn’t enough to get a feel for the country and culture). Thankfully all my belongings made it out of Nicaragua. Before leaving the UK I like to think I was very organised and that I checked all the country restrictions carefully, it appears I may have overlooked Nicaragua… (and as i sit in CR departures I had another mini disaster.. my Colombia proof of onward travel wasn’t strong enough so now I have an exit flight I might not even want to use, I panicked and bought a long route out of Colombia at the check in desk to enter Col)

Costa Rica being more geared up to tourists had so much to do! We barely scratched the surface at La Fortuna but managed to do four walks / hikes – two being guide led nature walks where we saw a lot of sloths, a snake, a kinkajou (a rare sighting for our guide), many birds and many frogs! The penultimate day of the trip we managed a white water rafting trip to tick off an adventure activity… as is customary on such group trips there was a big farewell party that ended at 5 in the morning for some! Thankfully I was not in this late crew!  Chilling in a boutique hotel just north west of San Jose overlooking some rain forest before hopefully moving on to Colombia tomorrow!