Granada, Nicaragua

Hello from Nicaragua!

After a lovely lazy day on Roatan, we left the island the following morning for a very long travel day. The ferry ride was so nice this way, and we got to work on our tans on the outside deck for the journey! Our stop that night was in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, although it was really just to break up the journey to Nicaragua. The city was not very exciting and is pretty dangerous, so we just went to the mall in the evening and watched Ted at the cinema. I think most Central American capitals are like this, and not really places backpackers stay for very long!

The next day we had a 5am start for a 9 hour ride to Granada, Nicaragua. After a couple of hours we crossed the border, and then we drove without many stops to Granada where I am now. We soon went exploring down to Lake Nicaragua and the Central Park where we stopped to watch a socialist party event that was going on, which had some funny dancing competitions on stage. The evening was spent with a long dinner and drinks, making the most of the hot weather here. The buildings are really beautiful here, and our hotel is really in keeping with the style.

Our hotel in Granada:

Guadalupe Church:

We had a long day today starting off with a visit to Volcan Masaya. We drove to the top, but then spent time walking around the crater. You are limited with your time here because of the fumes as it is still an active volcano, although we walked around another crater and had great views over the site. We had to wear hard hats during our visit in case of lightning or anything hitting you!

Volcan Masaya:

Next stop for the day was Masaya, where we first visited a very random fancy dress shop as we are dressing up for Halloween in a couple of days time. We've each picked a name of someone and bought them a surprise costume! There was a really good market here too, so I was able to get some nice presents here. We stopped at an amazing viewpoint after lunch, overlooking Laguna de Apoya, which is in front of Granada and Lake Nicaragua.

Laguna de Apoya:

The last part of our day was a boat tour on Lake Nicaragua to see Las Isletas. A volcanic eruption formed hundreds of small islands, where lots of people now live. The sun was setting during our ride and it was a great end to the day.

Tomorrow we are moving to Ometepe, where we will be staying with local families. There are more volcanoes there which I am looking forward to seeing!

Roatan (Bay Islands), Honduras

I'm currently in Roatan, which is the largest of the Bay Islands in Honduras. We've been in Honduras now for 3 nights, with our first stop being in Copan. After a long travel day (luckily in a nice minivan) we arrived in Copan, and our hotel was in the centre of the small town. The town is about a 15 minute walk to the ruins of Copan, which is where we went in the morning of our full day there.

The ruins of Copan were great to see, although quite different to that of Tikal. They weren't on the grand scale of Tikal and took only about 2 hours to tour. The designs and carvings are much more intricate though, which I really liked. We were also able to see up close the Scarlet Macaw, which is Honduras' national bird.

Scarlet Macaw

Copan ruins

After the ruins I spent the rest of the day just relaxing around the hotel and the town. The next day was a very long travel day to Roatan, where we are now. We had a 7 hour or so drive to the port, and then a ferry to the island which was just under 2 hours. The water is really rough at the moment, so the ferry ride was not fun for me - as soon as we started they came around and gave everyone sick bags! We arrived on the island and after a quick stop at a supermarket (so exciting to go to a proper supermarket again!) we arrived at the hotel. We are staying in the West End, which has lots of restaurants and bars, although you can't sunbathe on the beach here as it isn't big enough.

Today we took a water taxi to the beach, where we spent most of the day. The weather isn't great here, and the boat nearly went over with some of the waves on the way there! After some pretty heavy rain we were able to enjoy the sun and beach for a couple of hours.

We've got another full day here tomorrow, then we are going back to the mainland of Honduras before heading for Nicaragua!

Antigua, Guatemala

Hello from my second stay in Antigua!

We arrived in Antigua late on Tuesday evening, and had a great meal in a really nice cafe called Rainbow Cafe. There are lots of great places to eat here, with fresh organic food being quite common, and lots of stores with used book shops at the front (I'm getting short of things to read, so hopefully I will pick up something good soon!) Some of the restaurants have really cute gardens in the back that you can eat in, lit up with fairy lights.

The next morning the majority of us got up early to hike Volcan Pacaya. We left at 6am so got to the volcano by about 7:30. It was about a 2 and a half hour round trip, although even the way back seemed to involve a lot of uphill! I've had a bit of a cold at the moment, so the uphill and height of the volcano were pretty hard on my chest, but it was a great hike. You can't actually get to the top of the volcano as it is active, but we toasted marshmallows at the highest point you can go! It was a pretty cloudy day today, and has been everywhere the past 4 or 5 days, so it hasn't been great for viewing the volcanoes from Antigua. We spent the rest of our day exploring the town and visiting some of the shops. Generally everything is starting to look a bit the same in shops here with a lot of beaded jewellery and fabrics, but I don't have any room in my backpack anyway!

Volcan Pacaya

Antigua

The next day involved our first experience of chicken buses, and we ended up taking 5 different ones during the day with very different experiences on them - the first one was like a party bus with a tv at the front playing music pretty loud, although later on in the day one of them broke down so we were sitting on a hill for about 30 minutes while the driver and money collector fixed it. All the buses are old American school buses and are brightly painted with different designs. When full you squish 3 people to each seat, and the drivers are pretty reckless.

Chicken bus!

Our first stop for the day was at Chichicastenango Market which happens twice a week. It is a huge market, although like most of the things here the stalls become very repetitive after about one street. I managed to pick up a few little things though for only a couple of dollars each.

The Market

After lunch we caught a few more buses to Panajachel where we spent the night. After a quick walk around the town most of us spent the evening in Pana Rock Cafe (the local equivalent of a Hard Rock Cafe), where we enjoyed the live band and good food and drinks.

The next morning we caught a boat for a tour of various villages of Lago de Atitlan (Lake Atitlan), which would also take us to our place to stay for the night. The first stop was at a really beautiful hotel on the lakeside where we had breakfast and just relaxed on the hammocks and enjoyed the views for a few hours. We then visited Santiago Atitlan where we had a short guided tour of the Church and visited the hidden Mayan Saint Maximon located in the village (which seemed a bit of tourist attraction, especially when the people looking after him for the year pulled out their smart phones and wads of cash they collect from visitors to use for decorations and parties!), but it was interesting to hear about. Our final stop was San Pedro La Laguna where we had a quick lunch before hopping over the lake (which was very rough that day) to San Juan La Laguna.

Tonight we were staying with local Mayan families in their homes. G Adventures are very involved with local communities and are very conscious about sustainability in their tours which is why they use public transport as much as possible. We had a tour of the village and visited an amazing art gallery which had some really beautiful pieces for sale.

Art Gallery

We met our families for the evening and then went back to their houses for the night. Me and another english girl (both of us speak very little spanish!) spent the evening with one of the people who worked for the organisation's family, although it was quite a confusing set up! There were five children (although we only met 4), who were her sister's children, but I am not sure if we ever met the sister, or if so only briefly in the morning. Her parents were also there and another sister. We were surprised to learn two of the sisters were are our age, as they seem to have so different responsibilities and just looked much more mature! The language barrier proved a bit tricky and awkward, as our Spanish phrases were so limited and they spoke little English. It proved easiest to say I was a ballerina, and at one point we thought we were going to visit our friends when we were actually taking a visit to see the lake at night, where we spent a couple of minutes and then walked back! The house was pretty basic, but our room was clean and the food was okay!

Volcano surrounding Lake Atitlan

The next morning we left to return to Antigua where we had an easy day as most of us were pretty tired. I spent some of the time at this great bagel cafe reading magazines (so excited to find American magazines in the cafe!). My cold was really bad last night, so after dinner I had an early night which was a shame as a lot of our group were leaving today!

The second half of the tour starts today, so I will be getting a new roommate and we are getting 8 new people. In the morning we are heading for Copan in Honduras. I'm excited for Roatan too in a few days and more beach time!

Antigua, Guatemala

Since leaving Belize we have already stayed in 3 different places in Guatemala. I am really enjoying visiting Guatemala so far, and the countryside here is so beautiful!

We left Belize early in the morning to cross the border into Guatemala, which was only about an hour away. From there we drove a few hours to see the ruins of Tikal. We had a guided tour of the ruins - the grounds here are very large in comparison to Chichen Itza, and we saw a lot of howler monkeys in the trees during our visit. The views from Temple IV (which we climbed) over the rest of the ruins are brilliant.

Temple I

Views from Temple IV

Howler monkeys

From Tikal we drove to Flores for the evening. Flores is an island surrounded by a lake, and the town felt really safe to walk around - we had beautiful views from our balcony over the water.

The next day we left for Rio Dulce - the van journey wasn't too bad, and then we had a short boat ride across the lake to our home for the next two nights. This was our second ecolodge stay of the trip, at Hacienda Tijax, and everyone enjoyed it a lot more than the last one! There was a great pool at the lodge, and our room had a hammock downstairs which was so nice to relax on. They had a great restaurant on site, and did some cheap meals for us as we were a group.

The pool at Hacienda Tijax

The next morning I opted to do a hike and yoga class here. The grounds had a really great trail, with suspension bridges over the jungle. We did yoga in a tower, and it was so nice to have amazing views over the countryside whilst exercising.

Yoga view

In the afternoon we visited a local orphanage Casa Guatemala that was located just a short ride across the lake, and took them some food supplies. Although there weren't many children there at the moment due to summer break it was really interesting to tour the site and speak to the international volunteers as I would love to do some long term volunteering abroad sometime in the future.

Sunset on the way back

The next morning we got up at 6am to go and visit some local hot springs. Although a bit too early for my liking it was well worth it. The water was pretty cold getting in but once we were under the waterfall it was so nice!

At lunch time we left for a long drive to Antigua, which is where I am now! Will update again soon - we hiked Volcan Pacaya this morning which was great!

San Ignacio, Belize

Our final day on Caye Caulker was pretty relaxed, and we mainly spent time down by the Split, although the weather was a bit mixed that day!

The Lazy Lizard

We left the island yesterday morning. It's just an hour water taxi to Belize City, then we got in vans for our journey to San Ignacio. Half of the group went cave tubing on the way, whilst the other half of us stopped at Belize Zoo. The Zoo was really interesting, and our driver for the day gave us a great guided tour. It is a very natural zoo, and none of the animals were taken from the wild as it is more of a rescue centre. It was great to see some of the animals from the region.

Tapir

 Black Howler Monkey

It was just about an hour from here to our home for the next two nights. We are staying at Trek Stop, which is just about 6 miles away from San Ignacio and it is an ecolodge where we are staying in small cabins. There is good home-cooked food available on site, as well as frisbee golf and really nice grounds. It's pretty buggy here though!

Home for the next two nights!

Today some of our group have gone caving, but a couple of us decided to stay here and visit the Xunantunich ruins which are just a short walk from where we are staying. There is a hand powered ferry that takes you over the river and then an uphill walk to the ruins. We were able to climb a couple of the ruins, and there were great views over the area from the top of the largest ruin, El Castillo.

Tomorrow we are heading into Guatemala. We're having a 5am start to visit the ruins of Tikal on our way to Flores for the night!

Caye Caulker, Belize

'Go Slow' is written on the ground as you arrive on Caye Caulker, and that is certainly the pace around here!

We had a long trip from Playa Del Carmen in Mexico to Caye Caulker in Belize, taking about 12 hours, involving a coach, taxi (where 4 of our group managed to get dropped at the wrong place, but thankfully they got found in time for our bus!), a 5 hour bus and then a ferry for an hour to the island. The bus to Belize City was good preparation for our chicken bus journeys in Guatemala and was pretty cramped and hot, so it was a relief to get off that! I've never done a border crossing by land before, so it was an interesting experience. A few of us had some spare Mexican pesos so to exchange these you had to go to these guys and just poke your money through the metal fence to them. It was very bizarre. They could have been giving us the worst exchange rate ever for all we knew! We arrived here early evening, although the sun sets at about 6 here so much earlier than in Mexico.

Arriving on the island

We all went for dinner on the island at Fran's, which had great home cooked food. It is just benches located on the side of the island, and you go and get your drinks from the local store! Being an island it's quite a bit pricier than Mexico. Everything is very relaxed here, so meals are quite long and leisurely.

Yesterday we all went on a great snorkelling trip - our boat for the day was the Ragga King, and there was lots of reggae music and rum punch as we sailed back in the afternoon. We had 3 stops, the first one we mainly saw fish and coral, so was a good introduction. The second and third stops were in the Hol Chan Marine reserve. The first was the shark and ray alley - as soon as our boat stopped they fed the nurse sharks and they swarmed around our boat, just to scare me even more! I got in after they had calmed down a bit and gone to the other boat. There were huge rays as well, which were amazing to see!

Sharks (so wish I had an underwater camera!)

We sailed on for about 30 minutes to our final stop, which was my favourite of the day. We had a guided snorkel of the area, and saw rays, turtles, eels and many different varieties of fish. The current was pretty strong in the water but it was such a good day of snorkelling!

The Ragga King!

We were dropped back in time for the sunset at the Split. Caye Caulker was split by Hurricane Hattie in 1961, so this area is now called the split. There is a bar there where a lot of people hang out in the day and you can swim in the water there. The sunset was so beautiful here last night.

After dinner we went to I&I, a bar which had an upstairs full of swings and hammocks! I love how relaxed and casual everything is here! We leave the island tomorrow, so I'm just having a chilled day today, but will probably head out to the Split soon. We're heading for San Ignacio next, where we're staying in an ecolodge. I'm excited to see more of Belize after such a great time on the island!

***Good Luck with the trek in Jordan Mum :)***

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

I'm currently in Playa Del Carmen, which is just about an hour south of Cancun. It is so much nicer here than Cancun, and the places I've stayed at are just a block from the beach which has been great! The first couple of days here I just spent exploring Playa and the enjoying the beaches here. I've got a snorkel now, so have been able to do a bit of that and I can't wait to snorkel more in Belize.

Playa Del Carmen

I’ve joined up with the group that I am travelling with for the rest of my trip, doing a tour with G Adventures. The group seem great – it’s mainly Brits and Australians, with a few other nationalities. About half of the group leave us in Antigua, Guatemala, so we will also meet more people again then. I’m sure I will bump into the people I met in Cancun again, as the backpacking route in Central America seems pretty set.

Today a group of us visited Cozumel, which is an island about a 40 minutes ferry ride away from Playa del Carmen. We went to a beach near the south of the island called Playa Palancar that was lovely and so quiet, and I was able to snorkel some more. Travelling here in the off-season is great! We have been pretty lucky with the weather so far – we got caught in a really heavy downpour earlier, but the storms are over very quick. The food here is really nice too and I’ve been eating a lot of tacos, although it’s pretty touristy in Playa Del Carmen so it will be great to travel further south away from the hassle you get around here.

Cozumel

Tomorrow we have a long travel day ahead starting at 6:30 to get to Caye Caulker in Belize. The motto there is ‘Go Slow’, and I’m really excited to get to the island!

Cancun, Mexico

Hello from Cancun in Mexico! I got here on Saturday, and have been in Cancun since. I'm staying in a hostel called Hostel Quetzal and it's great. Really sociable and a great atmosphere.

Cancun Beach

I visited Chichen Itza on Monday which was really interesting, although a pretty long day and ride to get there, but we stopped at a cenote on the way.

Cenote

Chichen Itza

Cancun is amazing at night. The first night I was here we went to a foam party which was awesome, and there was a pool party right by the beach last night. We went to Coco Bongo's the other night, which has continuous shows with trapeze and dancers all night.

I'm moving on to Playa del Carmen tomorrow and from there I'm thinking of visiting Cozumel and Tulum. Cancun is fun, but I'm hoping Playa will be better for the beaches and to see different places. I'm finding things pretty cheap here (well in comparison to home anyway), but I think this is the most expensive place I'll visit so that's good! Will update again soon :)