As we passed through the department of Izabal in the south-eastern Guatemala, we decided to visit the lesser known Maya archaeological site of Quiriguá of the Classic Period. We’d heard about this site whilst we were visiting Copán in Honduras. Quiriguá was once a dependant of Copán, but following a battle during which the...
Antigua and Around – Mayan Culture and Volcanos
Wow, Antigua! What can we say, we were absolutely enamoured with this gem of a city. After over a year of travelling in Latin America we don’t think that we’ve found a city that can compare to Antigua. Of course there were nice ones like upmarket postcard-perfect Cartagena and the sleepy step-back-in-time town of...
Copán Ruinas – Entering the land of the Maya
We didn’t have much time to get through Honduras to reach Copán Ruinas, but we knew that we wanted to start our Mayan adventures here. The town is in the north of the country near the border with Guatemala, and it certainly involved an epic, (and boring) multi-day journey to get there. From Esteli...
The Jewels of Colonial Nicaragua
After our volcanic island extravaganza and full-immersion into Nicaraguan farming life on the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, we were keen to go back to the mainland to enjoy some colonial towns and their beautiful and evocative architecture. Although we absolutely fell in love with the previous country that we had visited; Costa...
Ometepe Island – Nicaragua’s enigmatic volcanic treasure
We exited Costa Rica on a high, having experienced one of our favourite countries of our travels so far. We knew that the next countries would be a little more challenging as they are less developed for tourism and more rough around the edges in terms of services and infrastructure. Despite this we were...
Pura Vida (Part 3)! Exploring the Pacific side of Costa Rica
Having already spent 3 weeks exploring the Caribbean and Central regions, we still had some more time to investigate the Pacific side of Costa Rica. This is partly because Jess’s parents, the 3rd set of visitors that we received during our stay in the country, had just arrived. Of course parent-visitors are extra welcome...
Pura Vida (Part 2)! Exploring Central Costa Rica
After our dramatic entrance into San Jose on a tiny 12 seater plane from Caribbean Tortuguero, we found ourselves in a big city that everyone had tried to tell us that we’d hate. The reality was that it wasn’t too bad, at least for a few days. Here is our account of exploring Central...
Pura Vida (Part 1)! Exploring the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica
CAHUITA It’s easy to cross over from Bocas del Toro in Panama to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. As we needed a boat, a bus, a border crossing and then another bus, we used a very efficient and highly recommended company called Caribe Shuttle to organise our transport. We decided to stay in...
Caribe time! – Bocas del Toro islands
After a week of sweltering in a metropolis, we were rather glad to leave Panama City and head towards the Caribbean coast. We were excited not just by the destination that we had picked; the Bocas del Toro islands, but also because we had welcomed the arrival of some good friends from London, who...
The Top 5 things to do in Panama City
We weren’t quite sure what to expect from Panama City as it was to be our first capital city in Central America, and indeed it was quite unlike any city we have seen to date. We could immediately feel the American influence from the colossal malls, imported products and series of fast food restaurants...