Across Central America

Arrived in the host families, we received a tour of the different communities of the place. Naturally, I couldn't resist and bought a very beautiful scarf in the weaving workshop. We also visited a traditional Mayan pharmacy and an art gallery before receiving a small concert with typical and purely natural instruments.

Back at the host family, we had a dinner where we made our own tortillas.

I would describe the visit to the host family as frightening and interesting at the same time. It was very interesting to see how a Mayan family lives, but the conditions of the house scared me.

Early in the morning, we return to Antigua and take a walk through the market. Tonight, some of the group will say goodbye, as not everyone will continue to Costa Rica, which means we will stroll together through the various bars of Antigua.

I use another day in Antigua to visit the ruins in the city. In the evening, our "newcomers" join us and we have a typical Guatemalan dinner to say goodbye to Guatemala.

Today we are going to Copan, Honduras. That means we will spend the whole day on the bus and be greeted in Honduras by the monsoon-like rain that washes stones onto the streets and causes you to stand ankle-deep in water even in the city.

Still following the footsteps of the Mayans, we are planning to visit the ruins of Copan. Here is, among other things, the longest hieroglyphic text in the history of the Mayans (2,200) 🤓

Today is another travel day. After almost 11 hours, we finally arrived on Roatan Island - public bus, taxi, ferry, and minivan.

After a few days of action, we enjoy a beautiful day at the beach and relax, and on the second day on the island, we use it for another snorkeling trip and enjoy the colorful variety underwater.

To save time, we take a flight to Nicaragua, with a short stopover in El Salvador. Granada is a beautiful city built in colonial style at the western end of Lake Nicaragua. The first of two days is packed with all the activities the city has to offer. We start early with a little city tour, followed by a short boat trip to the islands in front of the city. Afterwards, we continue to swim in the Lagoon of Apoyo and visit the volcano at dusk through the market. The Masaya volcano also shows lava, but after my great experience a few days ago with the Pacaya volcano, I am a bit disappointed, not to mention that it is a better experience to climb the volcano instead of driving up by car 😉💪

The church towers offer a great view of the city.

We leave the mainland and take the ferry to Isla de Ometepe. Ometepe is an island in Lake Nicaragua and with about 270 km² the largest volcanic island in a freshwater lake worldwide.

We are going to climb another volcano: Concepcion 🌋 (1,610 m). This means we have to leave early, as the hike takes about 12 hours. Just in time for departure, it started raining, which kept the temperature pleasant but ruined the view. After 1,200 m and no improvement in sight, our tour guide recommended turning back, and we followed his recommendation freezing. On the way down, it stopped raining, and we finally had some view, but of course not the great panoramic view of the island and the lake. After eight hours and 15 km, we returned to the car, and despite everything, it was a great experience to climb an active volcano with all its different vegetation zones.

Costa Rica Border => there are only a few days left on my journey through Latin America, which has been very exciting and impressive both culturally and geographically 🙁

In Monteverde, we will have another day full of action. In the morning, we will go ziplining with Tarzan Swing (45 m free fall and I still can't believe I did it 🙈), then walk on suspension bridges through the rainforest, and finally, we will visit a coffee plantation, where we will see not only thousands of Arabica coffee plants but also a sloth.