La Desaparecida

The next morning I took a beautiful bus ride to the Guatemalan border on the "jungle route." We forded rivers and nearly got stuck in the mud a few times... very fun. I stayed in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala for the night before catching a boat to Punta Gorda, Belize. The ride was a very rough one and I got totally soaked, despite the tarp pulled over all us passengers. We unloaded and made our way to the bus station, where most of us caught a 7 hour chicken bus ride to Belize City... Just can't get enough school buses!! Along the way our driver played Boy George and Shania Twain... wonderful. Once I arrived at the Seaside Guesthouse, I found that there was a fellow Virginian staying there, who immediately lifted me up in a huge ... read more

The morning after volcano boarding / partying may have been the hardest so far, and I failed to make it out of bed until noon. A nice german girl, Marcella, was nice enough to put a bucket and a gallon of water next to my bed and not laugh at me too much when I finally dragged myself out of bed and into the freezing cold showers. I made plans with another American headed toward Honduras to meet up the following morning and make our way to the border. The rest of our group was headed south to Granada. Running fairly (ok, really) low on cash, we decided to take the local chicken buses and cross the border on foot. Everything went fine and well, and I got some good quality thinking time in on the ... read more

Hi all.... SUPER DUPER LONG UPDATE ALERT!!! I have to do it though, since I've been slacking the last 3 weeks!! If you don't love me and are super lazy, just scroll down to the bottom and read the bold RECAP!!! I'll throw some pictures on mañana... I'm done with my trip... capped it off with bungee jumping off a 265-foot high bridge over a gorgeous Costa Rican river canyon (I have dvd of this!). I'm still here in Alajuela Costa Rica but leaving mañana (in the Mexican sense) to begin the return journey back north to Puerto Morelos. I'll be busing from capital city to capital city, spending 1 or 2 nights around but not in each, stopping over in places I missed along the way. I don't wish to remain in Puerto Morelos long ... read more

UTILA, Bay Islands, Honduras After making my way from Copan through La Ceiba I ended up here on the small Caribbean island of Utila. In order to catch the early morning ferry out here I had to stay the night in La Ceiba, a filthy port town full of hookers and drunks. I was warned by friends to pick a nicer hotel because the cheapies were scary... and I thought I did, but was surprised to find lots of gross old men hanging about with hookers and police. I arrived after dark and didn't think it wise to walk around downtown Ceiba with my backpack looking for another place, so I stayed. After hearing some hookers go at it down the hall I stepped out to use the internet and grab a bite to eat. The ... read more

Well I left San Pedro for Antigua, figuring I would only spend the night and then leave the next morning for Copan, Honduras. Instead I got sucked into the city's nightlife and spent 4 nights. Unfortunately, what I will remember most about Antigua, the beautiful UNESCO world heritage site surrounded by volcanoes... is... the bar scene. Nuff said, moving on... COPAN! I finally made it with a fellow traveler from the hostel, Gerald... a French guy with a thing for potato chips, birding, and Scandinavian girls. He was a decent traveling companion because he spoke so little English that it was almost like I was alone. Our bus left at 4:00 am (!) from Antigua and we opted to stay out all night in order to ensure we were awake to catch it. This meant by ... read more

Wow, I've been having a really good time and haven't been updating this as much as I should have been.... anywho.... I stayed in Flores, Guatemala (the jumping off point for the Tikal ruins) for about 3 nights I guess. Had no problems crossing the border, thank goodness, and was surprised at how hot it was in Flores. I was expecting it to be quite cool and only brought a pair or two of shorts. I signed up for a sunrise tour of the Tikal ruins and had to hop on a 3am bus to catch it... once we arrived at the park we hiked for about 30 minutes in total darkness to temple IV, on which we sat and waited for the sunrise. It was amazing hearing the jungle come alive.... it was quite foggy ... read more

I started out in Tulum, just to hang out at the excellent Weary Traveler hostel and get a headstart on crossing the border to Belize the following morning. I ended up crossing with an Australian guy headed to the Cayes, and we ran into a few problems at the border. There should have been no problem -- we left Mexico legally and as the holders of US and UK passports we should have crossed just fine. Unfortunately the man in charge at our time of crossing chose to stop us simply in hopes of us offering to pay to let us into Belize. I refuse to do this, and when asking to speak to his boss he flipped out and among other things threatened to detain me. Honestly, it was hard not to laugh at first, ... read more