I began the long, dusty, bumpy trek back to "Nicaragua" at 5am from Pearl Lagoon, changing at Rama, Juigalpa, and Managua (taxi across to UCA terminal) to arrive in Granada some 15 hours later. It wasn't the most comfortable of journeys: the school buses were cramped, old, and most of the roads were unsealed. During the leg between Rama and Juigalpa I was sat next to a lady with her sick 11 month old son. She was taking him to the nearest hospital - 8 hours away by bus. The son then shat his nappy and the bus driver wouldn't stop for her to change him at the side of the road so I stood up to allow her to do it across our two seats. The bus filled with the aroma of baby diarrhoea and ... read more

After a long, bumpy bus ride I arrived in Rama from where I planned to take a boat to Bluefields on the Caribbean coast. Unfortunately I arrived too late to catch the last boat so I had to stay the night. I picked a hotel close to the dock and the first sight I saw after check in was a prostitute doing her make up in the communal area. I asked the landlady whether it was safe to walk around the town and she shook her head and said not after dark and mimed her throat being slit and then being shot.... hmm maybe I'll just get some dinner and stay in the hotel tonight. Needless to say it's not the most salubrious town. I took the first boat to Bluefields at 5am and arrived after ... read more

I took the Tica bus, being the most convenient way of crossing to Nicaragua, from San Salvador to Leon. I arrived early in the morning after travelling all night and was very tired. My first impressions where a little negative probably due to the lack of sleep: there were lots of tourists everywhere and it was yet another colonial city like all the others in Central America. However, some rest and I could think more clearly. Leon is in fact one of the nicest colonial cities - the architecture is great, it's a young spirited student city, and it is the artistic and cultural centre of the country. The hostel, Lazy Bones, was pretty luxurious - swimming pool, pool table, bar, nice green bit.... I appreciated the chance to kick back for a few days, resting ... read more

On the Saturday morning of my final week in Suchitoto my friend Rodolfo picked Abi and I up and took us to the beach at El Tunco to party. Rodolfo is Salvadoran artist living in Paris who is staying with his family in San Salvador for three months whilst he has an exhibition. I had met him at the beach some weeks previously and had great fun partying with him and his friends. We had reconnected by facebook but I bumped into him by chance in Suchitoto the previous Sunday and arranged to go to the beach the following weekend. So that Saturday we drove down to the beach along with Rodolfo's friend Reinita. We stayed back in our old friend Codi's hostel in Sunzal and partyed hard at a salsa night at D'Roca beach bar. ... read more

I arrived in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, on Saturday with Gal and Lee and stayed one night in a hotel with them before being picked up by my couchsurfing host, Ligia, the next morning. Ligia was an extremely accomadating host who gave me my own room, a key, and a mobile phone to use. Ligia is the principal of a "school for the rich and famous" in Tegus, speaks excellent English, and is highly political. She filled me in on the political tensions in the country since the constitutional crisis preceeding the general elections in November 2009. The former president, Manuel Zalaya, was alleged to have attempted to change the constitution in order that he could remain in office for a further term, and was then forced into exile by the military who assumed control ... read more