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Steve Marks - steve marks

Hi, this is the blog of this New Zealander's travels of the length of Central America between January and July 2008. At the start the plan was to take in the southern parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, maybe Panama and maybe even Colombia if I got that far. Basically all I knew for sure was that I would land in Mexico City on January 13th with accom booked for 4 nights there - the plan for the rest was... ummm... what plan?!

But what I learnt was I got a lot more out of my experience in each country if I spent a bit more time in each, rather than just trying to make it to as many countries as possible. So I only ended up making it to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. I think the first law of longer-term travel is that you can have more fun by spending more time in fewer countries rather than by spending less time in more countries...

Check out some photos of my previous trips on www.stevemarksphotography.com

Where I've Been

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Joined on: November 5th 2007
Last Login: November 5th 2009

Blog Entries: 15
Photos: 297
Recommended by 3, Recommends 8

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Steve Marks, order by Date newest first.

By Steve Marks
August 14th 2008

Goodbye Central America - Its Been Emotional Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » San Juan Del Sur

One of my Final Retired US Schoolkids Buses
I've gotten so used to seeing several countries public transport systems underpinned by retired US school buses, it's going to be weird not seeing them in London...

Well, time is now up on the Central American adventure. I'm now back in Chalk Farm, North London, picking up my life pretty much where I left it back in mid-November last year. It's certainly been a long time, and strangely enough not a lot has changed - especially not many of the improvements to the flat that the landlord promised anyway...! Over the previous 6 months I've had loads of different experiences - from volunteering in Guatemala to kitesurfing lessons in Honduras, from climbing active volcanos to getting my PADI dive certificate, from spending 5 weeks in spanish language scho [View Full Entry]

By Steve Marks
July 16th 2008

And Next It's Nicaragua Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Estelí

On The Roof
On top the main cathedral in Leon, the largest Cathedral is all of Central America

LEON It seemed liked I´d changed worlds completely when I left the tranquil beauty of La Moskitia outlined in my last blog and, after spending more than a day and a half on buses, arrived in the groovy Spanish colonial city of Leon, the 2nd largest city in Nicaragua. It wasn´t just that I´d gone from primary rainforest to a decent sized city, but when I was out in Moskitia there were hardly any other travellers to see; Leon, however, is one of the main cities on "The Gringo Trail" through Central America, somewhere that almost everybody backpacking through these parts [View Full Entry]

By Steve Marks
June 30th 2008

Roads? Who Needs Roads? Travels in the Mosquito Coast Central America Caribbean » Honduras » La Mosquitia

Photo, Photo!
Every kid in the Mosquito Coast insists on having their photo taken, usually repeatedly...

La Moskitia (or The Mosquito Coast) in Honduras is the most sparsely populated region of any of the countries I´ll visit on this trip. There´s hardly anybody out here, and the small number of indigenous Miskito, Pech and Tawhaka people that do live out here commute between villages in dugout canoes (usually fashioned from a single tree trunk) along the many waterways out here - there simply are no roads. Instead of people and roads, La Moskitia is home to the largest tract of primary rainforest in all of the Americas north of the Amazon, which means the trekking and nature [View Full Entry]

By Steve Marks
June 9th 2008

Diary of a Caribbean Pirate Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Utila

Welcome to Chauchauate!

Being a long narrow isthmus of land, Central America has two long coastlines, one of which has the Caribbean Sea lapping at its shores, backed up by the second longest reef system in the world (second only to Australia´s Great Barrier). Honduras boasts 700km of Caribbean coastline, which combined with its posession of a few palm-fringed, white-sand islands, means that there is quite a lot of fun to be had in and around Honduras´north coast. CHAUCHAUATE - CAYOS COCHINOS The highlight of my last couple of weeks has been a trip out to a completely undeveloped, postcard-picture white-sa [View Full Entry]

By Steve Marks
May 29th 2008

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Honduras, and the road that led back to the Caribbean Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Lago de Yojoa

Old Man of the Sea, Miami
As in Honduras... not Florida!

I was a little dubious at first when a group of Honduran bus drivers milling under a shady tree (smoking cigarettes, drinking cola and not looking like they were about to do any bus-driving anytime soon) told me to go to the edge of the city and hitch a ride instead of catching a bus. I'd arrived in the Honduran border town of Marcala after my last blog had me leaving El Salvador, and was hoping to get a bus west across the country, only to find out that the last one left 10 minutes ago and th [View Full Entry]

By Steve Marks
May 13th 2008

Just El Salvador and Me Central America Caribbean » El Salvador » Perquín

All Smiles in the less-travelled parts of El Salvador

When people go travelling by themselves, there's usually no shortage of opportunity to meet other travellers. But I've found that travelling in the eastern half of El Salvador, travelling by myself really means travelling by myself, I've gone entire days without seeing another gringo even so much as on the other side of the street. My last blog mainly covered the western half of El Salvador which seems to be more popularly backpacked, but in the eastern, less-travelled half it has felt like [View Full Entry]

Jose looked after the street outside my backpackers in San Salvador

By Steve Marks
May 1st 2008

Why I Love El Salvador the Most Central America Caribbean » El Salvador » Juayúa

El Salvador: Just Brilliant

As well as being the most "off-the-beaten-track" destination in Central America (95% less backpackers here than in Guatemala, for example) El Salvador also has to go down as quite possibly the friendliest country I've ever visited. Almost from the moment I arrived (when I asked the bus driver where a certain hotel was, and he told me to stay on the bus and he´d drive the bus there for me once the other passengers had gotten off), I´ve been treated more like I´ve been a visitor in someone else´s home rather than just a traveller passing through. Sure, most people in [View Full Entry]

The View Around Parque Nacional de Imposible

By Steve Marks
April 13th 2008

This is Guatemala, Too Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Lago de Atitlan » San Pedro La Laguna

Semana Santa in Antigua

The Guatemalan antics have kept rolling on since my last blog. My next stop was to Antigua for Semana Santa (or Holy Week) celeberations. Semana Santa is the week that runs from the Sunday before Easter until Easter Sunday, and all throughout Latin America its a time for big celebrations, street fiestas, carnivals and so on - i had to make a reservation to be in Antigua over Semana Sanata quite a while back, as everyone knows that the festivities are on a grander scale in Antigua than anywhere else in Central America. There were heaps of processions through the city, [View Full Entry]

Making "Carpets" Through the Night in Antigua

Antigua - cobbled streets and looming volcanoes

Lava is most fun when you can poke it with a stick

By Steve Marks
March 24th 2008

This is Guatemala Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Semuc Champey

Finca Tatin
One nice place to chill out

Its a bit of a cliche to harp on about the diversities of a country, but over the last couple of weeks I´ve been steadily amazed at just how many differences Guatemala packs in to one little country- I´ve been in some pretty diverse places, where the language, culture, nature and vibe of one place sometimes having almost nothing in common with the last place I was at. My first stop since my last blog was at Finca Tatin . Pretty much in the middle of nowhere up a river from the Caribbean coastal town of Livingston, in the heart [View Full Entry]

By Steve Marks
March 11th 2008

Takin´ it Bel-Ezy, Mon! Central America Caribbean » Belize » Belize Barrier Reef » Caye Caulker

Home for a Night

Sometimes its not so easy coming up with a "top 5" of all the things that I´ve done in my travels over the last few years. A lot of things have been cool, but for something to be rated as truly in the top 5 means that it needs to have been in a special class of its own. Shortly before I left London to start my travels, my mate Paul who´d been in Belize a few months earlier recommended that I get on the Ragamuffin 3 day/2 night island- hopping tour on a sail boat, cruising around Belize´s many uninhabited [View Full Entry]

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