I'm nearing the end of what lots of my friends have called the trip of a lifetime (I hope to have many more trips like this in my lifetime). The last week of my journey will be spent in a four star luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas with the parents. We're trying to make it across to the Baja Peninsula by ferry but having a really tough time getting information. We're planning on bussing it up to Mazatlan for Sunday, taking an overnight so we can be there for Monday. If anyone has up to date info on schedule, [View Full Entry]

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Three days and nights, 8 buses and 3 collectivos later we have arrived in Guanajuato, Mexico. We left Honduras and made it across the Mexican border in a day and a half. We stayed overnight in a little town called Retalhuleu (Reu to the locals). The drive into Guate City took about 4 and a half hours and was painfully hot and slow as always. I hate that drive. We got to Reu at something like 10h30 at night because what should have been a 6h00 departure time was moved to an hour later because the bus driver decided to yak [View Full Entry]

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When I left you last time we had walked 9km from the Jungle River Lodge at Pico Bonito to the highway. We jumped onto the first chicken bus passing by on our way to the Garifuna village of Sambo Creek. Even though Triumfo de la Cruz is touted as being the second biggest of these villages (next to Limon), Sambo Creek seemed like it was more alive and hopping than any of the villages we saw near Tela. We stayed at the Hotel Avila which is conveniently at the very end of the bus line in Sambo. Just get off and [View Full Entry]

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Pico Bonito is a national parc just outside of La Ceiba. To get there take a taxi (150L) or the local bus in the direction of Yuruca. The drive up is gorgeous. You follow the Rio Cangreal into the mountains covered in bright greens, where clouds hide in the valleys and waterfalls seem to appear out of nowhere just around the next bend. There are three tour companies that offer pretty well the same activities. One of them is a upscale deal though. It's called Las Cascadas and looked relatively new. Not the place for poor packers, but if you've got [View Full Entry]

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Caldo de Calzado Hello dear readers, I've finally caught up to date with my journal entries and thus it is time for another edition of Caldo de Calzado, my attempt at a travel food column. We've made our way down the northern coast of Honduras from Tela to the small Garifuna villages of La Encenada and Triumfo de la Cruz, to La Ceiba where I'm presently writing you from. La Rustique First up on the agenda, a restaurant recommendation for anyone in la Ceiba that we checked out late last night. The little place called La Rustique is on the corner [View Full Entry]

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We pulled into Copan Ruinas somewhere around three in the afternoon. I was sick as a dog. The only way I had been able to make the trip out of Chiquimula was by pumping myself full of no-name brand Immodium, Pepto-Bismol and Gravol. I could barely move, stand the heat or keep my eyes open. In other words I was a verrry helpful travelling partner. Right. I watched the bags, sipping what I could of a soda in a little restaurant while Chris dutifully scouted a place where I could crash. I had but one little splurge request for the night...a [View Full Entry]

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Say What! The Garifuna People: Warm, Friendly and Impossible to Understand When the bus driver told us that this was the stop for Tela we piled out of the bus into what seemed like a little bus stop on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere. If this happens to you, follow the sign that says Tela with a bunch of hotel names underneath it. It's definitely a walkable distance if you hate taking the cabs as much as we do. If you go straight along the road you'll walk through the central park and right onto the [View Full Entry]

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Now I understand why people came here in the seventies and never left. We spent the first night in Panajachel in a little room in a hostal down some random little alleys. Geared to tourists and gringos, this place is hippie and granola central. Every restaurant has vegetarian options, rare in this country, if they aren't completely vegetarian. There are artisan and clothing merchants lining the entire main drag ready to sell you everything from traditional Guatemalan blankets, to purses to jewelry. If you're looking for something, you'll find it here, but the price might be a l [View Full Entry]

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Double-Duty: Spanish school and Semana Santa in Antigua in the same week! The Academia de Espanol de Sevilla set us up in a house where I was never sure how many people were permanent residents. Eduardo and Camilla, a lovely older couple in their early sixties were the heads of the household. They'd been having kids from the school stay with them for about three years and you could tell they were accustomed. They spoke slowly and clearly, making sure you understood what was going on. Their daughter Carolina was often around with her two children Maria and Diana, who were [View Full Entry]

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Robbed on our way to the world's most famous pick pocket festival Antigua during Semana Santa is known for thieves and pick pockets. One of the locals told me that the number of "tourists" from El Salvador and other parts of the country that congregate here in the week prior to the festivities is getting more and more alarming. "They aren't here for the parades or the parties and anyone who lives here can tell exactly who they are," she told me. "Antigua is so small, everyone knows one another. It makes me nervous to see all these shifty types everywhere." [View Full Entry]

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