We left Antigua at 8am ( Wednesday 22nd ), and by private taxi, made an 8 hour journey to Rio Dulce. The journey was tiring, the heat had picked up once we had driven past Guatemala City, and it was in to 30 degrees. Arriving at Rio Dulce, we were met by a boat to take us on the short trip across the river, and to the hotel, the Hacienda Tijax. The hotel is on the river bed, and is made up completely of wooden chalets, and is basically in the jungle. There are expensive yachts anchored here too, mostly from [View Full Entry]

---

---

Monday morning, and my friends returned around noon from their lake visit to Panajachel. I asked how it went, but all they wanted to know was what I had been doing, and how the wedding was! A few of us went and had lunch at the sports bar Reds, where we watched Man City lose to West Ham. Then Internet, and just some more walking around the beautiful cobbled streets of the City. Later that night I was discussing with my friend John, who is semi retired. He has seen a lot of the world, and of the places we had [View Full Entry]

---

---

Friday night and St Patricks day. We had dinner, and then made our way to the Irish bar Reillys, to take in the party atmosphere. The bar was packed out, and they were charging to get in! No way, so we made our way in to the main square, and found a really busy bar, packed with locals and a few gringos. In the bar I met a beautiful local girl! She was from Guatemala City, and was with friends from Antigua. Sher was going to a wedding the next day in Antigua, and she invited me to come with her! [View Full Entry]

---

---

We crossed the small border crossing, and made our Journey to the City of Antigua. Arriving at 7pm, we hit rush hour near Guatemala City, which is 25 minutes or so drive from Antigua. I've been looking forward to coming to Guatemala, you hear stories about places on your travels as you meet different people everywhere, and it seems an intruiging place. We checked in to the hotel, and there was a message for me!? The hotel had called from Roatan, they had found my camera!!!!!!! Absolute miracle, thank god!!!! I just have to arrange for Fed Express to get it [View Full Entry]

---

---

We had to leave the Island on Wednesday 15th, which was a great shame, would love to have spent more time here to hire a moped or a Jeep, and look around the Island. I took a flight from the local airport, which was delayed by 3 hours due to a road strike in La Ceiba, which meant cancelling a load of flights. As we were just about to board the plane, to my horror, I realised my camera with all my pictures on it was not in my pocket. It wasn't anywhere, it had fallen out of my pocket in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yes, I had found paradise!!!!!!!! Woke up and got my beach stuff together, and headed down from the hotel towards the town. The weather is amazing, as it always is, and there in daylight is the first glimpse of paradise, white sand with wooden beach huts serving as shops and bars dotted around, beautiful crystal clear indigo water, with dark coral reef amongst it. Amazing! We walked along the coastline to the far end of the Beach, and took in the sun. Then swam in the amazing water, you can just float, and there are exotic fish around you like Baracuda. [View Full Entry]

---

---

We left Comayagua early again, and took two buses to the town of La Ceiba. We needed to get there for 4pm, where we had a connecting ferry to take us out to sea, and to the Bay Islands off the Hondruran coast, and to our next destination, Roatan. Our ferry was seemed big and modern, and was crammed with holidaymakers, mostly from the States. As we left the harbour the water was calm and the sun shining. We went to the top of the ferry to enjoy the sun, and sea air. Then as we got out to sea, the [View Full Entry]

---

---

After a tiring 7 hour journey from Granada, we arrived in the town of Leon. We really slummed it in a very very very basic hostel, 75 cents per night!!! Leon looked a bit more authentic than Granada at first impression, and is home to the largest Cathedral in Central America, which from the outside looks very decayed, and on the inside, beautiful. We purchased a football, and decided to play keep ups in the busy main square where the Cathedral is located. There are many people here, who looked on in delight as we played around, and lots of kids [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Granada in the afternoon. It was very hot, and the bus station is right in the towns very busy market place. We found our hostel, and spent the rest of the day looking around this colonial looking town. We had a great pizza in a nice Italian restaurant, and just spent the rest of the day looking around. The next day was an opportunity to do an excursion to a lake and a market. As I've been travelling a little while now, I've pretty much seen quite a few of these type of things, so I decided to [View Full Entry]

---

---

The drive across the border from Monteverde to Nicaragua took 4 hours. We made a journey from Rivas, then taxi to San Jorge, and then a ferry across the lake to the Island of Ometepe. Ometepe is dominated by an impressive volcano on its horizon, a Hollywood looking Volcano! The ferry wasn't an official one, and was an experience! We were all crammed in to the lower deck, us and many locals, and there was a strong wind, so it was fairly rough water. It was a very old boat, and the water was pouring inside from all angles, some people [View Full Entry]

---

---