Antigua is a rather obvious place to visit on a Central America tour. Everything is easy, the possibilities to stay seem nearly endless and if I was hungry such etablisments like Bagel Barn, Burger King, and McDonalds were luring me with their typical smell. But between the more touristy places there is also a lot of old and charming houses left. When not prevented by streams of rain water from the last downpour I could enjoy wandering the alleyways into the more remote parts of the town, having an overview from Cerro de la Cruz with the mighty vulcanos of the [View Full Entry]

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Copan was my intoduction to the world of the maya. And a good one! With a little bit of everything it is certainly a good place to start exploring maya ruins. Some ruins are covered in jungle, some are fully excavated and rebuild. There are steep steps, a pyramid, a place for the maya ball game with the stone ring, nice stone carvings and several stelae. Colorful parrots fly around the ruins. Though it is touristically quite developed, the nearby mountain village with the same name has kept its charming atmosphere. Most of the accomodation is build into the traditional houses. [View Full Entry]

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For a visit to the Caribbean coast I chose Utila. Already on the ferry boat I met a German guy and in the last moment before the ferry departure Freja and Mai, the Danish girls also came on bord. Together with Freja I took some dive lessons at cross creek divers and we both finished the Advanced Open Water Diver. From the nature point of view the underwaterworld in Utila is rather disappointing. Still we had god fun because of the course tasks and a wreck dive. Me and the German guy also stayed with cross creek divers. Their nice accomodation [View Full Entry]

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With is historical significance Leon is a place to get interested in Nicaraguas political past and present. The long oppression from the Samoza regime and their collaborators from the US and the revolutionary movement of the Sadinistas is an everpresent issue. Many buildings, museums, murals, and of course the people are connected to this not so far away history. In Leon I also met Freja and Mai, two girls from Denmark again. Freja had been living in Leon as a part of a social project she was doing in Nicaragua and knew the city very well. [View Full Entry]

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With the hassle of the US visa done the real holiday could start! I went for a weeks visit to Isla de Ometepe to lay back at Hacienda Merida. Isla de Ometepe is a two-vulcano eight-shaped island in Lago Nicaragua, Central Americas bigest lake. Merida is the remotest place you can go to on the island and the Hacienda Merida, a ecological lodging project, was the right place for me to lay back at the shore of the lake, swing by the days in a hammock, and explore the beautiful rain forest nature around the island. [View Full Entry]

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When you chose the right place (and have the right passport) things can work out to develop rather fast. In the internet I found '2 days' on a list of waiting times for visa applications behind the capital of Nicaragua, Managua. Something that let me ignore all warnings about this dangerous city. So I had to find out for myself. When I came there and first wanted to walk a few blockes for a dinner place a local family stoped me right away to tell me that I was certainly going to be robbed if I would continue to walk down [View Full Entry]

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I decided to leave out Costa Rica on my Central America trip. I was hoping to get a visa from the US embassy in Managua and made an overnight bus journey to Nicaragua straight away. Which included a change of buses in San Jose, Costa Rica in the middle of the night. San Jose is said to be as dangerous in the night as all the other Central American cities. But fortunatelly a guy called 'Franco' guided me through the dark alleys from one bus station to the other in exchange for a small fee. This fee he would have undoubtedly [View Full Entry]

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After about five hours of 'sleep' on the rock-bottom hard floor of the airport I woke up with a pattern on my cheek that strangely resembled the floor tiling...and now in daylight dared to take the city bus downtown to Panama City. My first feeling of Central America was rather nice. Didn't seem to dangerous, friendly and helpful people. I stayed at a 'testigos de jehova' youth hostel. For the planed ship passage from the US back to Germany I was hunting for a US Visa. So I gave the US Consulate near the Canal a go. What a fortress. Situated [View Full Entry]

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As horrible as everybody tells you. The Flight from Sao Paulo to Panama City was changed three times, the last time at very short notice, the check-in counter was deserted, the office was hidden somewhere were nobody could find it. The unplanned overnight stay in Santa Cruz de la Sierra was in a lousy hotel, in the ninth floor the wind blew straight throug the broken windows across the room the whole night. The taxi on the way back to the Viruviru airport had a flat tire and the flight had been canceled until unknown time once again. But! Finally the [View Full Entry]

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After more than nine month of travelling and three quarters of my journey done I came to Sao Paulo to visit my friend Holger. I was really happy to see him again! I stayed with him and his family for about a month and soon felt almost like at home. Since Holger lives in Sao Paulo permanently now I especially enjoyed having the chance to share everyday life. It was also a time for me to recover from the stresses and strains of continuous travel. For that opportunity I am really thankfull towards him and his family. During my time in [View Full Entry]

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