Copan Ruinas is probably the second most popular destination for visitors in Honduras primarily because it is the base to see the best Mayan ruins in the country. I knew about the “Macaw Mountain” bird park but wasn’t expecting it to be anything special and it turns out to be just as good as the ruins. To have both of these in the same very scenic and visitor friendly (plenty of good hotels and restaurants) town make this a great place to stay for a couple of days. Macaws, the largest members of the parrot family, are native to this part of Central America and were considered sacred by the Mayans, so there is a link between these two quite different attractions, though this might not have been intentional as the move of the bird park ... read more

So sang Kermit the frog, but in Belize it turns out it ain’t easy being a Green Iguana. The problem is the local people think eating Iguana eggs is good for fertility (I’m not sure if this is for males or females) which had caused Iguanas to become critically endangered in Belize, even though as a species they are not threatened To address this issue some enterprising folk have set up the Iguana Project in St Ignacio, housed in the garden of the St Ignacio Resort hotel. This is unquestionably the best hotel in town, so is not where we are staying, but was used by the Queen on her last royal visit to Belize in 1994. The hotel is only 5 minutes walk from the centre of St Ignacio but it’s uphill and even though ... read more

Whatever we were expecting in Antigua we certainly weren’t expecting this – a major volcanic eruption from a volcano only a few km from the city. As we approach from the north I notice that parked cars are covered in dirt and suspect that there is an eruption nearby. By the time we reach Antigua itself we can see there is a covering of ash, though it’s been raining earlier and the air seems clear. When we first arrive everything in the city seems pretty normal except for a blitz of people washing cars. By the next morning we can see the smoking Fuego volcano clearly from the rooftop of our hotel. The news of the death toll and destruction has spread through the city creating a sombre mood. We decide to risk staying another night ... read more

Well we’ve made it across the border into Guatemala and to the city with the wonderful name of Quetzaltenango. It’s in the Highlands of Guatemala and is actually Guatemala's 2ndcity after Guatemala City, which we are going to do our best to avoid as it sounds terrible. Like many towns in Guatemala it has several names as there are several local (ie not Spanish) languages and is normally shortened.; conveniently it seems to be universally known as Xela. Xela is however a good place for a few days; not too touristy. It’s generally frequented by gringos learning Spanish as it’s a much cheaper and better (less people here speak English) place to do this than the main tourist towns. Compared to Mexico this area reminds be a lot of countries in South America and the indigenous ... read more

The Teotihuacan ruins just north-east of Mexico City have two special attractions –the Le Sol (Sun) and La Luna (moon) pyramids. In truth both are incredible sights, but there are plenty of other interesting sites here particularly some well preserved wall paintings. The Sun pyramid is the 3rdlargest in the world and today stands 66m tall but the best thing is that and you can climb to the top. It’s nothing like as steep as the Mayan pyramids so the climb is easy enough and the view over the rest of the site is tremendous. You can only climb about half-way up the Moon pyramid, but as this is at the end of the main road, and built on higher ground it is both more imposing and the best place from which to view the Pyramid ... read more