Blogs from Central America Caribbean - page 1964

Hi all... I arrived Jul 03 in Flores from Belize City. When we arrived a local by the name of Ceasar greeted us as soon as we got off the bus. He´s a local english speaking tour guide that does tours to Tikal. He had brought us to differant hotels here in Flores till we (others that arrived on the same bus) found one. I booked three nights for a room for myself with an ensuit shower for 140 Q. Later on we met up to go eat at a local restaurant. I had Sopa de frijoles with Gallo (Guatemalin) beer. After we (nine of us) bought some more Gallo and went back to the hotel to drink till the early morning ours. We all woke up after 3am in the morning for our tour to ... read more

I arrived into El Salvador later in the day than I had hoped, so stayed one night in San Miguel, the city nearest the eastern Honduras border. The next day I headed north early and reached Pequín, site of a lot of fighting in the civil war. visited a museum and local lookout and tried to understand as much as I could about what had happened and who was involved. As always women featured prominently as fighters, not to mention priests (several of whom were assassinated) and, the biggest shock, the use of handheld computers by the rebels to keep spreadsheets of weapons captured, amongst other things, really brought home how recent the fighting was. Then went on to El Salvador, where I stayed with the ever so lovely George Chippendale, a Brit and a great ... read more

The trip into Guatemala was quite comfortable, on the front seats of a people carrier from where Mark enjoyed the views whilst Maria enjoyed chatting to the driver in Spanish. She was amused to hear that he had met many other Spaniards before and it always surprised him to note that none of us seemed to be able to speak Spanish properly, “like what we do”, and asked her why she thought this was. When she asked him exactly what he meant by “properly”, it turned out he had deduced that, since Spanish people speak with a different accent and use slightly different vocabulary to them, this could only mean they hadn't learnt the language well enough. She politely reminded him about that certain episode in history, when Spanish people had come along and taken any ... read more

happy 4th of july! independence day....after being in central america for a month, the meaning of this has more depth for me now. i wish i was there to celebrate with you all. today i woke up feeling sad...my first bout of homesickness :( it has been a month since i've left home and i'm missing my friends and family and the conveniences of life in Philadelphia. right now i am in dangriga, belize....waiting for a boat to take me to tobacco caye. tobacco caye is rumored to have access to some beautiful coral reefs. unlike the reefs in caye caulker, the reefs here have been virtually untouched. there are not as many tourists and boats frequenting the smallers cayes. so i'm hoping to dive in tobacco caye and will probably skip caye caulker. it is ... read more

Last Friday, myself and four others arrived on Caye Caulker to enjoy the annual Lobster Fest, and also to dive the Blue Hole, some for the first time. I had emailed the dive shop, Frenchies, where I knew the owner, and my room-mate Joerg was doing his divemaster course. I had asked if they could organise a trip to the Blue Hole for the Sunday, and that all four of us would like to come. I knew Joerg would be coming too, and was looking forward to diving the Blue Hole with him. Late on Friday, we found another friend who wanted to come too, and we managed to secure her the last place on the trip. After a quiet night on Saturday, we all assembled at the Dive Shop at 5.45am on Sunday morning. The ... read more