After the Mirador, we had a nice spell in Guatemala. We obviously had a rest in Flores, where the people still wear traditional clothes (mostly women though) and where every sunday is a city's party made of dance and music.
We couldn't go to Semuc Champey, this very rare formation of caves and pools. I won't detail the pool more than this picture:
What I can say is that we crossed them with a candle and water at our waist (we also had to swim which is much harder than you think having the candle in your teeth and trying to avoid the invisible rocs from behind).
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| Shemuc Champey |
After the Mirador, we had a nice spell in Guatemala:
and Antigua. Then, we did a quick stop in Utila, Honduras to get our certification Open Water.
Finally we were off to Nicaragua in the superbe city of Leon (with a nice trek to the volcano Telica)
and the island Ometepe where we learned how to ride a moto (Youhouuuuu!).
During this long travel, I can say many things surprised us:
- The calm of the people in a crowded / late / overheated / noisy / smelly bus.
- The difficulties to remember the name of the people you just met (how hard is that!).
- The border crossing, sometimes easy, always long. We had, at times, to show a fake ticket to prove we would go out of the country.
- All the scams we escape just going out of the bus (pickpocket, taxi driver with very high prices, etc.)
- Big cities are usually populated by a majority of white people, the country side is usually full of indigenous (Mayas / Indians) and the coast inhabited by black people (of slave descent).
Now, from the few travelling tips we learned (if you decide to go around the planet one day), we have some advices for you:
- Always get a second opinion from the people catching you out of a tourist bus. You can either just walk away, but I think the very best option is to talk to the locals on board.
- Always get some food and water for travel. Best choice for us: all sort of peanuts!
- Try to make sure your money/credit cards are not all in the same place.
- Bring some toilet paper with you (it's always very embarrassing when they offer you 4 pieces of toilet paper, and you are all like: "yeeeeaaahh, I would need 6 times this please :)". Or even more embarrassing when the toilet attendant unroll the thing, watching you, trying to evaluated how much the big guy will need...)
- Finally, last piece of advice: never let the people you don't know getting to close to you or even let you touch you. If you react strongly to those things, they will have less opportunity to pickpocket you.
We are now in the nice island of Bocas del Toro, Panama, ready to relax a bit before a big piece of travel, soon to come.
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| Lac Atitlan |
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| A crazy funny corean |
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| Volcano Telica |
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| Volcano's lava! |
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| Ometepe |
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| Some biker |
- The calm of the people in a crowded / late / overheated / noisy / smelly bus.
- The difficulties to remember the name of the people you just met (how hard is that!).
- The border crossing, sometimes easy, always long. We had, at times, to show a fake ticket to prove we would go out of the country.
- All the scams we escape just going out of the bus (pickpocket, taxi driver with very high prices, etc.)
- Big cities are usually populated by a majority of white people, the country side is usually full of indigenous (Mayas / Indians) and the coast inhabited by black people (of slave descent).
Now, from the few travelling tips we learned (if you decide to go around the planet one day), we have some advices for you:
- Always get a second opinion from the people catching you out of a tourist bus. You can either just walk away, but I think the very best option is to talk to the locals on board.
- Always get some food and water for travel. Best choice for us: all sort of peanuts!
- Try to make sure your money/credit cards are not all in the same place.
- Bring some toilet paper with you (it's always very embarrassing when they offer you 4 pieces of toilet paper, and you are all like: "yeeeeaaahh, I would need 6 times this please :)". Or even more embarrassing when the toilet attendant unroll the thing, watching you, trying to evaluated how much the big guy will need...)
- Finally, last piece of advice: never let the people you don't know getting to close to you or even let you touch you. If you react strongly to those things, they will have less opportunity to pickpocket you.
We are now in the nice island of Bocas del Toro, Panama, ready to relax a bit before a big piece of travel, soon to come.
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