This guest blog is written by my husband, travel-buddy and partner in crime, Dave, to provide a different view on our travels. If he is well received I might convince him to write a few more!
Isla de Ometepe is one of those locations that, although seemingly amazing according to guidebooks, travel blogs and other travellers, getting there may have placed it in the ‘too-hard’ basket.
Granada is a grand old dame of a town – colonial architecture; multitudes of outdoor activities (including ziplining!) to keep any traveller enticed; a thriving dining scene; and a lava filled volcano – what more could we ask for?
We heard about a funky, chilled-out, traditional fishing village with great surf about 30 minutes out of Leon, and decided we could do with some funky, chilled-out time on the beach, plus as a bonus, Dave could finally catch some waves.
We arrived in León (Nicaragua) after 16 hours in a shuttle traversing four countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and finally, Nicaragua), and were hanging to get to our accommodation for a shower, especially considering the humidity and temperature levels felt considerably higher in Nica.
Summiting the 3,976 metre Acatenango Volcano is, without a doubt, THE hardest, most physically challenging, and mentally confronting thing I have ever done. This bitch was DIFFICULT. So, was it worth it, and would I do it again?
For once, we did not have an epic journey ahead of us to get from one place to another – Antigua was but a mere couple of hours by shuttle from Lake Atitlan. We almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves with less than a half day’s transit ahead of us!
Arriving in Panajachel, the vibrant, backpacker focused town on the shore of Lake Atitlan felt somewhat… familiar. Market stalls, street food carts and hawkers were as far as the eye could see, and the hustle and bustle was unlike anything we had experienced in a while. We had four nights in this beautiful Guatemalan highland region, and it had certainly been difficult to choose our base from amongst the many small towns that dotted the shore.
Our two nights in Flores flew by, and next think we know, we’re on yet another cross-country adventure, this time through the highlands of Guatemala to reach the very remote, teeny tiny village of Lanquin deep in the Guatemalan jungle, on our way to the stunning limestone pools of Semuc Champey.
To cross the border from Belize into Guatemala was an adventure in itself – first a taxi to the border; a 5 minute walk through no-mans land between the two countries thinking we had arrived in Guatemala (we hadn’t!); going through Guatemalan customs and finally entering Guatemala; catching another taxi five minutes into the nearest town; into a collectivo for 2 hours to Flores Town, then finally a quick ride in a tuk-tuk for the last leg to take us onto Flores Island and to our hostel door – PHEW!
Once we left the beautiful coastline of Belize behind, we headed inland to quaint San Ignacio, Belize’s second largest city, for a couple of days exploring the caves and mountainous area known as ‘Cayo’.