Wil’s Travel Weblog

Well, I am somewhat drastically altering my original plan to continue down to Panama and fly back from Panama City. I am actually catching a flight from Managua, Nicaragua back to Florida this afternoon, where I will spend a few days with my brother and his family before flying all the way back to Colorado on Thursday. But - lest those of you who wish me to remain gone longer despair - I am only coming back to Colorado for a day or two, pick up my car, and then taking the classic “All American Road Trip” to destinations as yet undetermined, ultimately putting me back in south Florida on June 19th to meet my brother, cousin and family friend for our annual golf weekend. Then I’ll drive all the BACK to Colorado and leave from there for Buenos Aires on July 1st with my friend John. A mindscramble, I know.

Bullet style A’s to expected Q’s:

* Mostly I decided that after my time on the beautiful Corn Islands, I was ready for a change of scenery - and my next few planned Central American destinations (Bocas del Toro and other places in coastal Panama) were actually very similar to the Corn Islands in terms of culture and attractions (the general sun and snorkel etc of a Caribbean island).

* Also, there’s a little bit of drama going on down here in Nicaragua in terms of transit - all the bus, shuttle, taxi drivers etc are on strike and there have been reports of entire buses being pulled over at road blocks and passengers left out to dry by the side of the road. And that doesnt sound like fun, so unless I was willing to sit at this Best Western by the airport in Managua and wait out the strike, this seemed like another good option.

* Yes, I know gas is $4/gallon back in the States. Oh well.

* I don’t know for sure where I am headed on this trip - but right now my most likely itinerary seems like heading from CO up to the northeast coast (maybe as far as Maine), and then down the coast ending up in Florida, with lots of stops to see friends and family along the way.

* Yes, its a bit sad leaving Central America already - but also, its really hot down here and I haven’t had a good deli sub in 3 months.

* Yeah its a bit of a crazy and unpredictable change, but somehow when I started thinking about the idea - it just seemed like the perfect way to end (well, not end really with Argentina looming but you know) my journey. And considering after this crazy trip I will be chained to whatever new job I can find for a few years in order to save up money again, it might be one of the last times for a few years that I can visit distant friends and family.

Hope everyone is well - and certainly if you are reading this from someplace in the US where there is a couch for me to sleep on during my road trip, let me know!

–Wil

p.s.  last batch of Nica pics now posted:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24262488@N05/sets/72157604731113541/

AKA The Corn Islands - looks like thats going to be my next destination, hopefully tomorrow afternoon if I can get on the flight. Dont think there is much internet access there, so I will try to catch up a little with this post in the anticipation that there might not be another one for a week or even two.

The last week has been really fun - my friend Karin was down from Colorado and we hit the Nica highlights tour in 8 days, starting with San Juan del Sur and one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at in my life.  Quite a pampering considering some of the places I have been shacking up at so far this trip, but well worth some extra money for the amazing grounds.  If anyone is looking for a lavish vacation off the beaten path, I highly recommend this place - in addition to some of the coolest architecture (blends into the native hillside), it has two infinity pools, 5 star service and just to top it all off - employs almost entirely local workers and primarily supports its own non-profit organization that helps impoverished local communities in a number or ways.  It is worth about 3 times what they charge - go now before the area takes off more for tourism and its $500/night.

Anywho, after that extravagance which included a sailing tour to a remote beach and a death-defying zipline tour, we went to Ometepe Island - far more of a rustic experience but beautiful in its own right and chock full of wildlife (some of which was frequently in our room unfortunately!).  After Ometepe we came back to Grenada for a few days of general relaxation as well as another great tour - this time of a nearby active volcano (Masaya), a local handicrafts market, and a huge dark cave full of various types of bats (a bit spooky).

I dont have a ton of pictures because as usual I forgot my camera a lot, but luckily Karin was far more responsible and has some that she can hopefully email to me so I can post on flickr.  Stay tuned for those.

Also - my itenerary is becoming a bit more set for those of you who are interested.  I have booked a flight from Panama City to Fort Lauderdale, FL on June |8th - meeting up with my brother, cousin and another family friend for our semi-annual “3 dollar bill classic” golf tournament.  Always fun taking those fools money (hope they read that).  Then I will be back in CO around June 22nd, in town for about a week before heading down to Buenos Aires with my buddy John (of the Dubai Nagels, proprietor of the Burj al Nagel from previous posts).  We will be in Argentina from July1-12, then I will finally be back in CO for good: broke, jobless, and looking for handouts from all.

So between now and June 18th I dont know for sure where I am going other than loosely: the Corn Islands, then back to Managua to catch a bus through Costa Rica all the way to Bocas del Toro, Panama.  Then tooling around Panama a bit, seeing the canal etc and leaving from Panama City.  I probably wont spend more than a day or two in Costa Rica - too pricey for me at this point - but if anyone has places in southern Nica or anywhere in Panama to recommend, let me know.

Adios everyone and I hope all is well!

–Wil

p.s.  poker “gentlemen” - think we could organize a game that week I am back in town?  I got some really nice Nicaraguan cigars just for the occassion.  So Jake/Matt/DJ/Erik etc etc - get the poker ball rolling and maybe even try to get some of those long lost members like Thompson and Neal in - maybe the cigar lure will help…

Not many, and not all captions done or pics rotated properly yet…

But here are some Nica pics anyway:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24262488@N05/sets/72157604731113541/

Hola everyone!

I have been in Nicaragua for about 5 days now, mostly in Grenada after a brief stay in Leon. Grenada is definitely one of my favorite places so far, though sadly thats probably more of a reflection on the creature comforts available here. But – its also the oldest city in Central America – and has some great colonial buildings as well as the oldest church in Nicaragua, which I toured a few days ago. Mostly since I got here I have just been relaxing, walking around and seeing the sites in town, reading, emailing etc. And watching lots of soccer – I’ve been getting into it a bit after having so much exposure down here, and I am finally starting to understand how all the different leagues work. Right now its the semi-finals of the Champions League – which is pretty much the biggest deal of all, just short of the World Cup. I met back up with a buddy Paul from Switzerland who stayed in the same hotel as me in Antigua – so we’ve been hanging out some and he’s among those who is helping me understand soccer. Tonight though we are going to see a professional Nicaraguan baseball game – so the tables will be turned as I try to explain it to him (and I think a Swedish, Norwegian and Botswanian guy are also coming out).

I also learned last night that the rule of there always being at least one schmuck at any poker game (besides games with friends of course) holds true in Central America as well. One guy who has to take it all far too seriously and be a jerk about it and turn it into the World Series of Poker over a 100 cordoba ($5 US) buy in. Oh well, it was amusing at least…

Yesterday I did a 4km hike up to a nearby volcano (Mombacho), which was very interesting and we had a great bi-lingual guide who knew tons about the area and the various flora, fauna and wildlife. The big highlight was seeing a 3-toed sloth – pretty cool. Also big sweeping views down to Grenada and Lake Nicaragua (the largest lake in Central America). I will be posting some pics soon.

Still unsure on my next course – my friend Karin arrives tomorrow for a week and then my current options after she leaves are:

1. head back up to Honduras, Bay Islands and get dive certified.

2. head across Nica to the Corn Islands for general beach and relaxation time

3. head down across Costa Rica on my way to Bocas del Toro, Panama

4. stay in the Grenada/Ometepe/San Juan del Sur are and chill

I’ll keep ya’ll posted…

que te vaya bien a todos!

–Wil

p.s.  since I wrote this draft I have more or less decided on option 3 actually - its really cheap to fly out of Panama, and I looked into some places to stay in Bocas del Toro that werent too expensive but looked nice.  Probably wont spend any real time in Costa Rica though - expensive!

Well since they were predicting a storm in the Bay Islands this weekend I decided to go ahead and head south to Nicaragua a little earlier than planned.  Yesterday I spent about 12 hours on the bus/boat getting from Roatan to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  Granted I didnt give the capital much of a chance and I arrived at night but it sure wasnt very impressive.  I could be biased because my hotel was one of the worst yet (the trifecta of dirty, hot and noisy), or maybe its because all I could find to eat after my long day’s journey was a Pizza Hut, but in any case I booked it on out of there at 6 AM today and headed to Managua.  Originally I planned on just stopping in Managua long enough to find the bus station for Leon, but the nice Crowne Plaza hotel I saw across the street beckoned and I decided to call it a day after another 10 hours of bus travel and splurge a bit on my hotel so my aching back could recover before heading to Leon tomorrow.

Not feeling particularly witty tonight - though I did upload more photos under the Honduras set and also went back and added some captions to the huge Tikal set.  Finally 100% caught up on pictures.

Well I’d love to stay and chat but I have to, you know, go sit in the lobby and wait for the limo.  One of these days I’ll regale you all with tales from the road, maps to pirate treasure, madlibs, casserole recipes etc - all the things you know and love from blogs past.

Hope everyone is doing well!

p.s.  I think I am going to work one movie quote into each blog post, just to see who can catch them.  Kind of like my by Dave’s email movie trivia thing he does.  Because I miss it.  So, catch the one tonight and earn yourself the best 10 cordoba fake jade necklace around, straight from a Nicaraguan street vendor likely selling a product made in China…

Hola everyone,

I am here in Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras - beautiful place other than today when it rained all day and we got soaked walking to a local botanic garden.  Arrived in Honduras a few days back, spent two days in the coastal town of La Ceiba and saw a big Garifuna festival.  I have been travelling with my new Australian buddy Max, which has been nice way to save money on rooms as they all have double beds anyway and its just whether or not you pay for it all yourself or split it.  We’ve been on Roatan for the last 4 days now - mostly just relaxing though since Max is leaving soon I might move to another hotel that has dive certification packages (the diving here is supposed to be among the best in the world).

Unfortunately the one thing Roatan doesnt have is free, cheap internet - all very pricey.  So this will be a short post for now - though I have uploaded a few photos here

OK I am off - I will post again once I settle somewhere (whether its more island and diving and someplace inland)

hope everyone is well!

–Wil

OK I bit the bullet and upgraded my flickr account so I could have more sets and unlimited uploading.  Here are the current links to each set of pics I have, and except for Tikal I think I have captions/descriptions for them all (reader feedback has suggested people like the captions):

general antigua (small set, didnt take many pics in town for some reason)

volcano pacaya near antigua

sumidero canyon (day trip near San Cristobal)

various San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico

Tikal ruins (captions to come later - but please if you check out anything look at this rather long section - there are monkeys, ruins, and even some monkey videos where you can hear the howler monkeys)

OLD STUFF PREVIOUSLY POSTED FOR REFERENCE:

general Oaxaca

mountains near Rojas, Mexico

Monte Alban Ruins

crap I just realized I still have a bunch of pics to upload from Rio Dulce and San Pedro.  Might be a while on those - sorry.

Time for a big catch up post and a ton of catch up pics - my friend Andy left this morning to head home, so I once again have a bit of time to get caught up on e-mail, posting, picture editing etc here in Antigua before I head out myself.

Andy and I had a great time -our itenarary and highlights as follows:

* 5 days in Antigua: hiked an active volcano where we poked lava and toasted marshmallows (and our shoe tops) on the fiery stuff. Also met some fun folks including a Swiss guy Paul and his Brit friend whats-her-name. Ate great breakfasts.

* 1.5 days in Tikal: up close and personal with lots of monkeys and other weird wildlife. Climbed huge old ruins. Got juked on good sunset pics. Overpaid for a crappy room, but the monkey interaction was so cool it was worth the cost and even the bad bus ride. Howler monkeys are LOUD.

* 3? days in Rio Dulce: maybe the highlight of the trip - beautiful place on the river which dumps into the Caribbean, lots of boat rides including up to a Garifuna town called Livingstone, great hotel on the lake we stayed at, good food, lots of time just chillin on the dock drinking cold beer.

* 4 days in San Pedro de la Laguna (Lake Atitlan): another highlight really - in addition to the beauty of the lake itself the town was very chill and friendly, though we seemed a bit out of place when we’d venture down “hippie alley”. Also has to be one of the cheapest towns in this country - we ate and drank and slept like kings for half the cost of anywhere else we went. Met lots of interesting characters in that town (its kind of a haven for weirdos of all shapes and sizes), including a med student from North Carolina named Garth and an extremely strung out bartender/seller of “things” named Chris from San Diego.

* 1 day back in Antigua before Andy caught the shuttle to Guat City for his flight. Uneventful but relaxing.

I dont think those days add up right - but you get the idea…

Anywho, I am still working on getting all the pics posted on flickr - should be soon. Though I am not sure how to link to them as sets anymore unless I upgrade my membership - might have to link to the whole set and then you can search “tags” which I will provide if you just wanna see pics from certain sections of the trip.

Since Antigua is old hat for me now I am heading out early tomorrow morning (3:30 AM) for Honduras. 14 hour bus ride southeast from here all the way to La Ceiba on the Carribean coast. Ugh. But, its a nice 1st class bus so hopefully it wont be too bad, and there just wasnt anything I wanted to see between here and there. Probably only spend 1 night in La Ceiba before heading out to Roatan, Bay Islands. Mmmmm…. beach…. probably spend aout 10 days or so there before heading back down south.

Decided not to go through El Salvador - heard a few bad stories from other travellers and even though I’m sure it would be fun too, I only have so much time. Oh well, I cant see it all I guess.

Anywho from what I read internet access on the Bay Islands is very sparse and expensive, so I might be out of touch for the next couple of weeks. At the end of this month I have my friend Karin coming out to meet me in Nicaragua for a week (yah!), so I am sure I will be back online a bit before then as I think internet is ok in Nica.

Adios everyone. Espero que es todo bien!

–Wil

Well Andy and I are leaving in a few minutes for Tikal (big ruins), where we will spend a day or so checking it out before heading down to Rio Dulce and the Caribbean coast of Guatemala for a few more days. Might not have much in the way of internet after we leave the cosy, touristy confines of Antigua, so I thought I’d send a quick post for those of you who care about our whereabouts.

The tentative plan is to head from Rio Dulce back towards this side of the country again on Thursday or so, but bypassing Antigua and heading straight for Lake Atitlan for another 3-4 days.

We are having a great time - hopefully we can catch at least a little sleep on the bus tonight! I’ll post again when I can but it might be a week or so.

Hope everyone is well…

–Wil

Hola everyone - I am here in Antigua, Guatemala now. Great town so far - though I’ve been a bit under the weather the last couple of days with ailments of the stomach and a sore back from bad beds and buses (damn I am getting OLD). I met my friend Andy here - he’s come down to travel around with me for the next 2.5 weeks or so through lovely Guatemala.

So… since for once I have company - I might not post much until he heads out around April 9th. But its a beautiful place - and despite an awful bus ride from San Cristobal to here on Tuesday and my slight spell of health troubles - its been fun so far. Eventually I’ll catch back up with some longer posts and lots of pictures dating back to Chiapas - but until then, hope everyone is doing well and buenas noches!

–Wil

p.s. I know a lot of you know Andy as well - but for those of you who dont, he’s an acupuncturist and he brought all his equipment - so I have in-room medical care for my ailments - nice!