El Salvador & first days in Guatemala

We had to make El Salvador quick because of the aforementioned visa issues, and it's just a small country to begin with too. Our first stop was La Palma just over the border from Honduras. It's a sleepy mountain town and we headed to the coast after one day there. On the Pacific we stayed at Playa El Zonte west of La Libertad. Lots of good surf but we didn't have the time or energy to track down a reputable surf instructor to take lessons with. We did go to see a kicking reggae band play at an outdoor bar in nearby Playa El Tunco on the Saturday night though.

Next was back to the highlands but we couldn't decide between hiking in Juayua or Tacuba, so we went to both. A great hostel was recommended to us in Juayua and we stayed there briefly, but after we missed an early morning bus to go hike Cerro Verde we figured it wasn't meant to be so we packed it in for Tacuba.

In Tacuba we successfully got out into the woods and hiked through coffee plantations and jumped into the pools formed by a 30-metre waterfall. Almost got stuck there when the guide that was recommended to us asked us to run his hiking guide business while he went to Europe for 2 months. But since he couldn't seem to leave my girlfriend alone we figured not to do him any favours and left early the next morning for Guatemala.

First stop in Guatemala was Monterrico on the coast not far from the border although it took us several hours to get there - the trip included a spooky boat ride down a murky canal after dark to get to the actual city. Pretty much the only reason we went there was to participate in the releasing of baby sea turtles that happens on the beach every night. That's me in the photo above with our little fella that is now living the good life swimming around the big, deep blue.

After that was done we grabbed a direct shuttle to Antigua. It was an expensive ride at $10 US each, but the buses in Guatemala seem to be chronically late and over-crowded so we did ourselves a favour.

The photo below is me prior to jumping off a 30-metre waterfall in Parque El Imposible in western El Salvador.

PS - Remember that I am constantly updating our list of destinations, so click here to check out that post to get an overview of the trip so far.

Another Country Checked Off

Time flies when you´re having fun and that´s why the blog posts may be coming a little faster these days. That and our alotted time to finish up El Salvador and Guatemala ends in mid-January so we will be moving a bit quicker in the coming weeks.

We were sort of stuck on the Bay Island of Utila in Honduras for a bit while Mary Beth did her Open Water SCUBA certification, but we learned while we were there that it´s not uncommon for folks to get stuck there. Most people come for the cheap diving and some get stuck there doing a dive master course or maybe they just keep missing that 6:20 am ferry. We actually missed the ferry too because I urgently needed to use the bathroom and when I got back the ferry was long gone. Luckily there is a 2 pm ferry for those that aren´t too swift at such an early hour as 6 am.

When we finally got back to the mainland it was off to Omoa, a sleepy seaside village that has a very nice Spanish fort on its shores. We only spent 2 days there before we were off again. Next was Copan, the only Mayan ruins in Honduras, and they were amazing. I just hope that seeing Copan first doesn´t ruin visiting Tikal in Guatemala later on.

From Copan we high-tailed it to the border and are now in La Palma, El Salvador. It´s a nice mountain town with not much to do, so we´re doing some e-mailing and other dull stuff today before we head to La Libertad on the coast tomorrow.

Hello Honduras!

Hey, we're in Honduras. Yup, we finally left Nicaragua behind, but not without a little bit of hassle.

As it turns out Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua are all on the same entry stamp, so when we entered Nicaragua months ago we had 3 months to spend in all 3 countries. But nobody told us that, so we were all set to head into Honduras with one day left on our passport stamps. Luckily we were on a hike wth QuetzalTrekkers in Leon, Nicaragau and our guide filled us in on the latest visa developments for the area. Once we got back from hiking up and sleeping under an active volcano, we made a beeline to Managua to get another visa extension. We had heard it could take 7 hours or 7 minutes to get the process completed, so we were a little worried we would have to make a run for the Costa Rica border lickety-split to get a new 90-day stamp in our passports after spending 72 hours out of the country. After an hour at the immigration office we had a 2-month extension to spend in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. We celebrated with lunch at McDonald's (the fast food fiend only has restaurants in the capital) and headed north to Esteli for a night before we crossed into Honduras.

Not much of a shock upon entering the latest country on our trip. The money has a new name (lempiras), but the exchange is identical to the Nicaraguan cordoba. The biggest difference I noticed at first was the non-stop reggaeton coming from every radio and stereo in Nicaragua had been replaced by some kick-ass classic rock blasting on Honduran buses.

We started out in Tegucigalpa, but the big city didn't agree with us. We actually went to a huge, modern shopping mall to get more cash before we headed to the north coast. A couple nights in La Cieba to get some much-needed laundry done and we were off to the Bay Islands, Honduras' little corner of the Caribbean. And that's where I am now writing this post.

Mary Beth has done her Open Water Scuba certification and I did a refresher course, and today we had our first dive together. Lots of coral and fish to see, and the water is so warm, nothing like the Canadian waters I first learned to dive in. We plan to do a couple more dives, hopefully we'll see some whale sharks, before we get back to the mainland and check out a couple more spots in Honduras before going to El Salvador.