Well, I have tried to like Costa Rica but it’s a small country – as I’m sure I have already mentioned – and most of it is in the hands of Americans, so, the good news is that my bank card has finally arrived at the Liberia Post Office and once I back track, by bus, to pick […]

I’m stuck in Costa Rica waiting for my new bank card to arrive. Sadly, it’s a small country and not one I’m particularly interested in. However, I can definitively report at this point in time that if you cook for yourself and camp it is not an expensive place to visit. A pineapple, a butternut squash, a […]

I know it’s de riguer to complain about how expensive and inauthentic Costa Rica is but, after a grand total of three days, I have to say I’m liking it so far. It is full of birds and they have names like the shining honeycreeper. I bought a papaya, a head of garlic, three sweet potatoes and a […]

Two linked volcanoes rising up in the middle of Lake Nicaragua form a infinity symbol that you could spiral around endlessly. Ometepe is  lush and tropical and very enticing but my stay here is marked by a sudden crisis of purpose – is that the infinite making itself felt? (A blog without photos is very impoverished thing.) […]

I’m still alive and well on Little Corn Island off the coast of Nicaragua and I’ve been discovering the endless mysteries of the ocean – diving with hammerheads, eagle rays, giant turtles and an endless myriad of other underwater beasts. Unfortunately until I get a new computer there are going to be no more photos. […]

I’m still in La Meskitia but back on the road system and safe and sound, thus far. UPDATE: As luck would have it, the bi-monthly boat to the Corn Islands is running a day late and happens to still be in the port and I am about to jump on it. This piece of serendipity means that […]

My computer has finally sucumbed – to what I’m not exactly sure but it no longer springs to life. Zilch, nada. This means that I have no practical way to process my photos and work on the blog.

I’m off to the depths of La Moskitia so I’ll be out of touch for a few weeks. In the meantime there are a few retro posts below.

I’ve been lagging on the blogging front, for some time, I know. It’s not that I don’t want to keep it up to date but the further into Central America I go the harder it is to find good internet connections. Right now I’m heading into the back country of Honduras so there may be some longish […]

I whizz into Santa Ana, El Salvador’s second largest city, slightly ahead of schedule and spend most a of day waiting for Lindsey to turn up on the bus. It’s a hot humid place of bustling markets. The next morning we explore the centre a little. Santa Ana's municipal building reminds of the opening of a James […]

I haven’t really been intending to go to El Salvador but a dear friend of mine who usually lives in Prague is currently travelling in Central America and she manages to convince me to pedal in that direction to see her. We agree to meet in Santa Ana and spend a few days by the nearby […]

Once again, I’m leaving. A few parting images of Guatemala.
Looking up…
…and looking down in Antigua.
Public washing faciliities.
A procession in Santa Maria de Jesus.
Santa Maria, as the sun goes down.
Pacaya, smoking away.

Maya Pedal is an organisation in a small, unremarkable town, near Antigua, in Guatemala which does up old bicycles, donated by richer countries, and sells them a relatively affordable prices to locals. The organisation also designs and builds innovative pedal powered machines that perform all manner of useful functions from grinding corn to making smoothies. Everything at […]

There is a whole universe contained in the interior of a chicken bus. Evangelicals preaching to a captive audience. Some faces in the crowd. The bus driver spends the entire trip on the phone. Most of the audience sleep through the show. People get on and off selling all manner of things. The assistent is on the constant lookout for more business. […]

Tajmulco at 4220 metres is the highest peak in Central America and Silke and I tackle it on an overnight jaunt. We set out from Xela on the chicken bus (more on that later) and start up the mountain. Starting out… (Photo: Silke Moeckel) The mountain is largely deforested but a few old pines remain. Looking down … … and […]

Xela quickly starts to feel like home. I am lucky enough to score a room in Posada San Andres, a ramshackle set of buildings that surround a sunny cobbled courtyard inhabited by an eclectic bunch of expats doing their thing in Xela. The place is cheap and chilled out. Posada San Andres has something of the feel […]

One of the reasons for coming to Xela is its proximity to two of Guatemala’s highest mountains. Santa Maria looms over the town at 3771 metres and Tajumulco, Central America’s highest peak at 4220 metres, is not far away. I am keen to climb both of them. After stocking up on some warm cloths at Xela’s markets […]

Xela is Guatemala’s second largest city and it has a significant population of foreigners – the majority of whom are studying Spanish and/or working at a host of NGOs on various social projects. Despite my rather unfortunate introduction to the city I quickly warm to Xela  – there is a good second hand bookshop with an […]

We arrive in Xela early enough in the day to have ample time to find somewhere to stay and then address myself to the task of finding a good restaurant where I can celebrate my birthday in style. Xela has a surprising good, if somewhat pricey, Indian restaurant where I decide to celebrate my birthday. The fish […]

As soon as my bike is back together, I set off from Panajachel towards Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second biggest city – more commonly known as Xela, its name in the local indigenous language. Nancy and Matthew have given me information about a dirt road that goes over the mountains to Totonicapan and as the alternative route to […]