Category: CentralAmerica
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Pupusa Hour
As our bus approached a police checkpoint near the El Salvador border, the bus conductor informed everyone, they would need either their identification or 100 Lempiras ($5) in their hands. The actual border crossing was our easiest yet with a doctor checking for sick people, Honduran and Salvadoran officials, and a money changer all filing…
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Copan
It almost gets repetitive. Great civilization flourishes over a thousand years ago. They abuse their natural resources. They decline rapidly, and all they’re left with is corn and cold showers or illegally immigrating to the USA. Copan is the proclaimed ¨Paris of the Maya¨ – famous for their intriguing sculpture work and detailed hieroglyphic…
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In the Cold Room
Stepping into the cold room of Celaque Botanical Gardens is a nice respite from the heat of the Honduran lowlands. Orchids bloom profusely in hundreds of lush different varieties and pleasantly sculpted structures funnel the water into falls. In the canopy, the sounds of chirping birds are piped in through speakers. On the cardboard…
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Visit San Juan
San Juan, Honduras is a small town on Sunday when the market is open and bustling. On Monday morning, it´s a really small town. We arrived in San Juan after 3 hours of bumpy windy dirt roads North along the old Lenca Route, peers of the Mayas. Amongst the natural attractions of forests and…
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Ode to Coffee
On our last trip, we went to mostly tea-drinking areas, including New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and India. Even Tanzania, which grows some of the best coffee in the world, is inhabited by tea-drinkers. When we were able to find coffee in those countries, it was almost always instant. We had fortunate tasty exceptions in Vietnam…
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Borders
After crossing through the misty mountain pass from Nicaragua to Honduras the first sign of change was our breakfast ‘ rice, beans, eggs, ham, coffee, and mini-tortillas. Our first bus was still a school bus but our next connections introduced the crazy notion of ticket booths, reclining seats, and company bus terminals. These sound…
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Eating in Nicaragua
Breakfast in Nicaragua is one of two options. 1) A pastry from the panederia or street corner 2) ¨Desayuno¨ which means gallopinto (rice and beans), eggs, queso, tortillas, and optional meat, served with a sugary sweet black coffee. If we opt for #2, we wouldn´t need anything else until 3 or 4 in the afternoon.…
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Agua Caliente
After 3 weeks and 2 days, we had our first hot shower in Nicaragua. In the lowlands, cold showers were a refreshing afternoon break, but taking them in the mornings or evenings when the weather cooled was avoided. As we ascended in elevation, the weather and water cooled which made even afternoon showers unpleasant. Finally,…
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A cow?
The charades start early in Nicaragua. We can tell our surly waitress hates her job and we complicate it by not knowing the Spanish words for cooked egg styles. She makes a circle with her fingers. We say ¨Si¨. We get sunny side up, and a friendly bystander lets us know we could have ordered…
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Leon
In our tour of colonial cities of Central America, we add Leon. They have a lot of churches and houses with large courtyards overflowing with flowers. We greatly enjoyed hanging out in the park opposite this church.