Central America- Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica

Our August involved journeying around the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It was a rather speedy trip to get a taste for this region. The towns visited were: Antigua in Guatemala; Copan in Honduras, Suchitito and Playa El Cuco in El Salvador; Leon, Managua and Granada in Nicaragua; and Monteverde, La Fortuna and San Jose in Costa Rica. This area of the world is filled with forests, jungle, lakes, active volcanoes, colourful birds, biodiversity, colonial buildings and easy going vibes.

For 10 years, Central America was one country as a Federation of the now independent Central American countries, except for Panama. Venezuela and Colombia were also involved for a while. 70% of the population were Indigenous and taken advantage of and land taken away. Companies were formed growing and exporting bananas. In 1944, there was an uprising called a revolution then 36years of civil war. Instead of fighting for education/ food/ dignity, people were fighting for their lives which has set the country back a lot still today. In the 1980s, there was more migration to the USA to work as cheap labour as they were very good at working on fields. Some started getting in trouble and going to prison and there are several gangs from this era still active in Los Angeles and New York.

Our time in this part of the world started off with a frantic airport stopover in Mexico City. We landed at the same time as our connection flight was already meant to be boarding. The airline hadn’t transferred our luggage, so we had to exit and go through customs etc then collect our bags and re-go through passport control, security and baggage. We didn’t think we stood a chance of making it and were brainstorming alternative options, but as good luck would have it — the next flight was significantly delayed, so after over 1km of running to the other end of the airport to gate 50something, we made it to the gate with time to spare. The check in counter had closed bag-drop by the time we got there and when we asked the customs lady the likelihood of making it her expression showed she didn’t think so but somehow we and our luggage made it too. We hadn’t eaten all day and didn’t expect anything to be open on arrival in Antigua in the early hours of the morning so bothered the flight attendants for eight packs of Doritos — the only food apparently on board.

We made it to Antigua, Guatemala and settled in for five nights to ease into Central America. Guatemala is where Duolingo was invented. Antigua is a medium-ish sized city, about an hour drive from the country’s capital, Guatemala City. We were picked up by a pre-arranged transfer from the airport who drove us the safest way around Guatemala City on winding roads. Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes and renowned for its cobblestone streets and Spanish colonial buildings. Many buildings were restored following a 1733 earthquake. There was a good café scene from which we chose our favourites- Los 3 Tiempos and ABC: Antigua Brewing Company both with views and Hector’s bistro. The hotel we stayed in, as with most we then stayed at in Central America, had free purified water refills available at reception which was great as it saved plenty of plastic which we’ve been going through way too much of in other countries for clean drinking water this year. The main sites wandered around in Antigua were Arch of Santa Catalina, Central Plaza Park, La Merced church and Mercado de Artesanias.

Our highlight of visiting Antigua was definitely venturing up Pacaya volcano. It is 2,500metres above seas level and the most active volcano in Guatemala. We went there on a trek, about a 90minute bus ride away, packed into a shuttle bus. There was a guide speaking in Spanish. The hike up Pacaya took about 90minutes and a bit less back down. The track wasn’t too steep and is amid humid forest and rocks. The higher we walked, the more black ash-like the ground beneath us became. At the top of where can be accessed, we saw our first lava flows! A smoking crater loomed above and we could hear the lava bubbling. It was fascinating to visit this aspect of Earth’s environment. There were impressive views of other, surrounding volcanoes from here too of Agua, Fuego and Acatenango volcanoes. Tragically, hundreds of people were killed and still missing from an eruption of Fuego volcano last year.

We enjoyed our time in Guatemala and think there’d been plenty more to explore in this country. Randomly, we learned that Guatemala is closely allied with Israel and recently voted to move the embassy to Jerusalem. During the nights throughout Central America, there were sometimes rapid noise that sounded like gun fire which we asked about and were told maybe it was or maybe it was a “bird-scarer”.

Our next destination was Honduras by bus at 3:45am. There were road blocks to get here due to Guatemalans protesting their government which is reportedly corrupt. Their protest involves blocking traffic about a deal made by their President with US President Trump for offshore processing asylum seekers here. Once in Copan, Honduras we went straight for lunch. My meal was one of the best of the trip — a tradition dish called anafre that was delicious of beans and cheese with nacho chips. On the TV at this restaurant, we watched news of riots in the streets going on in the capital city, Tegucigalpa. Honduras’ political situation is a tough and corrupt one reportedly with much interference from another certain country and “drug lords”. During elections last year, the lights went out across the whole country while votes were being counted. When the lights came back on, the candidate in 4th place was suddenly in the lead for the votes count. Our tour guide, Pablo, explained how this makes people feel like going to vote is only nurturing the system. He explained how people then either don’t care to vote, know about democracy, or governments can keep people not knowing what is really going on by manipulating them to vote by giving them a free t-shirt. It’s never about politics but instead is about money. He recommended reading the books Open Reigns/Veins of Latin America and Mr President. There is so much more to learn about the politics of this region such as how the Nicaraguan president sought political asylum in El Salvador and there are trade restrictions relating to Venezuela.

Next up, in Honduras we visited Macaw Mountain bird park and nature reserve. There are 280 birds here. 80% of these birds were rescued and the others are injured. Some locals want to have a bird that “talks” but they end up leaving them when it doesn’t go how they imagined. Macaw Mountain aims to quickly release the birds they can if they are able to fly again. They also try to breed some of these birds that are endangered. Eight macaws were released last month. We saw toucans, macaws, parrots, vultures and rare owls. Macaws can live to 50years. Some of the issues facing them include illegal trafficking, deforestation, intoxication due to contamination and eating poisoned animals. Parrots are vital to the ecosystem as they can spread seeds flying around 45km/day. Parrots are also monogamous so won’t breed again if taken away from their original partner. If captured in homes, they grow up thinking they are a human and thinking they already have a human partner so get aggressive if they see another parrot because they thought they were special and become distressed, pulling their feathers. They are also dimorphic meaning that their gender can not be told apart. If parrots like each other, they regurgitate food to each other, meaning they’re officially a couple. Birds captured in a human home as babies don’t stand a chance of survival back in the wild so the sanctuary looks after them. It can take 20 years to stop feeding them as they don’t know how to find their own food. They can only walk around as they don’t know how to fly. Some of these birds end up living double the length of time their species usually would in the wild because of how well they are protected and looked after. After Macaw Mountain, we went to a chocolate and coffee café among the trees and relaxed in a hammock. The transport around Copan, which is very hilly, was golf buggies that go quite speedily. The next morning, we ate a hearty breakfast at Welchez café.

El Salvador was our next country visited. El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the most densely populated. Once upon a time, this country didn’t want Central America to separate and then wanted to be part of Mexico for access to both oceans. The capital city has frequent earthquakes shaking it and it rains a lot. El Salvador is also reportedly the 4th happiest country on Earth. In 2001, inflation was so bad that the USA sent $1 coins which can still only be used here. People commonly sit outside their homes in the streets and watch people and time go by. Like many other countries around the world, there are two school shifts- one for the morning and the other students go in the afternoon. The children work or look after younger siblings for the other half of the day. Suchitito was the first town we visited. It means bird flower. This town has a colonial past. Randomly, in the hotel, we rescued a bird from being stuck in a drain pipe. We went out for dinner and were shocked after eating well that a couple of pupusas total cost was $1 each. Definitely a place where tipping is necessary. Somewhere around here was where a lot of fireworks were being sold along the side of the road and we saw some guys napping in hammocks while driving along in the back of a truck.

We went for an afternoon drive around some main sites of interest in Suchitoto. We climbed down a steep crevasse to a special rock formation of inclined rocks called the Los Tercios waterfall. Then we went to a look out with a large lake view. 40% of the country’s electricity is made here from hydroelectricity. The surrounding land was bought apparently in a rip off by the government from the farmers. Led and mercury levels are high so fish may not be wise to eat over a lifetime here. We met a lady, Doroles, who at 73 years old is a third generation tobacco roller. She used to have 15 ladies working with her in her home factory. Doroles still rolls 1000cigars/day and showed us how. A pack of 25 cigars sells for $5US. The younger generation now don’t want to go into this trade though as the labour costs and raw material costs are too high. She offered us moonshine shots with lime, cinnamon and brown sugar. Another local woman showed us the Indigo women’s collective. This group produces goods tie-dyed in the indigo colour that the region has a lot of. Indigo was the main export here for 200 years. We won a handkerchief that we saw made. While in Suchitoto, we ate breakfasts at a café called Grandma’s. Some of the street scenes here reminded us of parts of Africa and there was a strong sense of community.

El Cuco, via a lunch stop in San Miguel, was our next destination in El Salvador for a couple of very pleasant days. El Cuco is a black sand beach on the Pacific coast. The water was so perfectly warm. I absolutely loved it. We had a wonderful time in the real ocean salty waves, splashing around and swimming all day with nachos, massage and hammock reading breaks. The accommodation was a basic wooden shack at a place called La Tortuga Verde which means turtle. It had an eco-friendly vibe with turtle hatchings happening sometimes between 11pm-1am that they help protect. This is good as many turtles have been having a rough time as they head for resort lights instead of the ocean when they hatch and get caught up in hazardous plastics. On the second evening here, we went for a speed boat ride along the coast for sunset. We also enjoyed several whole fish for meals and snacked on plantain chips which are sort of like a savory banana that tastes like potato and is common to the region.

As much as we could have stayed longer in El Cuco, the next morning at 3am we left for a bus ride and border crossing to Nicaragua. This country boasts being the safest in Central America, with the least bribery of police. Locals get around in packed trucks that are known as “chicken buses”. Our first stop was the town of Leon. We visited a contemporary art museum and saw the largest cathedral in Central America. K1 went volcano-boarding down Cerro Negro active volcano all kitted up in a jumpsuit, mouth-covering bandana and goggles. There are many volcanoes in this region because of its proximity to the ring of fire. It was once part of Pangea land mass. The road has been built 10 times because of tectonic plates movement. Much of the population works in farming. They tend to have a specific specialty in one type of produce because it likely grows all year around, such as watermelons. This is because the soil is rich in fertile nutrients due to the volcanoes they grow fast. Corn was first domesticated here by the Mayans. Christopher Columbus journeyed here from Italy and Spain after getting three boats lost stumbled upon the region. The massive Pacific Ocean was found. Cacao was weighed as a currency and some put clay in it sneakily to have more weight. Their gold was taken as they didn’t realise its worth.

Nicaragua currently has a socialist government with some serious issues going on that we learnt about during a day stop in the capital city, Managua. Last year, it would have been much harder and unadvisable to go here as there was political unrest in the streets. This was sparked by changes to social security regulations. Main areas are now guarded by a dominant government police presence. It has been made illegal for people to congregate in one spot incase of protest. The unrest has been in reaction to the Nicaraguan government’s overall reportedly corrupt ways that the people would like overthrown. The Vice President, who also just so happens to be President’s wife, controversially ordered the construction of 140 metal tree structures that cost US$3million. 40 of these were taken down by protesters in last year’s uprising and we saw many of the remaining which are very prominent throughout Managua. Hundreds of people were killed during this time over three months of lockdown. There is a big statue of the leader’s face that 1000+ police were sent to guard and shoot people that tried to remove barricades. A female news reporter was jailed after speaking out about the government on a TV channel when police went in on-air and turned it off. The channel has since been closed and we stood above the political prison from a look out over the city where the journalist is still jailed. We also drove past the 24/7 still heavily guarded now closed TV station building. We were able to ask a local guide lots of interesting questions about the political situation, but only when safely inside a shuttle bus so as not to be overheard. We wandered around the Plaza of the Revolution and Square of the Republic- its name depends on who is in power; the old cathedral, city hall, national theatre, square of faith, national palace/museum and where congress served until 1959. The new presidential palace was donated by Taiwan. There was a Chinese businessman hoping to build a US$50Billion competitor to the Panama canal in Nicaragua but this deal seems to have fallen through.

Managua is a very green city with many mango, lemon and orange trees. We walked along the waterfront where we were the only ones there. There was a cordoned-off government area where there was a plane as a prop for government families to take photos with which seemed very random. The lake that surrounds Managua is very deep and was cleaned up funded by a German bank. There have been two devastating earthquakes in Managua in 1972 that killed 20,000 people and destroyed 80,000 buildings. There are 16 major fault lines through the city with one going for 70km and to others for 30km. Buildings were previously made of clay and grass then reinforced with wood and tiles. Cheap material was used to re-build during the Samoza dictatorship. Managua remains fairly low rise and spread out as people have moved further south. Managua means surrounded by water. Addresses are non-existent and residents describe their address by landmarks such as “the yellow house three blocks off the highway one street away from the lake right of the mountain and next to a tree”.

We were told a story about how market vendors hired a gang to protect themselves until when they couldn’t afford to pay them anymore they were looted as police were working with them. Another story involved a childhood of hiding in the middle room of their house away from bullet spray on the streets. These stories were from 1979 but last year were being repeated to the next generation. Nicaraguans dependent on tourism have lost a lot of income from the recent political unrest and are waiting for tourists to return. Other Nicaraguans have gone to the USA in search of economic development prospects. Visas to the USA are not guaranteed though and are costly to even apply for. 200,000 jobs were lost last year as businesses closed. Others have left to Spain and Costa Rica. Until the unrest, the economy was growing at 5% annually, but this year has slowed to 0%. Tourism had been growing at 10–12% annually until April 2018. “Democracy was going down but the economy was going up”. The USA has threatened to embargo trade if human rights do not improve. The Nicaraguans have been through a civil war before in the 1980s with bloodshed of 50,000people in the Sandinistas and Ortega era so don’t want to have to repeat it. Sometimes friends gather in small groups of 5–10 at traffic lights and sing for 1minute or drive by roundabouts and release a blue balloon. A 75-year-old woman started a banned movement of wearing red lips and was taken to prison for it. The majority are reportedly waiting for the next elections and hoping for a new government with electoral reform, although they also doubt the current government will easily relinquish power. A negotiating team including the Catholic Church is currently negotiating with the government for elections to occur by 2021. They are also trying to have the deaths of the hundreds of people from last year’s uprising investigated. The president-owned national daily newspaper has gone from 40pages to 8pages and now not on weekends as paper is running out. We also drove past the university where bullet holes were visible on the building sides from another incident last year.

Granada was our third city visited in Nicaragua. The centre of town has a nice leafy Central Park and flowing stone fountain. Streets are lined with pastel coloured buildings. There are 17 cathedrals in Granada and arriving on a Sunday, elsewhere was quiet. We went to a French bakery for double lunch sandwiches and soup special. I visited the donation-based Ortiz-Gurdian Foundation Art Museum of Latin American and European artworks. We saw a vet where bring your cow in was advertised in a main street. There was a cute shop called Sophia’s cupcakes. Granada had many nice eateries, colourful markets with vendors selling handicrafts, fruits and sweets, and the main pedestrian street is called Calle la Calzada. Sitting in the main square, we noticed that drinks can be purchased for cheaper if they pour it out of the bottle to be recycled and into a plastic bag with a plastic straw to take-away- which seems to defeat the purpose perhaps of recycling the bottles but it is good they’re trying. There was a cool café and shop called Smiles Café and Mission Hammocks. This business’ mission statement is helping people to achieve their goals and dreams by making hammocks in a workshop staffed with people who have various disabilities. These people may otherwise have trouble finding good work and receive a fair salary and fun work environment. The hammocks are very high quality and we’d certainly like to buy one from their online store when we one day have more space at home. Other great café/restaurants in Granada were The Garden Café and Pita Pita.

From Granada, we visited a crater lake for an afternoon kayak and swim to a floating raft. In the evening, we went on an exciting excursion to the top of active Masaya volcano. We looked down 320metres into its lava 2000+degrees Celsius bubbling. Masaya is monitored for gasses. It is hypothesised that if it exploded, the lava would cover 25–30km around it. It is also known as “the gates to hell” from when a Spanish priest visited 500years ago and thought it was gold and went down close to it with his cross three times to throw in water. More recently, National Geographic scientists have been there researching. The crater has been opened since the 1850s, with the last movement recorded in the 1980s. Only in this last year or so has the lava been again as visible as it is now. We had a suspenseful ride home from this evening in the taxi. The driver suddenly pulled over and a random man got in the front seat. They were talking in Spanish which we barely understood. The random man kept rummaging around in his pocket and putting his backpack on while still seated. K1 and I were looking at each other anticipating what was going to be pulled out and what to do if it turned hectic (knock him out, steal gun, sacrifice my ring), having been primed with horror stories of getting in random taxis and also at dinner saying how we’ve been lucky having nothing like this happen all year to us. The random intoxicated man in the front eventually pulled out what looked like a lotto ticket and we think had the driver read the numbers back to him. The random guy seemed stoked he’d won we think was equivalent to US$20. We tracked the rest of our route watching Google maps towards our hotel and were relieved to stay on route and it was all totally fine. We think maybe the taxi driver had simply seen his friend on the street in a bad state and been asked to drive him home. The next day we went for another taxi ride and a mother and her baby were already in the vehicle so maybe we left the same impression on them — by now we realised ride sharing this way must be the norm here as even full taxis pull over for more people to get in if they’re waved at.

On our last morning in Granada, we ventured to the markets on a mission to find a measuring tape. We have kept a look out for one of these for a while now as K1 needs to send off his measurements ready for his wedding tux. The markets we found had a really awesome atmosphere. There was catchy music playing loudly and vendors selling very specific wares of their specialty. We found the measuring tape and had pleasant interactions with a variety of friendly and helpful locals.

Next on our journey in Nicaragua, we took a ferry ride to Ometepe Island in Lake Cocibolca. The ferry there was a bit choppy and there were posters warning of dengue mosquitoes being in the area with ferocious cartoon drawings of angry-looking mozzies. A volcanic eruption 3,000years ago made the island and others in the lake. There were windmills along the way in the water. There is evidence of Aztecs and Mayans trading plates and ceramics here. Their Indigenous ancestors that inhabited the region would eat deer, armadillo, toads, iguana, dog, squash, tomatoes, chilies, cacao, beans and then the Spanish introduced sugarcane, chickens, pigs, oil and rice. Women ran the markets and men cleaned and kept homes, harvesting food. The working rates for women remain high. Today, the population of Ometepe Island region is around 40, 000people. The land mass is 10x80km. There is one wildly driven main road through the centre of the island. Agriculture is the main production with seasonal harvest of plantain and sesame seeds. Ancient petroglyphs have been found which are the oldest form of human writing. We visited a chocolate café for some hammock chill out time and saw a procession for the patron saint virgin of the angels ceremony which was apparently an occasion being marked for that day. Our accommodation was lovely on the waterfront with a balcony to sit up on as it rained the whole time. There was a surprise performance by a local group rehearsing there in a communal area.

The highlight of our time on Ometepe Island was an evening in the Esquipulas community involving a cooking class and pinata party. One of the local families has started a tourism business and we were the first group to visit. A grandmother and her grandson interpreting to English for us took us through teaching us to cook the traditional food nacatamales. They were delicious. There was also a soup-like mixture served as an entrée that they’d prepared earlier that was one of the tastiest meals of the year. The families two young daughters sat with us and were very cute. Once we’d finished cooking, families from the surrounding community joined us for the meal and pinata celebration. I sat next to a four year old girl named Saley and her mum. We managed some communication through the language barrier. They are a close-knit, welcoming community and all the children appeared to have a lot of fun hitting the pinata then gathering the lollies. Saley did very well with her stash. K1’s go at the pinata was great entertainment with laughs from the audience too. There were fireflies flying around and it was a lovely, memorable evening. Nicaragua overall has been a stand-out of our time in Central America.

Costa Rica was our next country and my country number 70 visited total. Costa Rica’s population is approximately 6million people. About half a million of this population is Nicaraguan who work as cheap labour. They have no army as it was abolished after the civil war. This country holds 5% of the world’s biodiversity. This includes sloths of which we can report on, despite five days of attempts, spotting a grand total of zero. The quakers are a religious group who settled in this region in the 1980s and promoted conservation areas. Costa Rica was significantly more “Westernised” with noticeable North American influences. The country is a global leader in sustainability having pledged and on track for all renewables by 2040. As we drove into Costa Rica, we were almost immediately in thick fog, up in the clouds and it was very wet with no sun. This climate is called the cloud forest of Monte Verde. The cloud forest draws its water from a semi-permanent cloud covering similar to a rainforest. The lodge we stayed in had natural wooden look which we liked. For lunch, we went to CASEM Artisans café which is a women’s artists cooperative. We went for a nice dinner at Tree House restaurant which is built up in the branches of a big tree. Funnily with hindsight, K1 went to tip the band playing next to us as we left and got the currency conversion confused giving them US$25 so they would have thought we thought they were extra amazing, whoops.

We spent two nights in Monte Verde and then another two nights in the more built-up and touristy La Fortuna. It was a lot more expensive than the rest of Central America has been and catered more to package tourists than our intrepid liking. To get between these two places, we drove on either side of a boat ride across Lake Arenal. Around this area we crossed the continental divide which is an extremely windy and always raining place. Some of Jurassic Park was apparently filmed nearby. This area receives more than 100inches of rain per year. In La Fortuna, we went on a hanging bridges walk. There are 2000 plant species, 320 bird species and 100 mammal species. There are walking palms that move up to 3metres every year by their roots. We heard cicadas and saw posters of interesting animals but all we saw were ants and a super tiny poisonous red frog.

There is a saying in Costa Rica called “Pura Vida” that is capitalised on along the tourist track. It means something like a lifestyle of positive aptitude and philosophy of happiness. We ate twice at a café called Organico which was yummy, healthy vegan food. Our last day in Costa Rica was spent journeying to the capital city, San Jose. It was a big, modern city. There was a fair amount of barbed wire in some neighbourhoods. We had the afternoon and evening to explore. San Jose had a number of park and recreation centres. There was a funky food stalls setup for dinner. Our journey over the last couple of weeks in Central America had taken us 1,739km and has been excellent to experience.

*Disclaimer: all written with best intentions, apologies for any factual inaccuracies.