The bus ride from Atacó to Juayua is probably the easiest transport I’ve had. Between all the tourists here on the Ruta de las Flores and all the locals making their way around, there are chicken buses going back and forth all day long, and the ride was only about an hour. I found my awesome little hotel and checked right in. There’s only three rooms around this beautiful courtyard with an outdoor kitchen. My room was the furthest down…
I left Santa Ana to begin my trip through El Salvadors Ruta de las Flores, also known as the tourist track. This is supposedly the most beautiful part of El Salvador due to the unbelievable display of flowers that bloom all over the region during the summer. I’m missing the grand blooming, unfortunately, but it’s still a super beautiful area. My base for the first part is in Concepción de Atacó. The Ruta de las Flores is dotted with, primarily,…
I’m learning that getting around Central America is pretty darn easy. There are lots of cheap shuttle options that usually pick you up right at your hotel, and when there’s not, there’s an easy bus going right where you want. Just two blocks from my hotel in Guatemala city was where the bus left for my next destination, Santa Ana in El Salvador, and the next country on my list. The border crossing was easy and quick, and in just…
I left Copán early on a shuttle all the way back to Antigua, the only place the shuttles seem to go, and this is now my third time there. Not that I mind so much because Antigua is a pretty nice place to get “stuck” for a night. The next morning I was on another short shuttle ride to the capitol, Guatemala City. I dropped my trusty backpack off at the hotel and commenced with an epic museum day. The…
Wow, these early mornings are killing me! My bus from Antigua picked me up at 3:30am. WHY?! I don’t know. Needless to say, I slept like the dead for the first few hours. Anyway, my trip took me far northeast to the Honduran border where I crossed into the next country on my list, Honduras. The officials at this border crossing have the routine down to a science, both immigration offices are in the same building. The whole process only…
Just a short minivan trip west from Antigua and down into a massive caldera surrounded by volcanoes is the beautiful Lago Atitlán. All the towns around the lake are named after saints and my base for this stop is in San Pedro la Laguna, which is probably the most popular one with the most hotels, restaurants, etc. The lake is considerably bigger than it appears on the map! My hotel is right on the shore of the lake and holy…
My flight from Flores was so quick, it felt like it was over before it began. Less than an hour after take off I was on the ground in Guatemala City. After a quick lunch at the airport I was in a car on my way to my next stop, Antigua. Despite Guatemala City being the capitol and the most populous city in Guatemala, Antigua is the epicenter of the country, at least as far as tourism goes. With it’s…
Another bus full of tourists, another border crossing, without the corrupt officials this time though, and it’s welcome to Guatemala. My base for this part of the trip is the tourist saturated Flores, a tiny little island in Lago Petén Itzá connected to Santa Elena on the mainland by a quarter mile long causeway. Flores is a cool place to stroll around, but as far as I can tell its just hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops. I’m staying in Santa…
My border crossing from Chetumal, Mexico, into the next country on my list, Belize, went pretty smooth, if not a little slowly. I took a bus full of tourists, just like me. First we exited the bus to get stamped out of Mexico. Normally you get charged a Mexican tourism tax with your airline tickets, which I did, but I read that the border guards try to scam tourists into paying it again when leaving. Me and the couple in…
I hope you’re comfortable because this post is gonna be dense. I left Tulum on an early bus going further south to Chetumal and then got right into a taxi to take me to the airport where I rented a car for this next leg of the trip. Because a car equals freedom. But before driving out of Chetumal, I made a quick stop at their Mayan Culture Museum. The museum was fairly small, but sure packed a punch. They…