Baja to Bali

We arrive in Panama, and head to the Darien region, near the border with Colombia. We are hosted by a family from the indigenous Embera group in a small village on the banks of the Sambu river. We experience a completely different way of life, hike through the jungle and take a trip along the river. One of the highlights for me was the pet toucan whose personality matched his vibrant colours. Lowlights included drinking very cloudy river water, eating eggs for every meal, and seeing how depleted of wildlife the forest was (hunting is part of the traditional way of life). It was undoubtedly a fairly unique experience.

We spend Easter week in the colonial city of Granada and then head to Ometepe island in Lake Nicaragua. Its a very distinctive looking island, with its twin volcanoes rising sharply from the ocean. We do some cycling, some hiking, some swimming, and plenty of relaxing. Ben samples Flor de Cana, Nicaragua's typical liquor, and we stay in a pretty cool, home made bamboo lodge with lake views. All in all, a pretty cool trip!

We spend a week or so in Leon, a pretty colonial city near the Pacific, and birthplace of the revolutionary movement in Nicaragua. From here we hike one of the active volcanos in the country and take a kayaking / camping trip to a nature reserve on the Pacific coast. Then we head inland, to the much more sparsely populated centre of the country for more hiking surrounded by stunning scenery and virgin rainforest. So far, we are really loving Nicaragua!

We take a road trip along Ruta de las Flores (the flower route), exploring some of the smaller towns with larger indigenous populations. Then we hike up the Santa Ana volcano, with cool view of the crater and the surrounding area. Then time to drop off our hire car and head out east to the small city of La Union with a lively, friendly and altogether very Salvadorian vibe. Finally, time to leave El Salvador and take the boat to Nicaragua.

We explore San Salvador and then hire a car to explore a few places outside the city. Its interesting learning about the country's troubled recent history - the civil war in the 70s and early 80s and then the violence caused by gangs up until a few years ago. Its pretty safe now though, so a really good time to explore the country and appreciate its pretty towns and beautiful volcanoes and lakes.

We take the boat from the southern part of Belize to Livingston, Guatemala, and then head up the Rio Dulce. Its a beautiful river; bounded by dense forests and a backdrop of mountains, with mangroves and water lilies lining the banks. We took a trip in search of the elusive manatees. We didn't spot any, but it was a wonderful trip none the less. We then head to San Salvador via Antigua, which we loved first time round and couldn't resist stopping in again, albeit briefly. After a few days of very long bus journeys we end up in a great apartment in San Salvador, where we will stay for the next couple of weeks.

We spend a couple of weeks in Belize, visiting the Mayan ruins in the highlands, and enjoying the snorkelling on Caye Caulker and San Pedro, before heading south through Hopkins to Punta Gorda. We do have mixed feelings about the country - the scenery is stunning, and the snorkelling is wonderful, but it is rapidly becoming over developed and spoilt by too much tourism. We always hate being a part of that, but find it so hard to tell before we visit a place. That being said, it was amazing swimming with sharks!

We explore the area around Flores, visiting the Mayan ruins at Tikal and Yaxha, among other places, as well as the small island of Flores itself.