Baja to Bali

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.

We head off into the jungle, for a 6-day trek to "El Mirador", one of the biggest archaeological sites in this part of the world. Its a pretty tough trek, but we are with a great group, and there are lots of animals to spot and ancient Mayan ruins to see. We are also blessed with beautiful sunsets from the top of a different pyramid every day. We don't manage to spot any jaguars, but we do see plenty of jaguar footprints (maybe that's a good thing). If you are interested in doing the El Mirador Trek from Flores, check out our blog with all the practical details here: https://www.bajatobali.com/post/our-tips-for-the-el-mirador-trek-guatemala

We break up the journey to Flores, in the very north of Guatemala, with a couple of stops. The first stop, at the Biotopo de Quetzal, offers us the hope of seeing the Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. They are beautiful birds, but sadly there are not many of them left, and we didn't spot one. But we did enjoy the forest walk. The second stop was to see Semuc Champey, a quite unique set of limestone pools sitting over the top of a river. Also a very beautiful place. Enjoy!