Another Adventure!
A whole 10 months without packing my backpack and wandering into the unknown - practically unheard of for me. I've had a few hand-luggage jaunts to European cities such as Lisbon, Amsterdam and Lausanne with friends but nothing that truly satisfied my taste for adventure.
So, after completing my PGCE 🙌, running the London Marathon 💪and conquering my fear of driving 😅 I have decided to reward myself with a trip to Central America (see map below if you're unsure which 'bit' that is). I thought I better get in another lengthy trip before I start my full-time teaching job and am restricted to the, still long but over-priced, school holidays.
Why Central America? Well, I loved the culture and history of South America and feel that Central America might provide a similar latino, lazy and eclectic vibe. I've been in Asia a fair amount in the last few years so wanted a contrast to that. And last but not least I have heard from various friends - and seen via their instagram posts - of it's stunning historical sites, natural beauty and fabulous yoga scene, what more could I want?
I've been very sporadically engaging in route planning; first looking at some organised tours, and realising they were too expensive by half, but using their itineraries as a starting point (see below). I've asked friends' advice, studied maps, a central america guidebook, trip advisor and the hostelworld app to come up with the following plan - as always with lots of wiggle room, in fact vast swathes of it as I only actually have flights booked!
Fri 28th June - Fly from London to Mexico City
Mexico
29th - 30th June - Mexico City - Frida Kahlo's House, Xochimilco floating gardens, Teotihuacan ruins
1st - 4th July - Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca as I have luckily found out) - soaking up Mexican culture with Spanish lessons, cooking class, markets and more ancient ruins
5th - 8th July - La Punta at Puerto Escondido - chill time at a yogi surf beach
9th July - 36hour journey from West to East of Mexico
10th - 11th July - Cancun - to see if its as tacky and full of 'spring-breakers' as one might expect, day trip to Chichen Itza and one of many sinkholes
12th - 14th July - Isla Mujeres - 5 mile long island with golf buggies instead of cars, an underwater art exhibition and all the hippies!
15th -16th July - Tulum - coastal Mayan ruins and apparently the best new backpacker hangout
Belize
17th - 18th July - Caye Caulker - island forming part of a barrier reef - snorkelling and diving obviously!
19th - 20th July - San Ignacio - inland town with caves and Caracol to explore
Guatemala
21st - 22nd July - Flores - a tiny town in the middle of a lake as jumping off point to Tikal - the last of the Mayan ruins
23rd - 24th July - Semuc Champey - deep river valley with tons of watersports and a stay at a jungle lodge
25th -27th July - Lake Atitlan - big lake with lots of native Mayan settlements and some volcanoes to climb
28th - 29th July - Antigua - colonial city
30th July - only the second night and day bus through El Salvador and Honduras
Nicaragua
31st July - 1st Aug - Leon - should probably do some more research on this one - its a town!
2nd - 4th Aug - Granada - pretty city by Lake Nicaragua - hoping to stay in a tree-house outside the city
5th - 7th Aug - Isla de Ometepe - volcanic island in the middle of the lake for some volcano hiking and definitely some sort of tree-house
8th - 12th Aug - Little Corn - a potentially terrifying little flight over to a remote paradise island on Nica's Caribbean coast - no cars, no supermarkets - just coconuts, yoga and sand between my toes
13th August - fly from Nicaragua back to Mexico City for return flight home
I thought I'd factored in lots of chill time but by the looks of things I haven't. Let's see what happens!
A whole 10 months without packing my backpack and wandering into the unknown - practically unheard of for me. I've had a few hand-luggage jaunts to European cities such as Lisbon, Amsterdam and Lausanne with friends but nothing that truly satisfied my taste for adventure.
So, after completing my PGCE 🙌, running the London Marathon 💪and conquering my fear of driving 😅 I have decided to reward myself with a trip to Central America (see map below if you're unsure which 'bit' that is). I thought I better get in another lengthy trip before I start my full-time teaching job and am restricted to the, still long but over-priced, school holidays.
I've been very sporadically engaging in route planning; first looking at some organised tours, and realising they were too expensive by half, but using their itineraries as a starting point (see below). I've asked friends' advice, studied maps, a central america guidebook, trip advisor and the hostelworld app to come up with the following plan - as always with lots of wiggle room, in fact vast swathes of it as I only actually have flights booked!
Fri 28th June - Fly from London to Mexico City
Mexico
29th - 30th June - Mexico City - Frida Kahlo's House, Xochimilco floating gardens, Teotihuacan ruins
1st - 4th July - Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca as I have luckily found out) - soaking up Mexican culture with Spanish lessons, cooking class, markets and more ancient ruins
5th - 8th July - La Punta at Puerto Escondido - chill time at a yogi surf beach
9th July - 36hour journey from West to East of Mexico
10th - 11th July - Cancun - to see if its as tacky and full of 'spring-breakers' as one might expect, day trip to Chichen Itza and one of many sinkholes
12th - 14th July - Isla Mujeres - 5 mile long island with golf buggies instead of cars, an underwater art exhibition and all the hippies!
15th -16th July - Tulum - coastal Mayan ruins and apparently the best new backpacker hangout
Belize
17th - 18th July - Caye Caulker - island forming part of a barrier reef - snorkelling and diving obviously!
19th - 20th July - San Ignacio - inland town with caves and Caracol to explore
Guatemala
21st - 22nd July - Flores - a tiny town in the middle of a lake as jumping off point to Tikal - the last of the Mayan ruins
23rd - 24th July - Semuc Champey - deep river valley with tons of watersports and a stay at a jungle lodge
25th -27th July - Lake Atitlan - big lake with lots of native Mayan settlements and some volcanoes to climb
28th - 29th July - Antigua - colonial city
30th July - only the second night and day bus through El Salvador and Honduras
Nicaragua
31st July - 1st Aug - Leon - should probably do some more research on this one - its a town!
2nd - 4th Aug - Granada - pretty city by Lake Nicaragua - hoping to stay in a tree-house outside the city
5th - 7th Aug - Isla de Ometepe - volcanic island in the middle of the lake for some volcano hiking and definitely some sort of tree-house
8th - 12th Aug - Little Corn - a potentially terrifying little flight over to a remote paradise island on Nica's Caribbean coast - no cars, no supermarkets - just coconuts, yoga and sand between my toes
13th August - fly from Nicaragua back to Mexico City for return flight home
I thought I'd factored in lots of chill time but by the looks of things I haven't. Let's see what happens!
