What a beautiful place this was! Mountains and sea views, flowers everywhere and the hostel was incredible. We stayed at Casa de Olas for $15 a night - I cannot believe this place wasn't listed on lonely planet but it was beside the Naked Tiger hostel which was full so we said we'd have a look. It was absolutely beautiful (needless to say I was disappointed in the Naked Tiger - Big druggie vibe and people who thought they were great) I cannot rate Case del Olas e...

The night bus to Nicarauga was much better than I expected. We even had a police escort right to the Nicaraguan boarder as in previous years there had been muggings on the way - the company we travelled with "Gekko" had been mugged 3 times! (Hence the police escort). It was a shuttle bus but it was quite comfortable and the seats could recline plus it wasn't as cold with blasting AC from the usual night buses. In addition, the driver helped us out a the borders t...

Antigua had many mixed reviews and a lot of people had reported muggings, but I found the locals there to be very friendly and welcoming of tourists. Obviously there are the few undesirable folk but you get them everywhere! We stayed at the Jungle party hostel as recommended by some friends, cost 75 quetzals per night ($10), no air con but a comfortable sleep and great socialising. I'm beginning to get very fond of the swings in place of bar stools and have final...

We decided to get the early boat off the island at 8am so we would be sure to get the bus at the port in Belize at 10am. Arrived with an hour to spare and bought some cheap sandwiches for $3 US. The bus again was spacious with air con and an easy journey of 2 and a half with a quick connecting taxi to Flores (make sure to avail of the only ATM there in the town when you stop.) We stayed at another hotel Villa del Lago - this has been working out as a cheap optio...

We began our travels at 8.30 am at the ADO bus station. An unusual mix of people, our favourite of whom was an old Aussie man whose only luggage was 3 beers and a banana. The bus itself was very comfy with air con and spacious seats they also played movies in English and the 4 hours flew by. We arrived at Chetumal and took a taxi for 70 pesos ($5 US) to the pier for our connecting boat. We met a lot of people there including a lovely Aussie couple and other nat...