I had planned 2 months in Central America, but after getting caught up in Ecuador and Columbia I had to speed through it in 4 weeks. One thing it has done is make me want to return, and at one point I was contemplating canceling the flight home again! Luckily for you I haven´t and I will be back in a few days to make you whole again. ;-)

PANAMA
After the eventful San Blas sailing trip, I traveled quickly from Panama City, managing to squeeze in a day trip to the Panama Canal. Although it is one of the greatest feats of mankind, a huge waterway cutting though an entire country and saving months on a cargo ship's journey, when you go to see it, you do little more than watch water rise and fall! Panama City in itself had little to draw my attention and I was out of there in a day. I skipped Costa Rica on other travelers recommendations and ended up in Nicaragua after a day on a bus, waiting at 2 border crossings at stupid o'clock in the morning, and getting searched 4 times enroute. I must think I am smuggling something in all this hair!


NICARAGUA
I stopped first on Isla Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, an island formed by 2 volcanoes and a small isthmus between them. It's a beautiful sight as you roll up on one of the fisherman's boats. I headed for an area called Playa Santo Domingo...those of you who know some spanish will know that I was expecting a beach. Unfortunately after I arrived in what seemed like a deserted hostel and town, I learned that there had been so much rain in the last few months that the lake was extremely high and had covered all the beaches on the island...I wouldn't be sunbathing! Instead I hired a bike and rode to the end of the island being told it was only 7km away. What I wasn't told was that the road was more rocky than the Andes. Further, my bike was suspensionless, brakeless and crotch-cushionless - the PAIN! After reaching the end seeing nothing but flooded beaches and swamps, I made the gruelling journey back again. On the return, I was lucky/unlucky enough to meet Ivan, a local guide taking people up the 2 volcanoes. Somehow, he managed to talk me into climbing Volcano Maderas at 5am - 1400 metres in the rain. We did see howler and cappuccino monkeys, a terrapin (I almost trod on it thinking it was a rock) and a lake in the crater at the top though. Very cool.
As I was in such a rush, it was back to traveling like when I first started again, grabbing sleep on a bench on the ferry to the town of Granada, quickly seeing the colourful city and jumping on a bus to Managua for a flight to the Corn Islands - some tiny islands on the East Coast. I'm glad I didn't stop in the capital city Managua for very long. When I got off the bus, I was mobbed by taxi drivers and had to chase one of them who took my bag and insisted he take me! It was like being in India again!

LITTLE CORN ISLAND The islands are English speaking Creole. It's the first time I have heard that dialect before and I loved it. I shacked up here in what can only be described as a garden shed on the beach. No windows, hammocks a plenty, enough room under the walls for a few crabs to crawl in and out, and a piece of wood to jam my door shut at night. Chilled is an understatement. I was here for almost a week doing almost nothing except drink rum and scuba dive. The most memorable was the night dive, in which thousands of little blue fish swam around my face and bumped into my mask. There were so many I couldn't see anything in front of me! We also switched off the lights to get a sense of the bio-luminescence. It was like flying through space, 1000s of tiny micro organisms emitting a tiny speck of light in the pitch black...I had no idea where I was or at what depth, and at one point I slammed into the sand floor! I also celebrated my second Halloween since leaving the UK there...limited with materials I managed to put a Tarzan costume together out of some vines and leaves I found on the beach. A gay baseball player, Julius Caeser and a blue mummy turned up too. Look out for a few funny pics on facebook!
LEON I finally left the Corn Islands after rescheduling my flight for 2 days later, something which seems to have become habit this year! Next stop was Leon, a town which competed with Granada to be the country's capital in Nicaragua's history. Similar to Canberra and Brasilia, the dirty Managua that lies between them took the title in 1852. Leon is quite similar to Granada with its architecture and layout, just lacking the multi-colours. Apart from learning Nicaraguan pool from the very drunk locals (weird game where you put balls down with your hands) I went surfing on the only active volcano possible in the world. We made our way up the 160 year old, 700 metre high black volcano, viewed its crater on the way up, sat on a wooden board and flew down the steep sides of it! Great fun!

GUATEMALA

Due to my time constraints, I had only a week in Guatemala. However, I managed to squeeze in shopping in the artesian markets of Antigua, swimming in the gorgeous river at Semuc Champey and roaming the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal...

LANQUIN AND SEMUC CHAMPEY
I stayed at a very chilled hostel on a river and with another 20 people climbed into the back of a pick up truck to shuttle us to the Lanquin caves and Semuc Champey. It was a bumpy, hip bruising ride passing the walking locals to the caves where with typical Latin American safety standards we tied our flip flops to our feet, and lit a candle before delving into the dark, wet caves. We climbed waterfalls in the rock, jumped off ledges into the pitch black water and swam with the candle in our mouths - i singed my hair! Following, we visited the Semuc Champey river with its cascading pools formed by the river running beneath the limestone rock and leaving clear warm water for swimming on top. The view from the lookout was fantastic, giving a birds-eye view of the waterway surrounded by thick rainforest. In the evening I met 2 Aussies and 2 Americans with whom I would travel to Belize with. After a few hefty beers and sangrias I was directed to collect firewood for the fire by Ali. What she didn't tell me was that the river was right in front of us, i fell over the edge and straight into the river 2 feet below us! Rivers are wet by the way.

TIKAL

The trip to Tikal was a long arduous journey over 121 speed bumps! Sitting on the back seat we left the seat and smacked our heads a few times when the driver failed to anticipate the result of speeding over a sleeping policeman!! Tikal was excellent though. We were up early and opted out of a guided tour instead walking ahead on our own to the Grand Plaza. At 6.30am we were the only ones on the square, surrounded by 1500 year old ruins and 60 metre temples. Unbelievable. The whole city is shrouded in a jungle shawl, only the very tallest temples protrude from canopy. It makes for some awesome pics and a fantastic view over the green rainforest, pierced by the huge sacrificial platforms. In the evening we went swimming in the nearby lake until what looked like a dump truck turned up and poured its contents in. Then we were lucky enough to see the reddest sunset I've seen while the locals did their weekly washing. More wine, rum and beers followed.

BELIZE
We left Tikal early again and crossed the border to Belize, stopping in San Ignacio for the ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) caves. These caves were the subject of a Discovery program shot a few years ago due to the Mayan skeletons and treasures left there by the ancients. After making our way 500 metres into the cave we came upon skeletons lying on the cave floor and pottery calcified into the rocks by the dripping water. The actual cave was astonishing, especially the Cathedral, a huge cavern carved by water over millions of years. It was crazy thinking about the ceremonies which once took place in here, all shimmering under firelight. At one point we switched off the lights to appreciate the total darkness of this place. I couldn't see the hand in front of my face!!

One of the scariest moments of my trip occured in Belize City when we missed the boat over to Caye Caulker and stayed overnight in the dangerous city. I walked the 50 metres to the Chinese for dinner and on the way back, a shady looking character hiding in the shadows of his porch showed me a glimpse of his gun holstered in his jeans. I put my head down and walked, straight as fast as possible!! We didn't leave the room until the morning after that!

Once we reached Caye Caulker we booked into a small hotel and made our way to the beach. Considering this is and island the beach was pathetic, barely stretching 20 metres. What was great was the diving, in 30 metre visibilty water. We dipped in between coral canyons, saw nurse sharks, eagle rays and sea turtles. The pinnacle was when we saw 3 dolphins swim past us, I've never seen them on a dive before and its like nothign else.


MEXICO
After only 3 days it was time to leave again, this time the final straight into Mexico stopping at Tulum and then Playa del Carmen...

The Yucatan peninsula is like Swiss Cheese, with hundreds of holes making Cenotes. These caves are filled with crystal clear rainwater and house very old stalactites and stalacmites. I was picked up by a Czech guy and he gave me my equipment. I tested 3 regulators...the 1st one blew a pipe when I turned the air on, the 2nd was hissing loudly. Finally I was set and we made our way to the caves and dropped into the 100 metre visibilty water. It was like flying, only the bubles you breath giving you any indication that you are in water. After 15 mins, my regulator seized up and when I took my final breath I had to tug my guides fin to get his secondary! This all happened in closed water, no way up through the rock above my head! It certainly got my heart going!

Next day, I returned with a different company and dived Angelita. This was a pool in the jungle about 30metres in diameter. We descended to 26 metres at which point a gas cloud formed by decaying matter below was floating on top of saltwater. It was an eerie scene, with dead trees poking out of the gas. It was bit like when you fly over the clouds in a plane only completely silent. We dropped through the 3 metre thick cloud, blind on the way through, until we met the dark salt water below. In contrast to the first section, here at 40 metres depth it was like walking through a spooky dark forest. Afterward I dived a shallower cave name Gran Cenote which gave a fantastic view of the green entrance when you were deep inside....I only wish I had an underwater camera.

As a final stop I went to the party town of Playa del Carmen where I partied with some Swedish for 2 nights on Tequila. It was a cool finish but not what I have become used to on the backpacker trail. Package holidays of families and couples, big hotels on the white sand beaches and big clubs! 2 nights was enough and I caught my flight to New York New York...

So thats Latin America done. Sorry for the long one this time, I didn't want to be writing it after I get back! If you got to the end then congratulations!

Until home and final blog which will be on New York,

Will