Alright, mission backtracking - commonly known as “going the wrong way” - is coming to an end: after a little birdwatching tour on Lago de Apoyo - these things are fast! - I came back down into Nicaragua to do a proper visit to Leon. This is going to be the final bit of colonial stuff for the time being, after all variety is the spice of life right? ;)

One of Leon’s advantages is the fact that it’s surtrounded by volcanoes, which in turn offer the opportunity to slide down from them on wooden / metal boards. In other words: volcano-boarding! This was fast and fun (and a little painful, too!) - check out the pics for a certain impression ;)

After Leon I decided it’s time for a little more highland (what on earth happened to my beach-addiction??) so I went off to Esteli, walked through some mountains, swum in a waterfall and visited a historically important museum. Yes, again a waterfall… but what would you do with 28C and a non-stop burning sun on your skin? :)

Finally, I went back down to Granada as me New Year celebration is going to take place at Lago de Apoyo. Sounds familiar, right? :)

This leaves me to the following: I would like to wish you all a Happy, Prosperous, Warm, Fuzzy and Whatnot New Year… and speak to you again soon!

Hasta luego!!

PS: I’ll post a list of New Year resolutions… but only by request! ;)

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Lago Yojoa - without birds...

Tegucigalpa's central market and related bus traffic :)

That's the hill we slid down

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No worries, I`m still alive! The last couple days have been full of pleasant surprises; it was hard to decide where to go next after Copan, but I eventually ended up in a town called Gracias, former capital of Spanish Central America. Although a bit dusty, the town was pretty interesting and gave a nice look into daily Honduran life as well as the local Lenca culture. Also made plans to climb Honduras` highest peak but due to a lack of participants the trip could not go on, so this got back to my to-do list for the time being ;)

After Gracias I decided to go to Lago de Yojoa, though I slept in and left a bit too late. As a result I got stuck in a town called San Juan - and when no buses are available to get you out of there, only one option remains: hitchhiking! I found some Lenca people who were willing to take me to the next town, which apparently was modernized enough to have bus traffic after 2pm :) Never knew a 14-seat minivan could hold up to 35 people - but somehow it fits provided you`re prepared to take care of people`s children ;)

Anyway, Lago de Yojoa is stunningly beautiful and so are the surroundings. Met a US Peace Corps volunteer who showed me around the area and took me to places where I would otherwise never have gotten to. Also visited the Pulhapanzak waterfalls (by mountainbike!) which is quite a sight! On my way down, I slipped on one of the platforms, fell and slid down, nearly sliding under the fence (thank heaven for the steel cable!) and falling 10m down into the waterfall itself - hence the bodycount. I`m starting to become well-known for shocking my fellow travelers ;) Together with a local guy we climbed rocks, swam through pools and slid through some vegetation until we managed to get behind the waterfall, at the point where the cascade hits the pool below. My ears are still recovering…

Right now I`m about to make another bike-ride through the area, after which I`ll probably head back down to Leon, Nicaragua. I`ll definately keep you posted on any new developments!

Till next time!!

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Old church (and I mean O-L-D) - Gracias

More old stuff - Gracias

Hot springs (not so old) - Gracias

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So here´s yet another short update on my travels… and the very first post under the Honduras part of this site! So far I´ve been pretty much bouncing up and down the country, but with good reasons for doing so ;) First took straight off to Utila to go on a diving trip, however I got a nice little sinus-infection (which obviously sounds worse than it is!) so I couldn´t go out. Snorkeling was fun though… and so was the general atmosphere on the island. Anyway, there´s sufficient reason to go back once I (finally!) get my physique sorted out!

Leaving Utila appeared to be tricky as the number of ferries leaving the island was limited due to a rough sea, anyway I made it on time and went to Copan to see the famous Copan Ruins. I felt these were impressive enough to publish a series of pics for, so have fun watching below. Also tried out my cowboy-skills by going horseback riding in the hills around town. It sure is fun, but I guess they´d better given me a donkey ;)

So far I haven´t yet decided what´s up next; probably I´ll go travel around Honduras and see whether I can finally make it to the east coast… weather permitting! There´s still lots of fun stuff to do around here though so I might just as well decide on the spot, which means tomorrow morning when I wake up ;) I´ll do my best to keep you posted, and will try to keep posting more pics as long as this remains to be possible!

Se cuida!!

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Yet another one... can´t get enough of these!

Nice Mayan cartoons - Copan Ruinas

´Stadium´... or actually a religious centre

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As promised, here´s a more visual update on the latest travel bits :) Have fun browsing through them - all pictures are from Nicaragua even though I´m in Honduras (Utila) at the moment. After Granada I passed through Leon, then went to Jiquilillo (don´t try to pronounce that ;)) to chill out for a while and attend a local celebration for Virgin Mary before passing on further north. Indeed, my travel plans have sort of made a little change (Haley and Jes, I hope you realise you are the cause of this!! ;)), so I´ll enjoy my time here on the Caribbean side of Honduras before making a big u-turn to the east (and later on, south) and going back down into Nicaragua. I´m going off the beaten track by quite a few miles next week, so will do my best to keep you posted! ;)

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Sunrise - Lago de Apoyo

Lago de Apoyo - like a swimming pool...

Bulls on the run (and the kid chasing them is a hero!) - Santa Catarina

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Note: Pics will become available in 2 days at the latest… this is about the time it takes to upload them ;)

Once again, sorry it took a while to post something new here but internet connections are just not too big in my favour in the places I visited… guess there´s no need to explain :)

San Juan Del Sur was big fun, and although the original plan was to connect to Isla Ometepe from here, I ended up meeting some very nice traveling companions which sort of caused me to change my plans (again ;)); we headed off to Granada, a large colonial city at Lago de Nicaragua. It´s a nice place and all and blablabla… see photos (to be posted) and locals seem especially friendly over here. We made a 2-day trip to a nearby lake called Lago de Apoyo, supposedly this contains the cleanest water in Nicaragua and it does look like a huge blue swimming pool from the lookout point we visited. The hike up there brought us to a village that had locals bullfights scheduled for the night… if only the bulls didn´t escape while we were there :D

Back in Granada we hooked up with locals, visited a school which is run on a voluntary babse where local kids learn to do all kinds of stuff to make some money. This includes breakdancing, really impressive. And … for the first time in my life I´ve been a real ´children´s friend´ as these did not seem to be afraid of me ;) Next day we visited Isla de Ometepe, an island consisting of 2 volcanoes in Lago de Nicaragua. The place looks like a picture from a fairytale book from a distance and its scenery (and local inhabitants) are really impressing. It keeps striking me this place is so different from what I´ve seen until now… hope these pics help explain so :)

Write soon again (hopefully)!!

Update 07-Dec: Forget about the pics for now, internet has barely been invented in the place I headed to (Jiquilillo)… I`ll soon put up a new post with lots of `em… promise! ;)