Central America 2000

The end of everything

Oct 25, 2000 in Central America 2000

The end of everything

The day I got back we had nothing in particular planned. Mike and Aasta, with whom we had climbed Volcán San Pedro, were in town, and me, Moh, Mike and Mark, a Canadian who we’d met, decided to go for a bike ride. Having hired bikes, we set off down dusty roads, through small villages, [...]

Towering temples at Tikal

Oct 24, 2000 in Central America 2000

Towering temples at Tikal

It was a very pleasant bus ride up there. A few years ago the road to Flores was notorious for (guess what?) armed robberies, but the road has recently been paved, which speeds up the journey enormously and has cut incidences of robbery to zero. I arrived in Flores safe and well after a nine-hour [...]

Market madness

Oct 23, 2000 in Central America 2000

Market madness

The next day, we went to a mountain town called Chichicastenango. Apart from having a fantastic name, Chichi is justifiably famous for its markets. Local people converge on the town from the surrounding countryside every Sunday and Thursday to buy and sell fruit and veg, and many stalls sell fantastic Guatemalan handicrafts, bought mainly by [...]

Best sunrise ever seen

Oct 21, 2000 in Central America 2000

Best sunrise ever seen

We had been told that the temperature at the summit was usually around -5°C just before dawn, and we could well believe it as we emerged from the tent at 5.30am to find an awesome view before us. Pre-dawn colours dusted the sky, towns and villages glowed far beneath us, and a mighty plume of [...]

Very high

Oct 20, 2000 in Central America 2000

Very high

Volcán Santamaria stands 3772m tall, just south of Xela. It had never been known to erupt before 1902, but in that year it underwent the third-largest eruption of the 20th century. The cataclysmic explosion ripped away the southern flank of the volcano, leaving a huge gash in the side of the mountain. After 20 years [...]

Highlands

Oct 19, 2000 in Central America 2000

At an elevation of 2330m, Xela is noticeably colder than Atitlán and Antigua. It was near here that the decisive battle in the conquest of Guatemala was fought in 1524, and the city was founded on the site of the capital of the K’iché Maya. You would have no idea of this if the guidebooks [...]

Evil saints

Oct 18, 2000 in Central America 2000

Evil saints

After two days we were sufficiently restored to leave the hammocks and get on our way again. Our next point of call was to be Santiago Atitlán, another lakeside town. There are two more volcanoes not far from Santiago, but if I’m honest we had no intention of climbing them. When I go back, perhaps… [...]

Quite high

Oct 14, 2000 in Central America 2000

Quite high

And so long before dawn on October 14th 2000, we set out for Volcán San Pedro. We climbed in the enjoyable company of our group of 11, which consisted of me and Moh, Ashley from Australia, Mike and Aasta from Alaska, Will and Chad from Oregon, Greg from the UK, Steve from Canada, Julie from [...]

Down to the lake

Oct 13, 2000 in Central America 2000

Down to the lake

When we woke, though, we found it was really not a nice day. We decided not to climb that day, but we didn’t want to hang around in Antigua any longer. We decided to leave for our next destination, and hope to return to Antigua with a couple of days to spare at the end [...]

We climb our first volcano

Oct 12, 2000 in Central America 2000

We climb our first volcano

Another grey day followed, but we didn’t have the time to wait for sunshine so we decided to climb Volcán Pacaya. This is another spot notorious for armed robbery, and I may now be giving the impression that Guatemala is a gun-ridden nightmare country. Well, it’s probably not the safest of holiday destinations. . From [...]

Antigua

Oct 11, 2000 in Central America 2000

Antigua

When the Spanish conquered Guatemala, they founded their first capital in 1527 at a site known today as Ciudad Vieja (Old City). Situated on the fertile flanks of the huge but extinct Volcán Agua, it seemed like an ideal place for a city. It lasted for just 14 years, though, before disaster struck. After weeks [...]

Latin American driving

Oct 09, 2000 in Central America 2000

Latin American driving

All our travel up until now had been on local buses. We were a little daunted at the thought of the Guatemalan bus system, having been advised by the Foreign Office that fatal crashes are frequent, and by other travellers that the buses are unbelievably crowded. We were also not too keen on negotiating our [...]

Copán just fine, thanks

Oct 08, 2000 in Central America 2000

Copán just fine, thanks

The Maya were one of the three great ancient civilizations of the Americas, along with the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico. The civilization began to emerge at least 4,000 years ago, was advanced by 300AD, and reached its peak (the so-called Classic Period) from around 600 to 800AD. During this time, they [...]

Across Honduras

Oct 07, 2000 in Central America 2000

Across Honduras

We left before the sun was up the next morning, and thus failed to see Tegucigalpa in the daylight. I am told this is not a great loss. We were headed for Copán Ruinas, some 500km away, and we needed to get a bus first to Santa Rosa de Copán, 400km up the road. We [...]

Border nightmare

Oct 06, 2000 in Central America 2000

Border nightmare

The next day it was time to brave our second border crossing. While we were in Granada, the news had been that a bridge on the road to theborder at Guasaule had been washed away. This was indeed the case, and the bridge was still down, but by now the floodwaters had subsided somewhat, and [...]

Silent cyclists and snakes

Oct 05, 2000 in Central America 2000

Silent cyclists and snakes

The next day we wanted to go to one of the most active volcanoes in the chain, Cerro Negro. It didn’t exist before 1850, when a steaming crack in the ground suddenly began to exude lava, but now stands 600m tall, black and steaming, above the surrounding countryside. We took a bus to the town [...]

Through the volcanoes

Oct 04, 2000 in Central America 2000

Through the volcanoes

We decided then to abandon all hope of climbing up Volcán Masaya and move on instead. Our next destination was Nicaragua’s other old city, León, and to get there we needed to get a bus to Managua, make our way across Managua, and get another bus across the outside. We had heard horror stories about [...]

Returning to Masaya

Oct 03, 2000 in Central America 2000

Returning to Masaya

The next day dawned fine, and, with an Australian traveller called Ashley who was staying at the same hotel as us, we got an early bus out to Parque Nacional Volcán Masaya. However, our luck was not in and by the time we got there it was once again hammering down with rain. We nonetheless [...]

Granada

Oct 02, 2000 in Central America 2000

Granada

It wasn’t raining but the streets were wet when we arrived in the historic town of Granada. Founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, the Spanish conquistador of Nicaragua, it is the oldest city in Nicaragua. The city of León, in the north of the country, was founded in the same year, and these [...]

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Sep 28, 2000 in Central America 2000

Raindrops keep falling on my head

The next morning, we got up at 4am to try and climb Volcán Maderas. Neftali had told us that it was a difficult climb, but that if we set off early and the weather was OK then getting to the summit was just a matter of persistence. But when we got up we found that [...]

Concepción

Sep 27, 2000 in Central America 2000

Concepción

Ometepe was certainly fascinating just in terms of its recent history. But it’s also a very beautiful place. Though their tops were invariably covered in cloud while we were on the island, the two volcanoes make for a great setting. The larger of the two, the active Volcán Concepción, looms right behind Altagracia, while the [...]

Ometepe

Sep 26, 2000 in Central America 2000

Ometepe

Before I left, whenever I told people I would be going through Nicaragua, a look somewhere between pity and horror would cross their face. People seemed to have the idea that it was a war-torn smoking wreck of a country.  What everyone remembered was the infamous Contra war which raged throughout the 1980s. Nicaragua had [...]

Into Nicaragua

Sep 25, 2000 in Central America 2000

Into Nicaragua

The next day, much restored after our exertions, we headed out of Costa Rica. Our next stop was to be Ometepe Island, in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. It’s the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world, and Lake Nicaragua is the largest lake in Central America. The island itself is made up [...]

Around the mountain

Sep 24, 2000 in Central America 2000

Around the mountain

The next morning, we set out to explore the mountain. Rincón de la Vieja is at the centre of a region of great geothermal activity, and the evidence for subterranean heat is everywhere. A well-trodden trail winds past many geothermal features, and we set out along it. Before long we were temporarily out of the [...]

Onwards and upwards

Sep 23, 2000 in Central America 2000

Onwards and upwards

We had spent enough time around Arenal, so the next day, we moved on to our next destination, Rincón de la Vieja. Situated in north western Costa Rica, this is another active volcano, which last erupted in 1998. We hoped to climb to the top and camp the night there. We made our way to [...]

Crazy exploding volcanoes

Sep 20, 2000 in Central America 2000

Crazy exploding volcanoes

We had met two Germans, Colom and Sylvia, down by the falls. Colom had a pickup truck, and when we saw that the volcano was visible, he said he would drive out towards it after nightfall, and invited us along. We gladly accepted. When darkness fell, a distinct orange glow could be seen over the [...]

In the jungle

Sep 20, 2000 in Central America 2000

In the jungle

It was a spectacular run through misty mountain forests and small villages, with an awesome thunderstorm erupting overhead as we passed through Ciudad Quesada. We arrived at the small town of Fortuna late in the evening, and checked into a cheap hospedaje. We noticed for the first time how quickly night falls in the tropics [...]

Irazú (ovavu)

Sep 17, 2000 in Central America 2000

Irazú (ovavu)

We had intended to depart for San Jose early the next day, but Jose said there was a great fruit market in Alajuela, so we went to that. It was a vibrant, colourful affair, with a beer tent and live music, and we had a great time buying lots of weird tropical fruits. I got [...]

Up to Poás

Sep 15, 2000 in Central America 2000

Up to Poás

Day 2, mission 1. Most of the population of Costa Rica live in a fertile valley in the central highlands called the Meseta Central. About 1500m above sea level, it is ringed by towering volcanoes. Some of them are active, and one of these is Volcán Poás. It stands 2704m tall in the middle of [...]

Do you know the way to San José?

Sep 14, 2000 in Central America 2000

We had something of an inauspicious start to the trip. I’d arranged to meet Moh, who I would be travelling with, outside Smith’s on Victoria station, but unfortunately there are two and we both thought the other was late for a good quarter of an hour before the penny dropped. Then we somehow contrived to [...]