central america

Podcast: Panama City

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Following about a week in Costa Rica – during which time we happily managed to avoid San José and the plethora of gringo-packed ‘eco’ destinations, we zipped straight down to Panama City, somewhere we both wanted to spend a few days. You can listen to the podcast we made whilst in Panama City by clicking the play button above.

Panama City
Panama City
17 photos
Panama City
Panama City
Panama City
Panama City
Panama City
Panama City
Panama City
Panama City
View over the city
Dodgy bedroom
Old building
Church
Room, Panama City
Panama Canal
Panama Canal
Panama Canal
Miraflores lock, Panama Canal

Staying in Casco Viejo (the old town, pictured above in the foreground), we spent most of our time just wandering through the old colonial plazas and admiring the wonderful crumbling dereliction of the area.

In this podcast you will hear the sounds of the docks, a street musician, some street performers, the Panama Canal and we discuss some of the ‘personal security’ issues you need to be aware of if you decide to visit Panama City (following the robberies of two friends in a week).

Join us from our next podcast destination: Cartagena in Colombia

Video: Isla de Ometepe – the fantasy island in Nicaragua

Isla de Ometepe is definitely a good candidate for “eight wonder of the world”. It is an absolutely fantastic island and one of my favourite places in Central and South America.

Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanos rising from lake Nicaragua in the Republic of Nicaragua. Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ome (two) and tepetl (mountain), meaning two mountains: two volcanic peaks (Conception and Maderas) rise from the hazy blue expanse of Cocibolca, ‘the Sweet Sea’ and form an hourglass of beaches and jungles.

Isla de Ometepe has an area of 276 km². It is 31 km long and 5 to 10 km wide. The island has a population of 42,000, and an economy based on tourism, livestock and agriculture.

It has a hiding a wealth of archaeological treasures and a very romantic countryside. Thomas and I spent some of the most romantic time of our travels there.

Video: Madera beach surfing paradise in San Juan del Sur

San Juan del Sur is a coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in south-west Nicaragua. The town is a popular tourist location because of its many nearby and spectacular beaches. San Juan del Sur is also popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists. It really is a good, unspoiled alternative to Costa Rica.

The population is approximately 18,500, comprised mostly of families engaged in fishing. There are plenty of Spanish schools in town making San Juan a perfect place to come and immerse yourself in the language and take home something more than a tan.

The surf is, however, not in San Juan del Sur itself "the waves are simply not big enough in town. We went to Madera beach about 10 km north of San Juan del Sur to surf. Madera beach is an incredibly beautiful and peaceful beach and when you don’t surf you can suntan and go for long walks. Amazing.

The video below gives you an idea about why Madera beach have become so popular – it simply is a stunning place!!

Podcast: Granada & León, Nicaragua

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Join us on an audio tour of Granada, with sounds of the market, Lago de Nicaragua and a street parade and band. We round off this podcast with a bit of Nicaraguan history and some thoughts on the highlights of both Granada & Leon in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua podcast

Corn Island: Bounty island in Nicaragua

Corn Island in Nicaragua
Corn Island in Nicaragua

Thomas and I had dreamt about the white Caribbean beaches since long before we came away. We had seen heavenly pictures from little Corn Island and had been looking very much forward to spending Christmas and New Year there.

Big and Little Corn Islands are both low-key vacation spots in an isolated corner of the Caribbean. The two Islas del Maíz retain in many ways the magic associated with the Caribbean – clear turquoise water, white sandy beaches fringed with coconut palms, excellent fishing, phenomenal coral reefs to explore and an unhurried and peaceful pace.

However, getting there is NOT funny. The ferry there from Bluefields runs irregularly and we ended up having to decide between staying 4 days in Bluefields or flying to Big Corn Island (one way 85$). We chose the last option although it was not in our budget -but Bluefields is honestly not a place you want to spend 4 days (or even one).

On the way back we also flew because there was no boat right after New Year and we would have to wait one week on Big Corn.

Collective pangas between the islands (US$6, 40 minutes) leave from Big Corn at 10am and 4:30pm; if you’re staying on the far side of Little Corn, you need to take the morning boat. Boats leave Little Corn at 7am and 2pm, meeting each round of flights. The sea is very rough and you better wrap your backpack.

I really enjoyed my time on Little Corn Island – but thought it was too expensive to get there 🙂

Studying Spanish one-on-one with Marlon

studying_spanish_guatemala

Thomas has already written about studying at the Cooperative – so I will concentrate on telling you a bit about my personal experience studying Spanish one-on-one.

I also study with the Cooperative and my teacher’s name is Marlon. Marlon is 9 years younger than me, but this is usually not the case. Most teaches are around mid 30s and have many years experience teaching Spanish.

Marlon, on the contrary, is an artist and an intellectual and have studied Art at the university in Guatemala city.

I really like studying with Marlon because he has A LOT of patience. He never makes a face when I repeat the same mistake for the 10th time and is always mentally present for all 4 hours we spend together every day.

Having your “own” private teacher is great. He will correct me every-time I make a mistake and we have gotten to know each other really well. He tells me stories (in Spanish) from his life and I tell him stories (in Spanish) from my life.

I will miss my teacher when I leave San Pedro 🙂

Video: Packing for Latin America¦what not to bring!

This video shows a classic example of how NOT to pack for a big trip. It is unfortunately my packing for Latin America (I am sad to say) and it is way too much stuff to bring. Judge for yourself by watching the video comments are most welcome 🙂

As I am already traveling with this huge monster of a bag, I can say one thing for sure "something has GOT to GO". I have travelled for years and years and am used to not bringing very much. I usually travel with about 12 kg, which is a good amount for a woman my size (I weigh about 58 kg). But this time I have brought 18 kg plus my small bag which weighs another 4kg. This means I am almost carrying HALF my own bodyweight now that is STUPID! However, it can be quite difficult to pack for a trip in which you will be spending time in both hot and cold countries (from -5 to +40). Furthermore, as you can see, I travel with a lot of equipment for video making and a lot of women’s stuff such as two electrical shavers, extra face creams, shampoo etc. But seriously..I NEED to empty out things from my bag in the very near future :-).

So there you go – don’t pack like me!