Central American adventure tour 2012 (Formerly Costa Rica '08)

Saturday, June 16, 2012

San Ignacio, Belize aka ATM cave place

Just finished touring the ATM cave (Actun Tunichil Muknal) which is full of skeletons and urns and other sacrificial goods from back in the day Mayans.

Flores/ Tikal, Guatemala

Stayed at Los Amigos hostel, great social place with fun people to go touring with. Met people from Arizona and swam in the lake, friends from Lanquin came the next day and we all went to the ruins which were sweet. Held a live wild tarantula, tons of monkeys, really hot, cool place. Were there from 6am to noon and went back to Flores.

Semuc Champey/ Lanquin

Went from Atitlan to Semuc Champey and it was awesome. One of my favorite places I've ever been. Stayed at the Retiro Lodge right on the river, made friends with a big group of US med students and then a mixed bag of really fun people from all over the world. Went tubing, had a candlelit cave tour, and swam in the beautiful pools of semuc champey. Spent 2 full days there, and then went to Flores, the jumpoff point to the Tikal ruins.

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Went to Atitlan from El Tunco, El Salvador. Had to stay overnight in Guat City on the way, spent 8 days there, 5 doing class, one day hiking the indian nose with friends i met in costa rica, 1 fantastic meal at La Piscina, and lots of rain.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

El Tunco, El Salvador

I wish I'd spent more time here. The nicest wave I've found, in a really cheap and cool town. El Tunco and the neighboring town of Sunzal share a point break between them, about a 5 minute walk down the beach and it was glorious. Also probably the hottest day I have experienced this trip. In the water I could feel myself sweating and constantly splashed water on my back while paddling out. And, after 3 weeks of not being able to surf bc i wasnt at the beach, I can still do it! There were tiny jellyfish in the water so I did get a few stings which feel like bee stings but thats part of the deal. I took no pictures here, and only spent 24 hours. I wish it had been weeks. Definitely a place I plan to come back to. I left quickly because I wanted to get to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala to begin my spanish schooling, but found out once I arrived that the classes are all monday through Friday. I could have easily spent two more days in El Tunco. Very sad.

Leaving El Tunco meant two buses to get to the capital, San Salvador, and taking a bus to the border and then crossing into Guat and getting to Guate (Guatemala City). Falling asleep on the bus and dreaming in english, and waking up to being on a chicken bus in el salvador or guatemala listening to spanish music with people selling things in the bus aisle is one of the most confusing and abrupt situations ive ever been in.