2 Central America

City view, Granada, Nicaragua, February 13, 2018

In Latin America, every city I visit has a church, so I began to almost not care about any churches. In Leon, however, I visited Iglesia La Merced to climb the roof – the church is the tallest building in Centro area. There was a boy collecting $1 before climbing the stairs. The stairway was …

lake atitlan, Guatemala, February 7, 2018

Recently I concluded that I am a water person, instead of a mountain person. I am happy when I’m close to water. And what I enjoy about climbing a mountain is that I can see water on the ground from a high altitude. Lake Atitlan is a big body of water so I was looking …

Hot spring “Rio Chollin”, La Fortuna, Costa Rica, Feb 15, 2018

Costa Rica is known for a variety of adventure activities in nature, but this time (my second visit to the country) my body demanded a hot spring. I was originally going to a hot spring near Liberia, but the rough gravel roads did not sound motivating. Then I remembered a place where the tour guide …

Border crossing, Peñas Blanca’s, nicaragua, February 14, 2018

Exiting Nicaragua was the toughest vehicle exit so far. Exiting usually takes about 10 minutes but it took 1.5 hrs in Nicaragua. I am now comfortable with the usual processes and identifying who are real government officials and who are private helpers with similar looking uniforms. What was new here was that I needed to …

Catedral de León, leon, Nicaragua, February 12, 2018

Unlike the previous few days, from Leon I had planned to spend more time for conventional touristy sightseeing activities. As expected, Leon was full of travellers which indicated that there is a free walking tour. So I joined one early next morning, only to find out it was the first real day for the new …

Driving in San Salvador, El Salvador, February 10, 2018

My destination was Plaza Libertad, the main square in the capital city of El Salvador, San Salvador. After 5 months of traveling by car, I’ve become more comfortable with finding parking spots at the very center of a city, but this time I never expected that the Plaza would be surrounded by traditional markets. On …

lago de Coatepeque, el salvador, February 9, 2018

I visited another lake formed in a volcanic crater. This one, lake Coatepec, seemed a lot smaller than lake Atitlan in Guatemala, but to me, it was equally beautiful and enjoyable for a tranquil afternoon. I also dropped by Tekunal cafe next to the lake to meet the owner, who is a friend of the …

Chris and Pupusa,santa Ana, El salvador, February 8, 2018

The first thing I was thinking about as I was approaching El Salvador was Pupusa. Pupusa is a corn or rice tortilla stuffed with a variety of fillings. I think I first tried pupusa years ago at a potluck at work in Washington DC and I remember thinking then, “This thing is more serious than …