After the highlands of the north, we travelled south by bus to the city of Masaya. On the way we were struck by how uncultivated Nica was. Rather than crop-filled fields, we saw large areas of grass and trees. Everything was green. We passed fertile plains that were fringed by volcanoes, and sprinkled with colourful [...]
Note: Following the previous post from Los Zorros, in the northwest of Nicaragua, we travelled by bus to Estelí, in the more central northern region of highlands that border Honduras. We followed instructions for where to catch buses from Estelí to Miraflor but were doubtful and uncomfortable when we got there. It was 05:15 and [...]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/morph/15324342157/sizes/c/ We took a microbus (minivan) from León to Chinandega. We could see tree-coated volcanoes right from start, flickering like a zoetrope through the trees at the side of road. While I tried to take photos of the view, a lady beside me brushed her hand on my shoulder. I reluctantly turned [...]
Jet lag and exhaustion caught us around 22:00 so we got an early night and woke to the sounds of a metalwork shop jangling through the gap between the wall and ceiling. It was the only rough edge to an otherwise blissful place to stay. We followed the Lonely Planet walking tour of the city’s [...]
San Salvador Airport, El Salvador. Airport Time. Timeless time. Tired and impatient in the no man’s land between timezones and nations. Between the Here that we wished you were at, and the There back at the start of the journey. The sleepers on the airport floors and benches experience perhaps an even more extreme time [...]
We took a bechak from Freddie's to the island's western horn. So steep was the road through the forested island that I had to walk alongside the bechak at one point. But after endless climbing came the freewheel descent to Iboih. The settlement comprised just a little cluster of bungalows, shops and cafes, although development [...]
The fast ferry took us off the northern tip of Sumatra, cutting a smooth course through the waters between the mainland and Pulau ("island") Weh. We haggled with pushy bechak drivers for a ride over to Freddie's, a place recommended by Lonely Planet. Good quality roads took us through a hilly land ravaged by fecund [...]
We allowed three hours to get from Friendship Guesthouse, in the jungle village of Ketambe, to the airport at Kutacane, 35km to the the southeast. We were a few minutes late starting and the next bus took longer than expected but such delays were accounted for in our schedule. The bus was typical of the [...]
The flight from Labuan Bajo was in a propellor-driven plane. We turned in a wide arc after leaving the runway, to look down on the town and the islands and reefs splodged throughout the coastal water. We then flew straight back across the island chain, retracing the route we had taken by boat over the [...]
Our boat departed from Bangsal in northwestern Lombok around 13:00. We were 23 passengers, mostly german, six spanish, two irish plus Maeve, one danish, one swiss, and me, plus four crew. When ordering the trip in Gili Air we'd seen a photo of the boat and I'd asked if that was the actual boat. The [...]