Nicosia peninsula

The mission was to get to Montezuma to the most southern tip of the Nicosia peninsula to stay there for one night and then look for Irqu the next day to spend some time with the dude. It took me 14 hours to get to Montezuma. 2 ferries, 1 cap and 5 buses. Keeping it real sometimes means dusty roads a lot of waiting time and fat ladys next to you who take half of your seat. But the ferry trips where nice and I got to know alot of ticos. Montezuma is an overrun turist village, that struggles to keep the laidback "savoir vivre" that made it famous. The next day I took a bus to Santa Theresa and walked with all the baggage for 5 kilometers. Once again I bumped into Nick and Tad, but since I was there to see Irqu I walked on. Totally out of air because of the burning sun and the dusty road I arrived in the "Zopilote Surfcamp". After asking where Irqu is, I was told that he is in the hammock sleeping because he had a huge hangover. Jumping into his view and screeming woke him up. The camp was frequently visited by a lot of animals. Monkeys, hermit craps, iguanas and loud crickets. In the camp itself are a lot of dogs and a huge horse. We even spotted some sharks in the ocean. Since it cost a stunning 75$ I couldn't afford staying. But I wanted to spend some time with Irqu so I booked it for 2 nights. We did some brief fishing, some swimming, drove with the quad and watched some absurd DVD's. I tryed to take some pictures of Irqu ruling the waves - but he never did. In Panama City we will see each other again for a few days.

Isla de Ometepe

In the middle of this huge lake, that by the way serves as a habitat for fresh water bullsharks, two volcanos formed this exceptional island. The two volcanos are connected by a little landstrip. After taking the ferry to the wrong place and didn't have to pay for it I took the bus to Moyogalpa. The biggest city on the island. After taking a dorm bed for 3$ I checked out the town. 3 minutes later I was done and got into an argument with a good friend on facebook. Afterwards I was bit angry and went for the booze. One thing most people do who arrive here is to climb the volcano "Conception". Guided tours cost around 15$. But since I grew up in a mountainous country I didn't see any reason for a guide. And besides of that I love to hike independitly and solitary. After a lot of people told me that I was doomed I headed of. I got lost in the banana fields and the the barbwire fences because I wanted to go directly to the volcano. So I went to the main road and did the walk of shame to the feet of the volcano on a longer route. There I met a turist from Leon who told me that I'm going to anger the devil of the mountain and I was asked if this dosen't worry me. Nope. So finally I walked up the volcano through a real rainforest with apes howling and birds with way to big featherings. It was a rough uphill battle and I sweated like a pig. But I made it to the "mirador" from where you could overlook the flatlands, the lake and the distant regions. It took me 9 hours until I was back and drinking my well deserved beer. Next day mission "Irqu" began.

San Juan del Sur

I was told that on the pacific coast is a picturesque little village in a big lagoon. Well there is a lagoon and there are some bars and restaurants at the beachside. But the charme it maybe had some years ago is gone. It's no longer a fishing village - it's a turist village. Prices are unreasonable high and activities non existing. But since I was there and didn't want to leave right away I checked into a hotel that cost a stunning 15$ to be able to watch HBO all day long. 6 movies in one day. Of course I had some kind of "cold turkey" to make up for. Hoping Isla de Ometepe will be better I headed to the biggest lake of central america.

Granada

Granada is a little Italy in the middle of Central America. A lot of piazzas and outdoor restaurants make this place the prime turist attractions of Nigaragua. This certaintly didn't make it my favorite place, but there was finally a town without a "ground zero" in the middle. Just when I arrived I ran into Loda and Caroline whom I dived with in Utila, Honduras. They are travelling the whole way from Guatemala to Panama City on a motorbike - impressive. I checked out all of the turist attractions - there are a lot - but the quality is not high end. The art museum displayed about 10 big paintings. Some I have to admit where really nice. The "Granda City Museum" consisted by at least a third about the history of museum itself. Then there were some trully impressive ancient statues from the pre colombian era. The rest is not worth mentioning. The colonial part of town has been renovated and now matches the glory it probably used to have. At the last evening Nick and Tad whom I travelled with in Mexico and Belize suddenly showed up in the hostel. Their - sorry guys - bum-like appearence was emminent. We had some fun in the evening and travelled the next day together to Rivas. From where they went of to Costa Rica. I was hoping San Juan del Sur will bring me some luck.

Leon

Leon is hot. The bus terminal is like a fish market in the bad neibourhood of Freetown, Sierra Leone. But the city center is actually pretty nice. Old colonial houses, a lot of churches and some history to breath. The "Big Foot" hostel is only one of a lot of really nice options. Tourism is just picking up in strong fashion. Only 20 years ago they were burning the corpses of the fallen soldiers in the "parque central". Nigaraguas long history of civil war and dictatorship seems to have calmed down. Since the sandinist Daniel Ortega has been once again elected in 2007, Hugo Chavez has pumped a lot of money into the country. The prices for basic food have dropped to the half of pre-Ortega levels. Health care is truely universal - even for turists - and it's for free. Things are looking great for the FSLN, because americans buy oil from Venezuela and bolster their geopolitical position. Obama better goes green, oterwise latinamerica goes dark red.
The next day I wen't volcano boarding on the "cerro negro" volcano. It is still active, but only erupts every few years. Last time the surounding villages had 40 meters and Leon 9 meters of ash. So we hiked up this volcano and boarded down on a primitive sledge. I reached 42km/h.
In the evening we wen't out and Carla and me danced some salsa. Even dow I thought I would do really bad, I actually ruled the dancefloor. Thanks Carla
After a museum-day I wen't on to Leon.
I even heard from Irqu and we are going to meet in Costa Rica.

Esteli

Travelling over the boarder to Esteli took us 6 buses. And the distance is not that far at all. But with Clara on my side it was fun. Esteli is famous for cowboys, ranchers, the left wing party FSLN and the "mañana culture". We took a room in a random hostel and checked out the city. It didn't take us to long to have a beer in front of us. After a nice evening in a italian place and local bars we crashed in the hostel. The next day Clara had to find out that her grandma back home in the Netherlands has past away. After calling the relatives and some time for herself, she decided to join me for a hike to some waterfalls. We had a good time and luck because we were able to hitchhike most of the time. The waterfall it self is a romantic place, especially if some americans offer you free, cold beer that they dragged all the way. Beer in the evening. I think Carla took her loss in a remarkable fashion. Next day we left for Leon. The heart of the FSLN lion.

Tegucigalpa

If central america would have a “formula 1” race, Tegucigalpa would be the “drive through penalty”. Big, with a lot of unsave districts, just a little of culture and some churches there is not a lot. The next day - when I wanted to get to Nicaragua – I met Clara, so naturally things started to cleared up.

Utila - Tegucigalpa

According to the Lonley Planet it takes you about 9 hours. Well they didn’t think about the fact, that a truck with a gas tank in the back could drive into a horse and land on his back. So there was a huge traffic jam. Then it got even better. Honduran trucks and cars don’t stay on their side of the road, if there are no cars comming from the other side. That means the rescue cran was not able to reach the truck with the gas tank. But of course it was to dangerous for other cars to pass because there were liquids on the road. So the police had to decide how to get the rescue cran to the place. After hours of organizing some space between the waiting cars and trucks and letting a few of them pass the accident zone because there was no other possiblity, the crane finally managed to get there. During the whole night they were figuring out how to get this truck of the road. The next day they have done it sort of. By then I was out of water since a long time and eating peanutbutter all the time.
Other countrys around the world will have it really difficult to match this disaster. But I'm sure somewhere out there are some idiots, that are working on it while we're speeking.

Utila

The place where I wanted to stay for four days and ended up staying for 13. Utila is 1.5 hours north of La Ceiba, Honduras. After reaching the island I hided in a bar to get rid of the american grandma. The price for that move was, that all the cheap hostels were booked out. But it was worth it. Than I had to find out, that the “raison-etre” of this island is only diving. I did not plan to dive and I for sure didn’t plan to spend 220 dollars for it. But since there is not much more to do I said to myself: “What the fuck”. So I had to read this boring book about diving and these even worse videos about diving. When we finally went to the water I rememberd, that I don’t like water to much. So I had some problems to begin with. But when we wen’t to the open water to dive even lower I had problems equalizing the preassure between my ears and the ambient. This is not good for diving – in fact it is really bad. So after I had blood in my mask for 3 times in row I decided that this shit is nothing for Timmy.
So I was glad that in the following days Rachel, Grace and Matt came to the Island. The girls decided to dive as well. This means more or less no drinking. But the good thing about Utila is that there is never a short supply of people that want to get drunk. Me and Rage had good times. But at some point I had to leave because my flight from Panama City was in 35 days. After saying bye to Rage for the last time I caught the boat to La Ceiba to get to the the honduran capitol – Tegucigalpa.

La Ceiba

After a 13 hours trip with the yoga lady from america we got to La Ceiba. La Ceiba has nothing to offer, besides fast food chains, shitty hostels and crime. So – eating – sleeping – eating – let’s get out of here.

Livingston

The boat trip from Rio Dulce to Livingston is according to the Lonley Planet one of the highlights of central america. They didn’t write, that if it rains, that you are going to get soaked. Besides of that, I have to admit that it was really nice – we visited some “agua calientes” and saw some nice flowers and animals.
Livingston would be my kind a town. Extremly laid back with a strong Garifuna culture. Similar to Belize. In hostel ”Iguana” I drank some wine out of the TetraPak and watched two movies in a row. Afterwards I checked out the tiny city. After diminishing the hopes of all the local dealers, I spent the day with the 50 year old lady from Washington and 3 german girls. The one thing that I didn’t like about Livingston is, that you can’t swim in the ocean because it’s polluted and there is no beach. But that was exactly what I was looking for. So the next day I wanted to race to Utila, Honduras. Everybody said that it’s possible in one day. Well that just proofes that nobody has an idea what the hell they are talking about.

Rio Dulce

After a long busdrive I decided to go to a hostel that is owned by some swiss guys. I had to take a boat across the lake to reach the swamp, on what it is build on. A nice hut-style hostel in the middle of the jungle and a calme sidearm of the lake. Everything seemed nice. Than I wen’t to the bar to have a chat with the guys and to get the daily alcohol dosis. Well at first it was about getting to know them. Than it was about finding out why they talk stuff that normally lunatics have a monopoly on. It ended in a full scale war about a range of things. They don’t beleave Neil Armstrong was on the moon; They don’t beleave in the exploration of space; They think it doesn’t make sense to do research; and the best of them all: They think the american goverment orchastrated 9/11. Well we had a nice chat there. In the morning I had to leave.

Antigua

Rachel, Grace and me roard twoards Antigua through a dusty valley of nothing. After prooving my map skills we finally got an hostel - bedbugs included. Rage an I ordered a lot of Cuba Libre because it was Ladys Night. Next Day we found out that there is nothing you can do in Antigua so we decided that we might as well could get drunk. So we chilled in the parc during the afternoon and got drunk with Matt. In the evening we got another big bottle and 5 of us got wasted at the hostel "Black Cat". The next day we went to the volcano "Pacaya" where we witnessed lava and even ate some marshmellow, that we heated on the lava. "Frank the Tank" was drunk to begin with, climbed antennas without permission and got lost in the woods while the night settled in. The next day we split because I have already been to Lanquin. So I travelled by my own to Rio Dulce.

San Marcos/ San Pedro Laguna

After a ridiculouse 12 hours journey over Guatemala City and Antigua my boat finally arrived in San Marcos, where I wanted to study spanish. This place in famouse as a yoga retreat. You could take courses for a whole mooncycle and meditate in primitiv pyramids that are located according to some really mystical stars. During the last week you are not allowed to talk and you have to fast. Crazy shit. Since there were no partys in the evening and the lessons were expensive I switched to the other side of the lake.

San Pedro Laguna is the best party city in Guatemala. A lot of turists try their first hard drugs here and a lot of people stay here for years. So it's possible that you encounter dudes at 10 AM sitting on the side of the road first whispering and than yelling "Monkeytrousers".
I finally found my spanish school and signed up for the afternoon. Sitting in a nice garden on a small table. On the other side was this 20 year old mayan girl. After starting with a little chat we talked some more and more. Than finally I asked if this is the lesson and got an "of course" in return. There were no concepts, no modules, no books and she even didn't speack any English. So I had to step on the breaks and finish this rendez-vous style school. From then on I stack to my books and learned by myself. In the evenings I hung out with an austrian girl named Bianca until I crossed Matt's and Kalib's way. Naturally we got wasted. Young americans tend to consume hard drugs like candy. I was fine with the rum. The days past with learning in the afternoon and partying in the evening. Than Rachel and Grace came back from Mexico. I surprised them at the harbour with Matt. We were sitting in the bar at the lakeside for 4 hours becouse the girls were late. So we were in pretty drunken state. But sober enough for another beer. The next few days we went kayaking, eating nice food and enjoing the nightlife. Life got easy, very easy.

Lanquin/ Semuc

After an 8 hours trip from Flores to Lanquin I stayed in the nicely situated "El Retiro" hostel and took a hammock for 2.5 Dollar. At that point I travelled with William, who was born in England and than moved to Toulouse. He's now working on the black market. After hanging out at the hostel and the village I decided to walk to Semuc with the french guy. After 2.5 hours through the moutainouse midlands of Guatemala we came to this remote valley that was formed by a calme looking river. The locals there and on the whole way were very friendly and constantly tryed to sell us chocolate.

The parc of Semuc is a barage of waterfalls that were formed over millions of years. Nowadays the river flows beneath the "cascades". Only a little bit of the water manages to flow on top to make this already impressive site a gorgeous swimming oppurtinity. After enjoying a nice swim in several of the turquise pools we (the british chess lady joined us) hiked up to the "Mirador" from where you can estimate the scope of the whole place. The bumby road back was 2 dollars and took an half an hour. First thing in the morning I jumped on a bus to travel to Lago de Atitlan. Surprisingly Matt was on the bus.