Madrid

Madrid, the capital of Spain.  Many people who travel to Spain don't like Madrid, but I absolutely love it.  It is a wonderful city to walk around in.  You can walk around the city center.  The main plaza is called Sol.  The Plaza del Sol is made famous by its epic New Years Eve celebrations that rival those of Times Square in New York City.  From Sol there is plenty to see.  There is the Plaza Mayor, an old square that is hidden within the surrounding buildings.  You can walk down to Parque del Retiro, a beautiful park where you can rent paddle boats or just laze in the sun.

My favorite walk is to a poorer neighborhood south of Sol - Lavapies.  Lavapies is always full of life.  There is music being played in the streets, and great smells wafting out of the restaurants.  This is also the location of our favorite tapas bar.  El Boqueron is a small tapas bar - standing room only - where you can get the freshest and most delicious seafood in the city.  Anytime I have the opportunity to go, I will. 

One of the ponds in Parque del Retiro.

                  
                           Parque del Retiro                                                                  Gran Via

Plaza de Oriente

 

Casa de Campo: an enormous park on the western end of Madrid

 Puerta del Sol

But, really the best thing about Madrid is that you can very easily visit some very cool places nearby.  Trains and buses will take you to Toledo (the former capital), Segovia (with its huge Roman aqueduct and its beautiful castle), and finally, Avila.

Our arrival to Europe!

We departed Central America for Europe from Panama City.  After a long night of waiting for the bus to take us to the airport, we arrived to learn that we had to wait a few hours to enter the terminal.  Javier still could not see anything, so we were understandably happy when we boarded our first flight.  Our first layover was in Bogota, Columbia.  This was not too long, but Javier was feeling worse after our first flight.  It was a big relief to finally be on our flight to Madrid.  Javier's eyes were in a lot of pain during our final flight, but there was nothing we could do to relieve them.  We just had to wait.

When we finally arrived in Spain, we both were able to rush through customs because of Javier's condition.  His sister picked us up at the airport and drove us immediately to the hospital.  While our arrival to Europe was not ideal, we were very happy to be there.

Puntarenas and The Beach: Short and Blind

The beach at Puntarenas is a very nice beach.  Although it is on the Pacific Ocean, this beach is sheltered and the waters are fairly tranquil.  Our time on this beach were not the best.  Days earlier while visiting Monteverde Cloud Reserve, Javier had contracted a very serious eye infection.  Javier was completely blind, so we could not do very much.  It was good that our flight back to Spain was only a few days away, because we feared for the health of Javier's eyes.

Lake Arenal

Costa Rica!  Okay, it's beautiful, but lets be reasonable.  If Guatemala is the misbehaving spoiled child of Central America, Costa Rica is the well behaved spoiled child.  Costa Rica is extremely touristic.  This country is much more developed than its neighbors, but the development is rather superficial and only focused around touristic centers.  Being developed allows for greater comfort while traveling, but it also makes for much more expensive traveling.  Which of course we detest.

Despite the cost of visiting Costa Rica, it is an absolutely beautiful and wonderful place to visit.  The first place we visited was Arenal Lake.  This lake is surrounded by beautiful lush forest and explosive volcanoes.  If you like the touristic side of travel, this is a perfect place for you.  There are plenty of activities to keep you busy there.


Our time at Arenal Lake was spent walking in the forest and hiking around.  The forest is so thick and moist.  We walked to the La Fortuna River from the town to have breakfast there.

Later, we entered a preserve so we could hike to some waterfalls.  The trail was an adventure in itsel.  We climbed up and down steep switchbacks and crossed massive suspension bridges.  When we finally arrived at the waterfall, what we saw was actually less impressive than the path we had taken to get there!

Pino Blanco waterfall.

Granada

Granada, on the edge of lake Nicaragua, is a beautiful colonial city.  While in Granada, we stayed with a very comical Spanish woman at her club.  She warned us when we arrived that it would be very loud at night.  At first we did not believe this.  The club was empty when we went to bed, and the music was low.  Of course, later in the night we awoke to an unpleasant surprise.  Loud, banging beats of club music vibrated the whole room.  We didn't sleep much after that.

 

The city was wonderful to walk around in.  We visited the old fort and climbed the tower of one of the churches.  The city itself is colorful and alive.  The main street going to the lake is always filled with people having food or coffee.  This main part of town feels fairly developed, but in this same city not more than a couple kilometers away was the most disgusting market place I have ever seen.  The floor of the outdoor market was piled with food scraps and garbage.  The meat vendors kept their items out on tables; unrefrigerated and stinking.  It was truly a sight.

Outside of Granada is an old volcanic crater that is now a lake: Apoyo.  You can take a short bus ride to Catarina and walk up the hill to the overlook.  From there you can look down over the crater lake Apoyo.

Leon

Leon, in the north of Nicaragua, is yet another beautiful Central American colonial town.  This town has a simple and dirty feel to it, but it is still a nice place to visit.  We stayed in an old house which was renting rooms to tourists.  It was not the nicest, but it still felt more welcoming than other places we had stayed. 

While staying in this house, we had an interesting encounter with the cleaning woman.  One day, when coming back to our room from a walk, we became engaged in conversation with her.  The main topic: my blonde hair.  She gently stroked my golden locks and asked in Spanish, "Are you German".  She had fallen in love with me for my hair. For many weeks later, it was our favorite joke.

Of course, the main reason tourists come to Leon, is for the volcano.  Not to visit the volcano for its beauty, but to sled down the volcano.  That's right, people pay to get completely decked-out in full body armor, and sled down the volcanic rock.

Ruta de las Flores

El Salvador is one of our favorite countries in Central America.  Warnings of danger were all wrong.  The country is friendly, cheap, and free of tourists.  You can literally take a bus ride halfway across the country for a few dimes (they use U.S. dollars there).  While in El Salvador we saw only a few foreigners, and mostly in the capital.  Our time in El Salvador was short, but well worth it.

In the southwest of El Salvador, is a wonderful travel route called La Ruta de las Flores (The route of flowers).  This route features cute little towns and breathtaking natural areas.  We did not visit all of the attractions on this route, but the ones we did visit were lovely.

Ataco:

Apanera:

The view from Laguna de las ninfas.

Juayua:

The cascades at Chorros de la Calera outside Juayua.  These cascades are part of a series of hydroelectric  facilities. 

Disclaimer: Prices in Guatemala

When traveling, we are always careful with our money.  In undeveloped countries, people will try to squeeze more out of you than an item is worth.  In Guatemala you need to be especially careful.  During our time in Guatemala we experienced more foul play with prices than any other place in Central America.  In Guatemala they charge foreigners much more than locals.  It is an unspoken policy across the country to charge even twice as much for a service.  It is our personal belief that this is wrong.  If you go to Guatemala and you are going to take a bus or colectivo, or you are going to purchase something, make sure to ask people how much it will cost before you are buying.  Ask many locals to see what price they would be paying.  If you get on a bus, ask your neighbors how much they are paying.  Make sure you have small enough bills to pay exact, because if you are needing change, don't expect to get it back.

Lake Atitlan

In the southwest of Guatemala is a beautiful lake called Atitlan.  To get to the lake, you take a bus to the hills above, take another bus down into the lakeside towns, and hop on a boat to the town of your choice.  The main transportation around the lake is by boat.  Transportation by road is unfeasible due to the lengthy amount of time it takes to drive around the lake.

The towns along the lake are nestled on the steep slopes of the adjacent mountains.  One of the most popular towns is Panajachel.  This town is fairly touristic, but is a good base location for adventuring around the lake.  From Panajachel, you can even walk along part of the lake to visit some of the other towns.

The mountains around the lake are volcanic.  Four volcanos: Atitlan, Santiago, San Pedro, and Cerro de Oro line the southwestern shore of the lake.  At sunset, these volcanoes look beautiful with the setting sun behind them.

The villages around the town have winding streets filled with pottery and textile shops.  The textiles are beautiful and very affordable.  We spent a whole day just visiting these shops.  The blankets, table runners, and clothing are beautifully colored.  At one shop, a mother and daughter pair dressed me in the traditional clothing of the Mayan women of the lake.  With a large shirt, wrap-around skirt, and tight waist belt.  This experience alone convinced us to buy a couple of items from them.  At another shop, we found a beautiful blanket for our bed.

While in Panajachel, we stayed with a Couchsurfing host.  For most of the time, we were alone at his house, since he had left to visit a friend on the other side of the lake.  Our time at the house was interesting.  His dogs were starving since he had left very little food for them.  His kitten would sneak in the house at night and keep us awake.  And on the last night we were staying there, we arrived after dark to find a padlock on the gate.  Fortunately, we were able to clime the wall into the house and get our backpacks.

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey is a beautiful series of terraces located in north eastern Guatemala.  The river suddenly goes subterranean and disappears for a few hundred meters.

On top of the huge rock slab that the river dives under, are beautiful terraces of clear water.  Water coming from forest streams has created these limestone terraces in the rock above the river.  You can wade and swim in these clean, warm pools.  If you sit on the edge and rest your feet in the water, small fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet.  Considering the price that some people pay to have this done in urban settings, this is very cool.

For a birds eye view, you can take a hike up the mountain to an overlook above the terraces.  The view of the blue waters is spectacular.