Mexico...Better Than We Expected (Part 1)

I've been eager to visit Mexico for many years as I've heard about how nice it is in the south.  I wasn't prepared for how nice the people, food, and natural beauty there is.  We stayed almost 7 weeks, and in that time we traveled the south up to Mexico City.  We have so many pictures from there, so I'll show the places we enjoyed most.

If you remember from the previous post, we entered Mexico from Guatemala.  The state we entered was Chiapas.  Here are some of the places we visited on the way to Mexico City.

El Chiflón near the city of Comitán.  There were at least 6 spectacular water falls that we saw.

Velo de Novia (Veil of the Bride)

Cañon de Sumidero: We took a boat trip into the canyon.  It was amazing with walls rising over 1000 feet on either side.  This is not a place to swim though as there crocs.

Ruinas de Monte Alban (This is above the city of Oaxaca in the state of Oaxaca)

 Hierve el Agua:  Petrified agua.  You can see a falls that has become petrified in the pic below.  

Flying like an angel :)

Some interesting food we found in the state of Oaxaca.  Can you guess what's in the baskets below?

Fried Chapulines

I enjoyed eating this pizza looking torta which is called Tlayuda

Dash for Mexico

While on our way to El Salvador we experienced some weird behavior in Honduras.  The migration official wanted proof that we were married and that we had enough money.  That wasn't to bad but it became strange after we got on a long distance bus and were on our way.  The police boarded the bus and were selective on asking for passport check.  They skipped over the white Europeans in front of us and asked for our passports.  Then when they saw Veronica was Colombian they wanted additional identification.  They suspect every Colombian of being a drug smuggler.  I laughed to myself because Honduras has far more problems than Colombia.  They should be happy that we're bringing tourist dollars to them.

At the Salvadorian border we were told that Veronica only had 10 more days to pass through Salvador and Guatemala.  That really removed a lot of places we were hoping to visit.  The dash was now on for the Mexican border. haha!

Termales in Santa Teresa (We enjoyed half a day bathing in several pools.)

Los Chorros in Juayua, El Salvador

Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala

Lago Atitlan (A volcanic lake with little town along its shores.)

Bunny made a friend that was smaller than her ;)

After our 9th day we made a long day travel for the Mexican border in the chicken buses.

Nicaragua

Our introduction to Nicaragua was a long days travel from Monteverde Costa Rica using the public bus system.  We had to rise at 3:30am and catch a 4:20am bus to the panamerican highway, where we took multiple public buses until we arrived at the border.  To our surprise, Nicaragua charges $40 for Colombians to enter the country on a visa.  The visa only allows for 30 days to visit the other 3 countries in the 4 country agreement. (Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala)  This disappointed us that they would treat Colombians this way, but I guess that's the way it is.

Isla Ometepe
A very tranquil island in the middle of the huge lake Nicaragua.  The people were really nice on the island.  We rented a motorcycle for 2 days and rode around the whole island.  We also climbed the inactive volcano Maderas and swam many times in the lake.

Ojo de Agua

Climbing Volcan Maderas

Granada

A short visit as we were keen to get out to the Corn Islands.

Laguna de Apoyo (volcanic lake)

Corn Islands

Traveling to the Corn Islands was a quite an adventure as they're about 70km off the eastern side of Nicaragua. (we didn't fly)  1st we rode a bus to Managua the capitol from Granada. (1.25 hrs)  2nd Found the long distance bus to El Rama. (7 hours with no bathroom break.)  3rd An hour after the bus ride we found ourselves on an overnight cargo boat (Isleño) out to the islands.  That boat went for 13 hours.  Its not a comfortable boat for passengers as its for cargo.  We had to find room on the deck to sleep.  The first few hours were on the river where its calm, but then when we got on the open ocean it was anything but calm.  Many people were throwing up and I had to constantly look at the horizon or I would want to throw-up.  It was quite an adventure getting to the islands, but I told Bunny that all this would be forgotten when we're on the beaches. :)

We stayed on the Little Corn Island which only allows foot traffic.  What a welcome relief to be away from cars and everything that makes life faster.  We worshiped at the Adventist church and made friends with Mary who let us stay at her place.  The island is full of mangos which we enjoyed every day as we explored almost all the beaches on the island.

León

Another short visit as we made our way north.  We enjoyed how friendly the people are.  I think the people up north in the country are much better than the ones in the south. (excluding the people from Isla Ometepe.)  I felt like we couldn't trust the people in the south to tell us the truth or give us a good deal when buying.

Cañon de Somoto

A fun day swimming and hiking through the cañon.  Bunny enjoyed jumping off a cliff into the water.

Pura Vida....Cara Vida

We spent about 2.5 weeks in Costa Rica and could have spent more time but the "Cara Vida" (Expensive Life) part is draining the dinero, and so we went north to Nicaraqua.  However while in CR we saw many beautiful beaches, animals, and met some nice people along the way.  We were also interested to see if Ticas as they're known are the happiest people.  I'm not convinced of that as I think the Colombians win out on that.  Obviously my Bunny is the happiest Colombian as she has her own Indian Tigre. :)  Ok, back to our travels in Costa Rica.  We started in the south and traveled north along the western coast.  Enjoy the pics.

Puerto Jimenez & beaches

Enjoying a juicy mango

Coconuts are a part of any beach :)

We saw monkeys everywhere

Uvita beaches and waterfall

Parque Manuel Antonio (Lots of monkeys & raccoons)

Monteverde

On top of Cerro Los Amigos

Hiking in Reserva Santa Elena

Our first sighting of a Quetzal