Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Our Central America tour (22): Lake Atitlan and the living Maya
February 13th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This is such a varied holiday and today (Wednesday) we spent our time on or around a lake, leaving the hotel at 8 am and returning at 3.30 pm. Located about 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) above sea level, Lago de Atitlan – the name means ‘by the water’ – was formed in a caldera or […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (21): Antigua
February 12th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
On Tuesday, we had a late start of 9.30 am (oh, joy) for a tour of Antigua or, to use its full name, La Antigua Guatemala. Our guide Sandra lives here so, she was on home territory. This was Spain’s capital for all of the middle Americas until an epic earthquake of 1773 led to […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (20): the wonders of Tikal
February 11th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
If yesterday was something of a washout (literally), then today (Monday) was a spectacular contrast because the weather was great (for most of the time anyway) and we were visiting the Maya masterpiece that is Tikal. We left our hotel in Santa Elena at the usual start time of 8.30 am in a locally-supplied coach, […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (19): the wettest journey of our lives
February 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Sunday and already time to leave Livingston. At least with only an overnight bag, packing was no problem. Now there is only one way to leave Livingston – and that’s the same way as you entered it: down the Rio Dulce. Our boat was scheduled to depart at 8.30 am, but the heavens had opened […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (18): Quirigua and Livingston
February 9th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
After the ‘luxury’ of two consecutive nights in the same hotel in Honduras, on Saturday things became more ‘spartan’ with us reduced to an overnight bag for our next hotel somewhere up a river in Guatemala. Meanwhile our luggage went who knows where. It was a short journey back into Guatemala where the whole of […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (16): Copan
February 8th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
It had rained in the night but Friday morning was another bright day. – perfect for our visit to the Maya location that is a World Heritage Site. Oddly the town is called Copan Ruinas while the site itself is simply known as Copan. We left the hotel at 8.30 am and returned at 1.10 […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (14): San Salvador – and three countries in three hours
February 7th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Thursday started in San Salvador as we set off at the usual time of 8.30 am for what was billed as a city tour but was really just a visit to a cathedral and a model of the country. We were joined for the morning by a local guide called Alfredo whose grandparents lived two […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (13): the Salvadoran civil war
February 6th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
We are now about half way through our grand tour of Central America. At Perquin, Wednesday morning’s breakfast was eggs as you like them and brown beans puréed. Beans and/or rice seem to come with every meal in this part of the world which is fine but puréed brown beans have an appearance more suited […]
Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (12): from Nicaragua to El Salvador
February 5th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Another day, another guide, another county. On Tuesday morning, we met our guide for the remainder of the trip, a loud, hyper and ever so cheerful Guatemalan called Sandra Molina who would regularly shout “OK, chicos!”. We were leaving Nicaragua for El Salvador and today was all about travelling between the two countries. As Brian […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Our Central America tour (10): Leon
February 4th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
On Monday morning at 8.30 am, we left Granada and three of the five who had joined us a few days earlier (so now we are 15). It was a short drive north west to the outskirts of the city of Managua. Historically Managua remained a village until 1852 when it was chosen as the […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)