One of my many goals for this trip is to set foot on all seven continents.  Last Wednesday I completed the first leg of my trip and I left North America and moved on to South America.  I can still remember when I landed in Mexico City in mid-August and November seemed years away.  It feels like yesterday when I was roaming up and down the Mexico City airport trying to find the metro.  The trip got better from there and I loved Central America much more than I thought I would.

Everyone kept telling me to be careful in Central America.  This is a dangerous part of the world, but overall it’s pretty safe.  Most of what you hear about in the media is centered on gang and/or drug violence which doesn’t affect tourists for the most part.  The media talks about how dangerous Mexico is, but I found it to be quite pleasant.  The top three cities in the world with the highest murder rate are in Honduras.  While that seems like a scary statistic, the country itself is not a major problem.  As long as one sticks to tourists areas, everything was fine.  There was never really a time when I felt unsafe, except for one time in Honduras, but that was because I wasn’t paying attention and I ended up walking in an unfamiliar area at night.

Another great part of this trip has been the flexibility I’ve had with my timeline.  I had three months which was plenty of time for what I wanted to see.  Many of my previous trips were planned out to the day, but since I had more time here, I was able to just play it by ear and be flexible.  If I was planning on going somewhere, but then someone suggested somewhere else, I was able to easily change plans without a problem.  It’s was absolutely great.

Another thing that I really liked about traveling in this area was all the great friendships I made.  It seemed like people tend to stick together here so I was rarely alone.  I guess this happens all over the world, but it seemed like it was easier here.

In Central America I hit five countries.  I spent a total of six weeks in Mexico starting in Mexico City, where I’ll always remember the good times at my language school.  Hanging out with David, Kyle, Lisa, and others after class and on weekends was such a blast.   Side trips from there to Teotihuacan, Xochimilco, and Puebla were a great distraction from school.  After that I went to Oaxaca and Chiapas land of jungles and winding roads.  From there it was onto the humid Yucatan with its beautiful beaches and cenotes.  I have great memories of laying in hammocks listening to the waves and scuba diving in the Caribbean and in cenotes.

After Mexico it was onto Belize.  The best part of this part was meeting the SieteSecreto.  Of course we didn’t give ourselves that name until later, but we all met on the boat from Mexico to Belize.  There was the married couple, Vickie & Carl from England, two university friends, Steph & Claire from England and Northern Ireland respectively, and then two single travelers; Chris from Louisiana and Lindsey from England.  We spent all our time in Belize together and had a blast.  Caye Caulker was great for snorkeling and sunbathing, while San Ignacio was great for jungles and hanging out in the swimming hole.

My detour to Chicago.  We can not forget about this.  My uncle died so I went to Chicago for a week.  Belize was actually closer to Chicago than California is, so it was easier than expected to get there.  My time there was spent with family, working on cleaning out his apartment.

Guatemala was my favorite country.  Everywhere you looked there were beautiful views and super friendly people.  I didn’t really know what to expect from Guatemala, but I loved it.  There was Tikal the Mayan ruins, El Remate with the tortuous jungle trek, Semuc Champey with the awesome cave tour, Rio Dulce with ample swimming opportunities, Lake Atitlan where I went scuba diving and just enjoyed beautiful views, and lastly Antigua the former capital which still holds its colonial charm.

I didn’t feel that I g0t to see much of Honduras.  I went to Copan which is another Mayan ruin, but it was quite different from all the other ruins that I’d seen.  While some ruins should be seen because they are the biggest or the most preserved, Copan is known for its art.  The engraving on the stones are unbelievable.  After Copan is was onto Utila which is a small island in the Caribbean.  It was sometime easy to forget that I was in Honduras while I was at Utila.  Because the whole culture is centered on scuba diving, it’s more a combination of all western countries that being Honduran.  The last stop in Honduras was on Sandy Cay.  This was the best spot.  It’s an island that you can rent (yes, you can rent your own island).  I was back with the SieteSecreto so we stayed four days there and had a blast.

You can go to the home page and see the map of all these places that I’ve mentioned.  Each place has pictures and a short description if it.  Central America was great and I had such a blast.  It was a great way to start the Incredible Journey and I hope the good times will continue!