As I continue my adventures around the world, I continue to both see and experience so many amazing things!! In this post I want to share with you some of my absolute favourite, bucket list worthy adventures that I ticked off on my last trip through Central America!! So without further ado, here are my top Central American adventures!
Cenotes in Mexico
A natural wonder that you must see at least once in your lifetime!! A cenote is actually a natural sinkhole that’s formed by the collapse of porous limestone bedrock! Cenote translates to ‘sacred well’ and Mayans believed they were a portal to speak with the gods! The Cenotes I visited were in-between Playa and Tulum, Quintana Roo, called Cenote Chikin Ha. There are multiple pools that are family owned and kept in such pristine condition! I swam in three of them and each were like an escape to a secret underworld! Vitamin and mineral rich water so clear you can see wildlife swimming meters below you! The pictures above the water look absolutely godly you can imagine what underwater is like!
Snorkeling in Belize
Another highlight of my trip just happened to be another water activity!! (It was summer in Central America, can ya blame me!) I have to admit, before booking this trip I’m not sure I even knew what Belize was or that it was a country! So I was super impressed to hear that it is home to the second largest barrier reef, in the world (second to the one basically in my backyard might I add)! I was staying on the tiny island of Caye Caulker which is incredible in itself, but decided to take a day trip to sail the Caribbean Sea on little boat, to all the best snorkeling locations nearby!! That day I swam with turtles, sharks, rays, plus so many fish, and explored beautiful coral gardens and sunken shipwrecks! A true highlight of CA!!
Spelunking ATM caves in Belize
The Actum Tunichil Muknal (ATM) caves in Belize were a day trip out of San Ignacio. Unfortunately you’re no longer allowed to take anything, including cameras, into the caves, which means I have no pictures to prove (except the tour company ones), but hopefully my explanations can paint a pretty good picture in your mind of what it was like!!
Once arriving at the location I got geared up in water shoes, life jacket, helmet and head torch! The adventure began with a hike through the rain forest, which included three river crossings before arriving at the opening of the cave! Note: the only pics I have are the ones the company emailed through. The water ranges from meters deeps where you have to literally swim between two cave walls, to just knee deep to completely dry!! There was a three meter boulder that you have to climb up the side of before climbing up a ladder to a small chamber that held skeletal remains from sacrificed Mayans from thousands of years ago!! It was definitely a fun adventure squeezing around rocks and squirming through tight spaces. There was even a section called the decapitator! Yeah, you read that right. This consisted of two rocks neck width, with your full body underwater you had to perfect position your neck to be able to squeeze through these two rocks!! Basically like a massive obstacle course, we finally arrived in the ‘dry chamber’ which was incredible!! The walls of the cave had crystallized and with a shine of our head torch was the most stunning natural creation to see!! Without a head torch though, the caves fell pitch black and silent, like nothing I had experienced before. And then of course we had to make our way back out of the cave which continued the fun! This was truly and incredible experience and I think one that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated!!
Tikal National Park, Home-stay and Chichicastenago Markets in Guatemala
I got to spend a night camping in Tikal NP after spending the day exploring the ruins. It never fails to fascinate me wandering through ruins that have now been claimed by nature and imagining what life would have been like for the Mayans that once roamed this town.
I was also lucky enough to be welcomed into a local home in San Jorge to spend a night with a family to learn more about their culture and experience it as a local. Home-stays are one of my favourtie ways to travel, I think its definitely the best real way to see a country and meet its people with no tourist traps in the way! I also happened to be visiting the night of a local holiday which included dressing up in traditional Guatemalan attire before a long night of celebrations including music, dancing, food and fireworks!
One of my favourite things when travelling is exploring the local markets, and Guatemala just happens to be home to one of the most colourful markets in the world, Chichicastenago!! On Sunday morning, prime market time may I add, I hustled my way through this lively market, all my senses overwhelmed from the brightest coloured handicrafts, to the freshly made tortillas. I could’ve spend hours just wandering and taking in everything that was going on! I managed to pick up a little souvenir which is rare for me as I’m not really a souvenir kind of person, but I had no hope leaving these markets without grabbing a little something to take with me!
Volcano Boarding in Nicaragua
Whilst I love planning all my trips out ahead of time, I occasionally accidentally/ purposely leave out a bit of research so that I’m completely surprised by what’s to come. A perfect example of this is when I arrived in Leon in the afternoon and next thing I knew it was 6am and I was on the way to Volcan Cerro Negro! Now to board down a volcano you obviously have to hike up a volcano. One step up and two steps back is NO LIE! Hiking on loose gravel at a steep incline has to be the most frustrating thing ever!! I was constantly ankles deep in volcano chunks and uncontrollably sliding backwards! Whilst now hilarious to look back at it was certainly not humorous when I just. Wanted. To. Reach. The. Top. We hiked up and over one side of the volcano and down into the crater where you could feel the heat through the floor! We then had to hike up the other side and when we summited ah the views were beyond worth it!!
Feeling like I was on the moon whilst almost being swept away by the ferocious wind!! We took our time taking pictures and getting geared up in our oh so fashionable suits and goggles. Standing at the top of the volcano looking down it seemed impossible that I was about to board down this thing, it looked SO STEEP!!! A few encouraging words from the group and I was seated ready to slide!! Feet up, rope back and goooooo!!!
Kicking back dust with the most spectacular views surrounding me, one of those true WOW moments. I quickly realised that whilst I felt like I was zooming down I was actually sliding down at a very responsible pace and I probably looked like a bit of a grandma compared to some of the others but never the less it was the perfect opportunity to take in the moment and try to scream with my mouth closed (the volcano gravel doesn’t taste very good)! And just like that, another absolutely insane moment, that I never imagined getting to do, was done!
Activities in Costa Rica
The last country in my Central American adventure was Costa Rica! The nature and wildlife of this country are unbelievable, and there was no way I was wasting an opportunity to learn all about it!! I took a few tours where I spotted sloths at night, hiked across hanging bridges high up in the rain forest and wandered through crops of coffee, cocoa and sugar cane. Highlights have to be though, the adrenaline brewing activities! Zip lining and white water rafting have to be some of the best experiences I’ve had!! Flying high face first through the Costa Rican jungle should be on everyone’s bucket list, that’s for sure!! As should rafting!! My rafting adventure took place on the Sarapiqui river, a couple of hours out of San Jose. I believe they were class 4-5 rapids which was quite intense for my first go at white water rafting but it was sooo much fun!! We did capsize and our entire boat fell into the rapids which was a stressful moment but luckily most of us got back on and we continued down the river!! I never knew white water rafting would be sooo much fun but now I look for it in all of my travels, if somewhere offers it then I’m there!!!!
So that’s it for my Central American highlights, I was surprised every single day with the amazing culture, food and experiences that this part of the world offers and this list is just tiny compared to everything I was lucky enough to do!! Let me know if you’re planning to go to Central America soon and I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions for you!! Or if you have any other bucket list worthy Central American Adventures I’d love to hear about them!!!!
That’s it for now,
Signing off,
Alexx
Alex's Adventures 