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Monthly Archives: December 2011
Christmas in Cuenca
I spent Christmas Eve and Day in Cuenca and whilst that wasn’t specifically planned, I’m glad that’s where I ended up. I’ve never spent Christmas away from home before (and I don’t think I’d like to again) but the town … Continue reading
Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca
Despite them being solidly joined together, there is no ground transport between Panama and South America, through the area known as the Darien Gap. This is partly because the swamp and jungle make road building difficult (making this the one … Continue reading
Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo
The Panama canal is of course sited where it is to take advantage of the short distance (around 50km) between the Pacific and the Caribbean. But long before the canal, there was an important land route across the isthmus and … Continue reading
Panama Canal
It may not be a world heritage site, but I couldn’t visit Panama without seeing the canal, so I took the bus out of town to the visitor centre sited right next to the Miraflores locks. Just a few years shy … Continue reading
Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo and Historic District of Panamá
An early morning bus from Leon to Managua (another capital with a bad reputation) put me on the plane for the short flight to Panama City. The world heritage site here comprises two distinct sections some kilometres away from one … Continue reading
Ruins of León Viejo
An hour and a half by two chicken buses from the town of Leon are the remains of its sixteenth century predecessor, 30km to the east. This site was slowly abandoned between 1578 and 1610 in response to a volcanic … Continue reading
León Cathedral
Apart from Mexico, the countries of Central America have only one or two cultural world heritage sites each, hence the rather frantic country-hopping I’ve currently indulging in. So, after two days in El Salvador, one of which was entirely dedicated to … Continue reading
Joya de Cerén Archaeological Site
This small heritage site, the “Pompeii of El Salvador” is an hour’s journey by chicken bus* outside San Salvador. My journey to San Salvador from Antigua had not started well; the 9am shuttle bus failed to collect me so I … Continue reading
Antigua Guatemala
My biggest worry about getting to the old capital of Guatemala (generally just called Antigua), was that I would have to change buses in the very scary sounding Guatemala City. In the end this wasn’t necessary as I found a … Continue reading
Maya Site of Copan
This Mayan site lies about 10km into Honduras in the same general area as Quirigua so I made a two day detour over the border to see it. I got there on a succession of local minibuses; my tuk-tuk driver put me … Continue reading
Jackie's mid life crisis gap year 