Honduras and Nicaragua

For me, Honduras was definitely the most photogenic of the countries I visited in Central America.  I think this is partially because it's home to my two favourite locations in the entire isthmus - the tiny, postcard-perfect Caribbean island of Chauchauate, and the fabled Mosquito Coast.  Chauchauate is so small that you can walk from one end to the other in about 3 minutes, yet it's still home to a community of 80 to 100 Garifunas. There is next to no tourist infrastructure on the island - I was one of 3 non-locals on the whole island, and my room was a makeshift little wooden shack.  There is no electricity or running water, but that all adds to the vibe of a tiny white-sand Caribbean island so idyllic that I spent my first half an hour trying to avoid laughing out loud it was just so beautiful.  And to add to that, all one needed to do was swim 20 meters out to sea and there were beautiful coral reefs to snorkel amongst.

The Mosquito Coast was also a dream come true.  I first learnt of it when I was quite young, through the early 1980s movie simply called The Mosquito Coast, starring Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and a very young River Phoenix.  It's basically the story of a crazed inventor who wants to get away from civilisation so he tries to find somewhere to truly get away from it all, and ended up here.  I can see why he chose this place, as it's so remote it took me 6 hours sat in the back of a pick-up followed by 3 hours in a dugout canoe to arrive.  They don't do roads in the Mosquito Coast either - everyone commutes via dugout canoe along the many streams and rivers.

After five weeks in Honduras, I moved on to Nicaragua where I would spend another five weeks before heading home to Camden.

My favourite locations in Nicaragua  were a small town in the north-central highlands called San Jose de Los Remates with it's own community-owned tourist development programme, and El Castillo - the semi-remote town surrounded by jungle on the banks of the Rio San Juan as it snakes its way out of Southern Nicaragua and into the Caribbean.  Other highlights included the lively, politically-charged town of Esteli and its neighbouring national park, El Miraflor.  Daytrips into El Miraflor are organised at the local "Farmers Co-operative" in Esteli - and are based around a trek through the National Park followed by an over night stay and a meal with one of the Farmers Co-operative familes.  These sorts of programmes are common throughout Nicaragua, they're a great way to get to see the country and you know that 100% of your money is going into the community you're visiting.