Central America Coming To An End

The Central American leg of my trip is coming to an end.

I had never planned to come here. I was going to jump straight to South America from Costa Rica after seeing Glenn but then, for several reasons, I ended up staying here for more than two months. People and books had made me paranoid about security, and the issues in Honduras were making me more worried but it turned out to be a lot of scaremonging. Of course you have to keep your wits about you and probably be more careful that in India or South East Asia. Central America is full of great sights, likeTikal, some amazing wildlife, diving, everything, but most of all, what I have really enjoyed is its people.

This lady was amazing, she asked you to try the biscuits she was selling before you bought them......you really don't get that in Tesco
One of the most enduring memories I am going to take with me is the buses, and the madness surrounding the chicken buses.

Yesterday was the only day that I actually saw a chicken being transported in a bus, but everything can happen in one. You may have a clown trying to sing, people selling fruit, drinks, meals. It gets even stranger when people start selling medicines, booklets with old wives tales on how to cure alcohol addiction, smoking and even haemoroids. Throw in some awful music, either reggae, euro trash, or my worst nightmare, Christian Easy listening with off key singers belching out how much they love God.

Some really strange decoration in a hostel I was staying in

Central America is a world of electricty cables hanging on the street, where Pharmacies play blaring music and the first thing they offer you for a sore throat is antibiotics, where people smile at you, and women called you lindo, Where gyms are full of scary people who have lots of tattoos, who will always help you if you just say good morning when you walk in. Sadly it is also a world where deforestation is rampant, where trees are being cut down for the needs of the Western world, or the Chinese never ending thirst for resources. It is a world where sharks are being killed for fins, or just for food. I saw Whale sharks, but I also noticed that there are no fish in the reefs. They have been fished to extinction by desperately poor people who do not understand they are eating away their children's future source of income.
Nevertheless, I would recommend that you all come here......