Backpacking Central America on a Budget: How much did we spend per day?

Travelling is expensive. You need to save up for a year to afford to take a few weeks off. It’s impossible to travel long-term without being either filthy rich or a dirty hippie in rags who sleeps in a car and eats from a trash can. Filthy or dirty, that’s the choice.

But what if I tell you that all these preconceptions about long-term travel are wrong?

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La Palma, El Salvador: art, nervewracking bridge and bloodthirsty dogs

El Salvador is not the most popular destination for art lovers. It’s understandable- smaller countries tend to have less interesting stuff in their museum collections. MARTE, San Salvador’s art museum, is no exception to the rule. Most of the art there is pretty bad. But it’s an amusing experience nevertheless- every item has a price tag, just as if they’d be happy to sell their whole collection. Continue Reading →

Five things we learned about the Maya in Central America

Who doesn’t know the game in which one person says a word and the other one completes with the first thing that pops into your head? I have no idea about the purpose of the game, except to prove that you have a dirty mind. Until a year ago, if you’d asked me to play and threw the word ‘Maya’ at me, I’d probably have replied ‘the bee’.

What about you? Be honest. Unless you’ve visited Central America or have a degree in history, you likely don’t know much about the Maya. Continue Reading →

Ruta de las Flores, El Salvador: an explosion of colours

If we ask you what you know about El Salvador, what do you answer?

If you’ve never visited the smallest country in Central America, you’ll plausibly talk about bloody turf wars between gangs. Tattooed street thugs who first slice a machete between their brother’s ribs and then go pray for forgiveness in the nearest church. Drug deals in chicken restaurants and drive-by shootings in the broad daylight.

But if you’ve actually been to El Salvador, you’ll talk differently. You probably can’t shut up about the cosy villages with cobblestones, cute little churches and fountains on squares, foodie festivals, delicious coffee and flowers, flowers, flowers. Continue Reading →