Where Have I Been

Currently I should be revising for my re-takes which are in less than a month but have got side tracked into doing another post.

I wanted to talk about the places that I’ve visited as it may not be a lot but its a start. The most recent visit was to Central America and I cannot begin to tell you what a trip of a lifetime that was. I went with my best friend who I’ve known since reception, even though the first thing she said to me was “what are you looking at?” But our friendship has vastly improved since then.

We booked our trip as a tour from Geckos Travels in January (also when January sales are.) Then worked liked mad on overtime to be able to afford to survive out there. Luckily in places like Suchitoto in El Salvador the beer was $1 so that was one thing you could quite easily live off. We overestimated the amount of money we would need to improve our chances of survival and be able to stay out there for a month. Guatemala and El Salvador were considerably cheaper than England but Nicaragua and Costa Rica were slightly more expensive.

Even though we spent more than expected, it was 100% worth it. This was mainly because of the activities we did which I described as ‘things I didn’t know to put on my bucket list.’ These included sledging down an active volcano in Nicaragua or being able to swim through a boat wreck around Tortuga Island, Costa Rica.

It was so refreshing to leave England culture and absorb ourselves in the Central American way of life which is extremely laid back, no concept of time, always willing to help and general smiles all round. Because of this horizontal, laid back view you will wait for an hour for food in a restaurant especially in a big group that we had of 11, so either fill up on beer beforehand or bring a snack if you’re a massive food eater like me.

One thing about travelling on tour is the amazing people you end up travelling with. They could be from all around the world, and its amazing to get to know about their lifestyle and understand what you have in common. I couldn’t have asked for a better group and to put into perspective how well we all got along, the Aussie couple felt so comfortable that they got engaged in front of us. Now I don’t think I’ve ever screamed or cried so much with happiness in my life and I can just see myself now hugging the other Ella we travelled with, trying to contain the sobs together whilst our tour guide in the background was repeatedly screaming “WHERE’S THE CAMERA, WHERE’S THE CAMERA”, running around like a headless chicken. We all react in our different ways to situations such as this. Basically I wouldn’t replace anyone I travelled with, they made my first real taste of travelling unforgettable.

I haven’t really talked about any of the journey in particular or in detail but there is so much to say about each place we went to and even when we went off on our own towards the end. I’ll leave that for more posts in the future but until then, enjoy.