Centroamerica + the Gulf Coast

Intro

Yes, the first part of this trip was a cruise!  (Gasp!)  But wait, luckily it falls under my “cruise exception #1” – (read the intro here) – anyway, what better way could there be to see the legendary Panama Canal than to cruise right through it?  (Rhetorical question, there is no better way!)

The first stop, Aruba, was beautiful as expected, but also a bit strange – the interior of the island is a desert filled with cacti!  Who knew?  And here’s another who knew – Costa Rica, famous for its amazing, colorful rain forests and natural wonders, has a capital city which really caught me by surprise.  San José is not usually on travelers’ favorite places in Central America list.  But I loved it!  It was really full of life, and I had a great time just wandering around and taking it all in – something about it just won me over.

In Guatemala, we docked at Puerto Quetzal, and of course, I hopped in a taxi and was transported to Antigua Guatemala, one of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen in Latin America.  Its colonial centre is packed with stunning churches and monuments;  everywhere you look, the buildings are painted in vibrant shades of ochre, white, rust, and mustard yellow, with reddish-brown terracotta tile roofs — and the resulting effect is downright gorgeous.