(I wrote this back in April when I was in Costa Rica, but never got around to finishing it.  Better late than never I suppose.)

I realize it has been nearly 5 months since I have updated this page. I wish I could say there was a good reason for it. That I didn’t have time and that every waking hour was filled with activities. While I certainly do try to fill my days with as much activity as I can, I cannot claim to be lacking in down time. However, I have chosen to fill that down time with just about anything else; reading, playing cards, aimless walks around the latest town, studying Spanish (rarely), perusing the internet when available, napping in a bed, napping in a hammock (often), napping on a beach, napping on a bus, etc. The long and short of it is that I didn’t prioritize writing, and the longer I went without writing, the more daunting it became to sit down and write. With every passing week there were more and more stories to catch up on, and less and less desire to do so. I do not write this as a promise to update this page more often, but more likely as a promise of more of the same. It just so happens that I find myself on Caribbean coast on what is the second rainy day in a row, my travel companion is out shopping with her friend, and I ran out of episodes of Game of Thrones to pirate. So, I thought now would be as good a time as any to briefly update those who may care on what I have been up to for the vast majority of my trip.

As of the last post, I had just finished up 3 weeks of Spanish lessons in Lake Atitlan and was meeting up with my sister who came down to visit for Thanksgiving and to celebrate my 30th birthday, which happened to be the same day this year. I had planned on writing a poignant post on what 30 meant to me, but it ultimately boiled down to nothing. 30 means nothing. I feel healthier and happier at 30 than I did at 25, and I hope to continue the trend as long as I can. A lot of people have grand plans of where they think they should be when they turn 30 and have a panic attack if they fall short. Thankfully I don’t feel any pressure, societal or biological, to settle down, get married, have kids, and grow roots. 30 is just another year for me, and so far, the best one to date.

But I digress, the week with my sister was great. We spent a couple days in Antigua, roasted marshmallows in geothermal heat atop a volcano, then backtracked to Belize to spend the rest of her trip basking in the turquoise blue of the caribbean on Caye Caulker. Mother nature, well, she had other plans. I think the sun shined for a few hours on the last day Katie was there, but torrential downpours kept us in the hotel or the nearby hostel for the majority of our time there. While the rain drowned most of our outdoor plans, I drowned myself in rum. 30 wasn’t going to celebrate itself.

Once my sister left, I backtracked for 2 days to Antigua to meet up with a friend I had made in Lake Atitlan so we could travel through El Salvador for 10 days before heading back to Florida for Christmas. When starting my trip, El Salvador was not on my radar. I had heard nothing about it and was thinking about bypassing it completely. I thank my lucky stars I didn’t do that, as El Salvador, while small, has turned out to be be my favorite country in Central America.

First stop in El Salvador was El Tunco, a small beach town on the pacific coast whose economy is based entirely around backpackers and surfers. On this occasion I was both, though I can’t claim to be very competent at the latter. We spent our first couple days here lazing the days away, getting crushed by waves, tanning, getting crushed by rum filled coconuts, and dining on Pupusas, a local dish I quickly fell in love with and have missed ever since. It’s something of a mix between a quesadilla and a potato pancake that is stuffed with meat, vegetables, cheese, or all of the above. After a steady dose of relaxation, it was time to move on to the next town and the next adventure.