As we left Ometepe we noticed that every shop had a stand outside selling machetes for US$3! For what pray tell?! The comical thing was that everyone, including kids, seemed to be carrying one. I almost felt left out although with my recent track record of bad luck I'd probably slice my leg off or something! The last few days have again been fairly unsettling and I can't put my finger on what it is. I do sometimes wonder if I've seen and done so many things that...

Finally! The World Cup is over! Thank goodness. We can get back to some sort of normality where our whole schedule isn't dictated or moved around to accommodate some crappy football game. I mean, if people were that interested in watching the games, they should have stayed at home or stayed in one place for a month - not gone on a tour that moves every day! Or is that just me being bitter and twisted?! So, next stop was Lake Nicaragua and the island of Ometepe. ...

I forgot to tell you the tale of our armed police raid on a bus the other day! Of course it's always a bit daunting when a Brit sees a gun as we are just not exposed to the in the UK but when they are so close to you - scary! So firstly, as were putting our bags on the bus, there was a security guy with a hand-held scanner. The guy in front of me pulled out a revolver (yep, seriously!) and handed it over. My first thoughts were that surely there were going to tak...

Oh my God! I have been eaten alive! I think I have just spent the last 3 days in the breeding ground for mozzies, sandflies and all other bitey insects. There's not much of my skin left to suck on! I decided I should probably take malaria tablets so have started again. The number of bites I have, there must be one from a malarial mozzie! Anyway, after leaving Copan, we took 2 very uncomfortable buses (one had leg room and no aircon and the other had no legroom a...

Honduras - another country I am very ignorant of. I didn't even know its capital city (it's Tegucigalpa! ). Anyhooo, it's about the size of England with a population of just over 7 million. It's a country that struggles with some of the biggest social inequalities in the western hemisphere and it recently slipped to 117th in the world developing rankings and according to the World Bank, it's the 3rd poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti and Nicara...