Category Archives: TRAVEL

Bus,Train, Plane, Taxi…

www.jimmccluskey.com Posted on by

We landed in Guatemala on Christmas morning after surfing our way southward by a variety of conveyances–from Ashland to Sacramento by Amtrak bus, Sacramento to Oakland by train, and a short hop to the airport by shuttle. Then the red-eye to Guatemala City with a change of planes in San Salvador, and finally a 45-minute taxi ride to Antigua. By the time we got to Antigua we had been up for more than 24 hours and things felt a bit surreal. We slept for a few hours, got up for meal, slept some more, got up and walked around again–mainly … Continue reading →

It’s beginning to feel a lot like…

www.jimmccluskey.com Posted on by

…time to hit the road. Snow has been creeping down the hilltops near home here, I’ve been scraping frost off my windshield and the days are short and gloomy. Definitely time to head south. And time to dust off the blog. The last entry was posted just after returning from my last trip. Not much of interest happened between then and now. We leave a week from today. I’ve been pretty much packed for over a month. Faye is coming with me this year and she is just getting started. We plan to spend a month or so in Guatemala, … Continue reading →

Re-Entry

www.jimmccluskey.com Posted on by

If “a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step,” then surely it must end standing in front of the baggage carousel at the airport. There was something disheartening about seeing the backpack I’ve carried down dirt roads and across towns and thrown on and off countless buses, emerge from the conveyor belt to be dumped with all the other luggage—the roll-ons, the Samsonite look-alikes, the suitcases with no stories to tell. Though, to be honest, since this was a flight that originated in Guatemala, there were several cardboard boxes held together with tape and string. Looking at … Continue reading →

End of the Road

www.jimmccluskey.com Posted on by

I’ve spent the last few days back in Guatemala, on familiar ground around Lake Atitlan. It feels good to be back, and even more so, perhaps, because the time left is so short. I’ve been in Central America—Guatemala and Nicaragua—for nearly three months, but I don’t remember ever feeling less inclined to go back home. Just before Faye and I left Nicaragua we began thinking about our next adventure. Maybe someday we will leave home and not come back. But not just yet… It’s been a trip.

Continue reading →

Beach Bumming

www.jimmccluskey.com Posted on by

The first couple of weeks in Nicaragua we took the roads less traveled—by foreign visitors anyway. There were always plenty of locals. For the last two weeks we abandoned the search for culture, hidden hotspots or something of even moderate interest, and instead went to the beach. Actually two beaches, just about as different from each other as possible, one on the ocean, the other on a lake. There are a string of nice beaches all along the Pacific Coast, mostly undeveloped or barely. Some stretches, mostly in the south, near Costa Rica, are being developed into instant communities marketed … Continue reading →