My trip to Central America started out with a pretty simple goal – to see as many places as possible, spend time alone, and escape the constant noise of everyday life. I wanted movement, distance, silence. I wanted to disappear for a while. What I didn’t realise was that Central America would quietly become the axis of the entire journey – the place where everything I’d been running from, and everything I was running towards, finally caught up with me.

It was six months of ups and downs, highs and lows. Six months that completely upended who I thought I was. So how could I ever do justice to six months in just one journal entry? Truth is, there are so many things I wanna say that I’m kinda at a loss as to where to even begin. So lemme make this easier on myself. I’ll start with a snapshot of each country I passed through – the best moments, the worst ones, and everything in between:

• • • Mexico: 

      • • Best: Hands down, Teotihuacan. That place stole my heart and somehow, impossibly, took me back in time, making me feel part of a civilisation I’ll never get to experience in the present. I was left in pure, unadulterated awe. MVP? Tanya – just pure positive energy. 

        • Worst: The car crash and almost getting arrested in Cozumel. To think I could’ve been writing this journal in prison!

• • • Belize: 

      • • Best: Caye Caulker – all of it. It’s the closest thing to heaven on Earth. From learning to dive to trying out windsurfing, from fishing to exploring, from partying for absolutely no reason to celebrating holidays, the time I spent there was among the best of my entire life. And without a doubt, most of that wouldn’t have been possible without Roy, Becca and Oliver. 

        • Worst: Witnessing domestic violence right in front of my eyes back in Seine Bight.

• • • Guatemala: 

      • • Best: Okay, this one’s tough. I know I said I’d pick just one, but this is my journal and I’m drunk on power, so I’ll do whatever the hell I want. First off, the trek to El Mirador with one of the best groups I’ve ever had the honour of being part of, with Natalie becoming my longest travelling buddy so far. Then there was Lake Atitlán, which had me wondering whether I was living inside a dream. And finally, Acatenango – seeing, hearing and feeling a volcano erupting just a few hundred metres away is indescribable, and I still can’t believe I got to experience it. 

        • Worst: Easy. Trekking up Acatenango. I still have nightmares about that.

• • • El Salvador: 

      • • Best: I loved my time in Santa Ana – wandering the city and its surroundings, spending time at Hotel Brunette with Andreas, William, Brenda and Victor, falling for someone, and genuinely feeling like a local. Chilling at Surf City and learning to surf was a close second though. 

        • Worst: Hard to choose between the nightmare waterfall hike and the nightmare that was Kevin. Grr.

• • • Honduras: 

      • • Best: How can I ever summarise two months in Utila in a single paragraph? Impossible. The time I spent there was possibly the best of my entire life. From arriving as an open water student to leaving as a divemaster. From swimming with a whale shark to seeing countless other marine creatures. From drinking my liver away to experimenting with other stuff. From meeting people who became family to finding Amelia, who became a sister. Every memory of Utila is something I’ll treasure forever. 

        • Worst: The dropping-things incident, the crushing feeling of ineptitude, and the whole illegal immigrant bit.

• • • Nicaragua: 

      • • Best: As much as I loved hiking volcanoes and raving in the middle of the jungle, my favourite memory was simply spending time with Amelia at The Space. I don’t know what it is about that place, but it just felt right. 

        • Worst: The come-down after the Treehouse rave. Man, that was nasty.

• • • Costa Rica: 

      • • Best: Needless to say, the wildlife. Do I even need to repeat how insane this country’s biodiversity is? I got to fulfil a lifelong dream of seeing a quetzal here, after all. Not to mention the hundreds of other animal species I’d previously thought were the stuff of legends – a privilege I shared with Jennie. 

        • Worst: The trip to Puerto Jiménez was a complete bust, but hanging out with Amelia still made it worthwhile.

• • • Panama: 

      • • Best: The walk from Red Frog Beach to Polo Beach. Pristine, untouched tropical beaches with no one in sight for hours on end. I look back on that walk with a nostalgia unlike any other, wishing I could rewind time and spend a few more hours there. 

        • Worst: Meeting Tom, the obnoxious Brit, and getting sick on my very last day. But oh well.