Hello friend! I am excited to host Sharon Wagner today to share about travel blogging and the kind of adventures she has shared on her travel blog. Let’s embark on an exploration of Central America with Sharon and hear her experiences of establishing her travel blog.
On Travel Blogging
A guest post by Sharon Wagner
“I don’t mind a mango falling on my head, but never a coconut.” Wisdom from Patrick, our intrepid snorkelling guide in Belize.
The previous quote will be the title of my travel memoir if I decide to write one someday. The funny phrase embodied everything I love about travel in Central America, where the juiciest mangos lie under a tin roof full of decaying jungle leaves. The rest of the structure may have black plastic tarp curtains that flap in the wind, a mishmash of plywood tables, a dirt floor, and an overall vibe of impending collapse. But you’ve never tasted a better mango. You might find a great curassow (a bird that looks like a feathered dinosaur) strolling among the vegetables and fruit or a stray cat curled up amid an abundance of avocados. Certainly, you’re not in Kansas anymore when the local cops linger amongst the yucca and melons while drinking coconuts from a straw.
My favourite fruit vendor, Chico, knows when the papaya is ripe at the farmer’s market in Dominical, Costa Rica. He won’t sell you lousy fruit. Unless, of course, you want overripe bananas for banana bread.
As an aspiring children’s book illustrator, I started a blog called Sharon’s Paws Create to showcase my undiscovered art. I loved creating things with my hands and posted my creations until the art and potpourri of whiskers and odd themes dissolved and travel talk took hold. Too many years ago to count, I renamed my blog Sharon’s Souvenirs and posted travel photos, along with stories of my jungle adventures in Central America and beyond. The blog was good practice for the novels that would manifest someday because I eventually grew up and started writing books. My novel, The Levitation Game, was inspired by my adventures in Guatemala. Sharon’s Souvenirs trekked to a new spot when I created my author website. But my old blog remains.
With millions of online distractions worldwide, blog readers have short attention spans, so I keep things brief and straightforward on my blog, with a few sentences to accent the photography. You won’t find advertising on my blog. Are you scrolling for a new pair of tennis shoes for hiking Spain’s Camino trail? When you visit my blog, you won’t find an ad for the same shoes you investigated on the internet just moments before. Sharon’s Souvenirs lacks many ubiquitous things that occupy other travel blogs. That’s not to say my way is better. I’m not trying to make a living by travel blogging, so it’s more souvenirs and fewer listicles of Budapest’s best places to get bagels. My blog won’t divulge where to get the best spa service in Shanghai or what hotel has the fluffiest towels. But you might discover the best spot to hear howler monkeys: Dominical, Costa Rica. Every year, we pick a country in Central America to explore and roam the colonial cities, beaches, and jungles for nearly a month. My husband has a superpower: he’s an expert with hotel and airline points and miles, and we’ve saved around 75,000 dollars since he began his hobby in 2015. To me, his skills are like travel magic.
So which jungle do we like best? Here are my top three beloved destinations in Central America:
3) Nicaragua has nineteen volcanoes; we explored almost all of them several years ago. At temperamental Volcan Masaya near Granada, we had to back our car into the parking spot in case we needed to make a quick getaway. Ometepe island on Lake Nicaragua resembles the Garden of Eden, except with two feisty conical volcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas, gaping at the heavens with their steamy caldera eyeball. You’ll find the beach where they filmed two seasons of Survivor in Nicaragua. The remote location is near the laid-back beach town called San Juan del Sur, where a towering statue of Jesus overlooks the city, like Rio de Janeiro. Nowadays, there’s political unrest, so research before booking a trip. But there is so much to love about Nicaragua. Here’s my illustrated map:
2) Go to Belize if you want to have fun. There’s more to do in Belize than any other country in Central America. Explore exotic Mayan ruins still digested by the jungle, teaming with wildlife, flora, and fauna. Enter mysterious caverns by canoe and see human skeletons while listening to stories about the underworld. Snorkel the islands and immerse yourself in an opaque cloud of harmless tiny jellyfish. Once, while snorkelling in Belize, a giant sea turtle almost bit me, but a wee bit of danger can be exciting! Plus, Belize has local Garifuna music and delicious food. Here’s my illustrated map:
1) Ah, Costa Rica. My favorite place. It’s beach Nirvana, named after its beautiful coastline. Explore all the tourist highlights, then go to Dominical and relax with the scarlet macaws and howler monkeys. You might never want to leave. There are sea caves that roar with thunderous waves, cone-shaped volcanoes, coffee-dotted mountains, and cloud forests with hummingbirds that fly by your head like a Top Gun movie. There are ziplines, hot springs, and eco-friendly resorts. Have I mentioned the unsurpassed beaches? There’s even a beach shaped like a whale’s tail. Sigh. Here’s my illustrated map:
Here’s my list of fun travel tips for your adventures in Central America:
Nicaragua’s Flor de Cana rum is the sweetest spirit since Casper the Ghost. Order a servico completo, and you’ll get a bottle of rum, a can of Coke, lime, and ice. It’s an evening in a glass.
Do you want to fly 600 feet above the jungle and defy gravity on one of the longest ziplines in Central America? Book Sky Tram/Trek in Fortuna, Costa Rica. Whoopee! See Sky Adventures.
To see the most majestic volcanoes, visit Concepción and Maderas on Ometepe island off the coast of Nicaragua. It’s like Jurassic Park without the dinosaurs. [Illustration from above]
If you can’t stay with George and Amal Clooney on Lake Como, travel to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala instead. It’s the most beautiful lake in Central America. [Post]
If city lights are your thing, visit Panama City. That’s a no-brainer. But better yet, fly to Boquete; it’s the Switzerland of Panama. [Post 1 Post 2]
Don’t go to an island off the coast of Belize. Instead, go to the mainland and explore spooky caves and Mayan ruins, like Xunantunich, a haunted ruin accessible only by ferry. It’s small but big on wonder and climbable ruins with a view. [Post]
Dominicalito Beach in Costa Rica is silica nirvana. Go at low tide and park in the tree line behind the beach. There’s plenty of shade to relax with an Imperial beer and a long strip of sand for delightful walking. Old fishing boats bounce on one end, and the other looks like a chocolate chip cookie, with tasty rocks instead of chocolate chips and explorable tide pools scattered around toasty colored sand. [Post]
They serve a heaping pile of delicious Mahi Mahi on the best booze cruise in Costa Rica. You’ll launch with Sunset Sails in Quepos near Manuel Antonio Monkey Park. [Post]
Did you get rejected from the television show Survivor? Visit Yaxha in Guatemala. Jeff Probst and the gang filmed Survivor amidst the Mayan ruins; you can see it with a full stomach. Eating rice is optional. [Post]
Do you remember the slogan, Calgon, take me away? Live it at Hacienda Orosi hot springs in Costa Rica. It’s perfect for celebrity selfies of you and me. [Post]
Nicaragua
My favorite travel memory occurred in Granada, Nicaragua, many years ago. We flew to Managua after Christmas and rode by van to Granada, an old city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. Mombacho Volcano looms over the town; red roof tiles, colorfully painted doorways and peeling architecture add interest. We walked downtown, peeking inside the open windows and doors of local residences that revealed holy Christmas shrines, bedazzled and sparkly. Food smells lingered everywhere, like street chicken, charred to an earthy blackness.
We dined at a local place, eating steak with a chimichurri sauce. It was beyond delicious. All the while, we were serenaded by a parrot squawking and talking in the background of the restaurant. It was sultry hot, and Minnesota suddenly seemed very far away. Afterward, we strolled the colonial city streets, stopping at a grand cathedral where angelic voices sang Christmas songs in Spanish, the sound reverberating along the painted frescos of a high carved ceiling like we were sitting in Sydney, Australia’s onion-shaped opera house. We listened for a long beat. (blog post)
Discover more at https://sharonwagnerbooks.com/
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
St. Augustine
Thank you for reading to the end of the post. Do you read travel blogs?
Greetings from Florida. Thanks for posting this Kriti! I’ll share it in my newsletter and on facebook. Have a great day up north!