Our North-Central America journey is coming to a close. I’ve been hosting a polyglot of emotions the past days, and the hubby will prolly point out that it’s simply because the dawn of that monthly thingy is approaching. But really, the countdown to leaving Nicaragua — or the region in general — is slowly ripping my heart.

However, on the polar opposite of my wretchedness is sheer excitement. After staying in 24 hostels and guesthouses, we can finally sleep in our house (which we barely lived in). And I can finally come home to my mom’s pinakbet. And pochero. And binagoongan. And…

I will finish that food itinerary later.

For now, let me recount some of the highlights of our three-month trip which covered the entire third quarter of this year. Accompanying maps may not show exact routes we took, but they do provide a somewhat clear visual of the sequence of events.

Slept through most of 4th of July (after a sleepless flight from Philippines+sleepless 9-hour layover in Japan) at our hostel near Waikiki Beach.

Hired a car and toured Oahu Island’s southeast coast.

Flew from Hawaii to San Francisco, stayed for two weeks in Silicon Valley for some geek convention the hubby had to attend.

Visited relatives in Folsom, California. It was the starting point of our one-week California-Arizona-Nevada road trip.

Went to Mono Lake in California’s Eastern Sierra and gaped at tufa towers.

Trekked in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, Inyo County where the oldest tree in the world (like 5,000 years old) is standing.

Finally saw the Grand Canyon. We loved it so much that we revisited the day after.

Was offloaded our initial Las Vegas-Cancun flight because of visa issues. Wait, no, it was because of Spirit Airlines’ system’s issues. And because of this, we stayed in Las Vegas for another day (to sort things out) and we were able to see Hoover Dam and the famous Las Vegas Strip aboard a two-door Mustang.

Binged on Mexican food, one of my fave cuisines in the universe, for a week in Cancun.

Visited Tulum Ruins which we missed on our first visit in the country.

Revisited Palenque, Chiapas where we spent 2012 New Year’s Eve.

Crossed the Mexico-Guatemala border by bus-boat-coaster.

Fell in love with the small island town of Flores. It was our jump off for Tikal ruins.

Fell in love too with UNESCO World Heritage Site Antigua.

Roasted marshmallows on hot lava rocks at Pacaya Volcano. Also, on Pacaya volcano, Luna rode a horse for the first time.

Couchsurfed a really cool family’s posh apartment in Guatemala City.

Crossed the Guatemala-El Salvador border by bus.

Stayed at local family’s house (we found through AirBnb) for almost two weeks. They took care of me when I got food poisoned.

Our AirBnb host was also our guide to Cerro Verde National Park, where we trekked on extinct volcano Cerro Verde. In this park we also saw volcanoes Izalco and Santa Ana. These three are the volcanoes ‘featured’ in the novel Little Prince.

Hiked to a waterfall with columnar basalt formations in Suchitoto, escorted by Salvadoran military.

Crossed the El-Salvador-Guatemala-Honduras border by shuttle in one day to get to Copan Ruins.

Celebrated my birthday in a charming guesthouse named The Lighthouse on  Utila Island.

Rented an ‘apartment’ housed in a wooden, three-story house on a hill in Roatan for a few days. Spent some time writing about our family travels as contribution for a book to be (hopefully) published in Germany.

Binged on Chinese food for a week in Comayagua, Honduras (because I’m Asian like that). A city where gunshots may wake you up at night. Or in the morning.

Tegucigalpa-Managua-Granada-Leon

Celebrated Luna’s birthday with kindergarten kids in a Granada public school, thanks to the help of charity org La Esperanza. We had a piñata!

Peeked into the Santiago crater of Masaya volcano. Stayed for less than five minutes, and left coughing our eyes out.

Visited Leon Ruins and Cathedral of Leon, the two UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Nicagua.

Also while in Nicaragua, we finished paying for our house. We’re mortgage free! Now let’s see if we can actually live in it for at least a year at a time…

Compared to our 2011-2012 round-the-world trip, we moved slower this time. Transferring from one city to another only on weekends. A good preparation for our plan of traveling even more slow in the future. Yes, don’t think we’re throwing in the towel anytime soon.