Travelling in Central America is nothing short of awesome for anyone who loves nature, vibrant culture and sustainable travel. From sandy beaches to jungle clad mountains, Central American countries are home to incredible landscapes. Read about our sustainable, slow travel adventures in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Eating vegetarian in San Cristobal de las Casas was great fun. San Cristobal is our favourite vegetarian food destination in Mexico. The hippy vibe and Western influences have meant the city has a delicious mix of both international and Mexican vegetarian food.
Small Change 4 Big Change is a charity dedicated to helping the indigenous families of Santa Catarina Barahona help themselves through education and sustainable farming.
Lisa Mitchell de Mena founded the not-for-profit organisation in 2012 and set up projects in the local community. The projects focus on teaching local people how to live a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. Lisa’s aim is to support families to earn their own income and live well.
Ecofiltro is a social enterprise who provide clean drinking water for rural communities in Guatemala. Their water filters can be seen across Guatemala. We had the chance to visit the factory where their water filters are produced.
As anyone who’s spent time in Guatemala knows, you can’t drink the tap water here. While tourists can afford to buy purified bottled water, not all locals can. Just what does this mean for local Guatemalans and rural communities?
Ever wanted to learn to make your own peanut butter? If you really want to see how to make natural, organic peanut butter in Guatemala, then you’re in luck. We met Lidia, a local Guatemalan who makes her own peanut butter from scratch. And I mean from scratch. And fortunately for us, they run a peanut butter workshop so you can learn how they do it.
Lidia told us that her family is one of only eight families in Antigua who farm peanuts. And her family are the only ones to make peanut butter! She said that the more people there are selling peanuts, the lower the price of peanuts get. If you can find something new or different to do, then you can get a better price for your peanuts. Her family have been making peanut butter for four years now.
There are so many things to do in Antigua that you won’t know what to do first!
I’d only heard incredible stories about Antigua’s colonial buildings all painted in a light shade of yellow. The misty blue-grey backdrop of volcanoes surrounding the city. The women dressed in gorgeous patterned Guatemalteca clothing. I couldn’t wait to see it for myself.
I’m lucky enough to have travelled and house sat in Antigua twice now! And to be honest, I can’t get enough of this beautiful city. I thought I’d exhausted all the things to do in Antigua on my first visit. When I came back for a second visit, I realise how wrong I was. I discovered even more exciting things to do in Antigua.
I’d been dreaming of Semuc Champey for a long time. The rough mountain hike that overlooks those magical turquoise limestone pools and the final, satisfying plunge into the cool sparkling waters at the end of the sweaty path.
If you’ve seen photos of Semuc Champey before, then you’ll know exactly what I mean. Semuc Champey is one of Guatemala’s most famous destinations and looking at those aquamarine waters, it’s not hard to see why.
But there was one thing that no one told me about the trip to Semuc Champey and it was my worst nightmare.
Lake Atitlan is a bit of a mecca for vegans and vegetarians travelling in Guatemala. I’m a self-confessed healthy eater. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, I want to eat fresh veggies and good grains all the time. Being vegetarian in Lake Atitlan is amazing because you can find healthy and delicious vegetarian food everywhere from San Pedro La Laguna to Panajachel.
In this guide, I cover cafés in San Pedro La Laguna, San Marcos, Jaibalito and Panajachel that vegetarians in Lake Atitlan will love. I was excited to find that each of the towns around Lake Atitlan had some cafés with healthy, organic and veggie options to keep my belly full. Here are the most delicious of the healthy cafés I came across while travelling vegetarian in Lake Atitlan.
Swimming with whale sharks in Isla Holbox was the most incredible but intimidating experience. You can’t even begin to imagine just what jumping into the water with the world’s biggest fish will feel like until you get there.
Ask me five years ago and I would’ve told you there was absolutely no way I would be getting in the water anywhere near a shark – no matter what kind of shark. Fast-forward to now, I had my feet in flippers dangling over the edge of a boat above a pod of huge whale sharks.
Travelling as a vegetarian in Merida? The biggest city in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula is brimming with vegan and vegetarian-friendly restaurants and street food.
After some less than impressive vegetarian food when we were backpacking in Valladolid, we were relieved to arrive in the city of Merida in Mexico. Travelling vegetarian in Merida was an absolute pleasure. Merida is full of excellent vegan, vegetarian and veg-friendly restaurants, as well as vegetarian street food.
Valladolid isn’t on the travel route for many backpackers in Mexico’s Yucatan – but maybe it should be. We hadn’t planned to go to Valladolid either, but after we’d headed through the beach towns of Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, we were ready to go inland to explore some of the Mayan ruins and local towns before our month of house sitting in Merida.
After looking at Google Maps, Valladolid was the obvious next destination. We didn’t have high hopes for the city because we knew it would be a small place and we hadn’t heard anyone else talking about it. As it turned out, that was exactly why we liked it so much! Valladolid has an authentic and local feel to it.
We’re Charlie and Luke — UK travel bloggers, adventurers and storytellers. We travel slow and write about sustainable travel. We want to make responsible travel choices and help you do the same. Get to know us.
