Español Nicaragüense Es Pura Deacachimba

My First Post in Spanish “Sabes qué,” me dijo el guia nicaragüense, “eres el primer gringo que conozco que habla español muy bien.” Estabámos en la cima del Volcán Telica, a cien metros del cráter, y no podía creer lo que acababa de eschuchar.  Antes de visitar Nicaragua, no podía […]

Volcano Day: Up We Go

In 2014, Victor was in Panama and his favorite story was visiting Embera village and watching a pet toucan wash himself in a small outdoor sink.  Victor turned on the faucet to wash his hands and the bird flew right in and started splashing around and trying to awkwardly fit […]

Volcano Day: Down We Go

The way it usually goes is like this: Victor plans the itinerary, and I book the transportation and accommodations.  One thing about Victor is he is meticulous, detail-oriented, and thorough. He doesn’t make mistakes, he doesn’t forget small details, he doesn’t just leave off details from the itinerary for no […]

Skipping Managua.  Part II. Leon

One week after visiting Granada, we drove into its long-time rival – Leon. Like Granada, Leon is set in a breathtaking location.  Approaching the city from the north, we counted at least six volcanoes on the horizon, all part of the Cordillera de Maribios. As we got closer to the […]

Skipping Managua.  Part I.  Granada

One of the apparent trends in our travels is that capital cities in Central America do not get a lot of love from us. That’s just a fact.  In Guatemala, upon arrival, we left its capital, Guatemala City, by jumping into a taxi and riding away without ever seeing it.  […]

Nicaragua: A Road Less Traveled

By Julia / January 9, 2025

The dusk was setting quickly over Matagalpa, the little red and yellow coffee berries no longer visible on the branches of coffee trees lining the narrow, unpaved road steeply ascending into the mountain.  The light of our headlamps jaggedly bounced up and down, as our tiny, rented Toyota Yaris struggled […]

Girls, Girls, Girls.  Souvenirs: Part III

By Victor / December 12, 2024

Back by popular demand is Part III of our souvenir inventory (Part I and Part II are here).  As we wrote before, we are very picky when it comes to souvenir shopping; yet, sometimes, we do bring souvenirs home.  Most of the time it is something related to the culture, […]

One Day in Comuna 13, Medellin

By Julia / December 5, 2024

A while ago, I wrote a single post about paragliding in Medellin, completely skipping over the part where we went to Colombia in 2022 and spent five days in Medellin.  Now that I have a few free weeks after finishing all Norway posts and before the next trip springs up […]

Thanksgiving Around the World

By Julia / November 28, 2024

We are not big “holiday” people.  We can hardly be bothered to do much for most holidays, and usually use the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Christmas as long weekends for travel.  But Thanksgiving has always had a soft spot in our hearts.  Maybe because it’s the […]

Exotic Guatemala

By Victor / November 21, 2024

When people ask me about the most exotic place we ever visited, I am always torn about how to respond. Was it Egypt with its ancient temples, monuments, and stunning deserts? Or India with its dream-like Taj Mahal, colorful towns of Rajasthan, and ceremonial pyres burning corpses non-stop in the […]

Cool Cats of Türkiye

By Julia / November 14, 2024

It is time to acknowledge that a great injustice has been done in this blog.  While the name of the blog is “Two Cats Backpack” referring to the never-ending struggle between staying home and spending time with our two cats or packing the backpack and heading out to explore the […]

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