Running log of the scariest moments...

Now halfway through my 5-week adventure, I am reflecting on some scary moments...the superlatives which I thought I'd categorize by country (at the risk of frightening my mother in real-time):

Guatemala: two-way tie

• unpredictable, incessant, and mere-feet-away fireworks lit by boys and men throughout the narrow streets of Antigua
• hairpin turns in mountains where the narrow highway was washed away in many parts down endless cliffs during the last atypically wet rainy season

Belize

• the tiny Cessna flight from Ambergris Caye to Belize City...like flying in a mini-van with wings (which may be nothing for others, but with my existing fear of flying, it was a real adrenaline-pumper)

El Salvador

• despite only spending a short night there, this country gets a shout out for its fun earthquake, experienced in the airport 10 minutes after deplaning with the windows shaking and the ceiling wobbling

...to be continued with inclusions, inevitably, from Costa Rica and Nicaragua...