Panama - Back to School

Am writing to you from Aeropuerto Rafael Nuñez in Cartagena. Ya, I know, I said I was heading to the beach... and I almost got there. However I found an incredibly cheap flight, made a spur of the moment decision, and here I am! In other good news, my parents have booked their flight. Will be meeting them in Cusco, Peru early August. That gives me approximately 3 weeks to make my way there. It's a long way, so i'm going to take my time and making stops to enjoy the views.

In Costa Rica I had the bright idea to go back to school to brush up on my Spanish. I did an internet search and stumbled across Habla Ya in Bocas del Toro Panama. Learning Spanish + beach? Sign me up!

Shortly after I arrived to Bocas, it started to rain. It rained so hard that the streets turned into swimming lanes. To get from one place to another, you had to walk barefoot in the middle of the street. Even then the water was mid-shin.

Rain rain, go away...

After enduring 3 full days of rain, the sun came out and Dina hit every beach she possibly could. School was from 8am-12:20pm - then we'd form a group and head to a beach. My favourite was Red Frog beach on Bastimentos Island. It was stunning and had great waves to play around in. That's also where I saw my first Sloth. I saw many throughout Panama, however I found it curious I didn't see a single Monkey, as they were EVERYWHERE in CR. I've concluded that Sloths and Monkeys are in the midst of a major territory gang war. Monkeys have Costa Rica, Sloths have Panama. West side vs East side. Sure to be an epic battle. Though I have my money on the monkeys. They're quick and can throw a mean pitch. From what I've witnessed, Sloths don't tend to move... ever. Standing their grown and could be a case of Hare vs Turtle. We shall see.

Red Frog Beach

Along with some schoolmates, we also organized day long trips on the weekends. One weekend we went sailing around the Islands. I saw a gang of dolphins, snorkled some reefs, had a staring competition with a Barracuda (he won) and basically just lounged all day long on the Catamaran and had a grand old time. The second weekend we chartered a boat and headed to Zapatillas Islands.

We got there early and the whole Island was ours. It was a beautiful day with the sun kissing us, the water was a pale blue green and the sand white. After spending 5 hrs on the Island we went back to Bastimentos where they had filmed parts of Survivor Panama, then slowly made our way back to Bocas trying our hand at Wake Bording.





One of the best tours I've taken had to be the Oreba Organic Cacao Tours. Man almightly you would not believe the amount of work that goes into producing Cacao beans. These people dedicate their entire lives to these farms for basically peanuts. Of course their biggest export country is Switzerland, as Panama does not have the facilities to produce chocolate. I got to try the cacao in every stage from right out of the pod to roasted and mashed against rocks. YUM!

After 2 weeks in Bocas, I felt it was time to move on. So I decided to do my last week of School in Boquete with my schoolmate and "little sister" Pauline from Switzerland.

Pauline, profesora Yaira y yo 

Boquete is a small town nestled in the hills. They are known for having great coffee and a Volcano which is the highest peak in Panama. For some reason, I thought it would be awesome to climb up this beast because someone told me you can see both oceans from this vantage point at approx. 3500 meters above sea level and the sunrise is amazing. Cool Right? Sold, I was climbing Volcan Baru at midnight so I can see the sunrise and both oceans.

 The brave ones

I must have been drunk cause this was one of the toughest things I've ever done and after 30 mins of straight 45+ degrees of uphill hiking I immeditately regretted my decision. 3500m above sea level. We started the trek at midnight to be able to reach the peak for 6am to see the sunrise. We were a group of 9 ppl that set off with another group of 3. "One foot infront of the other" was the tune I was signing to myself throughout the hike. The trail after 4 kms became a dried out river bed. The jagged loose rocks made the journey all that much more enjoyable.  Other than the complete uphill misery I had subjected myself to, the night was beautiful. It didn't rain once, and the sky was covered in stars and the moon shone brightly on us. It was cool, but walking kept us warm. Once we reached the top, we soon realized the clouds beat us.

7 out of the initial 9 made it to the top, and we have no idea where the other group of 3 went. We got there just in time to see the pink sky of the sunrise peak out before the clouds took us over. It was quite a sight to see the clouds rolling in on us.

 MADE IT! Where's my bed?

Though we didn't see a sunrise or any ocean, I was elated I made it to the top. It got cold and my pal Laura and I realized we had to get off this peak before we could rest. Let me tell you, I rule at going downhill! We made it to the bottom in 3.5hrs. Once back at my hostel, I took a short nap and ripped myself out of bed to watch the Spain vs Italy Eurocup finals. Italy lost... I went back to bed.

Dina & Laura, volcano climbers extraordinaire.

School was done, I had climbed up Everest and hiked to the Lost Waterfalls (which we got lost trying to find, but eventually found the Lost Waterfalls). Once I regained contiousness from my trek, I forged ahead to Panama City. Stayed in Casco Viejo at hostel Casa Luna. Was a pretty cool place with lots of backpackers. The area was equally nice, however most of it was under restoraton. I did some walking around and visited the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal. My last night there I met back up with Annalisa, a girl from Cape Town, S.Africa, whom I met in Bocas. We both signed up to sail to Columbia on the same boat. Her name was the Gypsy Moth and it was to be a 5 day trip, 3 days in San Blas, 2 days at open sea. I was ready to fall in LOVE with sailing. Armed with all the nautical terminology I would need, we set off early morning to board our ship.

Next post, I'll tell you all about how I lost my sea legs and how our English Captain was replaced by a Colombian.

Hasta lluegos amigos!

Costa Rica - In a Nutshell

Yes, I realize it's been over a month since my last blog post. The truth is I've been busy. Busy enjoying myself. Really you can't blame me for having some fun and enjoying my travels.

Since it has been awhile, over the next few days I’ll be doing some backtracking to get you up to speed. Currently, I am in Panama City until my departure from this beautiful country into South America. No, I am not flying, nor am I daring enough to bus it through the Darien straight. Instead I have opted to sail from Panama to Cartegena, Columbia via San Blas. I simply cannot wait! That blogpost will come in time (depending on the level of fun I am having), for now, let's wrap up Costa Rica.

I believe I left off in Montanita. My next destination was Nosara, which turned out to be quite possibly my favourite place visited in CR. I arrived after a nauseating drive up (see below for description of CR roads), and Nosara really didn't seem like much of a town to the naked eye – at this point I was pretty well versed at judging beach towns. All I saw was green and a few places peppering the main road. Once I arrived to my new home -Nosara Beach Hostel - I discovered there was much more to this place. The epitome of low season was quite apparent everywhere I looked. The beach was sparingly peppered with sun bathers, and the rest were lined up along the Playa Guiones shore on their surf boards waiting for the perfect wave. I planned on being there for only a couple days, but ended up getting sucked into this little jewel and stayed for 5. It was the laid back atmosphere one can only wish for when going on vacation. The owner of the hostel Andres and the daytime Manager Dinia were very cool. When I first arrived there was only 1 other person staying at the hostel; her name was Karin and every night we shared somel aughs, stories and a bottle of wine. My favourite story of hers was how she met and fell in love with her husband (insert Dina’s love struck face here). Case in point, you never know when Love will find you, but when you know... you just know. I digress.

Karin shredding the surf in Nosara

I laid low in Nosara. Like lower than low. I spent my mornings on the beach, the afternoons reading in a hammock and the evenings chatting and drinking wine. One morning it rained, so I waited until the sun came out in the afternoon to hit the beach. Once there, I noticed a legit army of Hermit Crabs all heading West on the beach. Literally thousands of them marching on by in the same direction. I also saw my first of many Howler Monkeys. What surprised me the most about them was their giant hanging balls. No joke, their testi's are quite pronounced. Maybe it helps them create momentum when swinging from tree to tree? Something to ponder.

My pictures of Nosara are lacking because somewhere along the way between Montanita and Nosara I lost my camera battery charger. I also lost (or absentmindedly left behind) my new Nike Free's and my fav new VS sweater. Yes, I definitely overpacked, but don't worry, give me another few weeks and I will surely intentionally and/or unintentionally lighten my load.

My sweet view from where I laid everyday on Playa Guiones

After staying in Nosara longer than intended, I decided it was time to finally go visit my cousin in Liberia. That was my plan until I heard from Katie, a girl I met in Montanita, who was headed to Tamarindo. So I changed my plans and headed to Tamarindo or Tamagringo as many of the locals call it. This was definitely my least favourite spot in Costa Rica. It was expensive, full of tourists, and the beach left little to be desired. Like every good tourist trap, I feel Tamarindo had less to offer than what it was hyped up to be. Katie and I had a good time nonetheless and after 2 nights, she left for Colorado and I finally headed to Liberia.

+1 for Tamarindo, caught a pretty sweet sunset

I had a nice time staying with family. It was my first time meeting my cousin, and he and his family were more than welcoming and hospitable. One day, my cousin had to go work out of town, so his wife took me, and her mother, sister, niece and son to Upala to visit her brother. That's right, all 6 of us in her tiny car. It was a pleasant drive, the views were stunning and I got to practice my spanish as none of them spoke English. Upala is a small town headed towards the Nicaraguan border. We visited her sister-in-law at her little "tienda" at the bus depot, shopped around and had a bite to eat at her brother’s house. It was a long day, but quite enjoyable as I got to experience a typical "day in the life of".

Bus depot in Upala, lost about what felt like a litre in fluids sweating

While in Liberia, I decided that I needed a little refresher on my Spanish skills and signed up for 3 weeks of Spanish courses in Bocas del Toro, Panama. As I plotted my journey to Panama, my cousin's friend happened to mention he owned a place near Puerto Viejo. After a few drinks and some talk, my cousin offered to drive me to the border and would also take this opportunity to treat his family to a little vacation. This was greatly appreciated as it took approximately 9 hours to get there direct. I can only imagine the long local bus rides to PV would have taken.
Though I only spent 1 night in PV, I noted it was a cute little Caribbean coastal town. Quite different from the Pacific side that I had been visiting until now. The foliage is large and greener and the living a little easier. Island living influence in full force, we did as islanders do and had a nice dinner with some family friends and headed to Cahuita for some live music and drinks.

Picturesque in Puerto Viejo. Would definitely want to visit for a longer stay.

The following morning, I was driven to the border, where I crossed a questionable bridge into Panama, and had my passport stamped. Hello Panama! New country and new adventures were on the horizon!

Sure you can enter Panama! All you have to do is cross this bridge without breaking an ankle.

Before embarking into my Panamanian adventure, here are a few memorable highlights of Costa Rica.

ROADS

I heard from a few sources that the roads in Costa Rica were just abysmal. Well, the rumors are true. The main roads and highways are quite fine; it's the roads to the coastal towns you have to watch out for. The worst had to have been the stretch of road (or lack thereof) between Paqueras and Hwy. 21. Supposedly this was a "short cut" that would allow us to skip the ferry ride back to Puntareinas. How can I accurately describe the acute assault on all senses I overcame during this hour long ride from hell? Try to picture this: A road lays ahead of you, add a turn at every 70 meters, remove all pavement, now imagine the biggest pot hole you have ever encountered, now take that pothole and multiply by 1 bazillion and that, my dear friends, is the road we decided to take to cut down on kms. However, this doesn't necessarily mean you cut down on time. Nope, to navigate these roads you are going 30kms/hr - dodging potholes to save your car from disappearing into oblivion and playing chicken with oncoming traffic on these incredibly narrow roads. All of your organs feel like they are being put through the tumble dry cycle of a washing machine, and even if you have an empty stomach, the feeling of nausea is overpowering. Thank goodness Sam (the kind American who gave us a lift to Nosara from Montenita) was a fantasticd river. When we hit pavement I almost cried out of pure joy.

Here's a little picture I threw together for a visual account of the above description. I know what you're thinking... i've got some mad Paint Art skills.

Thinking of a career change - Paint Art Engineer

LIFTS

Very rarely did I have to take public transportation in CR. Everytime I found myself at a bus stop, some nice local would stop by, ask if I was headed his way and if I was, they would take on me and as many people as they could manage. You would sometimes see trucks with dozens of people in the cargo. Ladies and babies of course get a ride in the cab.

PURA VIDA

Everyone will great you with the saying Pura Vida in CR. It has several meanings such as "This is the life", "Easy living","Cool" etc. It truly encapsulates the lifestyle and sense of living in Costa Rica. Skipping from beach to beach, I could not escape la Pura Vida and honestly felt full of life.

BABIES

The general population of Costa Rica must be on a steep incline because every woman young or old was either pregnant and/or carrying a small infant/child. Even more concerning was the lack of safety on the roads for these children. Back home, expecting couples have to bring their cars in to have their baby seats certified and properly installed. Such a thing does not exist here. Toddlers are free to roam the confines of a car and seatbelts are merely a suggestion. Funny how my instincts kick in when I enter a vehicle as I would automatically go to put on a seat belt. I always would...unless it didn't exist- which was often the case. I took some pretty long car/bus rides on some pretty horrible roads and it was amazing to see these mothers and fathers just hold on tight to their babies while we endured the bumpy ride. In the end, the shock of such a sight lessened and now it's part of the norm.
That's the thing about traveling I love so dearly. It takes you out of your comfort zone and opens your eyes to so many different ways of life.What strikes you as abnormal can be completely normal for someone else. It's all about opening your mind and understanding a different point of view.

THE UNEXPECTED

I had only planned to stay in Costa Rica for 12 days as to enter the country I bought a onward bus ticket to Grenada, Nicaragua for June 4th. I had not expected to love Nosara so much, nor planned on going to Tamarindo, or sign up for Spanish Lessons in Panama. Life is all about the unexpected events that take place. Enjoy them, embrace them, this is life.

Next up, Panama!