Pura Vida! To Tortuguero National Park!

Early the next morning we were picked up in a van and started our journey to Tortuguero National Park. We were dropped off at the Exploradores Outdoors headquarters where breakfast was provided.  It was absolutely delicious! I love fresh papaya in the morning :)

Delicious!

Most people were going rafting (which will be on the next trip).  Rebecca and I were the only ones going to Tortuguero, which was fine by me!  Ramon was our driver and he drove us to the boat docks.  On the way we passed by the Chiquita and Del Monte plantations.  We stopped at the Del Monte boxing plant.  The bananas are harvested by hand and this guy puts them up on a pulling rack, attaches the load to his waist and walks to the boxing plant. The bananas are green.  It takes another 30 days for them to ripen, so I couldn't steal one to eat. It was all very cool.

I love bananas!

After the really bumpy road we stopped at a Botanical garden.  It turned out to just be a guy's house.  He showed us around and gave us some really good information about the plants - lots of ginger.  We found a poisonous dart frog, which he let me hold. He had to confuse it first (this comes in handy later that night).  It stayed really still on my hand - long enough for a picture.  I also got to hold a turtle.  The guy had a great eye and found this orange, male iguana up in a tree that was a good 50meters away and probably 20meters into a tree. His garden had ylang ylang which is used to make Chanel No.5.  I wanted to rub it all over my body but I felt that might be a little inappropriate...plus, I didn't want all the bug bites.

The cocoa plant (it was delicious!)

Poisonous dart frog! 

We were dropped off at the boat dock where we met our guide, Ivan, and el capitan, Jose. We had an hour and a half boat ride before reaching our bungalow. We found a caiman, American crocodile, and lots of birds.  I already expressed my interest in finding a sloth - I love the slothy. My goal for Costa Rica was to find Mr. Sloth. Jose and Ivan let us ride on the very front of the boat.  It was amazing! Wind in my hair, sun beating down on my face - heaven.

Getting some sun! Wind in my hair!

Caiman in the wild! It's all WILD!

We arrived at the bungalow and we were greeted with a mixed fruit drink and lunch.  After settling in...right next to a taranchula hole...we headed to Tortuguero village.  The Village separates the canal from the Caribbean coast. We saw old sea turtle nests and walked along the beach.  There was about a 2 foot ledge of sand.  I was admiring the ocean, standing on the edge, and the sand gave way underneath me.  Rebecca totally laughed her ass off.  I had a good laugh too!

Caribbean coast :) No one was surfing but I definitely wanted to go into the water!

We headed to the village to walk around.  It's mainly souvenir shops and some locals.  We stopped to get a coconut from the crazy coconut man.  His nickname is Shakira.  He used to have long blonde hair and would walk around saying - Hola, I'm Shakira.  haha...he lost the blonde hair but is still crazy.

Drinking coconut water in front of a very colorful house.  I loved all the colors of the houses!

Went back to the Crazy Coconut man to have him split the coconut in half so I could eat the coconut meat :) PS. don't you love my Seaworlds hat? I felt it was super appropriate!  Everyone also got a kick out of the bunny love t-shirt. 

Lovely sunset

After sunset, which was gorgeous, we went back to eat and settle in before another early morning.  It was pretty humid and hot the whole time, so it was nice to take a shower with some warm water. While Rebecca was in the shower, I noticed a crazy huge grasshopper.  The grasshopper was as big as my hand.  If you know me, then you know I have massive hands.  It was probably 12 inches including antennas. We had to devise a plan to get the grasshopper out of the room because I really didn't want to eat it while sleeping...since it was near my bed.

The plan: Take the trashcan, trap the grasshopper, cover the opening with a towel and drop it off outside.  

I went in for the trap and covered the grasshopper with the trashcan.  It started moving like crazy.  The antenna and legs were reaching for any opening on the trash can.  I had to let it settle down so Rebecca could put the towel over the opening.  Unfortunately, the grasshopper wouldn't stop moving.  I used the confusion technique (same as the frog) to try to get it to calm down. By this time, I think we had woken everyone up since the roof only had a mosquito net.  We were screaming a little, laughing a little, etc.  Ivan came by and asked if we needed help.  He came in and was really laughing at us, not with us.  He made it look so simple.  He just lifted the trashcan and the grasshopper stayed inside.  Here is a youtube video: Giant Grasshopper

It was huge! This does not do it justice. Don't laugh (OK you can laugh a little) but I'm pretty sure most of you (both guys and ladies) would have screamed just a little or you would have peed in your pants, just a little. 

The adrenaline was rushing after the grasshopper incident of 2011, and we couldn't sleep for a while. We thought we could be the next youtube sensation! LOL.  Also we could hear the music from the village (which was across the water from us).  There must have been a real party over there!

It was a great night!

Back to Panama City and then off to Costa Rica

Our stay in Panama was too short. I would have liked to go to Bocas del Toro (that's where everyone was going for New Years - everyone was planning on sleeping on the beach)...but alas, we had made plans to head to Costa Rica for another set of adventures.

The next day, we left Tony's Island but only after being woken by the loud blow of the conch and some breakfast.  The Kuna took us back to the landing where the jeeps were waiting to take us back to the City.  The road way to the boats was "new".  I use "new" lightly because  the roads were built in 2008 (I think) and they were already falling apart.  On the way back, I got a good look at part of the road way that had completely collapsed already.  Literally half of it was gone and you could see over the cliff to a fall that would certainly result in being severely maimed or death.  Our jeep ride back wasn't pleasant.  We were in a car with a bunch of Israelis that did not want us there.  In fact, the girls didn't even want to sit next to us - and she told us that, straight to our face. Yay for being friendly! So back to the City!

Food on the streets of Panama City

We made sure that our stuff was still in the hostel/hotel.  We didn't tell them that we were spending the night and we were a couple hours past the check out time.  The lady didn't seem to notice at all, so all our stuff was still safe.

We took a shower and headed to the rain forest that is located in Panama City. Our cab driver was the slowest driver in the whole wide world.  He was also running out of gas so we had to make a detour.  He then couldn't find the right turn off.  Worst cab ride but he was a nice guy and I think he felt bad so he only charged us $5USD.  We went on a short hike.  Some turtles were feeding on a carcass and we saw a small animal running (looked like a small pig).  The coolest were the lines of ants carrying huge leaves.  I took some pictures but I couldn't really capture it through a photo. It's just something you'll have to see for yourself!

Turtles

View from the rain forest

After exploring for a while we had a couple hours to kill before heading to Costa Rica. We went to the mall. The mall was huge and included a grocery store.  I also saw Angry Birds - in the plush! They had a sling shot ready to take down the evil pigs (If you know me, then you know I get great enjoyment out of the game.  I don't play that often but it's still super fun! I also thoroughly enjoy using a sling shot).  The mall was like a 1990s American mall with knock off stores that were supposed to be Hollister, etc. We decided on some crepes and waffles for dinner.  It was not typical Panama food at all but it was delicious. We had to get a cab back to the hostel/hotel and then head to the airport.

Angry Birds at the Mall

Food Porn! Dulce de Leche waffle!

The cab driver kept telling us we were going to be late.  So we ran into the hotel to get our stuff and hopped back into the cab.  The cab driver said we could pay him to go faster to get to the airport (scary because he was already being reckless).  He proceeded to tail gate every single car and then started to drive on the highway shoulder. The cab driver started honking at every single car on the highway, including a cop car! He was honking at the police on the highway for about 45 seconds! It was crazy.  We were just hoping that no one would shoot us.

We were early to the airport.  We saw one of the guys from Tony's Island (he was traveling to Columbia by himself).  Turns out that we booked executive class tickets to Costa Rica, since we booked them a little late.  We got early entry into the plane and a dinner! plus a drink!  It was a surprise and crazy different from the places we had been staying!

Executive Class!

Then we were off to Costa Rica where we stayed in a lovers sweet.  Hotel Luisiana (Santa Ana, San Jose, Costa Rica) had the best bed ever and our first decent nights sleep in a couple of days! It was like a honeymoon sweet.  We also noticed that Costa Rica really likes it towel animals...and so do I!

Hello mister towel peacock!

 PS. I also try to review the places we stayed on TripAdvisor.

Panama City...or not so much!

Panama City...well, we accidentally ended up on a private island in the Caribbean...

After 2 hours of sleep at Los Santana, we headed out in a "jeep" for San Blas.  The flyer and the lady at the front said it was a day trip to a beach.  I assumed it was a beach on the Pacific Coast, because there are quite a few a stones throw away from Panama City.  My bad!  We started unraveling where the San Blas Islands were as soon as the next group of people got into the car. The next stop was to pick up 2 Canadians on holiday for 3 weeks.  They were surprised we wanted to do a day trip and said the destination was about 3 hours away.  I though- eh, that's like going to Santa Barbara for the day.

Things were confusing for everyone.  The driver didn't really speak English and there were two girls from Argentina trying to get him to stop at a grocery store for a good hour. We finally met this American woman (Amy from Vermont).  She was waiting to fill out paper work.  Her Spanish was good and she could talk to the tour operator.

The guy in charge of LAM tours told us that there was only one pick up each day (at 9:45am)...so he wouldn't come pick us up later in the evening/afternoon.  We'd have to sleep over on one of the islands (the island was picked randomly, but luckily, we ended up on an island with Amy and Amy (another girl working in Honduras from Virginia)).  Luckily, we didn't need much - a bathing suit and towel and that's about it.

We arrived at the place where the boats would take us to the island.  The islands are operated by the Kuna people.  They are an indigenous group of people that can live an autonomous lifestyle on the coast of Panama.  The islands are really close to Columbia.  The area consists of about 400 islands and only 29 are inhabited...ideal for the Colombian drug trade.  The Kuna do not speak Spanish as their first language and so communication can be more difficult.

Boat Ride

View of the Island

View of the Water from the Island

We ended up on Tony's island.  It was actually called something else but the name eludes me at the moment.  The island was actually split between two people (Tony and Franklin).  There was a fence in the middle that separated the huts operated by each Kuna family.  Tony's side of the island had about 6 huts where there were about 3-6 people per hut.  We ended up sleeping with 2 Australians (Emma and Kristin) and 2 Americans (Amy and Amy) - 6 total in the hut.  Coincidentally, we ran into some people we met our first night in Panama City at Luna's Castle. It was weird. Everything seemed to circle back to Luna's Castle.

Everyone in front of the hut.  From Left to Right: Me, Emma, Kristin, Amy (Virginia), Rebecca, Amy (Vermont)

Relaxing in a hammock! 

So nice!

The Kuna provided 3 meals a day and some boat access.  Some people decided to see a sunken boat off the coast of another island.  I decided to take in the island (in fact, I swam around the island in about 10 minutes).  I was also pooped on by a bird- good luck right?  There was an older guy, Boris, originally from the Soviet Union, now living in NY.  He was nice and really liked to wear his speedo. The image will be with me forever. Later that night, we were invited to another Kuna island.  The whole week the other island had been celebrating one girl turning into a woman. There was supposed to be a tradition dance and drinking...there was way more drinking by the Kuna than dancing.  From what I gathered, the Kuna men had to drink copious amounts of rum before the dance could begin.  The men started coming up to us and regaling us with drunken stories of their wives with long hair and trying to speak French and English and Spanish. Most Kuna men could barely stand..so there wasn't going to be a dance.

Best fried chicken! (And for those of you wondering, I make exceptions on food for travel...so I'll eat chicken and fish...or pretty much try anything because traveling is all about the experience)

After dark, it was time to get back on the boat and head back to Tony's island (sans the dancing - there was a little dancing but not much). We were on the boat for about 5 minutes and the engine broke down.  We were floating adrift in the dark in the middle of the Caribbean with 2 drunk Kunas operating the boat.  It was comical for a while until we really weren't getting anywhere. There was one paddle and that's it.  We tried signalling to another island but nothing. Everyone was drunk and/or inside. We all (about 17 of us) started yelling for help, but it's not like anyone could hear us.  We all really didn't know how long we'd have to be floating for before we reached land, drug dealers or another boat. After about 45 minutes - 1 hour, they got the engine to work. Hooray!

New friends from the trip! (Before the broken down boat trip)

The rest of the night was spent talking, playing cards and drinking.  The folks from Argentina, Chile, UK, Israel and Belgium started playing a drinking game.  The objective was to count to 10.  Yes, someone yells out 1, 2, 3, etc. They set a language before starting (English, Spanish, etc.).  If you and someone else say the same number at the same time, then you both drink - so if I say 9 and you say 9 then we both drink.  The game was short lived and people were drunk and dancing by 10pm.  It was fun!

The Kuna Island where the dancing was supposed to take place...but didn't

I fell asleep to the waves crashing against the sand and the sound of laughter from people still up, playing cards in the dark (since the generator goes out at about 10:30pm).

Panama City Day 2: December 27, 2011

Panama City: Night 2

In the morning, we moved to a new hotel.  We didn't know where would have available rooms so we went to the nearest cab and told him to take us somewhere. We stayed in the Casco Viejo area and moved to Los Santana, which turned out to be an Israeli hot spot.  The lady at the front didn't speak a lot of English and there was a lot lost in translation. We signed up for a tour the next day and hoped for the best.

All the cats in the room were quite comical.  The bed was very springy. We took much needed and much desired showers and then headed out to visit the city.

The city was hot and humid.  We hailed a cab and headed to the Panama Canal.  By this point we were very hungry...I'll repeat, hungry.  We decided to eat at the restaurant on the 2nd floor, which offered a nice view of the boats passing through the locks. Unfortunately, Rebecca is a vegetarian and the option were limited. We settled on Sangria.  We hadn't eaten in a good 20 hours and proceeded to get a bit tipsy on the Sangria.  I ordered food but I'm a lightweight so that didn't mitigate the Sangria too much.  The Sangria was delicious and made for an interesting rest of the tour through the Panama Canal. I proceeded to act like a fish by the aquarium and a canal worker next to the statues. 

 

The Panama Canal with a boat going through!

Sangria was the drink of choice for the trip! (Although, I did more of the drinking)

Shoveling dirt and rocks to make way for the New Panama Canal

We then headed to the old city of Panama.  The old city is where the President lives. The buildings were run down and colorful.  The cat calls were everywhere.  Note to any single ladies out there, if you need a pick me up then go to Panama.  You'll get honks, hoots and hollers and some broken English cat calls. 

 

After enjoying the views of New Panama City from Old Panama City, we headed to the Causeway.  This was a struggle.  The cab driver wanted to charge us a crazy amount to go to the Causeway.  We eventually negotiated being dropped off at a bike shop which was only $10USD (savings of $20USD). The walk was great and you could see the New Panama City and the Miraflores bridge.  The sunset was lovely.

View of the Miraflores Bridge at Sunset

It was time to think about food again.  We tried to find authentic food but could only find Italian.  I decided to indulge in a cerveza de Panama.  It was delicious. The food was decent and now we need a cab. No cab company ever answers the phone in Panama, so we had to wing it. Not many cabs passed the Causeway at night.  This lovely white car did stop by and asked if we wanted "un taxi especial".  It was a bit creepy and we had a good laugh.  We eventually made it back to the hotel. 

The next day, we had to wake up at 5am, so we tried to get to bed early. Unfortunately, the bar turns into a night club.  The music was bumping the entire night....then there was all the Hanukkah singing until 3am.  We got about 2 hours of sleep before our adventure the next day...

Panama City Day 1: December 26, 2011

Panama City Night 1:

I started my journey at 4:30am on Monday December 26th.  I had to make a couple of connections before making my way to Panama City. I waited for Rebecca at the airport before heading to the hotel.  The Panama cab drivers are quick to get you into a cab, haha, but in our case, he was quick to kick us OUT of the cab.  No one knew where our hotel was and the hotel wasn't answering their phone. We were at the airport about 30 minutes before 4 Belgians ran into the same problem.  We were at the airport another hour talking to the taxi drivers, the police and the armed guard.  No luck.  It was lucky that Maxim and Rebecca spoke some Spanish, but the result was the same, everyone knew the area but no one wanted to or didn't know the way to the hotel.  

It was a blessing in disguise. The guys were awesome! It was a highlight of the trip.  The 4 guys (Vincent, Tom, Maxim and Matisse) were buddies traveling together.  Vincent worked at a medical device company and actually knew what I did for a living.  It was a first.   Vincent was totally into Rebecca, too...  He even offered to sleep with us in our sketchy "theater room" (continued below). 

Matisse, Me, Tom

Luckily they double booked at a hostel (Luna's Castle which was guarded by security and a metal gate) in Casco Viejo.  The hostel only had enough room for the boys, who had been traveling for 26 hours, so Rebecca and I slept in the "theater room".  It was more like an orgy room.  To be safe, we slept on towels because gosh who knows what went on in that room!?! The bar next door turns into a hot nightclub but, luckily, not the night we were there. We slept for a couple of hours and then had to find another place so we could actually settle down and take a shower. Although we were only in the hostel a couple of hours, I made  few new friends from the UK, Netherlands and Robert from Canada. 

Theater Room - Chillin

 It was a great night.  We were gross, slept on some questionable sheets, met some awesome people.  I wish the Belgians had rendezvoused with us later, but alas, they were off the next day to Costa Rica and we were on to our next adventure.

Cool Art in the hostel

Feels good to start the trip off on an adventurous note!

Panama and Costa Rica 2011/2012

The next series of posts will be dedicated to my latest travel adventure - Panama and Costa Rica.  It will include all the highlights of the trip, day by day, including the time the cab driver couldn't find our hotel and the one day trip that turned into an overnight adventure.  It will be complete with pictures, fun anecdotes and food pictures!

Let that anticipation grow because this is going to be a wild ride!

New Mexico Adventure 2011

This past weekend I went on an adventure. I decided that it was time to reconnect with my friend from elementary school.  Yes, I've known Camille (Heather) since the 4th day of elementary school.  We were Smith Surfers, Jr. Oilers, and Oilers together.  Go HB!! WOOOO.

She graduated number 1 in her class from UC Davis law and now lives in New Mexico.  It's not my first choice to live but it's certainly a place for adventure.

I started in El Paso, TX.  I didn't do much there but there were some lovely chalk paintings and a crazy statue.

The El Paso taxi driver told me I needed to learn Spanish.  He also said he used to live in Juarez...and I told him that I didn't want to cross that bridge :) I'd like to live through the weekend.  I had coffee at the Percalator and waited for Camille. It was tame

We went to Las Cruces to meet the puppies.  Camille has two dogs, Hermit (black) and Jemima (white).

We went backpacking in the Gila National Forest. The ranger said that there would be running water so we brought a filter.  We hiked for about an hour and we didn't see any water and were getting really worried.  The dogs sniffed it out! We set up the camp and kept hiking where we proceeded to act like Bear Grylls. 

I stepped on a snake (accident) and proceeded to scream. The snake is alive...I think.  It wasn't there when I went to check on it, so I assume. It was a tiny snake so it wouldn't have killed me.  Ok...onto the Bear Grylls...

Scenario 1: Hiding in the wilderness!

Scenario 2: Crawling on a log...please don't fall!

Scenario 3: Scare away the scary beasts of the wild!

And then, there is enjoying the surroundings! and not listening to directions ... eek!

All in all, a great weekend! A great adventure....oh ya! and we saw llamas! Weird!