…Must come to and end and here I am back in the states writing this from the comfort of a nice warm house to protect me from the -6F weather outside. Quite the difference from the 70+F days I was having. Anyways, Cahuita was a nice small beach town that is more laid back than Puerto Viejo, more my style, and it has some great things to do. I did not have but ~3 days there so there was the beach walk in the national park, swimming, walking around town, checking out the black sand beach (playa negra) and taking a short trip to Puerto Viejo.
Then it was the bus ride day from hell. Riding the buses is not the worst part, it never is, it’s just the time involved, road conditions, purchasing the next leg of your trip and dealing with the weather. It started raining oh… right about when I stepped out of the room to go to the first bus station in Cahuita. Cahuita to Puerto Limon, rain. Limon to Siquerres, rain. Siquerres to Turrialba, rain. Turrialba to San Jose, rain. FINALLY in San Jose the rain had cleared and the stars were out and we hopped a taxi to Alajuela since Ben and Josh had their massive kayaks. Walking around in Alajuela we ran into a pimp-tourguide-drug dealer who said anything was possible. No thanks, just go away. The joys of the night.
In most places of the world, and in nature, the night creates a different atmosphere for the nocturnal animals to roam. Creatures you would never see during the day come out to prowl and have their fun and those day creatures are asleep or securely in their homes. In being a day creature one most be on guard at night since this is not their domain, a mistake here or a few there could result in one being lost, mugged, ordering a strange dish of food or somehow finding yourself trying to tell a pimp that in fact you do not want whatever girl he has. Either way, give the night a try.
Ben and Josh left for the coast so I decided that a few last minute gifts were needed and I wanted to check out a little of San Jose… a little. I hopped on the bus from Alajuela to San Jose and I should have gone to the bus station and found a directo bus rather than the collectivo bus that stopped seemingly everywhere. Oh well, I thought I had missed downtown San Jose which seemed impossible but with all the stops I had no idea so I stayed with the bus since it felt right. At the end of the line that is where I jumped off, in the heart of San Jose. My destination was Mercado Central to check out what goods and gifts I could find there, hopefully mas barato.
My handy dandy fancy schmancey Lonely Planet had a map of the place but I found that pretty useless since asking a person on the street seemed to be far more efficient. Walking around that part of the city reminded me of Chicago and other large cities of the world. Lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of stores, lots of everything. After checking out some of the sites and moving I went to Mercado Central which was what seemed to be a city block full of small stores, eateries and all things ending in ‘ies. Narrow hallways were the choice and there was no shortage of people. Here you can buy fresh roasted coffee with 1kg costing between 2200-3300Colones ($4.5-6.5USD). As far as good coffee, straight from the source and roasted that day, goes you really can’t beat it. After the shopping I wandered around more, and decided to stray from the main road by a few blocks which wasn’t a great idea. You can see the city deteriorate a little more each city block. The main street is lively with merchants, shoppers and commuters. Go back a block and it’s generally the same with more people looking to find a good place to eat. Another block and you start losing the shoppers and commuters. One more block and the people that were so inviting before seem to have disappeared into a more roustabout nature. Gone are the places to eat and things seem to have a different vibe. On the last block I visited before I decided to head back everyone is looking at you, homeless people are littered here and there and of course the inevitable panhandler will approach you.
I was approached but have no fear I turned directly around to head back to the bus station and leave as I had been in the city for 3 hours already. He said his name was something and his english was fair but he wanted money for food. Why he needed food was a question of much discussion since he was eating something at the time he was asking me for money… to buy food! Apparently he had visited Chicago once or lived there, I don’t know and it’s quite possible but I was not aware that these type of people were able to cover such vast distances. Perhaps he part of a panhandling exchange program. His tactics changed after he found out I was no good for food money. Temporary tattoos were the new and hot thing I had to have. I told him I had no tattoos and I was not going to start with these tattoos that looked like if I put them on I’d get a skin condition. He had a friend that started following us and I was gaining ground on the bus station where I knew they would dissipate since that is not their territory. Like a fish out of water, it can only survive so long before it has to go back to it’s own habitat. I gave him 100Colones ($ .20c) and told him to have a nice day. I think my act of charity was more of a snub to him. However, that’s his problem.
Back in Alajuela I read and relaxed for the rest of the day, caught some tv and prepared my bags for flight. At 6:30am a taxi was called and I was on my way to the San Jose airport. Checking in and paying the airport exit tax (seriously) went smoothly and the biggest problem was security. Unlike most airports who have a large open room for miles of the movie theater people maze, SJO was devoid of any such people herders. It was simply a long line that went OUTSIDE onto the sidewalk. However, it was not as bad as it seemed. There were a few times I had to laugh at the people, and you can tell they’re the type of people… ok they’re assholes, that think they deserve or can somehow get ahead in line if they can talk to the person in charge. Or they stake out the front of the line trying to jump in. However, for the 10 minutes they wasted doing this they could have been waiting in line, like everyone else. In the end though they had to wait in line and suck it up.
Such began a long day of travel.
San Jose to Newark, through customs and all the ridiculousness that is the American system of TSA (Transportation Security Administration). In its infinite wisdom there are underpaid, undereducated and most of all BORED people screening our airports in the name of security. My 1.5oz of hand sanitizing gel was not allowed so I was bummed out about that. I’m still not quite sure the reasoning behind this but I could have brought the gel onboard if it had been in a plastic bag… but not by itself. Rather than give a reason for this they simply say this is because of “extensive research and understanding of current threats.” Right… I digress.
Then, Newark to Denver, once again I have to gather my bags, and try to get on a flight to Chicago that I wasn’t supposed to be on until 6am the next morning. Luckily they have room and a very nice lady at United changed the ticket for me so I could leave that night. Through security/TSA AGAIN. However, when you’re going through security at 8:30pm it is amazingly quick, friendly and non-confrontational. Airlines, I ask of you, add more night flights. After a small delay I was off to Chicago and that’s where I am now. It is cold. After the 8th I will be back in Grand Junction which will bring this whole story full circle and to a close. I will be adding pictures and maybe some short stories as the more I think about it the more being a travel writer sounds appealing. Keeping looking every now and then for updates! Thanks
After 5 days of relaxing on Bocas we´ve made the move and crossed the panama-costa rica border again. We are now in Cahuita for at least a day and then we will head back to Turrialba to pick up some things we left behind and I will head to somewhere near the san jose airport where I will catch my flight on wed morning!
Bocas del Toro… where to start. Out of the two dives today I´d have to say I am unimpressed. Yes, there is colorful coral, but there is not a lot of it. The water was turbid/murkey so vis was down to about 20feet, which was fine but putting things together in my mind I can´t imagine having 100feet of vis making it much better. Sea life was there but as compared to Honduras, Thailand and Hawaii it completly lacks. I did two dives today, The Shipwreck and Bow Line. Shipwreck was cool… the first time we went around it. Bow Line was cool, except I still had 140bar left when the guide wanted to surface. When Ben and Josh have their fun dives I will make a request for Hospital since that´s where the comments seem to point to. Tomorrow I will make no dives since the cost isn´t worth the reward, at all in my mind.
Roatan had huge coral reefs teeming with life, and a wreck teeming with life. Bocas has little. Thus far, the only reason I would come back to Bocas would be to explore the archipelago in a sea kayak or rent a launcha for a week or two. We moved into another hotel called the Hipocampo since I thought the Mondo Taitu was one of the worst designed Hostels I´ve stayed in. To get to the rooms upstairs you have to go through the bathrooms and there is a bar downstairs. The bar I don´t mind, the bathroom thing I do. A room for 3 people completly filled the room. At the Hipocampo (2$ more a night) we are right across from the dive shop and our room has 3 beds, ac, tv, private bathroom and much more room. Hard to argue with that, expect for when they´re all booked!
The Mundo Taitu is a group of surfers from California who opened a hostel. Maybe 5 years ago, definately no more than 10 and the place shows. While it has character it´s not congruent in how it´s laid out and is rather dark and dank. Something tells me they have the money to give the place some life, they just choose not to. Anyways, I will update probably in another day or two.
Tomorrow I’m diving Bocas del Toro. We’ll see how it goes and how the water is. The town of Bocas del Toro/isla colon or whatever they call is not that great in my mind. I guess I’m still searching for that perfect place that blends remote with slightly modern. Punta Allen and Koh Phi Phi. I want a sleepy place that has diving, internet, no automobiles (or very few at that) and sandy roads. Cheap prices are always nice but sometimes you can’t have everything. I’m sure a place like this is out there, help me find it!
As far as diving, I’m not sure what dive sites we’ll do tomorrow and I can only hope that the weather is nice so that I can see everything there is to see! For now it’s bed as I have to be at the dive center at 9am!
Our 2 day rafting trip turned into a 3 day trip. The river was amazing, lots of class 3 rapids all the way down with a few 4s put in there. In the jungle there is so much flora/fauna and diversity, it is really amazing. Our guides, Manuel, Al and Carlos are great and I highly recommend Costa Rica Extreme. They have a section of land on the side of the river with some great lodges and places to sleep. There is no power and the quickest way out is via the river. It is very picturesque indeed.
One thing we found out is that the river we rafted the day before we left (reventezon-pascua) will be dammed in the very near future. Too bad because it is a great river and the reason is money. Costa Rica has a surplus of power and to build another dam will just make more money for the country. However, it is at the expense of the river.
Everyone from the original group is gone now so it is Ben, Josh and myself at this point. Today we finished our river trip, Ashlee, Alisa and Chad went to the airpot and we hopped on a bus to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean. The waves were large today and we stopped to watch some surfers. Tomorrow the destination is Panama and Bocas del Toro… somewhere on an island. I would like to do more diving, we’ll see how the prices are. Tonight we ate at a place with all you can eat sushi, more sushi than I’ve ever eaten even when we make it at home. Rediculous.
We’ve made it to Costa Rica. We took a Tica bus from Rivas to San Jose. The border we went through between Costa and Nicaragua was just rediculous. We probably waited 2 hours to check passports and bags (99% of the bags were not checked) so it was a waste of time, but it has to happen. We found a great place and met up with Ben, Melanie, Josh and Cassidy at the Interamericano hotel. On the way to the hotel a guy in a rafting shirt asked us if we wanted to do any rafting, of course we did and he set everything up. Our main guide and operator of Costa Rica Extreme was Manuel Segura Amador and he along with another guide, Alex, set us up with a trip down the Reventazon - Pascua section which is a class 3-4+ run that takes about 3 hours or so. It was amazing with great rapids the whole run down. We only had 2 swimmers though, I thought there would be more.
Tomorrow 6 people are leaving to go home and those remaining will be doing a 2 day rafting trip down the popular Pecuare river. We will be staying at a little place on the side of the river. I’m not sure if it will be tent camping or if we’ll be staying at a native run lodge on the side of the river. The scenery is great here and the Pecuare seems to be regarded as one of the most beautiful rivers in all of Central America. Having not done many rivers here (1 to be exact) I think I will be unable to judge for myself!
We have some pictures from the rafting trip so I will try to post those as soon as I can! For now the trip is winding down/done for most people but I still have 2 weeks and unless I do more rafting I think I will be heading to the Caribbean coast and heading into Panama from Sixaola.
After an amazing day of zip-lining, finca, butterflies and orchids we tried to grab some bus tix for the 15th to San Jose, Costa Rica but they were all sold out. Instead we have gone to San Juan del Sur for a day of Pacific beach time. We have arrived and tomorrow we will head back to Revis to hop on the Tica bus for San Jose. I will write more about the zip lines and butterflies later, for now this is just a general update!
Hello all,
It looks like we’ll be staying in Grenada for a few days as it is a great town/city worth hanging out in. Tomorrow the plan is to go to a small village called Masaya that has a large market that should be interesting. The day after I think we’ll visit a nature reserve for some canopy tours and zip-lining. After that it will be to go to San Jose, Costa Rica and find some river to boat and then who knows! As far as myself I think I’d like to go to Bocas del Toros for some more diving and possibly Panama City.
The computers here are fairly nice, but everyone seems to have installed windows xp on them even though they’re underpowered for that so I find myself waiting on the computer, which for internet is something I have not experience. I’m not even talking about the connection speed, just the actual computer speed. What can you do though when you have free internet in Nicaragua? For now, that’s all I have!
We have arrived in Grenada. After a LOT of bus time, we have arrived. Nicaragua has a lot of beautiful countryside that would be great to explore. Managua was pretty crazy as we arrived the night Ortega was re-elected (right?) as president so a lot of people were partying and it was difficult to find an empty spot. With the help of two locals we found a place with room in a ladies house and stayed there. The beds were comfortable and it was quiet. The area we were in was fairly dangerous (peligrosa) and we were advised not to walk around unless we were staying close so the lady actually gave us a ride to the ATM. We ate at a great panaderia that was cheap and run by a womens co-op (I bought some organic Nicaraguan coffee). After an hour on the bus we arrived in Grenada, quickly found The Hostel Oasis and grabbed a room and took a swim in the pool!!! This place has free internet, free international phone calls, coffee, cheap breakfast, movies and lots more. Right now it’s relax time and then probably grab some food and walk around.
As far as the next few days are concerned I think we’ll be staying here. Lago de Poyo seems to be fairly nice and needs some computer/web help so I might try to do some trade for a few days. There’s also a volcano that sounds like it would be a fun two day trek. I’ll keep you updated and hopefully post some pics of Grenada.
Well hello all. I´m done with my Advanced Open Water and had 8 dives on the great reef right outside of Roatan. Today has been a long travel day, a solid 14 hours. We hopped on the ferry, which was considerably better than last time, to La Ceiba and then a taxi to the bus station and then a bus to San Pedro Sula. San Pedro seems to be a very cool city but we headed directly to Hedman Alas for our bus. We managed to catch a 1st class that left at 3, 4.5hours later we´re here now. Tomorrow we´re heading on to Managua and either Leon or Granada after.
Myself doing zeee scuba, most of the group in zee scuba, Ash and me, zee large crab, heading through a channel and a huge angelfish.
I will post more from whatever city we end up in. For now, enjoy a few new pics.