Our last stop in Central America, Panama, has been fantastic - I know we say that about every place but when we first arrived in Panama we spent 6 days on the islands of Bocas Del Toro which is the no.1 tourist destination in Panama. It was nice but we weren't overly impressed and thought if this was the best Panama had to offer we should stay a while. Anyway the beer is so cheap and food so good on Bocas so we didn't mind. We spent the days as usual on the beach, playing chess (check out the new scores - I am catching him) and just really taking some time out from moving around all the time. After 6 days though we got itchy feet again and needed to move on.
We headed to Boquette which was voted as the best place in the world to retire in some old folk pension magazine (who reads that stuff??) Anyway obviously North Americans do because the place is fill with retirees. Doesn't sound very exciting but actually the place is so beautiful you can see why people settle there. We did a good days hiking and went to Alice in Wonderlands garden which was a garden filled with lots of quirky bits. We also went to a animal rescue and got to see and play with monkeys and some beautiful birds- a black squirrel took a liking to Greg, jumped on his shoulder and wouldn't get off (Greg was screaming like a girl again! This time I have the video to prove it).
From Boquette we took the 7 hour bus journey to Panama City. Now this is a City, parts are surprisingly ultra modern with such a good vibe. But more on that later as we only spent one night there before heading to the San Blas Islands.
The San Blas Islands. W.O.W. I think this has been my best experience on the trip so far. The San Blas islands are inhabited by the Kuna Indians who still live like their ancestors millions of years ago (except they have mobiles). Although they are a part of Panama the Kuna are allowed to run the islands their own way and differently to Panamanian law. They don't pay tax, no foreigners can own any land, actually all the Kuna own all the land of the San Blas islands and only the coconut trees are individually owned. They are said to have the most advanced political system in the world which I am not going to get into but basically they all make the decisions about their welfare together. We decided to pay them a visit and went to stay with a host Kuna family. We stayed on the main island in the family's house which was very modest and basic. i.e bucket and coconut shell for a shower and the toilet was a fenced off area over the sea. The family was lovely and they cooked fresh fish for us everyday and took us on their boats to explore the other islands. There are over 400 islands. Some deserted or with only 1 hut on them. The one island we went to called Dog Island was paradise, exactly like a postcard of those deserted islands you see everywhere. There was also a ship wreck we got to snorkel.
Getting back from the San Blas was not so fun. The night before we left it rained like it can only rain in the tropics so hard solidly for 12 hours. The road was flooded so the 4x4 couldn't get to the port to pick us up so we had to go upriver with a boat we came round a bend and a tree had fallen across the river so the boat had to be pushed over the sand. We eventually got to a road where the cars could get to and our 4x4 had broken down. Finally we got it fixed, we were travelling back with 2 Israeli girls who were so rude and didn't want to pay the full price for the transport so were having a fight with the driver in the streets of Panama City. I just wanted a shower....
Eventually we got to our beautiful hostal overlooking the whole city right next door to the President's house. We have spent the last 3 nights in Panama City and of course took a trip to Miraflores Locks yesterday to watch the ships coming through the Canal. It was very interesting to learn about the Canal. The ships are huge and just fit through the locks (they are built specifically to fit in the Canal) - they pay on average $200,000 to pass through and it takes about a day. They are actually in the process of widening the Canal so bigger ships can fit through.
We are off to the United Stations again tomorrow. We fly into Miami and will be with Nick in Fort Lauderdale for a while before heading out on our road trip to Dallas.
Really bummed to be leaving Central America it has been such an experience and they are all such lovely countries. One observation we have made throughout Central American, on the zillions of buses we have caught you usually get someone who gets on with a charity box for some charity or another and everytime we are so surprised that nearly every single person gives some money and these people are really poor. You also won't ever see an old person or pregnant person standing on a bus....not like another place I know!
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Panama Round up
Greg's favourite- San Blas islands
Shandy's favourite - San Blas islands
Flights taken - 1
Food- 8 out 10
Average price of beer- $1 sometimes 50c thats hardly any UK pennies and R8
- they only got ownership of the Canal from the USA in 1999
- the Canal makes Panama $4m a day!!
Shandy's favourite - San Blas islands
Flights taken - 1
Food- 8 out 10
Average price of beer- $1 sometimes 50c thats hardly any UK pennies and R8
- they only got ownership of the Canal from the USA in 1999
- the Canal makes Panama $4m a day!!
Monday, 21 September 2009
Costa Rica Round Up
Greg´s favourite: Monte Verde
Shandy´s favourite: Tortuguero, Cahutia
Food: 7/10 (we have now acquired the taste for beans & rice)
Average of beers: 1000 Colones; $2; 1.35 pounds; R17.50
- Costa Rica´s largest export is computer chips
- They used to be the poorest country in Central America now it is the richest - coffee is the golden crop
- Tourism is the no.1 income earner
- First country worldwide to abolish their army. Military expenditure is now used for education
Pura Vida - Pure Life is their motto
Shandy´s favourite: Tortuguero, Cahutia
Food: 7/10 (we have now acquired the taste for beans & rice)
Average of beers: 1000 Colones; $2; 1.35 pounds; R17.50
- Costa Rica´s largest export is computer chips
- They used to be the poorest country in Central America now it is the richest - coffee is the golden crop
- Tourism is the no.1 income earner
- First country worldwide to abolish their army. Military expenditure is now used for education
Pura Vida - Pure Life is their motto
Costa Rica
First of all congrats to all you guys who have recently gotten married, pregnant and given birth which is quite a few of you! Congratulations. Shands and I wish you all the best.
Costa Rica has been everything we expected and so much more.
We started in the North of the country at Rincon National Park where we hiked through rain forests at the base of an active volcano where there were hot geysers, bubbling mud pots and waterfalls to swim under while trying to spot some of the country´s Disney like cast of creatures ranging from howler monkeys to Toucans and Sloths.
About 25% of Costa Rica is now considered national park land and as we made our way further south on local buses the rain/cloud forests and volcanoes seemed to get more spectacular. Mount Arenal the 16th most active volcano in the world is where we did a tour to go and watch its daily eruptions, the only thing is they don´t tell you is that the volcano is covered with cloud all but 1 week of the year. But fortunately we did get to see some of the lava rocks tumbling down the side of the volcano below the cloud line, which was pretty cool. In Monte Verde we did a night hike in the cloud forest where we got to see all the creepy crawlys including coatis, gautis (super large rats with no tails), tarantulas. We also got to see most of the poisonuous dart frogs up there!
So with all that hiking done we headed to the Pacific Coast to the sleepy 1 street town of Samara. Where the locals cracked their first beer at 9am worked out at their home made gym and waited for the surf to pick up (see 1st photo below). It never really did so the 4 days we spent their were very relaxed where an evening body boarding session was about as hectic as it got.
From the Pacific we started to make our way to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast. This is home to the number one nesting site of the Green Turtle, 40,000 arrive to nest at this time of year and it is also home to the rainiest of all rain forests and canals. Apparently it is the mini Amazon of Central America.
Seeing the turtles nesting was an amazing experience and the size of them took us by surprise! They were bigger than any we have seen whilst diving. Brilliant.
While exploring the canals we spotted Caimans, Crocodiles, Iguanas, river otters and loads of birds...not quite sure what they were all called.
On our way to our last stop we passed by San Jose which like most Central American capitals cities is uninviting and a bit overwhelming.
We finished off in Cahuita which is on the southern Caribbean Coast and our last stop in Costa Rica. It almosts feels like we have already left Costa Rica though and landed on a Caribbean island...
Costa Rica has been everything we expected and so much more.
We started in the North of the country at Rincon National Park where we hiked through rain forests at the base of an active volcano where there were hot geysers, bubbling mud pots and waterfalls to swim under while trying to spot some of the country´s Disney like cast of creatures ranging from howler monkeys to Toucans and Sloths.
About 25% of Costa Rica is now considered national park land and as we made our way further south on local buses the rain/cloud forests and volcanoes seemed to get more spectacular. Mount Arenal the 16th most active volcano in the world is where we did a tour to go and watch its daily eruptions, the only thing is they don´t tell you is that the volcano is covered with cloud all but 1 week of the year. But fortunately we did get to see some of the lava rocks tumbling down the side of the volcano below the cloud line, which was pretty cool. In Monte Verde we did a night hike in the cloud forest where we got to see all the creepy crawlys including coatis, gautis (super large rats with no tails), tarantulas. We also got to see most of the poisonuous dart frogs up there!
So with all that hiking done we headed to the Pacific Coast to the sleepy 1 street town of Samara. Where the locals cracked their first beer at 9am worked out at their home made gym and waited for the surf to pick up (see 1st photo below). It never really did so the 4 days we spent their were very relaxed where an evening body boarding session was about as hectic as it got.
From the Pacific we started to make our way to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast. This is home to the number one nesting site of the Green Turtle, 40,000 arrive to nest at this time of year and it is also home to the rainiest of all rain forests and canals. Apparently it is the mini Amazon of Central America.
Seeing the turtles nesting was an amazing experience and the size of them took us by surprise! They were bigger than any we have seen whilst diving. Brilliant.
While exploring the canals we spotted Caimans, Crocodiles, Iguanas, river otters and loads of birds...not quite sure what they were all called.
On our way to our last stop we passed by San Jose which like most Central American capitals cities is uninviting and a bit overwhelming.
We finished off in Cahuita which is on the southern Caribbean Coast and our last stop in Costa Rica. It almosts feels like we have already left Costa Rica though and landed on a Caribbean island...
Friday, 18 September 2009
Photos - Costa Rica
Rincon de le Vieja National Park
Volcanic mountain
Hot mud pools
Typical Costa Rican home
Cloud forests of Monteverde
SLOTH
TOUCANS
Waterfalls at Arenal
Tortuguero
40km of beach reserved for Green Turtle nesting
Independence Day celebrations in Tortugeuro
White eye-browed viper (very poisonous)
Riding the waves...
Monday, 31 August 2009
Nicaragua
I know we said we were heading to El Salvador from Honduras which we did do. But once we got to San Salvador we decided to just check into a hotel and leave for Nicaragua the next day. There was nothing wrong with San Salvador but I had made another miscalculation with our schedule so that we are actually missing 50 days!! Yes I am very bad at Maths but I had to work out this schedule in the tiny bit of time I had on my last day of work, trying to book flights, hotels, car hire, travel insurance, finish all my work and clear up my desk so I didn´t have a lot of time. Anyway I now understand why Greg doesn´t let me near our budget.
Onto Nicaragua... we arrived by bus into the Capital Managua - not a great looking place, we decided to head straight out to Leon which was kinda in the direction we had just come into the country in. We qued (sp?) with the locals on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend to catch our HI-Ace taxi to Leon. The lines were long with a lot of pushing and shoving so I can sympathise with a lot of the South Africans having to do this everyday. (did you know you can fit 23 adults and their luggage in a Hi-Ace?)
Anyway we stayed in a beautiful place in Leon with a pool and just swam and wondered round the town for the next 4 days. We checked out the revolution museum, old palaces and churches etc.
From Leon we went to Granada which is a beautiful town set on Lake Nicaragua (10th largest lake in the world). There are something like 365 islands on the lake. We went on a boat around some of them. Some islands are entirely owned by 1 family and have huge mansions on them - seems beer and rum is the industry to be in in Nicaragua with them having the biggest ´holiday homes´. We also took a canopy tour (zip line)over some of Granada´s coffee plantations. There were 17 platforms some of them over 100m apart. I loved it, Greg screamed like a girl!
From Granada we decided to take a ´weekend break´ to Laguna de Apoyo which is a crater lake near Masaya. Because it is a crater lake no rivers flow into it and the water is the clearest fresh water lake I have ever seen. We spent 2 days there floating on tubes and kayaking around.
From there we headed to Isla de Ometepe - the Lonely Planet explains this island as ´a sort of place that belongs in fairytale or fantasy novels, an island formed by twin volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua´. Well we arrived and it was pitch dark and pouring with rain, the next day it was still chucking it down and we were starting to wonder what the LP was talking about. The rain did clear though and the island is exactly like they described once you go looking. We did some hectic hiking to some beautiful natural springs and waterfalls.
Finally we ended up in San Juan del Sur on the Pacific Coast just before the boarder to Costa Rica where we have been practising our surfing and beer drinking.
Another beautiful country....
Onto Nicaragua... we arrived by bus into the Capital Managua - not a great looking place, we decided to head straight out to Leon which was kinda in the direction we had just come into the country in. We qued (sp?) with the locals on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend to catch our HI-Ace taxi to Leon. The lines were long with a lot of pushing and shoving so I can sympathise with a lot of the South Africans having to do this everyday. (did you know you can fit 23 adults and their luggage in a Hi-Ace?)
Anyway we stayed in a beautiful place in Leon with a pool and just swam and wondered round the town for the next 4 days. We checked out the revolution museum, old palaces and churches etc.
From Leon we went to Granada which is a beautiful town set on Lake Nicaragua (10th largest lake in the world). There are something like 365 islands on the lake. We went on a boat around some of them. Some islands are entirely owned by 1 family and have huge mansions on them - seems beer and rum is the industry to be in in Nicaragua with them having the biggest ´holiday homes´. We also took a canopy tour (zip line)over some of Granada´s coffee plantations. There were 17 platforms some of them over 100m apart. I loved it, Greg screamed like a girl!
From Granada we decided to take a ´weekend break´ to Laguna de Apoyo which is a crater lake near Masaya. Because it is a crater lake no rivers flow into it and the water is the clearest fresh water lake I have ever seen. We spent 2 days there floating on tubes and kayaking around.
From there we headed to Isla de Ometepe - the Lonely Planet explains this island as ´a sort of place that belongs in fairytale or fantasy novels, an island formed by twin volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua´. Well we arrived and it was pitch dark and pouring with rain, the next day it was still chucking it down and we were starting to wonder what the LP was talking about. The rain did clear though and the island is exactly like they described once you go looking. We did some hectic hiking to some beautiful natural springs and waterfalls.
Finally we ended up in San Juan del Sur on the Pacific Coast just before the boarder to Costa Rica where we have been practising our surfing and beer drinking.
Another beautiful country....
Photos - Nicaragua
Leon and surrounding volcanoes
Islet in Lake Nicaragua
Game of Roulette in the Square
Ziplining in Granada
Laguna de Apoyo
Ometepe Island
Waterfalls on Ometepe
Wild Parrots
Natural Springs on Ometepe Island
Bus station at Rivas
San Juan Del Sur
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