Into Peru
We left Loja early Saturday morning for a 9 hour bus ride to Piura. The roads through Southern Ecuador wind through the mountains with beautiful views all around. All the bus drivers seem to like to take these turns as fast as possible, leaving us to hang on to our armrests as if we were on a roller coaster. Luckily my motion sickness drugs have been working well!
It was sad to see the level of desertification in the land that we drove through. We saw all the various stages - freshly burned hillsides that had been cleared of trees ; steep slopes with grass that had cows, donkeys, horses, or goats clinging to the sides eating away the scrubby grass; hills that had been grazed away to nothing that had great patches of earth washed away; and then whole sides of mountains that had just become rock/mudslides.
The soil here is thin and not really all that fertile, even though it seems to be, since in its natural state it is teeming with jungle life. But it depends upon the complex mixture of trees, shrubs, ferns, and all sorts of plants to combat erosion and keep the soil healthy. Once all the natural growth has been cleared, there is nothing to hold the soil in place, these mountains are so steep, and the rains are often very heavy. It's strange to think of how the ancient cultures (Inca among others) knew how to farm here with terraced hill sides, but all of that knowledge seems to be lost now.
Because there's no good grazing anywhere, people have come up with an interesting solution. They just let their cows, horses, donkeys or goats graze on the side of the highway. We passed so many that weren't tied or fenced in in any way. Just standing in the road, grazing on crappy bits of grass on the side. Somehow they didn't seem to get hit, and I guess their owners just came and herded them back to wherever at the end of the day. Since there wasn't really much grass on the roadside either, I threw our apple cores out the window to some surprised and happy goats.
As we got into Peru, the land became increasingly dry. There were tons of mango trees and then lime trees, and then nothing but sand and rock. There were shacks all along the roadside where people obviously live, but I don't know how. It is so dry & very hot.
Piura is a fairly big city that suddenly appears out of this desert. It was really culture shock to get off the bus and immediately hear the deafening sound of hundreds of car horns and moto-taxis, dirt bikes with a trailer welded on back that can hold 2 people comfortably, but often have 4-6 crammed in there somehow. Jonathan said the scene reminded him so much of India, and it was definitely different than any other city we've been in so far.
Today we're headed farther south on the coast, to a little town called Huanchaco. We finally arrived around 7 in the evening. We found a great Hostal (Naylamp) that will let us camp & has a kitchen. We found a great spot for dinner & actually stuck with our plan of ordering one dish, so that we weren't stuffed to the gills. It was great shrimp & squid with fried yucca and salad. Perfect!
Today we explored Huanchaco from one end to the other. We got to see the caballeros del tantos - the "riders" of these homemade kayak-like boats. They are made of spongy reeds that they tie together in such a way to make a sort of kayak. They paddle out with nets and catch fish, and then surf the waves back in. Pretty cool! We got to see some older guys making the boats. They only last for about 3 months before they're water logged. The people here have fished this way for thousands of years.
We had an amazing lunch of ceviche, where we forgot our new rule & ordered 2, when one would have been more than enough. We then found the local market & bought some corvina (sea bass), and fruits & veggies for dinner.
Tomorrow we will go see some pre-Incan ruins during the day and then head back into the big city of Trujillo. From there we'll catch the night bus to Lima (another 9 hours.)
I don't mind taking a night bus since this area around us is serious desert. It's interesting but very monotonous. I keep thinking that it looks like:
-The moon
-The set of Waterworld (the awful Kevin Costner movie from a decade ago)
-A post apocalyptic world, where all the green has been taken away as replaced with sand, rock, and trash.
So, while it's a remarkable landscape, it's one that I'm willing to sleep thorough.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Cajas & Vilcabamba
Cajas & Vilcabamba
Yesterday we went out to Cajas National Park, about 30 mins west of Cuenca. There was a 7am bus or 10:20 bus, so we opted for a relaxed morning and chose the 10:20 one. But because you never know if information you read in books or online is accurate, we headed over to the bus station early. For once, everything we read was accurate, so we walked around some to kill an hour. I'm so glad we did, because we stumbled across the most amazing market I have ever seen. It was absolutely huge and had everything for sale you could possibly think of. It was somewhat organized chaos, with very narrow rows between the vendors and then other people marching up and down those rows selling other things, all mixed in with people arguing over prices, children running and laughing or screaming and crying, and the sound of all the animals mixed together. The first row we ventured down turned out to be "live animals for sale" row. There were chickens of all ages (from boxes crammed with peeping baby chicks to giant roosters screaming their heads off), puppies (none of which were any discernible breed and all of which were crammed together in little cages - very sad), kittens,
ducklings, turkeys, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, and various song birds. It was completely overwhelming, especially for someone like me who wants to stop and pet each of these creatures. Petting was frowned upon, apparently, because I got strange looks from the people as well as the animals when I tried.
Then there were the vegetables & fruits - I dare you to come up with something that they didn't have for sale. The meat was quite a site, as they just have whole cuts hanging from hooks in the open air or slabs or red meat or whole chickens stacked on top of each other. I don't think the good folks at our Carrboro farmer's market would like it too much if we followed suit! There were many things we couldn't recognize and had to have explained to us - giant stalks of raw sugar cane, huge pods of something that looked like tamarind on steroids, as well as lots of fruits we'd never seen. My favorite things were: a giant tub of lard lorded over by a very large woman, who would begrudgingly scoop you out a giant spoonful if you haggled long enough; two goats who were ground tied that gave milk straight from the teats into people's empty plastic bottles; and 5 gallon re-used buckets that were full of cow's milk, and the seller would pour gallons into plastic bags for people.
We drug ourselves away from the market after buying some cherries & strawberries for our hike, and settled into the stinkiest bus ride yet. Luckily it was only 30 mins, because I don't think we could have handled much more.
Cajas National Park is huge & home to hundreds of glacial lakes. We did the "moderate" hike, which was not moderate for us! With the altitude and the steep terrain, it was one of the harder day hikes I've done. But the scenery was breathtaking. The mountains are mostly bare of trees because of the altitude. But this one tree, the Polylepis, grows higher than any other tree in the world, and there were patches of Polylepis forests that we had to hike through. They were described to us as looking like the forest from a Grimm fairy tale, and I would agree with that. They are kind of bent over & gnarled like a Bonzai tree, but their bark is bright orangey/red and peels like a Birch tree. They kind of had the appearance of melting. So cool.
Today we took a bus from Cuenca, through Loja and onto Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba is a small town that became famous when Readers Digest did a story on the inordinate number of centenarians living here. Everyone rushed here to find the "fountain of youth." The result is a seriously weird town. We are here during the low season, so maybe things are normally busier. But it feels like a ghost town where all the locals have left & been replaced by aging hippies from the US, Great Britain and Canada. While they all seem to be searching for peace, happiness, and longevity, the resulting feeling of the town is vacant & soulless. For example, this is the only town we've been in where we saw a dog get hit by a truck. Every town we've been in has endless stray dogs, and crazy traffic, and we've been amazed that we haven't seen any accidents. In Vilcabamba, one car went past every couple minutes, and one managed to hit a little mangy white dog. All the aging hippies at the juice shop where we had stopped, paused their conversations about emotional enlightenment and essential oils while the dog yelped & cried, and then they all went back to chatting. Just a strange feeling.
We had reserved a campsite at an "Eco-lodge" called Rumi Wilco. Our Lonely Planet guidebook told us the lodge was a 10 min walk from town. What they didn't mention was that the road had been washed out and the bridge that crossed the river (a pretty serious river with all the rain we've gotten) had partially collapsed. It was a concrete bridge, and one end had gotten washed out, so the whole thing was slanted and tilted. It was also partially covered in slimy moss, so we hung on like crazy to the bamboo railing as we went across. The folks who own Rumi Wilco are biologists who have been trying to preserve the land around them for 20+ years. It is really beautiful and was a good reminder of what this land is supposed to look like. Most of the local farmers use the slash & burn technique of clearing land, and that really only gives them 3-5 years of usable topsoil before the land is useless.
One night here was enough for us, so we are headed back to Loja, where we'll spend the night and take an early bus into Peru!
Yesterday we went out to Cajas National Park, about 30 mins west of Cuenca. There was a 7am bus or 10:20 bus, so we opted for a relaxed morning and chose the 10:20 one. But because you never know if information you read in books or online is accurate, we headed over to the bus station early. For once, everything we read was accurate, so we walked around some to kill an hour. I'm so glad we did, because we stumbled across the most amazing market I have ever seen. It was absolutely huge and had everything for sale you could possibly think of. It was somewhat organized chaos, with very narrow rows between the vendors and then other people marching up and down those rows selling other things, all mixed in with people arguing over prices, children running and laughing or screaming and crying, and the sound of all the animals mixed together. The first row we ventured down turned out to be "live animals for sale" row. There were chickens of all ages (from boxes crammed with peeping baby chicks to giant roosters screaming their heads off), puppies (none of which were any discernible breed and all of which were crammed together in little cages - very sad), kittens,
ducklings, turkeys, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, and various song birds. It was completely overwhelming, especially for someone like me who wants to stop and pet each of these creatures. Petting was frowned upon, apparently, because I got strange looks from the people as well as the animals when I tried.
Then there were the vegetables & fruits - I dare you to come up with something that they didn't have for sale. The meat was quite a site, as they just have whole cuts hanging from hooks in the open air or slabs or red meat or whole chickens stacked on top of each other. I don't think the good folks at our Carrboro farmer's market would like it too much if we followed suit! There were many things we couldn't recognize and had to have explained to us - giant stalks of raw sugar cane, huge pods of something that looked like tamarind on steroids, as well as lots of fruits we'd never seen. My favorite things were: a giant tub of lard lorded over by a very large woman, who would begrudgingly scoop you out a giant spoonful if you haggled long enough; two goats who were ground tied that gave milk straight from the teats into people's empty plastic bottles; and 5 gallon re-used buckets that were full of cow's milk, and the seller would pour gallons into plastic bags for people.
We drug ourselves away from the market after buying some cherries & strawberries for our hike, and settled into the stinkiest bus ride yet. Luckily it was only 30 mins, because I don't think we could have handled much more.
Cajas National Park is huge & home to hundreds of glacial lakes. We did the "moderate" hike, which was not moderate for us! With the altitude and the steep terrain, it was one of the harder day hikes I've done. But the scenery was breathtaking. The mountains are mostly bare of trees because of the altitude. But this one tree, the Polylepis, grows higher than any other tree in the world, and there were patches of Polylepis forests that we had to hike through. They were described to us as looking like the forest from a Grimm fairy tale, and I would agree with that. They are kind of bent over & gnarled like a Bonzai tree, but their bark is bright orangey/red and peels like a Birch tree. They kind of had the appearance of melting. So cool.
Today we took a bus from Cuenca, through Loja and onto Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba is a small town that became famous when Readers Digest did a story on the inordinate number of centenarians living here. Everyone rushed here to find the "fountain of youth." The result is a seriously weird town. We are here during the low season, so maybe things are normally busier. But it feels like a ghost town where all the locals have left & been replaced by aging hippies from the US, Great Britain and Canada. While they all seem to be searching for peace, happiness, and longevity, the resulting feeling of the town is vacant & soulless. For example, this is the only town we've been in where we saw a dog get hit by a truck. Every town we've been in has endless stray dogs, and crazy traffic, and we've been amazed that we haven't seen any accidents. In Vilcabamba, one car went past every couple minutes, and one managed to hit a little mangy white dog. All the aging hippies at the juice shop where we had stopped, paused their conversations about emotional enlightenment and essential oils while the dog yelped & cried, and then they all went back to chatting. Just a strange feeling.
We had reserved a campsite at an "Eco-lodge" called Rumi Wilco. Our Lonely Planet guidebook told us the lodge was a 10 min walk from town. What they didn't mention was that the road had been washed out and the bridge that crossed the river (a pretty serious river with all the rain we've gotten) had partially collapsed. It was a concrete bridge, and one end had gotten washed out, so the whole thing was slanted and tilted. It was also partially covered in slimy moss, so we hung on like crazy to the bamboo railing as we went across. The folks who own Rumi Wilco are biologists who have been trying to preserve the land around them for 20+ years. It is really beautiful and was a good reminder of what this land is supposed to look like. Most of the local farmers use the slash & burn technique of clearing land, and that really only gives them 3-5 years of usable topsoil before the land is useless.
One night here was enough for us, so we are headed back to Loja, where we'll spend the night and take an early bus into Peru!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Cuenca
One 9 hour bus ride later, and we arrived in the city of Cuenca, in the southern highlands of Ecuador. We found a great Hostal (El Capitolio) that is centrally located in the old part of the city, has a kitchen we can use, has HOT water, and even has a washer/dryer. Luxury!!
We woke up the next day to brilliant sunshine and blue skies. We got some groceries, made a little breakfast, did a load of laundry and were off to explore the city by 8:30.
We went to the amazing Museo de Banco Central and the ruins of Pumapungo. It is a huge complex that houses information about ancient peoples from this area. It also has exhibitions on many other things varying from the history of money in S America, many of the living tribes of native peoples and their dress and customs, and even some seriously strange modern art exhibits (giant replica of a Brillo box made out of cardboard anyone??)
The exhibits in the museum were very well done. Most of the wording was in Spanish, but we could understand fairly well, and occasionally they had English translations. My favorite exhibit was about the Shuar people who live deep in the Amazon. They have resisted contact with whites and attempts to "modernize" them for centuries. They are also the people who make shrunken heads, and they had 3 or 4 on display. Apparently now they don't do it anymore with human heads and only do the ceremony using sloths and making shrunken sloth heads!
By far the best part was the ruins of Pumapungo, an ancient Incan city that was outside the museum. It is huge and they have preserved it so, so beautifully! The city was almost completely abandoned by the time the Spanish arrived, due to infighting among the native people of the area and the Incans. The Incan empire reached all the way up into northern Ecuador at its height, and this city was built for the birth of one of the sons of the great Incan sun god. It was also used strategically for storage of goods and defense.
The foundations of the buildings remain (giant stones held together with very little mortar) as well as terraced steps of the huge hill that the city center sat upon. They used terracing in order to have more area for planting and to prevent soil erosion. They were masters of agriculture, and at the bottom of the hill, the museum has planted huge gardens that show the different types of crops they would plant along with many medicinal plants they used. They had herbal medicines for every ailment you can think of - rheumatism, head aches, nausea, diarrhea, plants to get rid of parasites, hallucinogens, anesthetics, even a mixture using Agave to treat syphilis!
We wondered around these ruins all morning long. You could spend a whole weekend at this museum and not see everything. But we were hungry, so we headed off in search of a good restaurant. We found it in El Moliendo, a Columbian place serving amazing food.
After eating way too much, we rolled back to the hostel and took a little nap. Then we were off again, this time exploring the center of the old city, where there is a beautiful park square and many old churches. We wondered for the afternoon and then found our way to a used book store that sold some English language books. We are both reading about 2 books a week, so we had to stock up again!
Tomorrow our plan is to go out to a national park where there is supposed to be amazing hiking. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and be as beautiful as it was today.
We woke up the next day to brilliant sunshine and blue skies. We got some groceries, made a little breakfast, did a load of laundry and were off to explore the city by 8:30.
We went to the amazing Museo de Banco Central and the ruins of Pumapungo. It is a huge complex that houses information about ancient peoples from this area. It also has exhibitions on many other things varying from the history of money in S America, many of the living tribes of native peoples and their dress and customs, and even some seriously strange modern art exhibits (giant replica of a Brillo box made out of cardboard anyone??)
The exhibits in the museum were very well done. Most of the wording was in Spanish, but we could understand fairly well, and occasionally they had English translations. My favorite exhibit was about the Shuar people who live deep in the Amazon. They have resisted contact with whites and attempts to "modernize" them for centuries. They are also the people who make shrunken heads, and they had 3 or 4 on display. Apparently now they don't do it anymore with human heads and only do the ceremony using sloths and making shrunken sloth heads!
By far the best part was the ruins of Pumapungo, an ancient Incan city that was outside the museum. It is huge and they have preserved it so, so beautifully! The city was almost completely abandoned by the time the Spanish arrived, due to infighting among the native people of the area and the Incans. The Incan empire reached all the way up into northern Ecuador at its height, and this city was built for the birth of one of the sons of the great Incan sun god. It was also used strategically for storage of goods and defense.
The foundations of the buildings remain (giant stones held together with very little mortar) as well as terraced steps of the huge hill that the city center sat upon. They used terracing in order to have more area for planting and to prevent soil erosion. They were masters of agriculture, and at the bottom of the hill, the museum has planted huge gardens that show the different types of crops they would plant along with many medicinal plants they used. They had herbal medicines for every ailment you can think of - rheumatism, head aches, nausea, diarrhea, plants to get rid of parasites, hallucinogens, anesthetics, even a mixture using Agave to treat syphilis!
We wondered around these ruins all morning long. You could spend a whole weekend at this museum and not see everything. But we were hungry, so we headed off in search of a good restaurant. We found it in El Moliendo, a Columbian place serving amazing food.
After eating way too much, we rolled back to the hostel and took a little nap. Then we were off again, this time exploring the center of the old city, where there is a beautiful park square and many old churches. We wondered for the afternoon and then found our way to a used book store that sold some English language books. We are both reading about 2 books a week, so we had to stock up again!
Tomorrow our plan is to go out to a national park where there is supposed to be amazing hiking. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and be as beautiful as it was today.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Quito & Esmeraldas
Quito - Esmeraldas
We arrived in Quito, Ecuador with no problem. Flying into the city, we went over amazing lush green mountains - the Highlands of Ecuador - that were really amazing. Quito sits at 9000+ feet, and the moment we walked off the plane we could feel it. This feeling of shortness of breath was pretty remarkable. Just walking up a staircase felt like a huge task.
We are staying with Nate & Fernanda, a wonderful couple who has been so hospitable it's remarkable. Nate is American and Fernanda is from outside of Quito. Fernanda is an architect and is restoring their beautiful home that sits right across from the huge Basilica of Quito.
We settled our stuff in and went for a walk around the old city. We went for a very slow walk, due to the altitude! Quito is a bit reminiscent of San Francisco in terms of the super hilly streets and homes off in the hills in the distance. So walking up these hills in the altitude was quite the feat. We were keeping pace with the ancient grandmothers, and that was just fine with us.
The old city is so incredibly beautiful. They have restored most of the buildings in a really wonderful way. There are huge churches everywhere you look as well as a lot of museums, restaurants, stores, etc. It doesn't feel touristy like many of the other cities we've been to. Everyone is just busy going about their day in this gorgeous, old place with so much history.
We had a wonderful dinner with Nate & Fernanda that night. We lingered for a long time in the restaurant, telling stories and having another round of beer, because it had started to pour outside. Apparently it has been raining like crazy lately due to the La Nina phenomenon.
The next day we walked again around the old part of Quito. We went to some famous churches & got to check out Museo del Alabado, a museum dedicated to pre-Incan artifacts. It was incredible. They had so many unbelievable pieces from as far back as 4000 BC.
In the afternoon we drove with Nate & Fernanda to their family beach house near the town of Esmeraldas. This was our first glimpse of the Pacific on this trip! We got in late, but a wonderful woman named Margarita, who cooks for Fernanda's family, had left us dinner. We stayed up late telling stories & laughing and finally fell into bed around 3am!
The next day and a half was spent lounging in the beach, finding incredible rocks and shells, reading, and eating the most delicious food made for us by Margarita. We had shrimp ceviche, calamari, rice, coconut shrimp, a fish casserole made with peanuts and plantains, beans, fried plantains, fresh made ahi (sort of like a salsa but way better) and all sorts of fresh squeezed juices. Amazing!
The weather was mostly good at the beach (good enough for a serious sunburn for me!) but then it was rain, rain, rain back in Quito.
Today we're off on a 12 hour bus ride to Cuenca through the highlands. We are sad to say good bye to Nate & Fernanda, but hopefully they will come visit us in NC this summer!
We arrived in Quito, Ecuador with no problem. Flying into the city, we went over amazing lush green mountains - the Highlands of Ecuador - that were really amazing. Quito sits at 9000+ feet, and the moment we walked off the plane we could feel it. This feeling of shortness of breath was pretty remarkable. Just walking up a staircase felt like a huge task.
We are staying with Nate & Fernanda, a wonderful couple who has been so hospitable it's remarkable. Nate is American and Fernanda is from outside of Quito. Fernanda is an architect and is restoring their beautiful home that sits right across from the huge Basilica of Quito.
We settled our stuff in and went for a walk around the old city. We went for a very slow walk, due to the altitude! Quito is a bit reminiscent of San Francisco in terms of the super hilly streets and homes off in the hills in the distance. So walking up these hills in the altitude was quite the feat. We were keeping pace with the ancient grandmothers, and that was just fine with us.
The old city is so incredibly beautiful. They have restored most of the buildings in a really wonderful way. There are huge churches everywhere you look as well as a lot of museums, restaurants, stores, etc. It doesn't feel touristy like many of the other cities we've been to. Everyone is just busy going about their day in this gorgeous, old place with so much history.
We had a wonderful dinner with Nate & Fernanda that night. We lingered for a long time in the restaurant, telling stories and having another round of beer, because it had started to pour outside. Apparently it has been raining like crazy lately due to the La Nina phenomenon.
The next day we walked again around the old part of Quito. We went to some famous churches & got to check out Museo del Alabado, a museum dedicated to pre-Incan artifacts. It was incredible. They had so many unbelievable pieces from as far back as 4000 BC.
In the afternoon we drove with Nate & Fernanda to their family beach house near the town of Esmeraldas. This was our first glimpse of the Pacific on this trip! We got in late, but a wonderful woman named Margarita, who cooks for Fernanda's family, had left us dinner. We stayed up late telling stories & laughing and finally fell into bed around 3am!
The next day and a half was spent lounging in the beach, finding incredible rocks and shells, reading, and eating the most delicious food made for us by Margarita. We had shrimp ceviche, calamari, rice, coconut shrimp, a fish casserole made with peanuts and plantains, beans, fried plantains, fresh made ahi (sort of like a salsa but way better) and all sorts of fresh squeezed juices. Amazing!
The weather was mostly good at the beach (good enough for a serious sunburn for me!) but then it was rain, rain, rain back in Quito.
Today we're off on a 12 hour bus ride to Cuenca through the highlands. We are sad to say good bye to Nate & Fernanda, but hopefully they will come visit us in NC this summer!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Panama City
We hopped on a bus at 6:30 in the morning & bid the wonderful town of Boquete goodbye. A short ride to David while watching a beautiful sunrise was the start to this long day. Once in David we had to get a bus that would take us all the way to Panama City (7 hrs). We had been talking about how we hoped we wouldn't have to ride that whole way there crammed on a chicken bus with the windows open, stopping every couple kilometers to cram on more people. Well, we didn't have to worry, because we bought tickets for what turned out to be the biggest bus Jonathan or I had ever been on! It was a new Mercedes double decker model. Jonathan asked if there was any way he could get a seat with a bit more leg room, and she put us in seats 1 & 2 on the upper level. There was a lot more leg room and we were almost out over the front of the bus, farther forward than the driver would sit, since we were on the second level. It was a crazy feeling, being so high, right up against the windshield of this huge behemoth, barreling down the Pan American Hwy. We got there in pretty much 7 hours exactly.
On the bus, Jonathan struck up a conversation (as he always does) with a really nice young guy who spoke good English. Kristopher was from Boquete but was going to school in Panama City and had made this journey many times before. He offered to help us once we got off at the bus terminal in the city. This was much appreciated, since we'd heard from everyone that Americans get really over charged by the taxis and that the city buses are a bit hard to use if you don't know exactly where you're going.
Once we got there Kristopher's brother was there to pick him up, and we started chatting about the best way for us to get to the hostel we had reserved - a hostel no one had heard of in a neighborhood no one seemed to recognize. After Kristopher's brother looked at our little map for a bit, he said, "You can't take a taxi, it's too expensive & too far. You will drive with us." And just like that they led us to their car, crammed all our luggage in and set off across the city at rush hour. They were so sweet and pointed out all the buildings and neighborhoods as we passed and answered our endless questions.
Panama City is huge and very modern. After being in small towns since we started traveling, the sky scrapers, smog and constant noise was a bit overwhelming. We finally found our hostel, the adorable Villa Michelle, and thanked our new friends profusely. This place has two kitchens we can use, so we walked to the local "mini super" (small grocery store/convenience store) and got stuff for the next couple days.
Today we explored Casco Viejo (the old city) and the canal. We both had been really looking forward to seeing the canal. Before we left, we each read a book on the history and construction of the canal. (Thank you Bruce & Ellen!!) It is such an overwhelming feat of engineering.
We went to the Miraflores locks, which are the closest to the Pacific an to the city. 35-40 huge vessels pass through the canal every day, which runs 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year. The average cost to go through the canal is a little over $100,000! They charge based on weight and carrying capacity of the ships. We got to watch 2 ships go through the locks. They were coming from the Atlantic, going into the Pacific, so we watched them get lowered back to sea level. It's absolutely amazing. They have a good museum and an educational film there.
After the canal, we were starving and looked up a place to eat on my gps. We found what sounded like a good place, so we hailed a cab and set off back across this crazy city. When the cab finally pulled into the restaurant, we both started laughing. It was a super fancy place, not what we had expected. There were men in tuxedos opening the front doors for us, and they all started looking at us, then looking at each other nervously. They finally pointed to our feet and tried to very gently let us know that sandals were not allowed in their restaurant. I'm sure that was the first in a long line of things about us that were not allowed, so we went off to find another option!
Tomorrow we fly to Quito, Ecuador, and I can't wait! A day and a half in a big city is more than enough for me. We'll be staying with friends in Quito, and I am so excited to begin this second leg of our trip. Adios Central America!
On the bus, Jonathan struck up a conversation (as he always does) with a really nice young guy who spoke good English. Kristopher was from Boquete but was going to school in Panama City and had made this journey many times before. He offered to help us once we got off at the bus terminal in the city. This was much appreciated, since we'd heard from everyone that Americans get really over charged by the taxis and that the city buses are a bit hard to use if you don't know exactly where you're going.
Once we got there Kristopher's brother was there to pick him up, and we started chatting about the best way for us to get to the hostel we had reserved - a hostel no one had heard of in a neighborhood no one seemed to recognize. After Kristopher's brother looked at our little map for a bit, he said, "You can't take a taxi, it's too expensive & too far. You will drive with us." And just like that they led us to their car, crammed all our luggage in and set off across the city at rush hour. They were so sweet and pointed out all the buildings and neighborhoods as we passed and answered our endless questions.
Panama City is huge and very modern. After being in small towns since we started traveling, the sky scrapers, smog and constant noise was a bit overwhelming. We finally found our hostel, the adorable Villa Michelle, and thanked our new friends profusely. This place has two kitchens we can use, so we walked to the local "mini super" (small grocery store/convenience store) and got stuff for the next couple days.
Today we explored Casco Viejo (the old city) and the canal. We both had been really looking forward to seeing the canal. Before we left, we each read a book on the history and construction of the canal. (Thank you Bruce & Ellen!!) It is such an overwhelming feat of engineering.
We went to the Miraflores locks, which are the closest to the Pacific an to the city. 35-40 huge vessels pass through the canal every day, which runs 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year. The average cost to go through the canal is a little over $100,000! They charge based on weight and carrying capacity of the ships. We got to watch 2 ships go through the locks. They were coming from the Atlantic, going into the Pacific, so we watched them get lowered back to sea level. It's absolutely amazing. They have a good museum and an educational film there.
After the canal, we were starving and looked up a place to eat on my gps. We found what sounded like a good place, so we hailed a cab and set off back across this crazy city. When the cab finally pulled into the restaurant, we both started laughing. It was a super fancy place, not what we had expected. There were men in tuxedos opening the front doors for us, and they all started looking at us, then looking at each other nervously. They finally pointed to our feet and tried to very gently let us know that sandals were not allowed in their restaurant. I'm sure that was the first in a long line of things about us that were not allowed, so we went off to find another option!
Tomorrow we fly to Quito, Ecuador, and I can't wait! A day and a half in a big city is more than enough for me. We'll be staying with friends in Quito, and I am so excited to begin this second leg of our trip. Adios Central America!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
More of Boquete
We rose the next day in Boquete to solid rain. We were told over and over again that the rain is not normal for this time of year. They have a rainy and dry season, and we were supposed to be there in the dry season. Oh well, it was still beautiful, but not very conducive to the hike we had planned. So we hopped on a chicken bus (called that because there is usually at least one chicken on there with you, often more) and headed out of town to a bookstore we had heard about. The Bookmark is the largest English language bookstore in Panama. It is chock full of used books from every genre imaginable - over 30,000 books at last count. Jonathan and I are speeding through our books, so we needed to stock up. We spent over an hour browsing and ended up buying 3 excellent books in great condition for $20!
Back in Boquete it was still raining, at times completely horizontal rain. It can get very windy there, and the town sits down in the valley, so the weather just sits on top of the town, but you can see the sun shining in the mountains on either side. So we spent the afternoon reading our new books with our friends from CO and the other folks staying in the hostel.
Despite the weather we still had big plans that night, because we had to head up to the house of the Packers fan Jonathan met, so we could watch the game at his house. We grabbed some beer and wine and headed up into the hills in a taxi with only vague directions. Things have an amazing way of working out for us, and even though we didn't know the exact street this guy lived on, the taxi driver drove us around his neighborhood, and he happened to be standing out in front of his house as we drove by.
We were warmly welcomed into Dan's beautiful home and pretty soon were joined by Jerry and Erdy (a retired couple from WI who were a hoot), Steve (a great guy from MI who was starting his own farm and eco retreat here) and Ryan (a young guy from WI who works part of the year here as a real estate agent). Everyone brought delicious food & immediately started yelling at the players and cracking jokes, so we felt right at home. Unfortunately it wasn't a good game for the Packers, but it was a lot of fun for us.
The next day was very rainy as well, but we were determined to go for a hike. We set off with our CO friends in an incredibly cramped little van that promised to drop us off by a trail head way up in the mountains. We were sure that once we were up there it wouldn't be raining anymore. Well, not only was it still raining, it was raining harder, but the land was absolutely gorgeous, so we just kept going. We hiked out to an amazing waterfall. By the time we got there I might as well have been standing under the waterfall, I was so wet. The hike back out was drier and we were in some incredible farm land. The way they can plant crops on these steep hillsides is almost dizzying to look at. We passed tons of coffee, some sugar cane, onions, corn, orange & papaya trees and even a Christmas tree farm!
In the afternoon we got to do a tour of Finca Dos Jefes, a farm that grows coffee under the label Cafe de las Lunes (coffee of the moon.) Dave, an American from Berkeley, CA, retired here about 8 years ago and bought an abandoned coffee farm. He was a serious coffee connossiour, but he knew nothing about growing coffee when he bought the place. He gave a fantastic tour, explaining the history of coffee in the world & specifically in Panama, how to grow the plants, how to process the beans, how to roast the coffee, and finally how to taste it. Dave's farm is organic, and he plants and harvests in coordination with the cycles of the moon - hence the name of his coffee! It was fascinating, and I even got to roast some beans myself.
We got a bunch of laundry done yesterday (washed, dried and folded for $3!) so now we are setting off to Panama City with clean smelling clothes. A miracle!
Back in Boquete it was still raining, at times completely horizontal rain. It can get very windy there, and the town sits down in the valley, so the weather just sits on top of the town, but you can see the sun shining in the mountains on either side. So we spent the afternoon reading our new books with our friends from CO and the other folks staying in the hostel.
Despite the weather we still had big plans that night, because we had to head up to the house of the Packers fan Jonathan met, so we could watch the game at his house. We grabbed some beer and wine and headed up into the hills in a taxi with only vague directions. Things have an amazing way of working out for us, and even though we didn't know the exact street this guy lived on, the taxi driver drove us around his neighborhood, and he happened to be standing out in front of his house as we drove by.
We were warmly welcomed into Dan's beautiful home and pretty soon were joined by Jerry and Erdy (a retired couple from WI who were a hoot), Steve (a great guy from MI who was starting his own farm and eco retreat here) and Ryan (a young guy from WI who works part of the year here as a real estate agent). Everyone brought delicious food & immediately started yelling at the players and cracking jokes, so we felt right at home. Unfortunately it wasn't a good game for the Packers, but it was a lot of fun for us.
The next day was very rainy as well, but we were determined to go for a hike. We set off with our CO friends in an incredibly cramped little van that promised to drop us off by a trail head way up in the mountains. We were sure that once we were up there it wouldn't be raining anymore. Well, not only was it still raining, it was raining harder, but the land was absolutely gorgeous, so we just kept going. We hiked out to an amazing waterfall. By the time we got there I might as well have been standing under the waterfall, I was so wet. The hike back out was drier and we were in some incredible farm land. The way they can plant crops on these steep hillsides is almost dizzying to look at. We passed tons of coffee, some sugar cane, onions, corn, orange & papaya trees and even a Christmas tree farm!
In the afternoon we got to do a tour of Finca Dos Jefes, a farm that grows coffee under the label Cafe de las Lunes (coffee of the moon.) Dave, an American from Berkeley, CA, retired here about 8 years ago and bought an abandoned coffee farm. He was a serious coffee connossiour, but he knew nothing about growing coffee when he bought the place. He gave a fantastic tour, explaining the history of coffee in the world & specifically in Panama, how to grow the plants, how to process the beans, how to roast the coffee, and finally how to taste it. Dave's farm is organic, and he plants and harvests in coordination with the cycles of the moon - hence the name of his coffee! It was fascinating, and I even got to roast some beans myself.
We got a bunch of laundry done yesterday (washed, dried and folded for $3!) so now we are setting off to Panama City with clean smelling clothes. A miracle!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Boquete the beautiful
We have fallen in love with the town of Boquete in Panama. I adore everything about this place. Let's start with the scenery - Boquete sits 3477 feet above sea level, and is surrounded by lush green mountains that go as high as 11,397 feet (Volcan Baru). Someone on the bus ride in told us it reminded him of Switzerland in the summer time. Having never been to Switzerland, I can't say for sure, but wow, is it gorgeous! It also reminds me somewhat of Hawaii because the clouds are very dramatic and it rains frequently. Our first afternoon here we saw a huge double rainbow. When I pointed it out to a local guy, he said, "Oh yeah, we see that everyday," and kept walking!
The town itself has about 19,000 people, and about 14% of them are expats from the US, Canada & Europe. Jonathan immediately met a man who lives here now who was from Green Bay, WI. He too is a huge Packers fan & has invited us to his home Sunday to watch the game. After that conversation, I knew we weren't going anywhere for a while! So we've decided to stay here through Monday.
We are staying at an adorable little hostel on the outskirts of town called Pension Topas. This week & weekend is the Ferria de los Flores y Cafe - a flower & coffee festival. It is also apparently a festival for selling every kind of good you can imagine - clothing, jewelry, leather goods, hats, toys, food, etc. It is also a festival for playing super loud music until about 4am, but we still managed to sleep ok.
This area does indeed look like te ideal place for a flower and coffee festival. There are beautiful flowers growing absolutely everywhere- on the fences, in the ditches, in the fields, and of course in everyone's gardens. The hillsides are dotted with coffee farms. We met some local guys on a hike today who were harvesting some beans. When we asked where the beans were headed he said, "The US, of course!"
Also staying at our hostel is a sweet couple from CO. They have been doing some volunteer work in Panama for 5 or 6 weeks now and just got engaged at Christmas! It's been really fun getting to know them. Today we took a hike together that we had found vague mention of online. We followed a road up a steep hill outside of town and then kept curving around on a dirt road. There were amazing views and the weather was absolutely perfect. Because of the altitude, it is much cooler here and not nearly so humid. There's a wonderful breeze all the time, and at night it even get a little chilly. Our hike made a big loop and brought us back down into the city just after lunch.
Panama is less expensive than CR by far, and they use US dollars, so that makes it even easier! We got a fabulous pineapple yesterday for $.50 that we all shared and a couple bananas for a dime each. Tonight we're going to try out a restaurant in town that seems to be a favorite with the locals. Today at lunch there was a line out the door and up the street- always a good sign!
I've posted some photos and videos on Facebook, since I still can't get my iPhone to let me upload anything here. So check out my page there to see some!
The town itself has about 19,000 people, and about 14% of them are expats from the US, Canada & Europe. Jonathan immediately met a man who lives here now who was from Green Bay, WI. He too is a huge Packers fan & has invited us to his home Sunday to watch the game. After that conversation, I knew we weren't going anywhere for a while! So we've decided to stay here through Monday.
We are staying at an adorable little hostel on the outskirts of town called Pension Topas. This week & weekend is the Ferria de los Flores y Cafe - a flower & coffee festival. It is also apparently a festival for selling every kind of good you can imagine - clothing, jewelry, leather goods, hats, toys, food, etc. It is also a festival for playing super loud music until about 4am, but we still managed to sleep ok.
This area does indeed look like te ideal place for a flower and coffee festival. There are beautiful flowers growing absolutely everywhere- on the fences, in the ditches, in the fields, and of course in everyone's gardens. The hillsides are dotted with coffee farms. We met some local guys on a hike today who were harvesting some beans. When we asked where the beans were headed he said, "The US, of course!"
Also staying at our hostel is a sweet couple from CO. They have been doing some volunteer work in Panama for 5 or 6 weeks now and just got engaged at Christmas! It's been really fun getting to know them. Today we took a hike together that we had found vague mention of online. We followed a road up a steep hill outside of town and then kept curving around on a dirt road. There were amazing views and the weather was absolutely perfect. Because of the altitude, it is much cooler here and not nearly so humid. There's a wonderful breeze all the time, and at night it even get a little chilly. Our hike made a big loop and brought us back down into the city just after lunch.
Panama is less expensive than CR by far, and they use US dollars, so that makes it even easier! We got a fabulous pineapple yesterday for $.50 that we all shared and a couple bananas for a dime each. Tonight we're going to try out a restaurant in town that seems to be a favorite with the locals. Today at lunch there was a line out the door and up the street- always a good sign!
I've posted some photos and videos on Facebook, since I still can't get my iPhone to let me upload anything here. So check out my page there to see some!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Bocas and beyond...
Bocas & beyond...
Our last day in CR was kind of a bummer for me, as I got a little sick. I feel all better now, and I don't know if I just had a little 24 hr bug or what. I spent the whole day sleeping, reading & drinking EmergenC. All better now!
The next day we had one last breakfast at our favorite little Pan Pay and said goodbye to our wonderful friends who had housed us the whole time. We hopped on a 9:30 bus to Sixaola, at the border with Panama. It was an interesting drive, mostly through banana plantations. There were bananas as far as the eye could see, and lots of little villages with shacks built for the banana workers.
At Sixaola, we got off the bus, went through immigration to leave Costa Rica, and then headed on foot across a very rickety looking old United Fruit bridge. This brought us into Panama, where we had to go through immigration again & get more stamps in our passports.
At this point we were inundated with pushy Panamanians trying to get us to take their taxi, shuttle, bus, etc to get us to Almirante, our next stopping off point. As we excited CR we met 3 other guys from NC. We shared a shuttle with these guys, since we were all going to Bocas Del Toro eventually. Man, can they pack you into these shuttles. The shuttle was the size of a van, and they insisted on getting 13 of us in there (and all our luggage tied on top of the van) before they set off. The first things we noticed about Panama was that it was hotter & way, way dirtier. In CR they are really good about keeping things pretty clean. They care deeply about their environment and have put so much land into conservation. The roads in Panama were better than in CR, but right away we saw trash everywhere.
The drive to Almirante was beautiful, nonetheless. More banana plantations, and then up into the mountains where we had beautiful views down into valleys & into the Caribbean. Once in Almirante we hopped on a water taxi to take us out to Bocas. Bocas del Toro is made up of many islands, but we were all headed to the main one, Isla Colon. Again they packed us & our luggage into the boat like sardines, 5 per row. It was a beautiful 40 min boat ride to Bocas.
We had a reservation at Casa Verde hostel, which was right around the corner. We bid our NC friends adieu and promised to meet up with them later for dinner. After settling into our air conditioned, tiny room (the first AC we've had on this trip) we were off to explore. We found our way to the beach and took a swim, since it was pushing 90!
Right away we both got the feeling that Bocas was not for us. It is lovely, but super touristy. The streets are jammed with restaurants, hotels and lots of shops selling junk for the gringos. If we were into surfing or had lots of money to spend on snorkeling, it would have been a good destination.
We had dinner with our good ole boy friends and then wandered a bit more. Our hostel was a big disappointment, especially since I had really liked the looks of it online. It was dirty, there was only 1 working women's bathroom (and 1 even dirtier men's) for the entire hostel, and in the morning it reeked of sewage. Our neighbors were some Italian college boys who partied late and appeared to love every bad American song written from 1988 to 1995, played at the loudest setting their stereo could bare.
We were supposed to stay at Casa Verde for 2 nights, but 1 was plenty, so this morning we made new plans and headed back to Almirante where we're taking a bus to David, on the Pacific side, and then back up into the mountain town of Boquete. We've had enough beach time for a while, so now we'll try the mountains for a bit now.
Our last day in CR was kind of a bummer for me, as I got a little sick. I feel all better now, and I don't know if I just had a little 24 hr bug or what. I spent the whole day sleeping, reading & drinking EmergenC. All better now!
The next day we had one last breakfast at our favorite little Pan Pay and said goodbye to our wonderful friends who had housed us the whole time. We hopped on a 9:30 bus to Sixaola, at the border with Panama. It was an interesting drive, mostly through banana plantations. There were bananas as far as the eye could see, and lots of little villages with shacks built for the banana workers.
At Sixaola, we got off the bus, went through immigration to leave Costa Rica, and then headed on foot across a very rickety looking old United Fruit bridge. This brought us into Panama, where we had to go through immigration again & get more stamps in our passports.
At this point we were inundated with pushy Panamanians trying to get us to take their taxi, shuttle, bus, etc to get us to Almirante, our next stopping off point. As we excited CR we met 3 other guys from NC. We shared a shuttle with these guys, since we were all going to Bocas Del Toro eventually. Man, can they pack you into these shuttles. The shuttle was the size of a van, and they insisted on getting 13 of us in there (and all our luggage tied on top of the van) before they set off. The first things we noticed about Panama was that it was hotter & way, way dirtier. In CR they are really good about keeping things pretty clean. They care deeply about their environment and have put so much land into conservation. The roads in Panama were better than in CR, but right away we saw trash everywhere.
The drive to Almirante was beautiful, nonetheless. More banana plantations, and then up into the mountains where we had beautiful views down into valleys & into the Caribbean. Once in Almirante we hopped on a water taxi to take us out to Bocas. Bocas del Toro is made up of many islands, but we were all headed to the main one, Isla Colon. Again they packed us & our luggage into the boat like sardines, 5 per row. It was a beautiful 40 min boat ride to Bocas.
We had a reservation at Casa Verde hostel, which was right around the corner. We bid our NC friends adieu and promised to meet up with them later for dinner. After settling into our air conditioned, tiny room (the first AC we've had on this trip) we were off to explore. We found our way to the beach and took a swim, since it was pushing 90!
Right away we both got the feeling that Bocas was not for us. It is lovely, but super touristy. The streets are jammed with restaurants, hotels and lots of shops selling junk for the gringos. If we were into surfing or had lots of money to spend on snorkeling, it would have been a good destination.
We had dinner with our good ole boy friends and then wandered a bit more. Our hostel was a big disappointment, especially since I had really liked the looks of it online. It was dirty, there was only 1 working women's bathroom (and 1 even dirtier men's) for the entire hostel, and in the morning it reeked of sewage. Our neighbors were some Italian college boys who partied late and appeared to love every bad American song written from 1988 to 1995, played at the loudest setting their stereo could bare.
We were supposed to stay at Casa Verde for 2 nights, but 1 was plenty, so this morning we made new plans and headed back to Almirante where we're taking a bus to David, on the Pacific side, and then back up into the mountain town of Boquete. We've had enough beach time for a while, so now we'll try the mountains for a bit now.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Puerto Viejo - Days 7 & 8
Puerto Viejo - Days 7 & 8
Yesterday we started our day with what has become our morning ritual - walking leisurely to Pan Pay for breakfast by the beach. This time, though, we stopped along the way to rent bikes. Jonathan & I had been walking the 2 miles or so into town and back for the last couple days. It's totally flat and a lovely walk, and since we didn't have anywhere we needed to be, we figured, why not walk? But today we wanted to go farther down the coast, so we splurged on the $5 bikes! Everyone around here rides bikes, and most all of them have baskets on the front. A lot of them have a little bike seat welded right in front of the real seat so that a child (or sometimes a fully grown adult) can ride there along with the person peddling. Kids also ride in the baskets in front, or in a baby seat behind the rider, or really anywhere. No one wears helmets, and I'm sure the child safety folks would have a fit, but I haven't seen any accidents. And if there was one, I doubt it would be anywhere as bad as a car accident on our freeways!
After breakfast Jonathan & I ventured farther south down the beach, past Playa Chiquito and down to Punta Uva, which is a beautiful half moon bay area with much quieter water for swimming.
Biking is the perfect speed for me- I get there faster than walking, but I still have time to look at every place we pass. We would have liked to swim at Punta Uva, but we had to head back up the road to make it to our next destination at 11:30.
The Jaguar Rescue Center was our big plan for the day. It's a private animal rescue center run by 2 biologists (1 Spanish and 1 Italian) who used to both work at the Barcelona zoo. They moved here about 8 years ago, and local people started bringing them injured animals as soon as they heard there were biologists living in town. Now, there are no jaguars at the Jaguar Rescue Center. (Maybe there used to be? Unsure how that name came about...) But there are sloths, howler monkeys, a margay (like an ocelot), lots and lots of snakes, tree frogs, big and small birds, iguanas, etc, etc. Most of the animals get brought in as babies because of injury - hit by a car, fell from a tree, etc. There are also many that are brought in because they were being kept illegally as pets. It is illegal to keep ANY wild animal as a pet in CR, but after seeing a baby Howler monkey, you can understand why someone would want to. We got an awesome tour and got to hold a 6 month old Howler - so cute!! Also, we saw 4 & 6 week old baby sloths, possibly the cutest things you can imagine.
Then later in the day we all reunited and iheaded north on our bikes to Playa Negra - a black sand beach just up the road. We all played in the ocean as the sun set and then wondered across the street to a pizzeria run by Marco. Marco is Italian but has lived here since he was a teenager. He has an outdoor wood burning oven where he makes amazing pizzas. We were joined by lots of folks as the night wore on. After pizza we shared a watermelon and stories with a big table that now included Marco, Fernando (a Spaniard), Luis (from China), Doreene (from Holland), Joy (from Alaska), and the rest of us.
The next day we rushed our bikes back into town, so that we wouldn't be charged extra, and then grabbed the bus that heads to the end of the road - literally - at Manzanillo. The buses here are such a great way to travel - very cheap and very on time. There are designated bus stops in a few places, but mostly people just wave the driver down from the side of the road and he stops. At one point during the ride, the driver suddenly stopped an threw the bus in reverse. I thought maybe he had missed someone on the side of the road. But then he turned and said, "Plastico!" to the folks in the first seats. He then jumped out and grabbed what looked like a dirty tarp wrapped in twine on the side of the road. He seemed thrilled with this find, but an older guy standing on the side of the road started yelling at the driver that that was HIS plastic, and the driver had to reluctantly put it back on the side of the road, which is, I guess, where the other guy stores his plastic?
Manzanillo is a beautiful little beach town with a few houses, a very precariously balanced Baptist church, a couple restaurants, and miles of beautiful beaches with palm trees and fisherman's boats pulled up on the sand. The culture down here is very Afro Caribbean, and there is always, always, reggae playing in the background The water here is super clear and the waves much less intense than up in Puerto Viejo. We spent the morning swimming, reading, sunbathing, strumming a uckelele, and tossing a frisbee before catching the bus back after noon. But not before sharing some ice cream. I can't think of a much better way to spend a morning!
Yesterday we started our day with what has become our morning ritual - walking leisurely to Pan Pay for breakfast by the beach. This time, though, we stopped along the way to rent bikes. Jonathan & I had been walking the 2 miles or so into town and back for the last couple days. It's totally flat and a lovely walk, and since we didn't have anywhere we needed to be, we figured, why not walk? But today we wanted to go farther down the coast, so we splurged on the $5 bikes! Everyone around here rides bikes, and most all of them have baskets on the front. A lot of them have a little bike seat welded right in front of the real seat so that a child (or sometimes a fully grown adult) can ride there along with the person peddling. Kids also ride in the baskets in front, or in a baby seat behind the rider, or really anywhere. No one wears helmets, and I'm sure the child safety folks would have a fit, but I haven't seen any accidents. And if there was one, I doubt it would be anywhere as bad as a car accident on our freeways!
After breakfast Jonathan & I ventured farther south down the beach, past Playa Chiquito and down to Punta Uva, which is a beautiful half moon bay area with much quieter water for swimming.
Biking is the perfect speed for me- I get there faster than walking, but I still have time to look at every place we pass. We would have liked to swim at Punta Uva, but we had to head back up the road to make it to our next destination at 11:30.
The Jaguar Rescue Center was our big plan for the day. It's a private animal rescue center run by 2 biologists (1 Spanish and 1 Italian) who used to both work at the Barcelona zoo. They moved here about 8 years ago, and local people started bringing them injured animals as soon as they heard there were biologists living in town. Now, there are no jaguars at the Jaguar Rescue Center. (Maybe there used to be? Unsure how that name came about...) But there are sloths, howler monkeys, a margay (like an ocelot), lots and lots of snakes, tree frogs, big and small birds, iguanas, etc, etc. Most of the animals get brought in as babies because of injury - hit by a car, fell from a tree, etc. There are also many that are brought in because they were being kept illegally as pets. It is illegal to keep ANY wild animal as a pet in CR, but after seeing a baby Howler monkey, you can understand why someone would want to. We got an awesome tour and got to hold a 6 month old Howler - so cute!! Also, we saw 4 & 6 week old baby sloths, possibly the cutest things you can imagine.
Then later in the day we all reunited and iheaded north on our bikes to Playa Negra - a black sand beach just up the road. We all played in the ocean as the sun set and then wondered across the street to a pizzeria run by Marco. Marco is Italian but has lived here since he was a teenager. He has an outdoor wood burning oven where he makes amazing pizzas. We were joined by lots of folks as the night wore on. After pizza we shared a watermelon and stories with a big table that now included Marco, Fernando (a Spaniard), Luis (from China), Doreene (from Holland), Joy (from Alaska), and the rest of us.
The next day we rushed our bikes back into town, so that we wouldn't be charged extra, and then grabbed the bus that heads to the end of the road - literally - at Manzanillo. The buses here are such a great way to travel - very cheap and very on time. There are designated bus stops in a few places, but mostly people just wave the driver down from the side of the road and he stops. At one point during the ride, the driver suddenly stopped an threw the bus in reverse. I thought maybe he had missed someone on the side of the road. But then he turned and said, "Plastico!" to the folks in the first seats. He then jumped out and grabbed what looked like a dirty tarp wrapped in twine on the side of the road. He seemed thrilled with this find, but an older guy standing on the side of the road started yelling at the driver that that was HIS plastic, and the driver had to reluctantly put it back on the side of the road, which is, I guess, where the other guy stores his plastic?
Manzanillo is a beautiful little beach town with a few houses, a very precariously balanced Baptist church, a couple restaurants, and miles of beautiful beaches with palm trees and fisherman's boats pulled up on the sand. The culture down here is very Afro Caribbean, and there is always, always, reggae playing in the background The water here is super clear and the waves much less intense than up in Puerto Viejo. We spent the morning swimming, reading, sunbathing, strumming a uckelele, and tossing a frisbee before catching the bus back after noon. But not before sharing some ice cream. I can't think of a much better way to spend a morning!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Days 4-6
The bus rides from La Fortuna (through many stops) to Puerto Viejo took us 10 1/2 hours on Friday. While that probably sounds horrible, I really think it's the best way to travel through this country. We got to see the most beautiful farmland in the central valley. If I were ever to come back to CR, I would want to spend time near Zacaro and Naranja. I read that those areas are the center of the organic farming movement in CR, which is very strong.
We are visiting a good friend from Eagle's Nest, who lives down here near the town of Puerto Viejo, on the Atlantic coast. We've had such fun soaking up the sun, reading on the beach, lingering over coffee (or lunch or dinner) and playing music.
And we've had more delicious food. So far some of my favorites have been:
-Home made super crusty bread with a "smear" of tomato and olive oil (apparently this is a very typical Spanish way of serving bread, and the owner of Pan Pay is from Barcelona.)
-A dinner we all made of home made linguini with meat sauce, more delicious bread and salad. Our friend borrowed a pasta maker and made this beautiful linguini. Now Jonathan & I are inspired to make more pasta when we get home. I was in charge of the salad dressing, as I always am. We didn't have many spices or any vinegar, so I made my own version of a Thai peanut dressing with PB, oil, honey, curry, salt and a tiny bit of tomato paste that came out pretty well!
-The coffee, oh the coffee. So delicious. Cafe con leche is available everywhere & is so good - not bitter at all and very rich tasting. After bananas (which are also extra sweet and amazing here) coffee is Costa Rica's biggest export.
There are dogs everywhere. And I'm very happy to see that almost all of them look healthy and well fed. Some of them do have owners that they go home to in the evenings and just wander around during the day. But most are not really owned by anyone. They just wander around and are happy to get food and affection from whomever. No food is wasted here, because the leftovers always go to the dog, and there is always a dog waiting. Of course I can't help but stop and pet every one of them, so I've already had 3 of them follow us around until they finally lost interest and went elsewhere in search of more food. Naturally none of them are spayed or neutered, which is why there are so many and will continue to be so many. But it's pretty amazing to watch tons of dogs get along so well and think of some Americans back home who can't possibly have their dog get along with one or two others in a dog park. I think the Costa Ricans would find the idea of a dog park pretty funny.
We have a few more blissful, mostly unplanned days here before we depart for Panama.
We are visiting a good friend from Eagle's Nest, who lives down here near the town of Puerto Viejo, on the Atlantic coast. We've had such fun soaking up the sun, reading on the beach, lingering over coffee (or lunch or dinner) and playing music.
And we've had more delicious food. So far some of my favorites have been:
-Home made super crusty bread with a "smear" of tomato and olive oil (apparently this is a very typical Spanish way of serving bread, and the owner of Pan Pay is from Barcelona.)
-A dinner we all made of home made linguini with meat sauce, more delicious bread and salad. Our friend borrowed a pasta maker and made this beautiful linguini. Now Jonathan & I are inspired to make more pasta when we get home. I was in charge of the salad dressing, as I always am. We didn't have many spices or any vinegar, so I made my own version of a Thai peanut dressing with PB, oil, honey, curry, salt and a tiny bit of tomato paste that came out pretty well!
-The coffee, oh the coffee. So delicious. Cafe con leche is available everywhere & is so good - not bitter at all and very rich tasting. After bananas (which are also extra sweet and amazing here) coffee is Costa Rica's biggest export.
There are dogs everywhere. And I'm very happy to see that almost all of them look healthy and well fed. Some of them do have owners that they go home to in the evenings and just wander around during the day. But most are not really owned by anyone. They just wander around and are happy to get food and affection from whomever. No food is wasted here, because the leftovers always go to the dog, and there is always a dog waiting. Of course I can't help but stop and pet every one of them, so I've already had 3 of them follow us around until they finally lost interest and went elsewhere in search of more food. Naturally none of them are spayed or neutered, which is why there are so many and will continue to be so many. But it's pretty amazing to watch tons of dogs get along so well and think of some Americans back home who can't possibly have their dog get along with one or two others in a dog park. I think the Costa Ricans would find the idea of a dog park pretty funny.
We have a few more blissful, mostly unplanned days here before we depart for Panama.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Days 2 & 3 - traveling & hiking
We've had a couple of great days here in Costa Rica. First off, every meal we've had has been fabulous! (And if you know us well, you know that is very important to us!) The meals here are just so full of flavor.
Wednesday saw us traveling pretty much the whole day. After a delightful fruit salad we headed off early to the bus station. Liberia to Canas, Canas to Tilaran by 10am. We had hoped to go quickly on the next bus to La Fortuna, but it didn't leave for 2 1/2 hours. So we explored little Tilaran. It was insanely windy. It is right near Lake Arenal, which is supposedly the 3rd best windsurfing spot in the world. I can see why! We gorged ourselves on a fabulous lunch and the hung out until the time finally came. We hadn't gotten too far down the road, though, when we came to a complete stop. We were headed up some seriously steep, very narrow roads. Also trying to head up these roads was a massive semi truck pulling an extra wide trailer carrying a huge crane. (For construction, not a giant bird.) The engine on the semi had died, and we all had to wait while they brought in a new semi, unhooked the trailer, rehooked it up, etc, all while parked precariously over a tiny bridge that I would be nervous to drive my Civic across! But it got done, and finally we were on our way again.
The drive around Lake Arenal has to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It's a huge man made lake (the largest in the country) surrounded by lush green mountains and steep pastures filled with cows and horses.
Our final destination - La Fortuna, is a very touristy town. It's the closest town to the volcano - Arenal. We checked into our sweet little hostel and grabbed some dinner and crashed. Our plan for the next day was a big hike, and we wanted to be ready.
Today we got up bright & early and set out to our destination - Cerro Chato. It is the smaller, dormant volcano next to Arenal. Arenal erupted in 1968, and still has active flows. It was cloudy, so we couldn't see the massive volcano, but we knew it was there. Cerro Chato is less visited and has a lake in a crater at the very top, which is good for swimming. We asked lots of folks if we could walk from our hostel all the way there, and everyone said no, we had to take a taxi. So naturally, we ignored them and walked. It was a pretty easy walk, but it did take us 2 hours to get all the way up to the head of the Cerro Chato trail. We had read & been told that this was an extremely strenuous hike. We figured they were all just pansies. Nope. This is an extremely strenuous hike! But it was totally worth the buckets of sweat & the very sore muscles we will both have tomorrow. Once you make it all the way to the top, then it's 150 meters straight down into the crater to get to the lake. The lake is green, very chilly and smaller than I pictured. The clouds blew out briefly for us, and we were able to see the whole ridge line, all around us. Pretty amazing to swim in the center of an old volcano!
Getting out from there is really more rock climbing than hiking. We were both on all 4s, using every root in sight to help pull ourselves back up. But we made it, and we even ended up getting a ride back to La Fortuna from some Canadian friends we met. They had been behind us on the trail and felt sorry for us walking all the way back to town.
Tomorrow we will have another long travel day (by bus) to get to Ethan's on the Caribbean coast.
Wednesday saw us traveling pretty much the whole day. After a delightful fruit salad we headed off early to the bus station. Liberia to Canas, Canas to Tilaran by 10am. We had hoped to go quickly on the next bus to La Fortuna, but it didn't leave for 2 1/2 hours. So we explored little Tilaran. It was insanely windy. It is right near Lake Arenal, which is supposedly the 3rd best windsurfing spot in the world. I can see why! We gorged ourselves on a fabulous lunch and the hung out until the time finally came. We hadn't gotten too far down the road, though, when we came to a complete stop. We were headed up some seriously steep, very narrow roads. Also trying to head up these roads was a massive semi truck pulling an extra wide trailer carrying a huge crane. (For construction, not a giant bird.) The engine on the semi had died, and we all had to wait while they brought in a new semi, unhooked the trailer, rehooked it up, etc, all while parked precariously over a tiny bridge that I would be nervous to drive my Civic across! But it got done, and finally we were on our way again.
The drive around Lake Arenal has to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It's a huge man made lake (the largest in the country) surrounded by lush green mountains and steep pastures filled with cows and horses.
Our final destination - La Fortuna, is a very touristy town. It's the closest town to the volcano - Arenal. We checked into our sweet little hostel and grabbed some dinner and crashed. Our plan for the next day was a big hike, and we wanted to be ready.
Today we got up bright & early and set out to our destination - Cerro Chato. It is the smaller, dormant volcano next to Arenal. Arenal erupted in 1968, and still has active flows. It was cloudy, so we couldn't see the massive volcano, but we knew it was there. Cerro Chato is less visited and has a lake in a crater at the very top, which is good for swimming. We asked lots of folks if we could walk from our hostel all the way there, and everyone said no, we had to take a taxi. So naturally, we ignored them and walked. It was a pretty easy walk, but it did take us 2 hours to get all the way up to the head of the Cerro Chato trail. We had read & been told that this was an extremely strenuous hike. We figured they were all just pansies. Nope. This is an extremely strenuous hike! But it was totally worth the buckets of sweat & the very sore muscles we will both have tomorrow. Once you make it all the way to the top, then it's 150 meters straight down into the crater to get to the lake. The lake is green, very chilly and smaller than I pictured. The clouds blew out briefly for us, and we were able to see the whole ridge line, all around us. Pretty amazing to swim in the center of an old volcano!
Getting out from there is really more rock climbing than hiking. We were both on all 4s, using every root in sight to help pull ourselves back up. But we made it, and we even ended up getting a ride back to La Fortuna from some Canadian friends we met. They had been behind us on the trail and felt sorry for us walking all the way back to town.
Tomorrow we will have another long travel day (by bus) to get to Ethan's on the Caribbean coast.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Day 1 - Success!
We are relaxing in our hostel in Liberia after a great 1st day. We flew from Raleigh to Atlanta to Liberia. I have learned to say Lee-bare-ia. First of all, it's the correct pronunciation, but mostly it just scares people when you say you're going to Liberia (as in Africa.)
Our hostel is really cute and is run by an American named Shawn and a Tica (Costa Rican) named Jesus. Shawn picked us up at the airport in his pick up truck. He was all upset because he didn't have his documentation for his vehicle, and the "transito" were pulling everyone over. At the end of each year, you have to renew your license plate, registration, etc. So the cops were out in force today checking everyone's documentation.
Shawn had made it into the airport and past the transito because it had begun to rain, and none of those boys wanted to stand in the rain checking documents, so they just all sat in their cars & let everyone pass. But now it had stopped raining, and Shawn was nervous about the steep fine ($700!) if he got caught. So he called Jesus back at the hostel & asked him to bring the documents on the 1st bus he could catch. Meanwhile he took Jonathan and me into an ice cream shop and bought us icecream as we waited. Soon enough it was Jesus to the rescue and the 4 of us drove the 15 mins back to the hostel without getting pulled over!
We hadn't eaten anything all day, so we feasted at a local joint that serves Peruvian and Costa Rican specialties. We shared a mixed ceviche to start, had 2 of the local beers, and then each got delicious beef dinners with rice, black beans, plantains and fresh juice. We couldn't understand what the juice was, but it was light green and so good.
Tomorrow we head by bus for La Fortuna and the volcano - Arenal. I haven't figured out how to upload pictures from my phone, but I'll work on it tomorrow.
Buenos suenos!
Our hostel is really cute and is run by an American named Shawn and a Tica (Costa Rican) named Jesus. Shawn picked us up at the airport in his pick up truck. He was all upset because he didn't have his documentation for his vehicle, and the "transito" were pulling everyone over. At the end of each year, you have to renew your license plate, registration, etc. So the cops were out in force today checking everyone's documentation.
Shawn had made it into the airport and past the transito because it had begun to rain, and none of those boys wanted to stand in the rain checking documents, so they just all sat in their cars & let everyone pass. But now it had stopped raining, and Shawn was nervous about the steep fine ($700!) if he got caught. So he called Jesus back at the hostel & asked him to bring the documents on the 1st bus he could catch. Meanwhile he took Jonathan and me into an ice cream shop and bought us icecream as we waited. Soon enough it was Jesus to the rescue and the 4 of us drove the 15 mins back to the hostel without getting pulled over!
We hadn't eaten anything all day, so we feasted at a local joint that serves Peruvian and Costa Rican specialties. We shared a mixed ceviche to start, had 2 of the local beers, and then each got delicious beef dinners with rice, black beans, plantains and fresh juice. We couldn't understand what the juice was, but it was light green and so good.
Tomorrow we head by bus for La Fortuna and the volcano - Arenal. I haven't figured out how to upload pictures from my phone, but I'll work on it tomorrow.
Buenos suenos!
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