Panama coffee, canal, cocktail….ciao for now Central America

Posted on May 16, 2013 by bexbatorio

My final country in my three months in Central America was Panama. I only had six nights before my flight to Bogota so wanted to pick one destination plus the city I’d fly out of. Most tourists I met coming up from Panama had landed in the city and than headed straight for the archipelago of Bocas Del Toro on the Caribbean side, I’d been to four Caribbean islands with my final stint in Little Corn, Nicaragua been the cherry on the cake. I’ve also met some people who look like they’ve been eaten alive by sand flies, I’m trying desperately to avoid them! For those reasons I chose not to go to Bocas.The other very popular destination off Panama is the San Blas islands, which a lot of travelers go to on five day boat trip crossing between Panama and Colombia. Unfortunately my forward planning when booking my flights at the start of my trip (when I didn’t know everything) backfired a bit as I already had my flight from panama to Bogota booked, and as such unable to do the boat crossing. I have however heard mixed reviews of San blas tours, and if the weather is bad the crossing can be a shocker! I even heard a tale of a boat having to be abandoned as it was sinking, the very dodgy captain unwilling to do so till the last minute and subsequently hiring a small plane to find the wreck which obviously was carrying a shed load of cocaine. Of course of also heard plenty of other people say its an absolute highlight of their whole lives…but as I’ve not been able to go you know which views I’ll choose to remember most!!

I chose a place that several others had recommended, Boqueté. This is only an hour from the countries second largest city David, but is up into the mountains with a very temperate climate.(As such expat retires are rushing in buying up property here too.) The area is famous world wide for some of the best coffee in the world. It’s also home to Panama’s tallest volcano. “Baru”

On my arrival after the whole days hectic travel from Costa Rica a few girls ambushed me into agreeing to climb the volcano, and as you didn’t needed a guide just transport it was a cheap activity. Also my previous attempt to climb a volcano in Guatemala had not come off, and the other one I would have attempted in Nicaragua was when I had my vicious cold. So it was my last chance. It’s a climb twelve hour round trip you start at 11pm to reach the submit at sunrise when on a clear day you can see both Pacific and Caribbean oceans. Its not so high at 3475m, but having done next to no hiking since South America three months prior I was a bit nervous. I also made the mistake of googling reviews which said its a fairly hellish climb, and one tour guide I met told me he used to do it three times a week with people, and 90% of them cried. Decision made anyway, and Facebook plan updated..the following day was laundry, relax, and was just heading out in the evening to buy my snacks for the climb when the guy in the hostel said it was too rainy and not to go! Lesson learnt, don’t brag about something your going to do…wait till you’ve completed it!

Boqueté is a fairly small town, and the first place since Guatemala where I saw indigenous women in traditional clothing. And the average makeup of the locals was fair darker than Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. Structurally it’s not got much to it, but for a bit of people watching and things to do around the area it’s a good spot.

To make up for a slightly wasted first day I stepped it up the next day. Firstly I took a tour of a very small artisanal coffee plantation. I have to confess I didn’t think it would be very interesting, it was! The place we went to was a tiny operation, and Tito the owner is referred to as the mad scientist for his experiments in finding the best soil and mix of berries. He’s won many awards, his berries are picked by hand, and the machines which process the berries into beans he made himself from various things like spare car parts and a tumble dryer…serious meccano! Couple of things I didn’t know before…the flower of the coffee plant smells a lot like jasmine; lighter roasted coffee beans have more caffeine than dark roast, the difference between light; medium and dark roast is only about a minute extra roasting between each other; if coffee has been sitting on heating device or has been made with boiling water it’s harming the coffee and changing the PH level to dangerous (over prolonged periods of ingestion) acidic levels, if coffee is eating away at the enamel coating on your cups and mugs your slowly poisoning yourself. To finish the tour we sampled some of his finest, and munched on some (probably too many) of the ground beans and the difference between the three blends was quite remarkable. It was definitely an education, and will change my coffee purchasing habits. He also confirmed that Starbucks has incredibly low caffeine content, hence why they have to sell pints of the stuff!

After a great lunch in almost a family’s front room for 3$ I returned to my hostel for a planned siesta only to be accosted and strong armed into a trip to a canyon and hot springs. Turned out to be great fun, despite torrential rain. The canyon wasn’t impressively high as some others, but meant we could climb back up quicker to jump in repeatedly. The hot springs were by a river on a finca and the fifty year old owner was actually in one of them, boasting that he’s not had any illness for thirty years as he swims and drinks in the water every day, so I drank a bit. He then took us down to the river to cool off, even though it was lashing down and demonstrated how he submerged himself in the strong current of the river for about forty seconds. When I tried I kept floating up so helped me out and held me down…second near drowning in a week! But it was really invigorating, and switching between the hot spring and the river with only four of us there was quite an experience. Too rainy for any photos though.

The next morning the magic water I drank decided to play with my tummy! I didn’t feel terrible, just quite tired…. and I was good friends with the porcelain by the end of the day. My charismatic roommate Aemi cajoled me into making a fun film with her, originally just to film her but somehow ended up being in aswell. It was a lot of funny being silly, and she’s done a very decent job of editing it! Freddy One of my cheapest days in a while, and a good check that I’ve not started to take myself too seriously in anyway! Thanks Aemi, bloody good fun darling!

Following day, pretty comfy easy travel day to Panama City; only two bus changes. I have to say the travelling side of travelling has really tired me out in Central America, often changing transportation six or more times to get from one destination to another. Yes experiencing local transport is a big bit of experiencing the culture, but it’s taken it’s toll on me. I mentioned in a previous blog how I miss the nightbuses of South America, they are much more comfortable, and getting from A to B is easier even if the distances are much further, but they also mean you don’t miss whole days just sat on buses, plus you save a night on hostel accommodation. My father suggested I use my time sat on these buses to practice my Spanish; when your sat on a hot bumpy noisy bus, it’s not just me the tourist wishing I wasn’t there…it’s everyone. Everyone just tries to sleep, read, zone out!

I only had one full day in the city so I got up early and was heading out to see the Miraflores lock of the Panama Canal at the same time as another girl from my hostel from Buenos Aires. A right result for me as I really haven’t been speaking too much Spanish lately, and had a whole day only speaking Spanish. She also helped figure out which buses we needed to get to the lock, which ended up taking two hours to get to. The cities chicken buses are something else in Panama, totally psychedelic! With tunes blasting at full blast. Ironically the chicken bus is 50 cents, whilst the air conditioned metro bus which is not overly crowded only 25 cents…go figure?!…

We got to the canal lock just in time to see the mornings slot last and massive cargo liner passing through. Something which was much more interesting to see than my photos of it. It’s a seriously impressive bit of engineering, and some of the facts and figures pretty staggering. Including how much the vessels pay to pass through..€€$$££!!!!!!!! After the two hour journey out, we cheated with an 4$ each cab ride return.

The area that our hostel was in was right in the middle of the tower blocks of a mini Miami, including the Hard Rock Hotel. We headed up to the swimming pool level to watch the skyline change as the sun disappeared whilst supping on mojitos. The view was great, and bar pool area seriously swanky for me in denim shorts and Havaianas. A little bit decadent, but worth it for the view alone.

And that was my final night on Central America. Thirteen weeks and seven countries. I wish I’d had another month and been able to slow down at times. When you look at the size of central america compared to just Argentina alone you can understand why you’d think three months made sense to me, but its just packed of things to see! (Red dots on Map photo, indicate where I’ve been…thanks Sony Cybershot camera with built in GPS…sweeeet!). I hadn’t expected anything from Mexico and was swept away by the place ending up spending seven weeks just there. Mexico has been my food highlight unquestionably, and possibly the friendliest people. When I look back on a lot of the fun stuff I’ve done, a lot of it has been around the water…the ocean, cenotes, canyons, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, diving course, riding horses and bikes through the shore, …anything like that and I’m having a blast! Whilst the landscape is not nearly as dramatic as South America, it has the adage of two beautiful coastlines. And with the relative smaller scale from the start of one day too another you can go from hot coast to cool mountains, or rural farm lands to beautiful Colonial towns or big modern cities! If you have a month or a few weeks, just pick one or two countries, aside from my logistics whine it’s incredibly easy travelling around. As a single white blond female, other than the usual male under-breath harmless comments and stares I had no problems, and felt safe everywhere…except maybe at the bottom of that river for a minute rafting!

Costa Rica ….you need to be Rich!

Posted on May 10, 2013 by bexbatorio

Meeting other travellers who were headed north through Central America everyone was very dismissive of Costa Rica, in large part to the expense of everything and that it’s so heavily touristic. As I travelled from Isla Ometepe, (bus, boat, taxi, chicken bus, border crossing with a one km gap to walk between Panama and Costa Rica, bus, and final small bus for two hours along one of the worst roads I’ve been on in eight months.) I didn’t immediately clock any changes. But on arrival in my first destination of Monteverde up in the cloud forests it was evident . Every sign in every shop and cafe etc was in English, and on my first meal out soon copped a feel for the prices to! There’s a huge US college presence in the town as its a destination for students studying biology or animal science or something. Even a bar of soap in the supermarket was twice as much as it was every other country I’d been to. And having been enjoying dorm prices around 6-8$ it was back to 10$+.

Having had a very fun and social time in Nicaragua, I withdraw a bit for the next few days and chilled out a lot, in part as my shared dorm I’d booked turned out to be a private double with great wifi and I caught up on some personal admin and smashed through some more of Madmen on Netflix. The main reasons for going to Monteverde were to go ziplining and experience the forests and see a bit of nature. I had three full days there and went to a butterfly garden (bit boring), a night walk in the forest (pretty cool with frogs and insects everywhere), an early morning guided walk in the cloud forest (very expensive at 30$!, but did get to see a Quetzal bird!), and also went ziplining. The ziplining I had been super excited about, and I chose the most extreme company with longest lines, including the final 1km superman style. It was really good fun, but it didn’t exhilarate me in the same way that other things I’ve done like horse-riding, mountain biking, jumping off stuff into water. Basically it was all a bit safe, and we were moved along the lines by cheeky chappies like we were at an amusement park, everytime with the Costa Rican catchphrase “Pura Vida!”…..which I found a little irritating after the fifth time! I think I’m just a bit spoilt now with some of the things I’ve seen and done. It was definitely worth it, and I did really enjoy it, but I just didn’t scream my head off like everyone else.

After my early morning cloud forest trek I headed to the capital city San Jose, unfortunatly my arrival was upstaged by Obama rocking into town; so no red carpet for me. I met up with the two Swedish girls I’d hang out with in Antigua Guatemala, and next day we had a very westernised Friday spent at a huge shopping mall. I had a haircut (cheapest and worst cut ever!), pedicure and bought some essential clothes….(tumble dryers at laundrettes have shredded all my underwear!). They headed off in the morning early and I was picked up at 6am for Whitewater rafting.

This was something I was going to do in Bariloche Argentina but weather had not been on my side. I’d done a bit of research and Costa Rica came up as good option, so had pencilled this in. However the normal river was a bit low as the rainy season hasn’t really started and only had class two and three rapids, so I was heading to a different river. It was a 100$…cheap for back home, but a big cost for me at this stage of my trip. After a two hour transfer to a hotel resort and arriving at 8am, I was told the raft group would not be picking me up till 10.30….Having got up at 5.30am I was a bit nonplussed. When the group turned up, there was 34 of us in total, and nearly all of them were part of one group of students on holiday from Florida. I was put in raft with three of them….I was dreading it at a this point as I didn’t quite have the high energy vocal enthusiasm as my team, ” we can do this team!! Yeah, let’s go…we got this, whoop, whoop!!!…..”. My xenophobic streak was sneaking out again.

But, as we got into the river and our guide assured us that the river was going to be great today as they had a huge downpour the night before, and almost immediately we were in rapids my expectations rose again. And I even enjoyed in with the “Pura Vida” shout out after every section involving all of us holding our paddles aloft before slapping them down on the water. Can’t beat em…join em! I was at the front with a guy, and then we had two diminutive girls behind with the guide at the back. We seemed to function pretty well together, yet again I think I was the best at following direction and paddling. I’ve done a fair bit of kayaking and think I understood the river a little better than the others. I have to say our guide knew that river so well. We were seven rafts all together, and a they had one guy in a canoe who went ahead to check the route for obstructions. Early on we all had to get out as there was a huge tree blocking the river after the previous nights heavy rain. The landscape was stunning, with forest and waterfalls around us. I had thought it might be a section of rapids then ten minutes before the next bit; not so, it was almost continuous levels of three and four….and it was awesome! We had one flat section, where the guide let me crew and steer the raft from the back, I was the only passenger on the river that got to do that and was smug.

Maybe a bit too smug and cocky, and maybe nothing to with that as we approached the only class five rapid of the day…it was huge and next thing we were all flipped out of the boat. For at least a full minute I was smashed along the bottom over rocks, at one point I could feel rocks below me and a raft trapping under water from above. Every time I nearly surfaced I was pulled back down by the current. Finally I was dragged out by another raft were I lay on my front coughing up water for a few minutes, before slowing getting up and started assessing damage. A cut on the hip, grazed thighs, calves, knees and a huge lump on my forearm. I hobbled back over to our raft, were everyone was a little shaken up to say the least. The helmet and life jacket had definitely provided vital protection. We had a few more minutes back on the river before a break, at which point the girls really broke down and were in tears. My one leg was really given me some pain, and I wandered off to deal with myself for a bit. Our guide seemed to have gone very quiet to, and I don’t know if maybe he was financially penalised for our raft ended up in the water or something. After a twenty minute break we got back on the river, all the level four and fives behind us it was only another forty minutes to the end. I still enjoyed it, aside from the pain in my leg, but the girls we seriously freaked out and every time we went through a slightly rough bit they were nearly in tears. We finished the trip fine, and all though that’s the nearest I’ve ever got to drowning it was totally worth the money and I felt I got my full worth of adrenalin and adventure…and that’s what I paid for. On my return to the city I found a chemist and bought some ibuprofen gel & tablets, muscle relaxants, and antiseptic cream. I dosed myself up having really hobbled up the stairs in my hostal and hit the sack.

In the morning I woke expecting to be even stiffer….no…medicine had worked and all though still bruised in places the main pain in my thigh had totally subsided. I caught an early bus to my final Costa Rican destination on the Pacific Coast of Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. I arrived in time to check in, get some cash and lunch before the first major rain of the season came. From four till ten it completely lashed it down. Not many people were around the hostal that day, and it suited me to have quiet day rained in following the previous day. Next morning bright and early I headed to the beach with a chap from my dorm. I hadn’t actually been back on the Pacific coast since Mexico. And whilst not the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, the water was equally temperate. The area is very heavily developed with quite expensive hotels and resorts, but the beach wasn’t too bad. Nothing has been built on the actual beach front itself, and further up was nearly desolate. We headed back just at the right time, and had been back in the hostal for ten minutes before the rain hit hard again. The hostal had really filled up, with quite a lively bunch. After some pressured drinking games they dragged me along to a bar in a hotel. I just can’t deal with reggatone, RnB, Sean Paul….despite trying to numb the musical pain with a few tequilas I snuck off early.

The areas main attraction is a very small national park full of wildlife, which I headed off to early next morning with the same chap. I’d been told you don’t need a guide for this, and we didn’t. Along the path the guides with grops had stopped with telescopes, and were pointing things out and we’d just peak in and see what is what they spotted. In an hour we seen sloths, monkeys, lizards, vine snakes and even a Boa-constrictor waiting up a tree for iguana to come out of hole. Also in there park are a few stunning beaches, with some very cheeky and bold monkeys trying to steel food! My chum headed off back to San Jose midday and I spent a few hours on a more remote beach with about two hundred metres entirely to myself. Floating out a sea again, I had the calmness to remind myself how lucky I am to be enjoying this year….the places I’ve seen, the things I’ve done, they people I’ve met…..could all be downhill when I get home in August from then on in…in the meantime I’m loving life. I had another day lounging on the beach, and managed to avoid partying to heavily with the rest of my hostal, always sneaking off at an apt time and dodging the impending hangovers everyone else had..

And that was Costa Rica for me in ten days, forest, ziplining, rafting, beach, shopping, and plenty of nature and animals. It is a beautiful country, but I really felt the pain in my pocket….I literally couldn’t afford to spend too much more time there.

On leaving Costa Rica for Panama I had thought I’d need for return to San Jose to get a direct bus through to David, but I’d met a two guys at my hostal who ran a hostal in David and were travelling back on local buses the same day as me. He’d said it might take five or six hours. We left at 8.30am, I arrived at my destination in Panama, Boquete twelve hours later..(four buses, a paid lift in a pickup truck, three hours sat waiting, and a crazy hectic border crossing)…but at least I was sharing the arduous day of logistics with some people. That’s probably my last land border crossing for a few months….something I won’t miss!

Isla Ometepe…Never Never Land

Posted on May 4, 2013 by bexbatorio

4.30am start; Walk with my backpack portered in a wheel barrow along the beach, boat, taxi, plane, taxi, bus, taxi (properly ripped off!!), boat, chicken bus, walk….travelling in these parts is tiring! Twelve hours later arrived on the volcanic island of Ometepe! Checked in to Little Morgan….rustic party hostel on the shores of the lake, (a lake so big you think it’s a sea!). From the blue Caribbean Sea to the slightly more murky but equally temperate and refreshing water a quick swim to wash the dirt of travel away. The start to three great days on this island.

In my dorm was a 21 year old guy from Norway, Freddy, he’d been travelling for 8 months including the Middle East and Africa. He was near to the end of his trip having bought a motorbike in Texas and journeyed all the way down. I don’t think I was doing anything nearly as impressive as that when I was 21! He’s not telling his mother about the motorbike bit till he gets home safe. Our dorm room was on the bottom of a very open style three tiered bamboo hut, the top being a crows nest that you could watch the sunset with views of both of the island’s volcanos….another pretty memorable spot to watch the sky turn shades of pink and red.

Next day Fredrik and I went horse riding, his first time at that. Within five minutes we were on a three mile beach galloping at full pace. We were only on the horses for and hour and half, and over half over that we were galloping flat out. We were also able to take the horses into the lake, which was all good till mine decided to go swimming and I had to jump off to save my daypack with camera in getting soaked. It’s topped my Ecuador riding day, totally amazing! BUT we both paid a price, me more so than Freddy….I stupidly wore denim shorts over my leggings, and coupled with a different shaped saddle seriously chaffed my bum. Red raw. I’ve thought long and hard and decided not to publish the photo of my wounded rear…it’s just not that pretty! We ended the trek at a natural spring which they’ve made into a huge swimming pool and the guide took the horses back. When we both first got into the water our butts stung like mad! After a long walk back along the beach to the hostal, we had time for a swim in the lake before dark were we met Juliette a Dutch girl who’d checked into our dorm also. She’s bravely hired a moped from other side of the island to get over to the hostal, even though she’s never been on one before! These kids have some guts…I need to start taking some risks and living a little!

The following morning Juliette had to return the moped, so Freddy followed her and bought her back on his motorbike. Meanwhile I’d headed to another hostal up the road with better wifi and met a fellow English lass Jade who has done pretty much the same trip as me in a different order. I took her down to the beach to meet the others, and she’d already met Juliette elsewhere. Us girls swam and soaked up some sun watching the locals cycling bikes and riding and training horses on the beach, whilst Fred fulfilled his dream of riding his motorbike through the lakeside shore (it being freshwater didn’t hurt the bike). It looked too much fun, so all three of us begged him to have ride on the back and screamed like total teenagers as we got soaked through! I want a bike now…..

We’d been told by several people of some great Pizza place, so we walked in the dark with torches to a hippy hostel for the most overpriced and salty pizza ever! None of us were impressed….

Our last full day we returned to the natural water swimming pool, us girls hired the worst bikes I’ve been on in eight months…luckily it was only half hour. We had a few hours mucking around and enjoying some Coco-Locos (fresh coconut with rum) before heading back to the beach for a final time. I made the mistake of splashing some kids with water which they took as full on declaration of war. I spent ten minutes trying to out sprint the three of them before they launched handfuls of wet and dry sand at me….I lost! We decided to cycle back along the shoreline instead of going back upto the road, and for some reason cycling along the lake with a volcano in the distance was really special for all of us. There’s definitely something a bit magic about Ometepe.

Our last supper was a restaurant that all the staff at our hostal seriously raved about, unfortunately it was a forty minute walk along a dark road….fuelled by a bit of rum we set off in an overly hyped mood following the few days of fun we’d had. This time the restaurant did not disappoint! The best curry I’ve had since I left the UK hands down. A few more drinks later we started the return journey in the dark along the road, in even more silly mood attempted to recreate the Beatles album cover, at which point the only vehicle we’d seen all night came round the corner and I had to rescue my camera from the middle of the road. We managed to get a lift with the vehicle, which turned round to drive us back to our hostal and saved us half hour walk. I have to confess both the driver and his passenger were pretty inebriated, the fact that one of them had his three year old kid asleep on the back seat indicated a slight level of responsible driving. I know not my wisest move, but we got back safe….

The following morning we left the island on the Ferry and all parted ways. I had planned on climbing a volcano on the island but after my sore bum incident whimped out and had a blast anyway. That was my last stop in Nicaragua, and was a pretty cool couple days in a beautiful place with great company. Again I wish I’d had more time for Nicaragua, but what is saw of the country was great…just means I have reasons to return.