Bogdan Travel

Meeting the mayor

2009-02-04T14:59:00.012-06:00

After our Whale Shark experience, we knew that we couldn't possibly top off that experience, so we decided to head back to Water Cay for a full day of snorkeling, swimming and sitting on the beach. We hired a local fisherman to take us over with his boat, and asked him to return for us by the end of the day. We made sure that we brought enough water and food with us, and a few minutes later we were dropped off on the northern beach of the island. To our satisfaction, it looked that we were the only three people on Water Cay, and it felt great to have a private Caribbean island to ourselves. We settled on the beach, left our stuff there and grabbed our snorkels, mask and fins and headed to explore the south side of the island. As soon as we got in the water and geared up, we noticed not one or two, but hundreds of jelly fish all around us. After a few minutes we wisely decided to cancel our plan and return to the beach, since snorkeling was out of the question, since we would be covered in stings.

Then we were faced with another problem - we didn't have a ride back to the cays until late afternoon, no cell phone and no radio (not that you can receive cell phone service anyway on such a small island). Just as we were debating what to do, we spotted a dive boat from Alton's that was anchored nearby; Josh offered to swim over to the boat to ask if he can use their radio to call back to the cays and have someone sent over to pick us up. As he returned, he first told us the bad news: they wouldn't let him use the radio; we asked why only to find out the good news: we were invited aboard the boat and they would drop us off on their way back to Utila. So we packed up our stuff and walked into the water, holding all the important stuff (cameras and such) way above our heads. We made it onto the boat all wet but with the dry stuff untouched, climbed aboard and the captain came over to introduce himself.

"Hi, my name is Alton and in case you didn't know I am the mayor of Utila". That was one hell of an introduction, followed by an election speech about all his accomplishments for the last few years. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we were not eligible to vote since we were in Honduras on a tourist visa, but it was an interesting way of meeting the mayor of the town. We got dropped off at Hotel Kayla, thanked them for their kindness, and spent the afternoon relaxing before having to get ready for a night dive. Gina stayed at the hotel and she was our divemaster, leading us on a dive around Jewel Cay Lagoon, where we got to see the ilusive Large Eyed Toadfish and a Juvenile French Angelfish.

The next morning Josh and Marisa packed up their bags, as after the two morning dives we all headed back to Utila so that they will catch the ferry the following day. We got a place at the Bayview Hotel, fairly expensive for the size of the room - we were laughing that the bathroom was converted from their closet (giving a whole new meaning to WC - Water Closet). We had our last dinner together at Dave`s (by far the best value for the lempira), and we went for a few drinks at TreeTanic, where we met the rest of the Captain Morgan`s crew, so that they can all say goodbye to Josh and Marisa, as they were, sadly, heading back home, ending a month long trek through 3 countries in Central America.

Whale Shark!

2009-02-04T10:56:00.011-06:00

Josh, Marisa and I had fallen into a pattern while we were staying at Hotel Kayla, alternating days between diving and snorkeling or relaxing, but for some odd reason, we all decided to hop on Miss Kary though we had already gone diving the day before. We had no idea what a great decision that ended up being in hindsight, but we were about to find out. It was an absolute perfect day, not a cloud in the sky, so after putting all our gear on the boat we headed towards the north side of Utila. For the first dive we went to the Pinnacle, an underwater sea mound that rises from 40m depth to just below the surface; we got to see a Hawksbill Turtle, a Green Moray Eel and lots of schools of different types of fish. We were really happy with what we got to see, and we got back onto the boat to head over to Raggedy Cay, the second site for the day. Along the way I noticed something odd a bit further out into the deeper water; I thought it was a school of flying fish passing by. As I pointed it out to others and to Captain Louis, he turns to me and says: "Those are not flying fish, that's a Whale Shark". I remember so clearly noticing Louis kicking into high gear; he is normally very relaxed and laid back, but as soon as we noticed that, he became so focused on what he had to do.

What I had spotted was what is called "the boil": as a whale shark rises towards the surface, it pushes up plankton from the bottom, which in turn attracts other fish to swim in the area, and it even attracts birds to feed on those fish. Within a few minutes, as all the divers got the great news, Louis steered the boat towards the open water and the chase began. Sam gave us all the Whale Shark briefing, asking us all to line up at the back of the boat with snorkels and fins, telling us to slide into the water (not dive), but only upon the captain's order. The adrenaline rush was so high we were giddy with excitement, we had heard about the Whale Sharks for so long, and here we were hot on one of their trail. I watched Utila shrinking before my eyes as we ventured further out into the ocean; just when we thought we couldn't take any more suspensful waiting, Louis gave us the order to jump into the water.

What happened next lasted for a few seconds, but it felt like a life time; as I slid into the water, I couldn't see anything because of all the bubbles from the others around me. I got kicked in the head at least a few times, and by the time the water cleared I had just a few moments to look in and see a huge dark shape sinking deeper and deeper, obviously disturbed by the intruders. I was a bit dissapointed I never got to fully see it, so I was thrilled when I stuck my head out of the water and saw Louis yelling and gesturing at us to get back on the boat as quickly as possible. I don't think I swam this fast in my life, but it goes to show what one can do when you have the right incentive. We quickly got everyone out of the water and the chase continued; we could even the shape of the Whale Shark as we were following it; we got back into our formation at the back of the boat, waiting for Louis to give us the order to go back in again.

This time around we had a bit of a better idea of what to do, so when Louis yelled "now!" we slid into the water splashing a lot less than the first time. Once there I remember looking at the boat and seeing the captain yell: "Don't look at me, look in the water". As I stuck my head in the water, I could not believe what my eyes saw: we were right over the shark, which was so big it rivaled the boat in terms of its size. Since we were more streamlined we did not scare it off right away, so we got a chance to swim with it for a few minutes, some of us ever free dove down to get a better look. My only regret about this day is not having a camera to capture the moment, but the image will live forever in my memory - for the record, the whale shark images in this entry are not mine, they belong to Captain Morgan's, but I wanted everyone to have an idea of what a Whale Shark is all about.

BBQ on Jewel Cay

2008-09-07T16:01:00.013-06:00

In our first day back to the Cays, we decided to take it easy and relax, since we didn´t want to be rushed as soon as we got to the hotel to get back on the boat for the dives. We even got to re-claim the same rooms as before, and spent the day on the deck, at the hotel or walking through the cays. We did a snorkel trip in the afternoon, but overall took it easy. Brian and Scott were relaxing as well, since they next day they would be put through the grueling swim test for the DMT course, along with Dave and Dan. The next morning however, the atmosphere really started to change around hotel Kayla. Steve and the rest of the Captain Morgan´s crew unloaded boxes after boxes full of food, beer, rum and ice; Louis actually stayed at the hotel to prepare the BBQ, so today´s boat captain role would be filled by Steve (which unfortunately meant that he wouldn´t be able to dive, since regulations require the captain to stay with the boat at all time, to monitor the radio etc).

Because we wanted to return to the hotel quickly, we headed for our dives on the south side of Utila, the first stop being Big Rock. Gina was our divemaster this time around, we had only met her a few days before as she had just returned from vacation. We got to see another Southern Stingray, more Spotted Drums, and lots of Gray Angelfishes, but the highlight of the dive was a Hawksbill Turtle; by now we had seen so many that the running joke amongst the three of us was that we were wearing some sort of turtle - attracting deodorant. This one though, was so close to us that I was absolutely mesmorized by its graceful movements that its direction did not register for a few seconds; then I realised that it was headed straight towards my head, and at the last minute I moved aside to let it pass right before my eyes. For our second dive at Stingray point, aside from the ´usual suspects´, we also go to see a Caribbean Reef Lobster, Banded Cleaner Shrimp, and a trumpet and a smooth trunkfish. In the spirit of diving, the BBQ that followed was exclusively chicken and vegetables, since it would have been very difficult to eat the relatives of the marine life we just saw.

The real excuse to have the BBQ party was the swim test for the Dive Masters in Training, which consists of four sections: a swimming test (400m), treading water for 15 minutes (with the last 2 minutes with hands out of the water), a snorkel swim (800m) and 100m tired diver tow. Steve and Sam set up the buoys while the crowd gathered on the dock to drink cold beers and cheer on the four candidates. As the test got underway, Anke was cheering everyone on and encouraging everyone to make as much noise as possible, so we created a true party atmosphere. Marisa even helped out by volunteering to be one of the 'victims' who had to be towed back to the shore. Relieved that the test was finally behind them, the four DMTs got a chance to toast their success with cold beers before sitting down for the BBQ. Louis did a fantastic job, not only with preparing everything, but also entertaining us with various stories that had us all in stitches. As the day was coming to an end, most people got on Miss Kary and returned to Utila, still in full party mode, dancing and singing to the music that was blasting at maximum volume as the boat left the dock on the cays.

Return to Utila

2008-09-07T15:40:00.010-06:00

For our last day at Cayos Cochinos we decided against snorkeling in the morning, so we relaxed on the boat while Helen prepared breakfast. Rusty did go a for a snorkel though, and (of course) he managed to find the octopus home, with the circle of shells around it. After having some food, omelet, toast and coffee we were supposed to start heading back into Utila, except that the boat was not exactly cooperating. The Brazer was having problems first with a fuel line, and then with the rudder control, which could obviously be a big problem if all of a sudden we would find ourselves in open water with no control over our direction. Rusty spent over an hour patching and fixing the boat, fixing leaks while new ones appeared; eventually he gave the all clear, and after a test run in the bay, we ventured out to sea. Having learned from our previous sailing experience, we all took gravol so that there will not be any incidents on the way back, so we were all very relaxed. I managed to read an entire book by the time we pulled into East Harbour, Utila, in the early afternoon. We pulled into the marina and Helen prepared a quick lunch before we loaded our bags into the dinghy and Rusty took us to the main island. We said our goodbyes by the Sandy Point beach, then took the quick walk to Margaritaville Beach Hotel, where we left our bags and headed into town.

At the main intersection, we stopped in to say hello to the Captain Morgan´s team, and we immediately felt like part of the family. We felt so welcomed, and Steve informed us that we returned at the right time, as the following sunday they were throwing a BBQ and a party around the swimming test of the DMTs. We also saw Brian, who was feeling a bit down since he forgot his backpack at a bar the night before, and now he was stuck without a passport and had to go all the way to Tegucigalpa to have it replaced. For dinner, we returned to Evelyn´s BBQ, but this time around they did not have lobster to Josh´s immense disappointment, though Evelyn did suggest trying the Conch instead. We all ended up having seafood (Marisa and I had tuna skewers), but the next morning we learned the food did not really agree with us. We returned to the hotel early, since we had to catch the dive boat first thing in the morning to get back to Hotel Kayla on Jewel Cay.

Cayos Cochinos

2008-09-07T13:49:00.016-06:00

The best way to wake up in the morning is with a snorkel first thing; we jumped in the water, with our mission to look for an octopus, which Rusty told us we could easily identify by looking for a ring of sea shells, since they like to eat them first and then decorate the entrance to their homes with them. We tried to look for them but we were not successful, though we did work out quite an appetite by the time we got back onto the boat. Helen prepared for us huge banana pancakes with lots of bacon on the side, and along with some really good coffee, it did the trick for the morning. As soon as we finished eating, the park rangers showed up on their boat, the Tiburon, to collect the $10 park entrance fee from each of us. While they were there, we were talking about taking a hike up to the lighthouse overlooking the islands, and they mentioned that it was closed and locked up, since someone decided to steal the bulb and the solar powered station attached to it. We didn´t really realize what that meant, so we still stuck with our plan to hike in the jungle. We also wanted to see the world famous pink boa constrictor, but Rusty told us that they only turn pink during their mating season, which was not this time of the year.

We followed the map Rusty drew for us, passed through the Plantation Beach resort, then higher up towards the top of the island. We took a break at a mirador, where we could see all the way down the other side of the island, all the way to a Garifuna village which we would later visit.
After a bit more hiking we reached the lighthouse, only to then understand that the view of the entire island would only be possible from its top, which was obviously out of limits since the tower was locked. A bit dissapointed, we started walking down towards the village, where we stopped to have a cold drink (my coke was frozen solid, I had to wait for it to partially melt before I could drink it). The village was very small, maybe about 10 houses, but the people very friendly and outgoing - a few even offered to give us a small tour and talked to us as we walked along, though sometimes they were difficult to understand, since the Garifuna language, though technically English, has a very peculiar accent that makes it sound completely foreign. We met up with Rusty in the village, and he gave us a ride back to the Brazen in the dinghy.

Back on the boat, we enjoyed a really good and really huge lunch of potato salad, pork chops and fresh salad, and for the afternoon, Rusty took us, again in the dinghy, to the other side of the bay for an extended snorkel around the reefs and some of the dive sites. We saw the remains of a boat that smashed against the reef on a stormy night, and for a while we followed some divers who were below us, waving at them from the surface of the water. We saw lots of Caribbean Reef Squid, trunk fish, stoplight parrot fish, and the biggest barracuda we had ever seen (it´s not a fishing story, but this one was almost as big as us!) . Towards the end, we started to get a little bit cold, so we made our way back to the dinghy, asking Rusty to take us back to the Brazen. From there we returned to the Plantation Beach resort to shower, change, and settle our bill; Rusty also wanted to point our the sleeping giant, as from a certain angle the island across from us looked like a huge dinosaur sleeping in the water. After the sunset, we walked back on the path towards the boat, and Josh had a bit of a showdown with a dog that seemed to have taken over the dock; we were all pushing Josh ahead of us since he at least got rabies shots before traveling.

In the evening we had Rusty´s own soup of leftovers, which turned out to be pretty good, and he told us story after story, one more outrageous than the next. We knew that we shouldn´t believe half the stuff he was telling us, but I have to admit the stories were very entertaining. One was about how he and his crew actually discovered a treasure, and divided up the proceeds, though most blew through the money drinking, gambling and womanizing, but one was smart enough to invest his share in a hotel, and now has more money than the rest of them put together. Another story was from his diving days, when he found an octopus, pulled it out of its hole, and it got so freaked out that it attached itself to him, settling on his head; and so the story goes that he sailed back into the harbour in Bahamas with an octopus on his head, before depositing it at the aquarium at the Valentine´s dive shop. Again, a big boulder of salt should be taken with his stories, but they kept us entertained for hours.

Sailing to Cayos Cochinos

2008-09-07T12:51:00.013-06:00

Another early morning wake up in order to get ready to leave Utila and head south towards Cayos Cochinos; we had to meet Captain Rusty and his boat at the fuel dock, and since we were unsure where it was we had to ask around for directions. Once we found it, however, we realised it would be pretty easy to get there, since the giant tanks and fuel pumps were a dead giveaway. Captain Rusty´s boat, the Brazen is a 40 ft motor sailor, meaning that it has both an engine and sails, thus ready to go in any type of weather conditions. We hopped on board where met Rusty himself, as well as Helen (his assistant, cook and sometimes girlfriend - we had a tough time actually determining the status of their relationship) and two other guys who we were dropping off at a research station on one of the islands. As we got out of the harbour, after filling up, we already started to deal with the strong winds; normally they don´t pick up until later in the afternoon, but this morning was different. Though I tried to be brave and pretend I didn´t need anything, once we were in open water, I had to reach for my supply of gravol as we were really bouncing up and down the waves. Marisa was having an even tougher time than me, so I guess I shouldn´t be complaining; I spent most of the 4 hour trip sleeping, due to the effects of gravol, waking up only every now and again, once as Rusty whistled to get our attention towards a group of dolphins who were following the boat. As Cayos Cochinos came into our view, the wind intensified even more, as some waves were even going above the boat, and right before the end of the trip, the main sail ripped into so many pieces that it couldn´t even had been possible to repair it.

So, with the ego bruised but the boat intact we entered the harbour of one of the two main islands, found a sheltered place to anchor in a bay with just a handful of houses and no other boats around. We got snorkel gear and jumped off the boat, as Rusty took the other two guys in the dinghy to their research station. The water here was really clear, and we discovered some of the best snorkeling we have ever done; there were really nice corals, we saw a yellow stingray (much smaller than the southern ones), as well as barracuda and cow fish. By the time we got back to the boat Helen had prepared lunch for us, really good spaghetti with pineapple and chicken in coconut sauce. Later in the afternoon, we left the boat, got in the dinghy to get to the island, and followed a path through the forest, next to some huge quarts rocks, towards the Plantation Beach Resort. This was the only resort on the island, almost exclusive to divers, and since Rusty knew all the owners, they allowed him to bring in his guests from the sailboat to use the facilities, shower, change and enjoy a few cold beers.

As we sat in the hammocks watching the sunset, Rusty was talking to us and telling us all kinds of stories about how he grew up in the Bahamas, which is where Marisa also spent her childhood. One story led to another, and they put the two and two together
and realised that Rusty was the instructor who taught Marisa´s mom to scuba dive - talk about a small world! After the sunset and the obligatory pictures, we started back on the path, to return to the boat before it got completely dark. For dinner, Rusty made a really good soup, and also gave us a very spicy sauce, his very own creation; the sauce was spicy in itself, but the little red peppers inside were the real killers. Josh didn´t notice a few of them fall into his soup as he was adding the sauce, and soon after he got to pay the price. All of a sudden he took a deep breath, started turning red, and couldn´t breathe or talk; he started coughing, and in between managed to say ¨This chilly is making me dizzy¨. Marisa and I were rolling on the floor laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes and couldn´t talk either, then Rusty and Helen joined in as well, and we all had a blast up until Josh started getting the first signs of a migrane, then the fun was over. We did whatever we could to make him feel better, but esentially nothing really helps except for reducing noise and light pollution, and letting him lie down and relax. He went to sleep soon after, and I spent the rest of the evening listening to music and reading before going to sleep myself.

Diamond Cay

2008-09-06T21:12:00.009-06:00

We were leaving in the afternoon, once the dive boat returned to Hotel Kayla, so we had to check out by 8am to have the rooms cleaned, but we still did not have enough diving yet. At the last minute, we decided to do another self-guided dive, this time around Diamond Cay, the island right across from the Jewel Cay. We divided the responsibilities around the same as last time, and we jumped in the water; we saw more sea pearls as well as the resident porcupine fish, who swam along with us for a while. What we didn´t realise from above water is that while Diamond Cay is a round island, the reason for its name is the shape of the coral that surrounds it, which threw me for a loop when we kept on diving in one direction along the wall without turning. We did make it safely back after about an hour, but not before a few tense moments when I was considering the long surface swim back if we came up at the wrong place. The important accomplishment is that we completed our second self-guided dive, and we were really proud of that. By the time we put our equipment away we saw Miss Kary return, went to grab our bags and say our goodbyes to everyone from Captain Morgan´s.

We got a ride back to East Harbour, went inside the dive shop to settle our bill, while at the same time calling around to find a room for the night. We finally found a 3 person room at Hotel Bavaria, and went there to drop off our bags; this had to be one of the smallest rooms I have ever seen. From the door you would step right into the bed, from which you could roll over and end up in the bathroom, which we were convinced used to be a closet before it was converted. Either way, it was simply a place to sleep for the night, so we didn´t say much about it since we wouldn´t be spending too much time there. We went back into town to use the internet (there was no access on the Cays) and then did some shopping for our sailing trip. While we were using the internet, we did some research about Roatan, our next destination after Cayos Cochinos, and we were more than a little dissapointed. Everything was either fully booked or so out of our budget that after a quick conference we all decided that we wanted to spend our last few days together in a place that was affordable and we felt comfortable in, so we returned to Captain Morgan´s to tell them we were be back on the cays in a few days, after the sailing trip. We met up with everyone at the dive shop, after the arrival of the afternoon ferry, and once they closed down we all headed out for dinner at Dave´s, where coincidentally Dave the DMT happened to work. After dinner we said goodvye to Sam, Steve, Anouk, Ian and Koki and went back to the hotel since we had an early morning start to meet Captain Rusty.

Last boat dives in Utila

2008-09-06T20:50:00.011-06:00

Since we were leaving for our sailing trip to Cayos Cochinos these were to be our last boat dives from Miss Kary with Captain Morgan's. We were very excited as the decision was made to head to the south side of Utila, specifically to do a wreck dive, right in Utila harbour. The ship is called The Halliburton, sunk specifically for diving reasons 30 m below the sea level. Because this was a deep dive, we knew that it would last less than the others, since air consumption is increased the deeper we dove. We first dropped off the open water students at a shallower site close by, then our turn came - we descended straight down to the bottom, slowly to give us a chance to equalize properly, and we found ourselves looking up at a huge ship. We first circled it at the bottom, then rose a few meters and went over, and then right into the cargo hull. There were even pockets of air from all the other divers who have passed through, and we heard stories of people taking out their regulators to breath normally at 30 m depth, something we did not dare try due to nitrogen narcosis (the hallucinogenic effect of diving in deep water).

We then continued to rise a few more meters, went around the cabin, and then right through it - it is a bit of a rite of passage when exploring the Halliburton to be inside of the cabin, at the helm of the ship, pretending to be the underwater captain. There is even a poster above the helm that claims "Jesus was a Pirate!", so everytime we heard that expression after our dive we knew it was coming from someone who had explored the wreck. Unfortunately our experience at the Halliburton did not last that long, and about half an hour later, after a 5 minute mandatory safety stop we got back on the boat to go retrieve the others from the nearby site. Our surface time was spent traveling to our second location, named Little Bight. This site was well known for its seahorses, and we were also looking forward to it since we had never seen them before (outside of an aquarium anyway). Our two Aussie friends, Ian and Koki, had taken out the camera that day, and they promised to share them with us. We saw at least 5 different sea horses, though not quite what you would expect after watching "The Little Mermaid" as they were mostly green like seaweeds, and again, there was no singing, dancing or crab with a Jamaican accent playing steeldrums. We also saw many brown garden eels, which looked like sea grass until we approached them and they retreated in the sand. After the dives, our regular schedule continued, we had lunch at Fishburgers, and then a quick snorkel in the afternoon, followed by sunset and dinner with Koki and Ian at Cayview Restaurant. The evening was topped off by watching shooting stars above us and lightning in the distance, feeling a bit sad that we were leaving the following day.

Self-guided dive at Jewel Cay

2008-09-06T18:52:00.014-06:00

For a while we debated with the notion of just renting equipment and going on a dive without a divemaster, and we finally decided today would be that day. We had already surveyed the site by snorkeling a few times over it, picking out reference points to help us with the navigation. We waited for the dive boat to leave, so that we could have the deck all to ourselves to get geared up. We divided up the responsibilities, Josh being in charge of time, Marisa monitoring the air, and I was looking after the navigation (since I have a pretty good sense of direction). We felt really comfortable being by ourselves, and it didn't take us long to see a southern stingray, and we got pretty close to it, watching it swim along the bottom. Because our dive was pretty shallow and we were very relaxed, we managed to stretch it to just about an hour, having time to explore both sides of the coral reef before returning to the deck. Upon finishing and exiting the water, we felt a great sense of satisfaction as everything went really smoothly. We wrote our own dive profile and fish identifier, and after putting our equipment away we headed into the village to grab some lunch.

In the afternoon, we convinced Brian to join us for a snorkel trip off the deck, and within minutes of being in the water we first saw two, then an entire school of Caribbean Reef Squid, hovering along and changing colours as they were moving around. We tried for a few minutes to get them upset, but eventually two of them got into a bit of a fight and finally we saw them shooting ink and clouding the water. The turning point is when we observed a big barracuda eyeing us, convincing us that we should turn around and head back to the surface. We decided to watch the sunset from the deck before heading for dinner, and it went behind the clouds before it actually set. We were ready to get going when, out of nowhere, the sun reappeared in a hole in the clouds, and we got to see an absolutely fantastic sunset. After dinner we returned to the hotel, and as we sat on the deck watching the stars, we started talking about phosphorescents and we got the great idea to check it out. I dipped a used flipper into the water, moved it around, and dozens, if not hundreds of little lights followed its path. We were so mesmerized that we went to grab snorkel equipment, and jumped in the water for a night snorkel, even borrowing the flashlights used during the night dives. At some point we turned all the lights off and started moving as much as we could, creating the effect of floating heads above water surrounded by little lights everywhere.

Diving Photography

2008-09-06T17:58:00.017-06:00

After much debate, we settled on renting Anke´s underwater camera for a day so that we can take some pictures of all the marine life around Utila. There were no baliadas for breakfast, as the island didn´t have power, so we had to settle for sandwiches and coffee for breakfast. Once on the boat, we were happy to see Louis steer it towards the north side of the island, and after about a 25 minute ride we docked at our first site, the Pinnacle. This is a huge coral column, and most of the dive is spent spinning around it as we were slowly surfacing; there is always a lot of life around this site, and took enough pictures to illustrate several entries. We saw lots of juvenile spotted drums, creole wrasse, 4 eyed butterfly fish, even a scrawled cow fish (the first one we got to see so far), as well as trumpet fish and bar jacks. I was concentrating so much on photography and trying to get nice shots that I lost track of conserving my air and finished the dive sooner than I would have liked, though with lots of beautiful pictures with me. After the surface interval of about an hour, we moved to Spotted Bay, our second site on the north side of the island that day.

For the second dive I kept a closer eye on my breathing, since I didn't want the repeat of the first, shorter dive; almost as soon as we submerged, Sam used his shaker to attract our attention and point out a huge turtle swimming below us. This caught me off guard, and by the time I had the camera ready the turtle was gone, only to reappear a few minutes later, apparently feeding under us. I tried to get as close as possible to try to get a picture, and at the time I thought nothing would come out, until a few days later when we got a chance to review the pictures on Anke's computer. While not perfect, the picture you see is enough to give you an idea of the turtle itself. We also got to see a smooth trunkfish (these guys remind me of the hovering spaceships in Star Wars), and we got to hold and pet a Donkey Dung Sea Cucumber (funny name for a funny looking animal). Sam also pointed out a number of Sea Pearls (not the precious ones), and while he was busy doing that we didn't even notice a huge Gray Angelfish swimming in his bubbles until it was right in his face, which caused him to be a bit startled. We later learned the fish is actually called Bubbles, since it loves to play with the exhales of all the divers. Towards the end of the dive, as we were at our 3 minute safety stop, we also got to see a big mature spotted drum, nowhere near as cute as the juvenile ones.

We got back on the boat, and quickly packed all our equipment before returning to Hotel Kayla, as they were trying to leave as quickly as possible to return to Utila. This was the day of the big carnival parade, and virtually everyone left the Cays in time to watch it, though Josh, Marisa and I decided to stay behind, since we had no place to stay in the East Harbour, and everything had been booked for weeks, nor could we get back to the cays by the evening since no fishermen travel that way in the afternoon or evening because of the currents and high waves. So we ended up having the hotel almost just for ourselves, and we went for a snorkel in the afternoon, taking advantage of still having the underwater camera to take more pictures and videos of us skin diving. Josh saw a stingray right off the dock, as soon as he got into the water, but it was gone by the time I threw the camera at him (well, near him in the water). We got to see more stoplight parrot fish, 4 eyed butterflies, even a flounder (flat fish with eyes sticking out that likes to bury itself in the sand as a defence technique). We spent the rest of the evening fairly quietly, went for dinner and sunset watching at Cayview restaurant, and then watched movies until falling asleep.

Water Cay Pt. 2

2008-09-04T13:01:00.007-06:00

Since this was our day off from diving, we decided to return to Water Cay, but this time, wisely, we decided to hire one of the fishing boats to take us there and bring us back. We took our time getting organized, since we wanted to spend the whole day on the island, packed lunch and lots of water. After breakfast we went to the bridge connected Jewel and Pigeon cays and waited for the boat for a few minutes. As we had a safe transportation method, I was ble to bring my camera along as well, since Water Cay is too beautiful not to be captured in pictures. The fisherman took us across, and we asked him to return for us around 3pm. After setting up camp at one of the picknic tables, we spent the day swimming, snorkeling, reading and relaxing. At one point Josh and Marisa went for a long snorkel around half of the island, and they came back thrilled with all the life they got to see. It was really amusing watching them get in the water (because of the sea weeds and sharp rocks you have to waddle backwards with the fins to get to deeper water), but not as funny as watching them get out of the water less than 2 minutes later and hurry back to shore. Apparently they encountered a huge barracuda that took a liking to them and started approaching them, causing their sudden exit.

For lunch we had the left over pizza from the night before, and in the afternoon we stayed by the beach and swam in the clear and warm waters off the cay. The water was so shallow in fact that I had the courage to walk for a while with my camera in hand, to capture the western tip of the island with the white sand beach and palm trees. As the time neared for our return, we sat around and stretched our necks waiting for the boat to arrive, which it only did about an hour later than planned. Either way, by now we were running on ´island time´as well, so it didn´t bother us that we had to spend more time on this beautiful island. On the positive side of things, he dropped us right at Hotel Kayla, which was really nice of him. After showering to get rid of the salt water and changing into fresh clothes, we headed to Fishburger for food, where our dinner entertainment was the incredibly off-key gospel singing from the church next door. It was so bad (especially to Marisa´s ears, since she is a singer) that we ate in a hurry and didn´t know how to get out of there fast enough. The evening was spent at the hotel, where there was an impromptu jamming session, since Brian was traveling with a guitar. We all sat around, playing and listening to music, singing along (this time NOT off key), and created a campfire-like atmosphere, the only thing missing being the fire itself. But there was fire in the sky, as yet another huge thunderstorm was lashing the mainland to the south of us.

Diving the North Side

2008-09-04T12:21:00.008-06:00

The next day there were relatively few divers on the boat, it was essentially just us and Lilian (who was finishing the rescue diver course), plus all the DMTs and Divemasters. We asked Captain Louis and he told us we would be heading to the north side of the island, which is supposedly even richer in marine life. So after breakfast, we collected our equipment into neat little bundles, took everything on the deck, got it set up and then placed on the boat. It is a bit of a longer boat ride to the north, but it was so worth it! At the first site, Duppy Waters, we got to see another turtle, first far away and then a lot closer to us - I was amazed how fast they can move underwater when they are so slow on the ground. We also got to see not one but two porcupine fish (a type of puffer fish, pretty big actually), a scorpion fish, a creole wrasse, and right at the beginning of the dive, Black Durgeon eating a chicken sandwich. Now you may wonder about that last one, but it was Louis who threw the food in the water, and an entire school feasted on it right as we got in the water. As we were swimming around, we had to go over the edge of a coral hill, and then right below us was a huge southern stingray, laying there burried in the sand. Lilian had taken out the digital camera, so we managed to get some really nice pictures, too.

We got back to the boat, and right as we pulled the anchor to move to the next site, we saw another turtle (or maybe it was the same one) right on the surface near the boat. We then headed to Paradiso, and spent the surface time chatting or swimming close by. For the second dive we saw all the usual suspects again, including really huge French Angelfish and Gray Angelfish. Returning to the hotel after the dives, we decided to order pizza for dinner, but on the cays you don´t pick up the phone to place your order, we just walked over to the house of the lady who made them and ordered in person. Not only that, but most of the communication is via radio, as there are no landlines on the cays, or cell phones for those who have them. We wanted to have enchiladas for lunch, but she was fresh out, so we had a cheeseburger with rice and beans at Suzan´s Fishburger. After our food settled, we took an afternoon snorkel around the dock, and we saw a lot of huge needlefish, which may look threatning at first, but are actually harmless. We dried off on the deck, which was not difficult considering the strong afternoon wind; in fact during some evenings you would not be able to stand on the upper level without holding on to a handrail or something else steady since the wind could have blown you right over the edge. That evening, after having pizza, we spent a few hours on the deck enjoying a show co-produced by nature and man; we were following two separate thunderstorms, one to the south and the other from the west, while in the east we could see the fireworks from the carnival in Utila. All this around us and yet we didn´t experience a single drop of rain, not a bad place to be in.

Water Cay

2008-09-04T11:23:00.014-06:00

One of the perks being with Captain Morgan was that even on days when we were not diving, we could board the boat and snorkel the site where the others went diving, and since we had decided from the beginning that we would scuba every other day, we wanted to hop on the boat. However, they had too many people already, so since that was not an option, we decided to go visit Water Cay. Everyone spoke really highly about this small little island, so we wanted to see it for ourselves. Aside from the free snorkel gear provided by the shop, they also made available kayaks to get to water cay, so we settled on that being our plan for the day. Before that, however, we went to have breakfast at the green house, and discovered baliadas, a soft tortilla filled with eggs, beans, cheese, so good in fact that it became our regular breakfast, let alone the fact the price was right, less than 50 cents for one. By the time we returned, the dive boat had already left, so we picked our kayaks and headed out. Josh and Marisa got the large, two person yellow one, while I took one of the two red, single kayaks. We had to travel past a few other cays before getting there, not only Jewel and Pigeon Cays, but the smaller, private Jack Oneill´s Cay and Bell Cay. Things started off great, since the water is always calmer in the morning, though once I got to Oneill´s Cay I started to slow down a little bit. I stopped for a bit on its shores, inspected the kayak to learn that it was in fact taking on water. I drained some of it, then resumed paddling, reaching Water cay safe and sound.

Water Cay is one of the closest examples of a picture-perfect postcard Caribbean island; it is so small in fact that you can walk around it in less than 20 minutes. Towards the east and the south there is a very abundand coral reef, while the north and west sides have nice beaches for swimming and suntanning. On the west side, a sand spit connects it to Morgan´s Cay, so shallow in fact that you do not even need to swim to get across, you can simply wade in the water. We had brought our snorkeling equipment with us, so we headed into the water to explore the corals. We saw a school of blue durgeon, french and gray angelfish, 4 eyed butterfly fish, stoplight parrotfish and many, many others all swimming around beautiful corals. We even spotted a baracuda hanging around, eyeing us from a distance, which made us back up a little bit, as they have really sharp teeth and can get somewhat agressive especially if you wear jewelery, since they consider anything shiny to be lunch.

As we got out of the water to dry off, we started a bit nervously watching the waves and the wind pick up, since we were warned to make our way back before noon, as in the afternoon the current can be really strong and we would have to paddle against it. We drained our kayaks of water and started the long and difficult paddle back to Jewel Cay, but it didn´t help my kayak that much. As soon as we got into the sea mine started taking on water again, slowing me down considerably; I made it across to Bell Cay and stopped to drain it again. Josh and Marisa were already at Jack Oneill´s Cay waiting for me, but as I started heading there I soon realized that it would be a futile exercise. Taking on so much water slowed me down to a crawl and, getting caught in the current, it felt that for every paddle forward, the sea would push me back by three. Wondering what was going on, they returned to my location where they learned my questionable situation; at this point, most of the kayak was underwater (from a distance it looked like I was just sitting on water), except for the front tip that was doing its best impression of the sinking Titanic. Realizing that there wasn´t much they could do for me, they did the right thing by going forward, waving their paddles high in the air, the international sign for distress. Meanwhile I was drifting further and further out, away from the Cays, in the opposite direction. I started contemplating putting on my snorkel gear and swimming back towing the kayak, but even that would have taken quite a lot of effort, and I was exhausted from all the pointless paddling.

Just when I started tipping over, I saw a boat in the background, first stopping by Josh and Marisa´s kayak, then heading in my direction; one of the fishermen spotted their distress call and was coming to pull me out of the water. We put everything into his boat, including my soaking self, and I was extremly thankful for Toby spotting us and coming to my rescue. He gave me a ride back to Hotel Kayla, to the shocked looks of those on the dive boat, who had just returned back to Jewel Cay. I thanked Toby again as I unloaded everything from his boat, then spent the afternoon drying off in the sun, and repeating the story endless times to anyone who wanted to hear it. Of course it seemed funny after the fact, but while it was happening none of us were laughing, especially not me. I did inspect the kayak afterwards, and found that it had a huge hole at the bottom, which was patched, but obviously not to well. For the rest of my stay at Hotel Kayla, I warned everyone not to take that specific one, reminding them of my adventure.

Jewel Cay

2008-09-02T17:27:00.020-06:00

We had to get up by 6am, quickly packed our bags and started the walk back to the center of town, to the Captain Morgan´s dive shop. I had asked Dan if they have a book exchange on the island, and in response he handed me a plastic bag full of books they were keeping at the shop, figuring that it would be much better to add them to the Cays library at the hotel. By 7am, Miss Kary, our dive boat pulled by the dock, and we hopped on board and left our luggage; this was also our first chance to get to know Captain Louis, who we really got to both like and admire, not only for his sense of humour, manner of speaking but also for his incredible skill manouvering the boat in times of need (more about that later). Stan joined in as well, as he was taking a snorkel trip off the boat while the rest of us went diving. First off, we took the 45 minute trip from the East harbour in Utila to Jewel cay, tracing the entire south shoreline of the island. Once we arrived at Hotel Kayla, we quickly dropped off our bags and immediately headed into the equipment shed to get our diving gear.

I must take a moment now to introduce the Captain Morgan´s team, since they played quite the role in all of our time in Utila...We met Anke, one of the instructors, originally from Germany, and the only staff member to permanently live on Jewel Cay, with her boyfriend Alex, in a small rented home by the water front. Sam would become our ´permanent´divemaster, who we got to know so well that we even memorized his speech: "Shallow water this way, Deep water that way, regulator in your mouth, don´t forget to equalize early and often, and let´s go scuba". Sam was not the only Australian by far, as we also met Steve (another instructor), and cannot forget about Dan, who we met the day before. Also, Anouk is Steve´s girlfriend, also an instructor, born in France but raised in Montreal. There were also two dive master trainees, both American, Scott and Brian, who at that moment also lived at hotel Kayla. The last DMT was Dave (Piet) but he didn´t come into the picture until later on. Oh, and of course I cannot forget about "Rat Dog", Anouk´s dog, who was one of the most sociable dogs I have ever met, as she came by boat every morning and chilled at the hotel while we went diving, and then returned with her owner back to Utila. Sorry for the long winded explanation, but I figured it is better to just get it out of the way in the beginning, so that you won´t wonder who these people are when their names pop up throughout the next few entries.

Back to our regular program...After gearing up, we headed to the large sun deck, and while Josh and Marisa took a quick refresher course (always a good idea, especially considering they haven´t been diving in almost 3 years) I sat talking to Stan and tried to take in the environment around. Hotel Kayla is at the east end of Jewel Cay, which is connected by a bridge to Pigeon Cay, making these the only two inhabited islands south of Utila. About 500 people make it their permanent home, and there were 7 (!) small churches as well, leading us to believe it is a very conservative place. The hotel itself is a huge, colonial style building, with a very large common area, tv and hundreds of DVDs to keep us occupied in the evening. A really nice coral reef surrounds for Jewel Cay and the neighbouring Diamond Cay (where the town drunk lives and can often be seen going back and forth in his canoe heading to the bars).

Once the refresher course was completed, we all boarded the boat and we were on our way to the first dives in Utila, on the south side of the island. At the first site, Stingray Point, as soon as we were in the water and started descending, I learned that I needed more weights than I had anticipated, but luckily Sam did carry extras. Our first impression was definitely a positive one, seeing how much more marine life was here compared to Bocas del Toro (my only other diving reference point). We got to see lots of fish, including all types of angel fish, 4 eyed buttefly fish, stoplight parrot fish; later on we got so used to seeing those that we started calling them ´the usual suspects´. After about 45 minutes under water, we had a 3 minute safety stop (a good practice no matter how deep the dive) and then returned to the boat for our surface interval. We chatted for a bit with the other divers, then went for a quick snorkel before we headed to our second site, Cabanas. This time around we were even luckier, as early on during the dive we got to see a turtle swimming away in the distance. A few minutes later, the same one appeared again, and we got a chance to observe it for a while at eye level. This was also the first time we saw a trunk fish (a type of puffer fish with a triangular shape), though this was the first of many.

After two really good dives we returned to the Cays, changed and after studying the map drawn on one of the boards, we went into town to have lunch at the green house. This was nothing more than a hole in the wall, with three little tables, but the enchiladas were fantastic, and kept us coming back over and over. Though we didn´t know her name, the lady who owned the place quickly became known to us as ´the enchilada lady´. In the afternoon we went for a snorkel just off the dock, and we were surprised to see as much life there as we did on our dives. This in fact became more or less our routine for the time we spent on Jewel Cay - dive in the morning, lunch, then afternoon snorkel. As the day was winding down, we headed to Cayview restaurant, on Pigeon Cay, to see the sunset, and supposedly the rays, as well as to have dinner there. We admired a beautiful sunset, though we realized that the ray argument is simply a gimmick to attract people there. Not to worry, we would get our fill of sting rays in the following days.

Road to Utila

2008-09-02T13:56:00.015-06:00

We wanted to take care of a few errands before catching the ferry to Utila, so we woke up early in the morning in search of an internet cafe; just like the night before we were just not having any luck, since all of them were still closed, despite the opening hours posted on the doors. So we killed a bit of time by taking a walk to the beach in town, and by the time we returned, we decided to park ourselves in front of the cafe until they opened, which was about half an hour behind schedule. At least we got a chance to use, albeit rapidly, since we already arranged for Ramon to pick us up at the hotel to take us to the ferry dock. We made it back to the hotel, grabbed our bags and threw them in the back of the cab, and we were on our way. The ferry dock is a few kilometers out of the town of La Ceiba, and since there are no buses servicing it, cabs are the only way to get there. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, walked right up to the ticket office, only to face the news that we were least expecting: apparently one of the ferrys was not running, and the only trip to Utila was at 4 in the afternoon. We looked at eachother perplexed, not know what to do with ourselves, eventually resented to our fate, bought tickets for the afternoon, and settled in for a whole day with nothing to do. The ferry docks were right in the middle of the harbour, surrounded by warehouses and empty lots, so we had plenty of hours to kill, playing cards, reading or trying to catch a nap. Every now and then we would head into the terminal for Roatan (the more expensive of the two islands served by La Ceiba ferrys) since they had AC, but pretty much the entire time we were counting down how many more hours we had to wait.

Towards 3 pm the Utila terminal started getting busier, and we couldn´t help but wonder that this service reduction had been announced previously, as none of the locals showed up in the morning like us, only a few other unfortunate backpackers who shared our fate. Though it seemed like it would never arrive, the time came for us to board the ferry as we breathed a sigh of relief. We sat outside in the back, taking pictures as the boat left the harbour and headed towards the open water - the further we were away from the mainland, the better we could appreciate the mountain range that followed the coast, and off one of the sides we could even see the outline of Cayos Cochinos, a set of islands we would visit later on. The sea was pretty rough, but the boat big enough and stable enough not to make anyone sick from the side to side rocking motion. Throughout the ferry ride, we noticed reps from some of the dive shops making their rounds, talking to tourists, offering free maps (which coincidentaly left out the other dive shops), trying to get a head start on any potential business opportunity. Of course it did not hurt that they were all young, blond, attractive women who would smile in a very friendly manner as they chatted with the passangers. We had already made the decision to go with Captain Morgan´s, since a few weeks before we discovered that we would be arriving in Utila during the annual Carnival, and we were afraid we would not have a place to stay, as many hotels were booked weeks in advance. After doing our research, we discovered that Captain Morgan, aside from being a dive shop, also operates a hotel on Jewel Cay, one of the small islands south west of Utila itself, all together grouped as the Utila Cays.

The arrival at the Utila harbour was just what I was expecting, though maybe a bit more intense; after collecting our backpacks we had to fight through the crowd of people ´welcoming´us, handing out flyers left right and centre, all trying to promote their own dive shops or hotels, restaurants etc. We made a beeline straight for Captain Morgan´s and met Dan, one of the DMTs (Dive Master Trainee), with whom Josh spoke on the phone when we made arrangements to stay with them. He got us to sign the paperwork, esentially liability disclaimers whereby we signed our lives away, and as we were filling out the forms, I turned around and saw Stan, who I met in Bocas a month before, signing up for a snorkeling trip with the same company. He gave me a brief tour of Utila, pointing out the supermarkets and the cheapest internet place in town. Once we got all the paperwork out of the way, we grabbed our bags and started walking towards Margaritaville Hotel, the only spot where we could still make a reservation, which was close to the west end of the town. Throughout the 20 minute walk we got a fairly distorted impression of Utila, partially because we arrived during Carnival. From a distance, it reminded me a lot of Bocas or Isla Bastimentos in Panama, but the crowds of people, numerous cars, trucks, golf carts and motorcycles zooming past us on the narrow road made us feel a bit dizzy.

Once we settled in at Margaritaville, we went back into town to use the internet, make a few phonecalls back home and then we settled on a spot to have dinner, Evelyn´s BBQ. The place was so packed that we had to share tables with others, giving us a chance to interact with other travelers as well. Josh was really excited to have lobster, but it soon faded once he got his plate and mentioned that it tasted a bit ´fishy´. Since we had to be on the dive boat the next morning by 7 in order to move to the cays, we returned to the hotel, where we had trouble falling asleep while listening to the pulsating beats from one of the nearby parties (it was Carnival after all). This made us feel even happier with our decision to stay on the cays, since we wanted to be rested for the morning dives.

Road to La Ceiba

2008-09-01T16:32:00.009-06:00

The next morning, before heading to the Headman Alas terminal, Josh and I made a run to the bank, since we needed Lempiras and we would spend a considerable amount of time in Honduras. Following that, we grabbed our bags (no packing needed since we were leaving right away), and hailed a cab in front of the hotel. Now I should mention that I have taken my share of questionable cabs, many of them not only rusted or missing the inside lining of the door, but some where I even had to hold the door shut with my hand so it wouldn´t swing into oncoming traffic, but this one really outdid them all. I could´ve overlooked the shabby state of the car itself, but the driving was something else; not only did he drive like a maniac, he ran several red lights, and at one point we came so close to having another car t-bone us that all three of us jumped out of our seats in panic. On the bright side of things, our driver confirmed what Lonely Planet also states, that even if you negociate a fee before you get it, you have to ask whether that is per person or for all of us, since that is a common scam to get 2 or 3 times the fare from unsuspecting tourists. We almost kissed the ground as we arrived at the bus terminal, and we quickly entered the building and picked up our tickets.

Before boarding the Headman Alas bus, we passed through more security checkpoints than a regular airport; each of us were photographed and searched with a metal detector. I was pulled off the line because I was wearing a sleeveless shirt, and that is apparently not appropriate dress code for their company - so I had to dig into my backpack and put on my only long sleeve linen shirt. I returned to the line up, only to be told that my small, carry-on size backpack was too big to be taken on the bus; frustrated, I had to remove my camera, iPod and money belt, and I was forced to check the other bag under the bus with the rest. Just before boarding, another metal detector check, and this time I was told I could not board the bus with a lighter in my pocket... what would I do with it, set fire to the bus? Though after all these frustrating rules, the thought did enter my mind, especially once I did get on the bus and saw that many of the locals had on board bags that were at least twice the size of my small backpack. Now that I had a chance to vent my frustration, on the positive side of things, Headman Alas has really nice and comfortable buses, with two classes of passangers; though we were in ´regular´class we had a very good trip, while the executive class have even larger seats and they received full meals, where as at least we got snacks and drinks.

We crossed pretty much the entire country on this day, though we did have a stopover in San Pedro Sula, the second biggest city in Honduras. Once we arrived there, I couldn´t understand why the staff was rushing us straight inside the terminal building from the bus, though later on everything made a lot of sense. After about an hour break, the next bus showed up, the one that would take us to La Ceiba, on the Caribbean sea. After we boarded, the gate to the terminal was opened (with armed security guards on either side, watching out cautiously), and the bus quickly sped up, even hitting a curb along the way, though the driver did not even slow down, let alone stop to inspect the damages. Inside the bus, we were joined by a group of missionaries who all put on their iPods and started singing along to gospel, which in turn prompted me to put on my headset to tune them out. At one point we passed an overturned truck, surrounded by police, which caused a huge traffic jam, and later on we had to pull over due to the smell of burning rubber, but all the missionaries calmed themselves by saying the bus was gliding on the ´wings of angels´. The real reason for all these events, which we only learned about later while in Utila, was that there were massive protests and riots, followed by a bus drivers´strike and road blocks that lasted for a few days. In hindsight, we were on the last bus that made it out of San Pedro for a few days after that.

We did arrive in La Ceiba, safe and sound, just as the sun was setting, and as soon as we collected our bags we jumped into a cab and went to Hotel Principe. Our driver, Ramon, was very chatty, spoke four different languages, and gave us a number of good tips along the way. The hotel was no bad for the price, though nothing to really write home about; we left our bags and headed into the city, hoping to find an internet cafe, but we quickly realized that everything was closed since it was a sunday evening. Everything, that is, except for all the fast food places, but who would want to come to Honduras to enjoy Wendy´s or Pizza Hut? As we walked around we found a really nice place by the central park, Hotel Gran Paris, where we got some non-fast food dinner and had a drink before returning to the hotel for the evening.

Road to Tegucigalpa

2008-09-01T15:11:00.015-06:00

Despite the late night, still managed to wake up early, about the same time as Josh and Marisa; before leaving, I had to take care of a few last minute chores, packing, rushing to the post office to buy stamps to mail postcards. We checked out of the hostal, took the quick walk to the minibus terminal that would take us to Managua, which left a few minutes after we boarded. It took about an hour to arrive in the Nicaraguan capital, and even though we asked the driver to drop us off at Metro Central, since it was closer to the TransNica terminal, he either forgot or couldn´t be bothered since we got off at the end of the line. Having heard bad things about not only this, but all the capitals in Central America, we didn´t want to take any chances and hopped in a cab that took us directly to TransNica, where we had a few hours to kill before our departure time. We passed the time playing cards, reading and watching a movie before our bus pulled into the terminal. As we left the city, we watched with amazement at the number of trucks and buses filled to the brim with people, all waving flags, chanting and honking along the way; eventually we clued in that it was a very important day for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Dia de Libertad, and they were all heading to massive rallies and demonstrations to show their support. Once we left Managua, the ride was uneventful but very scenic, especially the portion of the road where we had huge mountains on either side of us (Cordillera de los Maribios on the left, and Cordillera Isabelia on the right).

By the time we reached the border with Honduras, at Las Manos, it was already dark and rainy; on the Nicaragua side, the driver picked up all our passports to have them processed, while customs officers opened the luggage compartment and ´selectively´chose items to be screened. I am putting that in quotations because just like before, none of the backpacks were even pulled out, only the luggage of the locals. On the Honduran side, the crossing was even easier as we did not even have to get off the bus, though presumably a search was performed as well. For the rest of the ride to Tegucigalpa we watched movies or simply dozed off, and just after 10pm we arrived in the Honduran capital. We had made reservations at Hotel Alameda, adjacent to the bus terminal, and even though it was a bit pricey, it was worth it as we heard the city does not have a good reputation, especially at night. All we had to do was walk for a few meters, then we found ourselves inside a nice, spacious room and had the benefits of hot water and TV (luxuries that often do not exist in hostels). Needless to say, after such a long day of travel, we all had a really good night´s sleep.

Return to Granada

2008-09-01T14:14:00.009-06:00

I woke up really early with the hope of watching the sunrise since we were facing east, but the cloud cover got in the way, so I couldn´t see it. I finished packing before breakfast, checked out of Buena Vista, and took our bags to the curbside, waiting for the bus to take us to Moyogalpa. We kept ourselves busy by taking lots of pictures of the lizzards that were hanging around, and before we knew it the bus arrived and we boarded. Even though the distance to the ferry is only about 30 km away, the bus ride took about 2 hours before we reached our destination. It was a very scenic ride however, and we were rewarded with some of the clearest views of Volcan Concepcion, including the smoking crater, which is normally enveloped in clouds. Once we arrived in Moyogalpa, we rushed to make it onto the ferry, until a cop told us to slow down, as it was not leaving for another half an hour. The ride back to the mainland was fairly uneventful, except for the rain that started to fall towards the end. Walking away from the ferry terminal, we encountered the usual mob of taxi drivers, all offering to take us to Rivas, though the minibus was right there, and considerably cheaper. During the 20 minute drive to the main bus terminal, it started to really pour, and I joked that I understood why the town is called Rivas, as rivers of rainwater were formed in the middle of all the roads.

At the terminal, we asked around and found the next bus to Granada, and even though we were told it would leave in the next 5 minutes, it was a good half an hour before we got moving; at least our bags were stored inside the bus, thus being protected from the rain. An hour and a half later we pulled in to the now familiar mercado in Granada, and we started the quick walk (though slowed down by the rain) towards Hostal Dorado. Once we settled into our rooms, we took a walk through the city, this time stopping at Convento y Iglesia de San Francisco to take a few more pictures and admire the architecture. Since we were starving, we stopped at TelePizza, where we ordered a full pizza each, with the thought that the leftovers would make a good snack for the long trip the next day. In the evening, we returned to the hostel and had a very interesting encounter with an old and slightly senile drunk guy who was on a visa run from Costa Rica. He talked for hours on end, mainly to hear himself speak, and even started singing at one point; I would say he was a bit entertaining at first, but that quickly wore off and he became plain annoying. When I started talking to Jake (my roomate at Dorado), we automatically had something in common, since he used to share a room with him for a few days, until he had enough. We ended up staying up until about 3 am, while surfing the net, chatting about books, traveling, women, spanish courses etc. At one point he mentioned that he had a part in a small, art-house movie, and he followed that by saying: ¨I´m just like Diane Keaton¨... to which I replied with a blank stare before bursting out laughing. It took a good ten minutes for us to calm down enough for him to explain that Diane Keaton never watches the movies she is in, and that´s what he meant by that comment, but you could see why it sounded so out of place. Eventually we had to put an end to our conversation, as I had a few really long days of travel ahead.

Ojo de Agua

2008-09-01T11:22:00.014-06:00

We had breakfast at the same place where we had lunch the day before, though we had to fight off all the flies in order to enjoy our food and playing cards in between bites. We then got ready and headed towards the Ojo de Agua, about 2 kilometers away from Santo Domingo; along the way we got to see some great views of Volcan Conception, and we took pictures while listening to the blue jays sing all around us. When we got to the entrance, I was surprised to see that it was now $2 per person, double the price since less than 6 months before. After we paid the fee, we walked across rice fields and then through a forest of plantains before we got to our destination. We found some lounge chairs, had a cold beer and went for a swim in the refreshing water. Once we got out, we met Byron, who worked at the restaurant and served us drinks and food; he was very chatty and friendly, and when we saw me scribbling in my notebook, he came over to ask me if I was a writer. I told him that the only thing I write nowadays is this blog, and he shared that he also wrote a book of poetry and was waiting to have it published. He seemed to be really proud of Ometepe, and even told me about an initiative to name the island the 8th wonder of the world; I asked him how one can vote for it, and he gave me the internet address www.com (?) which I found more than a bit questionable, but have to give him credit for his enthusiasm.

For lunch we had delicious tacos (not Taco Bell ones, but the real deal), and afterwards Josh and Marisa went for a walk up the path and came across another mirador, with even more beautiful views of the volcano. By the time they returned, we started hearing thunder in the background, and we quickly packed up or things, paid the bill and started heading back to Santo Domingo, since we didn´t bring umbrellas with us. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing pretty much what we always did: swimming, reading, relaxing and chatting. As it started to get close to sunset, we headed to our rooms to shower and change for dinner; as soon as I got out of the shower, Marisa knocked on my door, and told me to get out as soon as possible and bring the camera too. I threw on some clothes and rushed out the door with camera in hand, discovering the patio empty and everyone on the beach, staring at Volcan Maderas. I got there in time to witness something without comparison: a dark rainy cloud was enveloping the top of the mountain, and with the help of the sun´s last rays created a huge and vivid rainbow unlike any I have ever seen. We took pictures and stared at the volcano as the rainbow faded away, then we walked down the beach towards one of the restaurants for dinner. While we were waiting for our food, I had some fun trying to get the resident parrott to talk, and in the process put a nice sized hole in my pack of smokes with its beak. After a really good jalopeno chicken dinner, we returned to Buena Vista, where in typical fashion on Isla Ometepe, we headed early to bed.

The next day we celebrated Marisa´s birthday, and in accordance to her wishes, we had a very relaxed day, with no set plans to talk of. After breakfast at Buena Vista, we walked over to Finca Santo Domingo, got a hold of some beach chairs and divided our time between swimming and suntanning; from the water of Lago de Nicaragua, we could see both volcanoes at the same time. We had lunch at Finca Santo Domingo as well, and after taking numerous shots of the blue jays harrassing us for leftovers, I had the first in a series of clutzy incidents on the trip. I barely started leaning against a wooden railing when I heard a crack, and before I could react, it broke free and fell a few meters down to the cemented base of the patio. Luckily I did not follow it and simply fell on my ass; if I would´ve followed it the end of the story would not have been pretty. For the afternoon, we walked to the other side of Playa Santo Domingo, where we got to see vultures and cranes on the nearly deserted beach. In the evening, while waiting for our dinner at Finca Santo Domingo, both Marisa and I were stunned when we both saw the same unusual phenomenon: a perfectly spherical ´bolt´of lightning, which lasted for at least a few seconds, much longer than a regular bolt. This stirred up some discussion and promises to further research this event (later on, Josh did discover a few links online from other sightings, and it seems that while rare, others have had the same experience as us in the past). Since we were leaving the following morning, we returned to Buena Vista to pack our bags before going to sleep.

Horseback Riding in Ometepe

2008-09-01T10:55:00.014-06:00

While deciding what to do with our day, we sat around on the sandy beach, listening to the waves of the lake crashing onto shore. We made up our minds to go horseback riding, so we took the short walk from Buena Vista to Finca Santo Domingo, where we waited for our guide to showup. First we were told to be there by 8:30, then it turned to 9:00, and still nobody from the hotel had any idea what was going on. Finally, after an hour and a half of waiting (yes we are patient individuals, but only to a point), we got up to leave, seemingly ready to give up on the plan, when we saw a group returning from their trip. Things would have been less stressful if they just told us that we had to wait for others to return, but that was not the case. Soon after, we met Hector, who was the caretaker of the farm as well as our guide, and he distributed horses based on our level of experience. Luckily I ended up getting one of the slower horses (after my incident in San Juan del Sur), while Josh and Marisa got much faster ones. This meant that throughout most of the trip, they were far out in front, which Hector and I were bringing up the rear.

We started with a quick trek through the village, which lasted less than 5 minutes given its total size of maybe 10 buildings, then we headed towards the beach all the way until the end, a good 2 or 3 km away. Here we had to switch back to the road, then followed it to the right, towards Finca El Porvenir, which I visited back in February for the first time. The last kilometer of the treck was on a rocky path which the horses seemed to negociate without a problem, since they follow that route all the time. Once we got to the farm we ´parked´our horses and took a walk through the beautiful gardens, taking lots of pictures along the way. We also stopped at the mirador to admire the view with Volcan Conception in the background and the rest of the island stretching out beneath us. As I was telling Josh and Marisa the story of how we encountered a tarantula the previous time I was there, we heard some ear-pearcing screams which we realized were coming from a pig about to be slaughtered. We saw the farm owners carrying it to the designated ´sacrifice´area, with even a film crew in tow, why we could not figure it out.

Once the screams subsided, we knew the deed was done, and we started heading out of Finca El Porvenir, though not before seeing some of the workers washing the blood of their hands. On our way out, we stopped to admire some of the petroglyphs, sculptures in stone thousands of years old, belonging to the pre-columbian era. There were a number of them on the farm, so we walked along for a bit, stopping at each and everyone of them. Once we were done, we returned to the horses and proceeded to make our way back to Santo Domingo, along the way, since Josh and Marisa were so far out in front, I had a chance to have a chat with Hector, learning a bit about his lifestyle and daily routine (apparently, there are no days off for good behaviour, as he worked 7 days a week). We returned the horses to the stable, and before saying goodbye to Hector we invited him to join us for a bit once he finished work later on that afternoon. For lunch we went to Hospedaje Gloriana, right next door from our hostel, and then relaxed on the beach, and went swimming every now and then.

We met up with Martin, who was just returning from the Ojo de Agua, who had another piece of bad news - the tarzan swing by the natural pool was gone, another by-product of Tropical Storm Alma; nonetheless we were still determined to make our way there the following day. Even later on in the afternoon, a group of guys who went to climb Volcan Maderas returned, as muddy and tired as I was when I completed that challenge, which I said I would not repeat. I told Josh and Marisa that if they wanted to try their hand at it, I would be more than happy to sit and relax by the beach for the day, but they were much more in the mood for relaxation and no extreme physical challenges. After dinner that evening, when we returned to Buena Vista, the patio was buzzing with people of all nationalities sitting around and chatting; we joined in on the conversation as well, though soon after the power went out and we switched to candlelight, providing a much more intimate atmosphere, though shortening our time together, as one by one, people started heading to their rooms to sleep.

Road to Ometepe

2008-08-29T14:26:00.015-06:00

We decided to put the rain covers on our backpacks, not necessarily because of the weather but also as a security measure since we would have to put them on the top of the bus; the night before at the hostal a girl told us a story about how her shoes were stolen from the top of the bus since they were attached to her bag and not inside. We made reservations at Dorado for our return and then headed through the Mercado Central towards the terminal; we found the bus to Rivas, and we were really lucky not only because we managed to get seats, but also because our bags were able to fit inside the bus. Along the hour and a half ride we met Martin, a traveler from Germany, who had a few issues fitting into the narrow seats considering how tall he was. Once we entered in Rivas, as soon as the bus stopped, a mob of taxi drivers jumped towards us, moving to every window where a gringo was sitting and solicited rides to San Jorge, where we would take the ferry to the island. Having been there before, I knew not to fall for that, since at the terminal for Rivas there was always a minibus ready to take us to the same place for less than a quarter of the price, and in the process we also helped Martin save a bit of money as well.

In Rivas we basically jumped from the Granada bus to the minibus to San Jorge, and in the process also missed the ´touching guy´who got us all the other times I passed there in the past. The ride only took about 20 minutes, and as we got to the ferry dock, I noticed another big difference: all the beach huts were completely gone, no doubt a result of the tropical storm that affected this entire part of Nicaragua. We bought our boat tickets and had a bit of time to wait, so we met a few other people heading to Ometepe as well, amongst them Ryan, a Kiwi guy who spoke with such a thick accent that we almost needed subtitles to understand him, and often times we just smiled and nodded, needing a translator from English to English. We boarded the lancha, significantly smaller than the ferry I took before, and found some seats on the bench in the back of the boat, which didn´t have any railings, and we were wondering whether we would slide off if we hit any big waves along the way. At least they gave us life jackets, which we used as cushions for the ride across the lake, where we could barely see the summits of the two volcanos on the island due to the thick haze.

Arriving in Moyogalpa, I knew the chicken bus would always wait for the ferry´s arrival, but we were dissapointed to find out that it only went to Altagracia, not all the way down to Santo Domingo, which was our final destination for the day. We debated waiting for another two hours for the right bus or taking a cab, and we found a guy that had a minibus and was willing to take us to Santo Domingo for a fixed fee, so we all scattered around to gather more people who were heading our way to decrease the cost per person. Ironically, we all found takers and we had too many people, but in the end we filled the van and we were on our way. We had quite an enjoyable ride, not only because of the beautiful scenery, with volcanos on each side, but also because our company on the bus was very entertaining. We were traveling with these two guys, who, even before leaving Moyogalpa, wanted to buy a few bottles of rum, not for once we got there but for the ride over! I assured them there would be stores in Santo Domingo too, so they reluctantly agreed to move on; during the trip they told us a crazy story about how drunk they were even before getting on the ferry a few days before, and how, for the fun of it, they took a few valiums as well. Well, surprise surprise, they woke up the next day without most of their belongings, sleeping on some stranger´s floor, who promptly kicked them out. Though the story was entertaining, we made a mental note to go our separate ways as soon as we got off the minibus, since this was not the kind of company we were looking for.

Arriving in Santo Domingo, we asked Marisa to go and ask to see if there were rooms available at Finca Santo Domingo, where I stayed before, but she came back with the dreaded ´fully booked´answer. At this point, I flipped back into ´Amazing Race´ mode, and started slowly backing away from the group, then walking faster and faster towards the only other hostel in Santo Domingo, Buena Vista. Others had the same idea when they saw me slipping away, but I managed to get the last two available rooms for the four of us, after which we all breathed a sigh of relief. We left our bags in the rooms and spent the afternoon relaxing on the huge patio and sitting in the hammocks; before it got dark we went for a swim in the warm waters of the lake, where we had a great view of Volcan Maderas and we watched the cranes and zopilotes circle above us. Just as the sun set, seemingly from out of nowhere, thousands of bugs appeared and even the fish got excited, jumping out of the water to catch their dinner. Speaking of which, we went to shower and change, then we headed for some food at Finca Santo Domingo, where we took up half of the patio with our group of 9 from the hostal, Stefan, Simone and Sara (the three S´s from Switzerland), Martin, Ray and the three of us. We were all really tired from a full day of travel and went to sleep not long after.

Volcan Masaya

2008-08-29T09:47:00.020-06:00

I got a chance to use the internet for a bit while enjoying the free coffee offered by the Hostal Dorado, but soon after we had to get going down to the travel agency for our trip to Volcan Masaya and the surrounding villages. In typical central american fashion, the bus was running late, so we spent some time talking to the other people in our group, getting to know them a bit better, while Josh and Marisa were sipping on breakfast smoothies. We eventually left Granada for the one hour trip to the National Park, and along the way we stopped for our guide to point out a fortress high up on a hill, telling us about it´s tumultuous history and various uses over the centuries. We then arrived at the gate to the park, our guide paid the entrance fee for us, and we proceeded through the laval field of 1772 and towards the upper parking lot right next to the active crater. There was lots of smoke and fumes rising from it, though the laval itself could only be seen on the night volcano tour; nonetheless, the volcano still acts up every now and then, such as a few years back when hot lava rocks started spewing out of the crater to the horror of the tourists close by. While nobody died, a few people were injured and a number of cars destroyed - for that reason, it is mandatory to park the car facing the exit of the lot, in case a quick departure is required, and along with your entry ticket you receive a pamphlet instructing you to seek shelter under a vehicle should such an even occur again, along with the obligatory disclaimers regarding getting so close to an active crater.

After looking into the crater and taking the obligatory pictures, we walked up a whole bunch of steps before arriving at the top of a hill overlooking the entire volcano complex, where you can see a replica of a cross that was set up there by the Spaniards in the hopes of keeping evil spirits at bay. The volcano was so threatening and active that they thought it was literally the gates of hell, so that was their way of assuring themselves that they would be safe. While the view was fantastic from there, there were so many bugs around that we couldn´t even speak without getting a nice sized serving of protein. While talking to our guide, we mentioned that we would be heading to Isla Ometepe, and he also confirmed that the San Ramon waterfall has been wiped out by Tropical Storm Alma and the landslides that followed. Once we descended from the cross, we went to see one of the extinct craters, took more pictures and observed the zopilotes (vultures) circling the area above us. We moved out and back towards the parking lot as some pretty nasty and dark clouds moved in, and drove half way out of the park, stopping at the Tourist Centre and Museum for Volcan Masaya. This time the guide actually accompanied us inside, answered any questions we had, and even told us a few interesting stories. Apparently the first plans for a canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific were drawn up in Nicaragua, which wanted to build two canals, one from San Juan del Sur to Lago de Nicaragua, and then another one from the east shores of the lake to the Caribbean sea. Sounded like a great plan, but political forces interfered and the project was moved down to Panama. Our guide also told us a funny story about a tree the locals call ´the gringo tree´, because in the summer its bark turns red, then peels off, just like the skin of the gringos in the sun.

Back on the bus, we drove to the nearby city of Masaya, where before the market we made another stop at a lookout point over Laguna Masaya, giving us a chance to see the volcano from further away. We then headed to the market, where we had about an hour and a half to browse around, and bargain our hearts out; we were getting pretty hungry though, so we stopped at a stall in the market and decided to try Bajos, a typical Masayan lunch, consisting of pork, yuca, cabbage, plantain and casava all wrapped in a banana leaf. After our delicious lunch, we wondered about the market, Marisa bought a necklace and a bracelet, but aside from that we couldn´t really buy that much since we still had a lot of traveling ahead of us. We finished off the visit there with a cold drink, before boarding the bus and heading to Catarina, one of the many pueblos blancos (white villages) surrounding Masaya. This was the so-called ´flower village´and we passed by countless stores and stalls selling any type of plant that would grow in this environment; our destination however, was the mirador (lookout point) over Laguna de Apoyo, a lake in a dormant crater which is the lowest point in all of Central America. There were lots of people around, many more so than last time I visited it, but then I remembered it was sunday, so many locals came out as well. There was a band playing traditional music, people dancing around, and we saw a whole bunch of paragliders flying over our heads. In the background we could see both the city of Granada and the nearby Volcan Mombacho, which I have still to climb.

Our last stop on the tour was San Juan del Oriente, another pueblo blanco, this one specializing in ceramics; we went to a different shop than my first visit, and this one proved to be much more educational. As opposed to rushing us to the shop so we can buy souvenirs, the owner of the shop took us through the whole process from the lump of clay to creating a vase (without the finishing process since we would have been there for days). At the end some of us bought a few pieces to bring home to friends and family, but again, as a backpacker there is the issue of carrying things around for months, let alone worrying about something breaking. As the tour wound down, we started heading back to Granada, but not before another exciting moment: as we passed through one of the other villages, we came across a mob of people on either side of the road. Our guide told us that it was a festival taking place between two villages locked in mock-fighting with bamboo whips - he told us they are not supposed to hit anyone above the neck, but as we passed through the crowd I did see a few people bleeding from their heads.

After returning to Granada, we took a walk towards the lake, stopping at the beach front for a cold beer and for some people watching; again being a weekend, the atmosphere was great, good music and we were surrounded by laughing, happy people. Aside from people watching, we were also watching the dark clouds moving across the lake towards us, until the rain started and everyone scattered about. We took a cab back to Hostel Dorado and got ready to go out for dinner at a Tequila Vallarta, a mexican restaurant on Calle La Calzada. We got another lesson as to how innacurate the Lonely Planet maps are, as we did a few circles around the neighbourhood before one of the locals pointed us in the right direction. After dinner, we returned to the hostel, getting ready to move on to Isla Ometepe the following day.

Granada

2008-08-28T08:12:00.014-06:00

We were all excited to be heading to Nicaragua, so after a quick breakfast we packed and headed to the bus station in Alajuela to get to the Tica terminal in San Jose. Who knew that we would have such an exciting bus ride into the Costa Rican capital? Soon after we were on our way, we almost got into an accident, and the driver broke so fast that the wheels locked and burning rubber smoke filled the cabin. We were all thrown into the seats in front of us, and bags and shoes went flying towards the front; nothing serious happened, but there were a few tense seconds there. Once we got into San Jose, we had a bit of a walk to the bus terminal since we got off too early, but luckily we gave ourselves plenty of extra time to get there. Though we were there early, we ended up leaving about half an hour later, which was a bit worrysome since we could not make reservations to Hostal Oasis, and we would be arriving in Granada late in the evening. As we drove through the mountains we encountered more traffic than usual, since it was the beginning of a long weekend and the start of the 'winter' vacation for kids. We made our way through Liberia, passing through a few rain showers and watching really bad movies, which prompted me to read more and watch TV less. The border was also busier than normal, and it took us about two hours just to clear customs at both the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan sides.

As a result, we arrived in Granada more than 2 hours late, around 10pm in the evening, where we all kicked into 'Amazing Race' mode, since everyone getting off the bus had the same dillema as us: finding a place to sleep. We divided up responsibilities, Marisa in charge of getting a cab while Josh and I retrieved our bags, and we managed to be the first ones to leave the bus station. We arrived at Hostal Oasis just to be told that everything was full, but at least we asked at reception to call around to find a room for us. She did manage to find something at Hostal Mochila's, and we left Oasis just as the other people from the bus were getting there. Two Americans followed us hoping they would find a room as well, but they were dissapointed once we got to our hostel; selfishly, it benefited us as at least we walked in a bigger group through the empty streets of Granada with all our stuff on us, so it made us feel safer. At the hostel, which was ironically right across the street from the house of the Vilchez family where I stayed while taking my spanish course, we squeezed the three of us into a two person room, so I got to sleep on the floor for one night, which wasn't the end of the world, especially since I was dealing with a bit of back pain from the trip to the Volcano the day before. As everyone else went to sleep, I sat for a while with the guy working at the hotel, and I told him that we were heading towards Isla Ometepe in a few days, with one of our goals being to see the San Ramon waterfall. He told me that since they were hit by the tropical storm Alma in May, there was a series of landslides and the waterfall is not what it used to be and cannot be visited - lesson learned not to always leave things for the next time.

The next morning we decided to change hostels, since most of the people at Mochila's woke up at 6am and started slamming doors and yelling as if they were the only ones there. Josh and I ventured out into the city, and after a few tries, we found Hostal Dorado, housed in a colonial house with a beautiful interior courtyard, hammocks and free coffee and internet, all for about $6 a person per night. We grabbed our bags, moved in to the new place and started to work out a strategy about the rest of our trip. We decided to spend the day taking care of administration things: taking money, buying bus tickets to Honduras, making reservations etc. After breakfast at Amsterdam Cafe, right in the central park, we went to the travel agency to book our day trip to the Masaya volcano the next day, and we stoped on La Calzada to have a drink on the main street in Granada, watching the world pass by. We walked to the TransNica terminal to buy our tickets from Managua to Tegucigalpa, Honduras and we quickly discovered that Lonely Planet's maps are not always reliable, as the agency was a few blocks away from where it was indicated in the guidebook. We did find it eventually, after asking around, and booked our tickets, and as soon as we were finished, heavy rain set in, so we sat around waiting for it to stop. Eventually we decided to just hop into a cab to take us back at the hostel.

Once the rain stopped, we walked over to have dinner at the rib place that I discovered with Eric and Kellie back in February, but they did not open until 6pm, so we went back to La Merced and climbed the stairs into the tower to get a view of Granada from above. We took lots of pictures, watched the kids drumming and shaking around the giant puppets that are traditional to Nicaragua, and then, right at 6 pm, this guy comes up and barely gives us a few seconds notice before he starts pulling the ropes to ring the church bells. At least I had enough time to plug my ears, but Marisa was caught off guard while she was taking a picture of some other tourists, and she was so startled that she almost dropped their camera. With out ears still ringing, we went for dinner at Jimmy Three Fingers', had great food in a really nice atmosphere (though more Gringo-like than I am used to), then we returned to Hostal Dorado for the evening, using the internet and watching movies before going to sleep.

San Jose & Volcan Poas

2008-08-27T14:36:00.013-06:00

I spent the next few days taking a break from traveling, catching up on writing and generally relaxing, waiting for Josh and Marisa to join me on the trek through Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. Unfortunately, things did not start on the right foot, as their flight connection in Miami was almost 6 hours late, due to weather, so instead of picking them up from the airport and going for dinner, I grabbed a cab at around 1:30am, since it is not a good idea to take buses that late or walk around on the streets. The important thing is that they arrived safe and sound, though obviously really tired, yet in all the excitement of seeing eachother, we ended up staying up until about 4am, catching up and making plans for our route. Since we had to buy tickets to head to Granada in person in San Jose, we took a day trip so that they can see the Costa Rican capital (which we just about covered in less than 3 hours). Another set back was the fact that the next day's bus was already full, so time for adjustments yet again, deciding to visit the Poas Volcano since we had an extra day in the country.

For the rest of the afternoon we walked around the main pedestrian street, taking pictures of the cow statues (similar to the Moose project in Toronto), stopping at the National Theatre as well. In typical Costa Rican fashion for this time of the year, it started raining heavily in the early afternoon, so both Marisa and I made wise investments into one umbrella for each, which has come in very handy ever since! To get some last minute supplies for the trip, we went to the Mercado Central, walked through it for a bit, then sat down at one of the typical comedores and had a really huge lunch. Having realised there is not much else to do in San Jose, we got back on the bus and returned to Alajuela for the night.

We woke up much earlier and more rested the next day, and after breakfast we packed our daypacks and went to the TUASA terminal, where we joined the line of Gringos waiting for the once-a-day bus to Volcan Poas. Last time I was there I was traveling with a couple who had a car, so this bus trip was new for me as well. We really lucked out as we ended up getting the last available seats on the bus, thus sparing us having to stand for the hour and a half trip. At one point the bus made a rest stop at a soda along the way, and we shared a good laugh when some of the tourists thought the food was free! Guess they never heard the expression there is no such thing as a free lunch. Eventually we arrived at the park, paid the entrance fee and headed straight for the crater, since I knew that later on in the day the clouds obscure the crater and then the rain sets in.

We were really lucky and had about a 20 minute window when everything was clear and got a chance to take lots of photos; it was a good thing we brought warmer clothes as it is fairly cold and windy at that altitude (over 2500 m). After admiring the active crater and the poisonous cloud it expelled, we headed down the path towards the dormant crater, which now has a lake filling it. We got to see the laguna, which was better than the view I had the first time around, and about 15 minutes after we got there, a huge dark cloud moved in and it didn't just start to rain, it started to pour. We took shelter under the cover of a small cabin, hoping it would go away quickly, but it soon became evident we weren't going to be that lucky. With umbrellas in hand, we slowly made our way back to the visitors' centre, where we walked around the shop and the small museum that explains the history of the volcano. The storm was so strong that even the power went out for a while, and our bus driver was nice enough to pull the bus right up to the entrance, sparing us another walk in the rain to the parking lot. We (again) got the last seats on the bus, and I don't know how, but I managed to squeeze in a small nap before we returned to Alajuela, where we had dinner at Coffee Dreams Cafe before returning to the hotel to pack our stuff to head to Nicaragua the next day.

Last day in Cahuita

2008-07-13T22:19:00.016-06:00

I woke up in the morning, looked outside and I was thrilled to see not a cloud in the sky; after having breakfast at Sol y Mar, I went straight to the beach, where I parked myself for the remainer of the day. I managed to read an entire book that day, and in between did some swimming and suntanning (not that those activites cannot be combined). I took a break to head to the entrace to the park to have some fresh fruit from the stand, and got to see monkeys for one last time before leaving the Caribbean side. Later in the afternoon, I spent some time watching the crabs hurry across the sand in search of food, ocasionally bumping into me since they happened to walk sideways. I took a really nice video of a crab running away from the incoming waves and then returning in a futile attempt to relocate his hole, which was already closed up and filled with water. In the evening, I satisfied my craving for chinese food one last time, and returned to Riverside where I made new friends. The people staying in the cabina next to mine were a couple from Montreal, both high school teachers, and we spent the entire evening together, laughing and talking. I even got to practice (to a VERY limited extent) my french listening skills, and I gave them as much advice as possible about where to go in Costa Rica, especially since they had rented a car and had more freedom than the public buses allow. They were still jetlagged so they turned in early, while I stayed up a little bit longer listening to my iPod and reading my book. A really sketchy and most likely strung out guy showed up out of nowhere and asked me for money - I said I didn't have any though he did already eye the bag of change that I had sitting on the table, right next to the iPod and the speakers. I got away with giving him a cigarette and cracking a few jokes before he walked off, so I wisely decided to retire inside of the room. It wasn't even ten minutes later that he returned, obviously wanting more than just a smoke. I ingored his comments since I was locked in and behind bars (which in this case is a good thing!), so I continued reading my book before going to sleep, since I had a full day of travel ahead of me in the morning.

I finally had to peel myself away from the beach, the national park and the monkeys, packed my bags and said goodbye to Big Boy yet again. I headed to the bus terminal, only to find out that I may not have a seat on the way to San Jose; I spent ten minutes nervously chewing on my nails while the guy at the ticket booth radioed the bus to find out the number of people already on it. I ended up with the last possible seat, my favourite, right in the middle of the back bench on the bus, reminiscent of my first trip towards the Caribbean. Yet again the bus stopped at a police checkpoint and for the third time in two days I had to show my passport to prove I was in the country legally, making me question the priorities of the police in Costa Rica. The rest stop in Puerto Limon was extended by a good half an hour while the bus driver and a mechanic attempted to fix a transmission problem that threatened the entire ride back to the central valley. They did patch up the problem, and their solution seemed to last at least long enough to get to our destination, though almost an hour behind schedule. I quickly made my way across San Jose and grabbed a TUASA bus for Alajuela, where I spent the next few days getting ready for the arrival of Josh and Marisa, while also working to update the blog and take care of administrative things (such as receiving a new credit card since apparently my number was 'compromised' though they wouldn't tell me where or how). Soon enough, after my friends' arrival, I knew that I was about to head into Nicaragua and then further up to Honduras, for some fun in the sun and many more dives ahead.

Returning to Costa Rica

2008-07-13T21:30:00.026-06:00

I managed to get up early in the morning to finish packing my backpack; I said goodbye to Katherine and her dogs, left her Marciel's snorkels and then started the sad walk on the main street towards the boats. This time around I was able to get tickets for Changuinola since I really wanted to see the canal again, and it looked like the water level was not a problem, at least not in the morning. While I was waiting for the boat, I met a group of three travelers (one dutch, one french and one belgian) and we spent some time talking and sharing travel stories and giving eachother recommendations for places to stay. We all got on the same boat and started the hour long trip back to the main land. As we left the dock, I took a few more pictures and then said goodbye to Bocas, knowing that I will be returning in just a few months' time. We passed by the Wreck dive site and continued to follow the shores of the island until we reached the end, where I got one last glimpse at playa Boca del Drago. Then we left the ocean and proceeded along the canal, which runs parallel to the beach but more so inland; along the way we passed by people's houses, with the requisite canoes 'parked' in front. Everytime we went past one of those, the boat did slow down as to not create too much of a wake, and the same thing happened when we came across a log drifting through the canal; we could feel the bottom of the boat hitting in everytime we passed over it.

We arrived at Changuinola safe and sound, got off the boat and right away we were wisked into a waiting cab (more like a minibus) to take us to Guabito, the border crossing on the Panamanian side. After passing through the numerous banana plantations and paying $10 for the ride, I arrived at the border where I left Panama without a problem, since I actually had a tourist card this time, unlike my first return from the country a few months before. I was a bit worried about re-entering Costa Rica, since you have to show proof that you have a plane ticket booked; I do have one, but my return date is way beyond the 90 day tourist visa that everyone receives. I prepared my story (in spanish of course), but luckily that wasn't necessary as I received my entry stamped and I was asked to move aside so that they can get through the line up. There were considerably more people at the border than any other time I had been there, so I credit the crowd for the quick 'escape'. As soon as I had received my stamp, a guy came up to me to ask me where I was going and pointed me in the direction of the 'bus driver' to Cahuita. I was a bit skeptical right away, since the MEPE drivers don't sit at the border to solicit customers, and I was proven right: the 'bus' driver really drove a private van, and he would have been more than happy to take me to my destination for an increased price. Knowing the schedule of the public buses, I wisely declined, walked down a few steps and sat by the MEPE station, waiting for about 30 minutes before the real driver showed up. This time I didn't even need to put my bag underneath the bus (bonus) and I settled in for the hour and a half drive back to Cahuita, which would have been even longer should the bus had taken the detour through Puerto Viejo.

The cops jumped on the bus not once but twice in that period of time, checking everyone's id cards or passports; of course they were looking for people who illegally entered the country or those who have overstayed their 90 day visa. I understand performing that check once, but twice seemed a bit excessive and a waste of public resources...after all there are many other crimes that they should focus their energy and resources on, but who am I to judge? The important thing is that I made it back to Cahuita, walked down from the bus terminal and then proceeded to look for Big Boy since there was only one cabina left vacant at Riverside. I couldn't find him after asking around town, and eventually the guy who looks after the garden at the place offered to go to big Boy's house to see if he was there; he did find him and I was very thankful for that. I met again with the group of three Europeans who I traveled with from Bocas, and they invited me to stay with them, but I couldn't really do it since I had already promised Big Boy I would return, and that would not have looked good on me at all. It is important to maintain contacts in the various places I am traveling to!

After leaving my bags in the room, I wanted to make the most of the rest of the day, so I headed straight back to the beach in the national park. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the beach, swimming and watching the howler monkeys. I even got to see a sloth sitting in a tree after someone pointed it out for me, so I was overall really happy to spend a few more days at the beach before returning to the central valley. I didn't return to Riverside until it got dark, and even Big Boy and Peck started to get worried since I normally didn't come back that late, but it didn't rain that day so I wanted to make the most of it. I went for dinner at Cha Cha Cha's again, feeding the resident cats as part of my ritual, then returned back to the cabinas, grabbed a few beers and went to join the three Europeans who were living in the house next door. We spent a few hours chatting about our travel experiences before they decided to turn in, since they wanted to travel all the way from the bottom of the Caribbean coast through San Jose, aiming to arrive in La Fortuna by night fall.

Last days in Bocas

2008-07-12T21:33:00.024-06:00

Since I said ´weather permitting´, of course mother nature played a cruel joke the following morning...I woke up to a cloudy day, and though I headed to Starfleet to see if they would be running a trip that day (I wanted to get two more dives as well), I soon learned this was not going to be that day. As I stood on the deck at Starfleet, I could see the curtain of rain slowly making its way closer to the island, and I realized that noone was going anywhere that morning. I even saw the boats from the other companies, which had already left on their tours, turning around and returning to their docks, so I knew this would be a total write off day. I left Starfleet with the promise to come back the next morning, and spent the rest of the day just relaxing at La Veranda, reading and chatting with other travelers. That´s when I met Desiree, one of the group of seven Dutch tourists who were traveling along with their tour guide through Costa Rica and Panama. We spent some time talking together before she left with her group to go out for dinner. I went out soon after and returned to La Veranda just in time, as the power went out. Soon after Jodie and Amanda returned from the town as well, and they told everyone that a generator blew up on the main street, right as they were walking past it!

As Marciel soon after told us, this could have meant that the power would be out for the remainder of the evening, until the morning ferry could bring in the necessary replacement parts. He brought all of us candles and we spent a ´romantic´evening sitting and chatting, sharing travel stories and getting to know eachother better. Good thing I asked Amanda about the Bay islands, since she told me about a dive shop that I should definitely avoid, for reasons that will remain unmentioned here. Eventually the power did come back on that evening, but it was too late to consider going out to one of the parties at the bars by the waterfront, so I spent the rest of the evening at La Veranda.

The following morning I was still feeling the effects of the flu that I got a few days before, so even though it was a beautiful, sunny day, I couldn´t get myself motivated to go out until late in the afternoon. I spent the morning doing admin tasks, taking care of my laundry, reading for a bit, but most of all catching up on sleep so that my body could recover. Eventually I made my way to Playa Ismito, the beach closest to town and also on Isla Colon, which didn´t require any boat ride, simply a half hour walk to get to a nice spot. I spent a few hours on that beach, reading and watching little kids play in the water and on the basketball court. One of the kids fell sleep in a chair, and his friends had a blast tickling him with a straw and watching his startled reaction.

For my last day in Bocas, I wanted to make my way to the Red Frog beach; as opposed to taking a $10 water taxi plus paying the $2 entrance fee (since this is a private beach that is being developed for a resort), I decided to take the poor man´s choice and head to Playa Wizard and then walk the rest of the way along the shore line. So I got on a boat to Bastimentos, and it had to be one of the shakiest rides I have ever taken; there was a storm looming over the ocean, and the waves, even in between the islands, were among the biggest I have ever been on. The boat was jumping up and down each wave so much that a few times I thought we were going to topple over. As we approached Bastimentos and got into the bay, the water was a bit calmer, though I have to say I almost kissed the ground as I got off the boat and away from the dock. As I was walking across the island to get to Playa Wizard, I started hearing thunder and I was wondering if I even made the right decision to come there that day. I did continue on however, and reached the beach, happy to see that I was not the only person there; because of the looming storm I decided to stay there for a while, since at least there were a few huts where I could seek shelter should the rain come down.

I watched a few surfers brave the high waves, took some pictures and even caught a nap between reading my book; I wanted to finish it so that I could trade it in for a new one before leaving the island the next morning. As it started to get dark, I wisely walked back together with the last group of people (again power in numbers is always a good idea) and returned to Bastimentos. I got a chance to take a few more pictures of the island as the sun was setting before sitting on the dock to wait for a water taxi. As I got dropped off on Isla Colon, I passed by Starfleet one last time, both to collect my signed divelog and also to say goodbye to all the friends I made there for the last two weeks. After that I returned to La Veranda, where I started the process of packing up all my stuff, getting ready for the trip and the border crossing back to Costa Rica the following morning.

Boca del Drago

2008-07-12T20:46:00.027-06:00

Woke up to a beautiful day, and I didn´t want to waste a second of it; my plan for the day was to head to Boca del Drago, on the other side of Isla Colon. I never got a chance to see this place the first time around in Bocas, and I had heard that it has a beach that is littered with starfish, from one end to the other. By the time I arrived in the Central Park I had already missed the bus and had to wait close to two hours for the next one, so I stopped by Starfleet to say hello to what I now consider to be ´old friends´and talked to them for a while. I returned to the park with plenty of time to spare since I didn´t want to miss the next bus, so I sat on a bench and talked to a really nice lady who kept me company for the hour. She told me all about her life in Bocas, how she quit smoking (I had to step away from her to have a cigarette) and even encouraged me to buy a lottery ticket so that maybe, just maybe, I would win the $4,000 jackpot; ironically the ticket I got was in the ´gemini´series, since it was a horroscope draw, but as I found out later it just wans´t my lucky day. She wisely advised me to get on the bus right as it was dropping people off, though it still had to make the roundabout in the city, since otherwise I would have had to stand for the entire one hour ride across the island.

At times the road was almost washed away because of the recent rains, and with each trip the ticket guy would get off the bus and move a few more rocks out of the way. At times the road took us through some really thick jungle, and I got a much better idea of how big Isla Colon really is! I eventually reached Boca del Drago, and right away I saw Amanda and Jodie (two girls who were staying at La Veranda) waiting for the bus to return to the main city. They told me that to see the most number of starfish i would have to walk for about half an hour further on the beach, and pointed me in the right direction; they also said that they came across a TV shoot, and sent me on an errand to find out what the show was. As I walked away from the bus stop, I came across yet another familiar face: Renato had set up shop on the main path, selling his hand made bracelets and necklaces. We talked for a few minutes and took a few pictures, and then I continued on my search for the starfish. After walking for about twenty minutes along the shore, I came across this girl, a production assistant, who asked me to walk through the jungle so that I won´t distrub the show. Of course I complied, but only after asking a few questions and learning that MTV was shooting a TV show entitled ´The Island´, which is a cross between "The Real World" and "Survivor", based on how she described it.

It was interesting to see a reality show being filmed, and to get an accurate idea of how large of a support crew is necessary to bring the final product to the small screen; when you watch any of those shows back home, you never get to see the cameras, or the crew walking around, the catering tables (not for the contestants, obviously) and all the lighting tricks necessary to get those beautiful shots that we see in the final product. After taking a few pictures, I continued my walk and eventually settled on a spot on the relatively small beach; what was small above water as more than made up under water. Though the shallow water gave way to much deeper one very quickly, there were so many starfish around that I didn´t know where to look first. Luckily I still had Marciel´s snorkel, so I spent a lot of time swimming back and forth parallel to the beach, watching and even gathering some starfish along the way, though careful not to keep them above water after the warning that Eddie gave me. I spent a good few hours on the beach, though I did return to Drago much earlier than the arrival time of the bus, since it was the last one for the day and I didn´t want to be stuck taking a cab all the way across the island.

I stopped at the only restaurant in town and had a beer, confident that there were enough seats for all the people left there and that I didn´t have to stand for the entire ride back. I returned to Bocas with enough time to shower and change before going out for dinner with Eddie and Sasha. I wanted to take them out to thank them for their hospitality and everything they had done for me during my time on the island. We headed to Rum Runners, an indonesian restaurant that they had yet to try, and we enjoyed a really nice dinner together. We talked at length about the differences in lifestyles between Central and North America, and continued to make plans for the future. I already told them that I will be returning to Bocas in the next few months, and hopefully by then their two apartments in their home would be ready so that I will be able to stay with them. As the evening came to an end, we parted ways, said goodbye and they headed home while I returned to La Veranda. I was planning on going on the boat tour of the Dolphin Bay, Cayo Coral and Red Frog beach the next morning, weather permitting of course!

Advanced open water Pt. 2

2008-07-11T09:49:00.021-06:00

The next morning I resumed the dive course, showing up at Starfleet early in the morning. The first dive was the navigation one, and for that I was joined by a few other people who were just completing their open water certification. We returned to the wreck (Eddie even laughed that we were there just over 12 hours before), and I already felt an increased sense of responsibility towards the others in the group. My diving buddy was doin the navigation for the first course, which involves going in a straight line for 20 kicks, then turning 180 degrees and returning to the instructor (with the aid of a compass of course), whereas I had to perform not only that task, but also navigating in a square and a triangle pattern. The whole idea of the exercise was to learn how to use and to rely on the compass; I did fine with the triangle and the straight line, but I lost track of the number of kicks since I was too busy concentrating on the compass, so my square was a little warped. Luckily the visibility was good enough that we were able to find our way back. Once the homework was out of the way, we were free to explore the wreck and the corals around the site; I got to see the symmetrical brain coral, the wire coral and the devil’s whip, and since I had the camera, got to take a number of great pictures along the way. After about 50 minutes, Eddie gave us the thumbs up sign and we started surfacing towards the boat; after returning to Starfleet, I helped out the guys at the shop to clear out the boat and put the equipment away. I was a bit fazed that some of the divers didn’t even bother to put their own stuff away let alone help out with the rest, but for me it was good practice should I become a divemaster later on. We took a break for lunch before returning for the second dive.

In the afternoon, it was just Eddie and I for the buoyancy dive, which was the item I had most problems with, ever since the open water course. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I knew it had to be done; first up, once we were underwater, I had to maintain my position and adjust the depth simply using the air inside of my lungs. It took a good few minutes to get that down, then the next test was to hover in a lotus position (similar to yoga) without tipping over side to side or going up or down. After a few tries, I got that down too, and we continued to the last buoyancy test, which I found very similar to a circus performance. I had to swim through this wire square, controlling my level simply with my lungs again, without putting any more air into my BCD (the vest you wear underwater). Once all the chores were out of the way, we were free to enjoy the rest of the dive, swimming above the corals and taking lots of pictures. There weren´t that many fish around, but I got so many pictures of many different types of corals that I filled the memory card; that´s the great thing about digital, I just emptied the card and it was ready for the next morning. After the dives, I went for dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Bocas, and unfortunately my craving for really good chinese food went unfulfilled...the noodles were really soft and moist, not fried and crunchy as I was expecting, so I probably would not recommend the restaurant to anyone else, nor will I return there.

Because of all my efforts in helping out at the dive shop (or maybe simply because I am a nice guy), Eddie offered me a free dive after completing my course, so I had two more to do in my last day. For the first one, we headed to a site called The Log, and as soon as we started submerging, we saw a stingray circling around us. It was the first time that I had seen one outside of an aquarium, and it was a great sight, though it was too far away for us to take any pictures. We also saw an eyed flounder, scale worms, lots of parrot fish and a cushion sea star. I also took some pictures of the other divers who went with us, and I offered to share the pictures with them if they wanted to send me an email, so the ball is in their court. As our time came to an end, Manuel, my divemaster, gave us all the thumbs up sign and we started surfacing towards the boat. We returned to Starfleet for a change of tanks, and we were joined by four other people for my last dive. We went back to the Hospital Point, where, for the first time, Angel was my dive master (I thought he only drove the boat, but I was obviously wrong). We dove down the coral reef wall, and with my newly learned buoyancy skills, I was able to hover just above the reef so I can take a closer look at the corals and the underwater life living within it. Unfortunately I couldn´t take the camera on the last dive as there was something wrong with the flash and it was possibly leaking some water inside of the case.

I did see a lot of life there though, including the flat needle fish, trumpet fish and a whole school of parrot fish. Also saw lots of lobsters hiding in the crevaces and one huge (obviously) giant hermit crab; Angel also pointed out a spotted drum fish, though it took me a while to understand the signal for it and I almost missed it. As I was about to finish my last dive for the time being, I learned one last important lesson: when surfacing always hold one hand above your head while releasing the air from the BCD. I was wondering why I couldn´t see the boat anywhere, and then I realised, as my hand touched something, that the boat was literally right over my head. If I wouldn´t have done that, I could have bumped my head right against the hull. Luckily, I pushed myself over just in time, and got to the boat safely. With that (unfortunately) my advanced course came to an end, though I already knew that I didn´t have long to wait before resuming diving in the Bay islands, a place that rivals none except for the Great Barrier reef in its beauty, from what I heard. I will fill you in on the details once I get there; in the meanwhile, I returned to Starfleet, put away all my gear and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Caribbean burger place before heading to bed since I was so tired from all the day´s activities.

Advanced open water Pt. 1

2008-07-09T22:34:00.014-06:00

I had put off the course for long enough, and it was time to get started. Eddie told me that I could show up later in the morning, so I had some time to get my readings done before arriving at Starfleet. First on the list was the deep dive, and I was really looking forward to being 30 meters below sea level; after getting all my gear together, Eddie and I went through the ‘briefing’. To illustrate the point that your skills get affected by the extra pressure, he had me perform some math problems (addition, subtraction and multiplication) at the surface, the same problems that he would have me perform under water. My time on the surface was 2:28, and in theory that should take me longer underwater; with that out of the way, we got in the boat (driven by Manuel this time) and drove to our site, Manuel’s wall (no relation). This was another coral reef wall that went actually deeper than 30 meters, but it would not be safe to go beyond that. We slowly descended, in order to give ourselves time to equalize; the first thing I realized is how little light gets through at that depth. Eddie showed me his dive computer as it flashed ‘DEEP’ to indicate we arrived at 30 meters, he had me kneel down on the sand and gave me the same math problems.

It really felt as if I was doing everything is slow motion, and I thought I took over 5 minutes to solve the equations. After that, Eddie wrote on the table that I should put down my address backwards; I promptly ignored the last word and I was really happy with how quickly I wrote it down. However he looked at my answer, puzzled, and the underlined the word ‘backwards’ so I had to do it again. Once that was out of the way, we started ascending to a safer depth, searching for the safety stop; since we were performing a deep dive, the oxygen gets depleted much faster and a 5 minute safety stop is mandatory. To facilitate the process, an extra air tank and regulators are suspended from the boat at the recommended 5 meter depth, and even before we started the dive I asked Eddie to use the emergency air for practice purposes. Because of poor visibility, it took some time to locate the safety stop, and at one point, Eddie turned to me and offered his secondary regulator. I didn’t understand why at the time, but later he explained that he wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough air to make it all the way to the surface. Good thing that I can follow instructions and ask questions later: I took his secondary regulator, and soon after we found the safety stop, where I switched to the spare regulator. After waiting the required 5 minutes, we surfaced and hopped onto the boat; it wasn’t until we returned to Starfleet that I got both the good and the bad news. The good news was that (surprisingly) I performed better at the math test under water than above: 2 minutes vs. 2:28, which really goes against the theory. The not so good news was that I couldn’t write my address backwards: I wrote Picking for the city, not Pickering; so we had a good laugh over that one!

I was feeling really tired after the deep dive, so I got the afternoon off, and I promptly went back to La Veranda and had a nap for a few hours, to recharge my batteries for the night dive. I originally wanted to do a night dive after I got my open water certification, but it kept on getting cancelled and I had to leave Bocas, but this time around it was part of my curriculum. I arrived back at Starfleet by the time it got dark, in order to watch the instructional video before getting ready. We then loaded the boat and headed for the wreck, a dive site that I had explored before during the day, but at night everything was different. Angel was driving the boat, and I went diving with Eddie (obviously since he was my instructor), Kevin and Manuel (a different Manuel than before – I know this can get confusing). I got into the water, and it took me a minute to find my bearings, considering that it feels much different diving at night; good thing I am not claustrophobic. Not only that, but I was holding so much more equipment: 2 flashlights and I insisted on bringing an underwater camera, since I wanted to take pictures. After getting my bearings straight it was time to get to work; my homework was to perform a night navigation, purely relying on the compass to find my way back to Eddie. I managed to do just fine, though for a while I was worried what if I wouldn’t be able to find him, but at the end I looked up and I saw Kevin and Manuel above me, making sure that I wouldn’t get lost. After the navigation portion was out of the way, we were free to swim around and explore the nightlife; I guess I had a slightly different expectation about the night dive. From what I have heard from other people, I built a mental image similar to Disney’s ‘Little Mermaid’ – an ‘under the sea’ paradise. While it was still a great dive, it wasn’t anything like that, though I did get to see more lobsters, crabs and even a large eye toadfish. I did manage to take some pictures before it was time to return to the surface.

Back in the boat, my first impression was that there was a power outage on Isla Colon – there wasn’t a single light in sight. We had to use our diving flashlights to illuminate the way back to the dive shop, and at one point Eddie took control of the boat from Angel to navigate through the coral reefs. We made our way back to Starfleet, and while unloading the equipment and putting everything away, we also spent time chatting and having a few beers. One by one, all the employees headed home, and just as Eddie was about to leave, I noticed Ann and Ricardo walking down the street. I had met them a few days before while they were staying at La Veranda, and I invited them to join us as well. Eddie went home with his box of new tiles for his pool, and I spent the next hour and a half chatting with the very nice couple. Anne was from Montreal and Ricardo from Tegulcigalpa, Honduras, and they had met while she was doing volunteer work in the country. I told Ricardo that I would be visiting his country in a few weeks, and we exchanged email addressed so that we would keep in touch; in fact he was nice enough to offer to come pick me up from the bus terminal, since apparently the Honduran capital is not safe after dark. While I was chatting with them, a pair of cops approached me to remind me that I was not allowed to drink on the street, though the beer I was having was on the steps of Starfleet. Either way, no sense in arguing with them, so I dumped the rest of it and then started walking with Anne and Ricardo back towards the hotel. Along the way we saw someone getting arrested in front of Mondo Taitu, so the police was really cracking down that evening. I said goodbye to them after promising to stay in touch, then I headed back to La Veranda for some much needed sleep so that I could get some rest before resuming the dives the next morning.

Fun dives in Bocas

2008-07-08T15:30:00.016-06:00

So I started my most recent diving adventure with the two fun dives, to get reacquainted with the equipment and the underwater world. I was joined on these by Manuel, a tourist from

German

y who just got his open water certification, and his wife Ina, who came along to snorkel while we went diving. Along for the ride were Eddie, who acted as the boat captain for the day, and another Manuel (easy to keep track of names), one of the dive masters from Starfleet, who I later found out was Rohman’s cousin – Bocas is a small world after all. After getting our equipment, we headed to Hospital Point, right off Isla Solarte, aptly named as this island used to house the old hospital in Bocas around the turn of the last century, when communicable diseases made it practical to set up the operation away from the more populated islands. I had to take a moment to adjust my weights before finally submerging, but soon after we found ourselves diving along a huge coral reef wall that was about 15 meters high submerged in the water. Had a great time observing all different kinds of corals, and we were lucky enough to see a few lobsters and crabs as well as trumpet fish. After about 45 minutes under, we did a 5 minute stop and then surfaced and got back on the boat. Because of the high price of gas, Eddie was very smart in already packing the extra air tanks in the boat so that we didn’t have to return to Starfleet before our second dive.

Instead we drove around Hospital point and onto a dock where we tied the boat, or at least attempted to; right away an old guy came running out of his house, the same guy I saw at the Iguana who nailed the hook game on the first try. Turns out that he owns quite a large property on Isla Solarte, and he started freaking out that we should be tying the boat to the dock, since apparently someone did that before and toppled the dock over, causing damage in excess of $5,000. We didn’t want to get into a confrontation so we simply anchored the boat in the bay without tying it down. We walked on the island to visit some of Eddie’s friends, who were really nice and welcoming and offered us coffee and water (which was really welcomed after the amount of salt water I took in while diving). We spent the surface time taking pictures, talking to our hosts and playing with their dog Ajax; right as we were about to leave and head back to the boat, Manuel showed us a seashell that had a lizard inside protecting its eggs – too bad the pictures didn’t turn out, but at least we got to see it.

For the second dive, we went to site called the Bowline, where we got to see more lobsters, blue striped lizard fish, and starfish. At one point Manuel (the dive master) told me to stay put, while taking Manuel (the diver) further away; I was a bit confused thinking that the buddy system was being abandoned, and I couldn’t understand why. It turns out that he saw a school of about 30 caribbean reef squid, and we all approached them from different sides so that we can observe them before they got scared at scattered about. Later in the dive, we saw an eal, a bridled burrfish (the ones that puff up when they feel threatened) and even a spotted moray – too bad I didn’t have an underwater camera for these dives. When we surfaced again, Eddie invited all of us to his house for a barbeque, so we headed to our respective hotels to change and get ready for the party in the evening. But before that, as we returned to Starfleet to pack up our gear, Ina saw a number of starfish in the water, so we all jumped back in and played around with them, taking pictures and clowning around before Eddie warned us not to keep the starfish for so long out of the water. I felt a bit guilty since the last thing that I wanted to do is to harm the marine life in the area.

I stopped by the store to get a bottle of wine for our hosts, and a few beers, then went home to shower, change and get ready. Since Manuel and Ina did not know where Eddie’s house was, I told them to meet me in the central park so that we can go there together. I was running a bit behind schedule, so I went to meet with them, took them to Eddie’s place then returned to La Veranda to finish getting ready. I spent some time talking to Stan and Marcel, two guys who were also staying at the same hotel. We exchanged emails since they were leaving the following morning, and then went back to Eddie’s house. By the time I got there the party was in full swing, and I got to see even more familiar faces, including Manuel and Kevin (dive masters from Starfleet), as well as meeting new people, including the now retired vice president of Morgan Stanley, who also had taken up scuba diving as a retirement hobby. He lived in Costa Rica with his current wife, but often came to Bocas to train the police forces in underwater search and recovery. The plan was changed a bit, as apparently Sasha lent their barbeque to another family, so instead we had some delicious rice and shrimp and salad – it was so good in fact that we were savoring every bite, leading Sasha to believe that we didn’t like it, which could not have been any further from the truth. We took lots of pictures of our time together, and watched a soccer game where unfortunately Panama lost, though I cannot remember who they played against. Also learned during that evening that Sasha and Eddie were born on the same day, on the same year, at the same hospital, so they had been together since the first minutes of their lives… it cannot get any more romantic than that! I had such a good time in fact that I was the last one to leave despite repeated requests for them to let me know if I was overstaying my welcome.

Though I was supposed to start my course the next day, it was raining pretty heavily, so I walked over to Starfleet and asked Eddie if I can postpone it by another day. On the way back from the dive shop, I ran into Ina and Manuel again, who also decided to extend their stay in Bocas by another day. I sat with them talking at the Golden Grill for a while, and I convinced Manuel to trade books with the one I had just finished. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing at the hotel, since it rained throughout, and in the evening I went to a pizzeria on the main street, where I ran into them one last time. I gave Manuel my book and he left his at Starfleet, and with that we said out goodbyes and I wished them luck on their journey back to Germany.

Playa Wizard

2008-07-08T11:19:00.011-06:00

After breakfast, I decided to head to Playa Wizard, since I had not been there before, despite spending two weeks in Bocas. I got a water taxi and quickly learned another effect of the increased gas prices, as the cost to get across to Isla Bastimentos also went up from $2.50 to $3, but I guess that was to be expected. Bastimentos is different from the other islands that make up the Bocas archipelago since there are no roads and no cars, which is a good thing considering that most of the island is protected as a national park. I got off the boat and started walking on the path, knowing that I had about a 20 minute or half an hour trek before getting to the beach on the other side. I was a bit weary about making the walk since I had heard from many people, including Rohman, about numerous thefts on gringos along the way. Luckily the worse thing that happened is that I took a wrong turn somewhere, and after walking up 60 steps I found myself at the cemetery – obviously not my intended destination. I return to the bottom of the hill and found the right path, and soon after I came across a stray dog that accompanied me, leading the way until I arrived at the beach. Playa Wizard is a very wide, white sand beach, perfect for surfers since the waves were pretty big and the current also fairly strong. I spent the entire day here, with the dog as my constant companion, though all I had to offer were a few chips. To my surprise I saw cops patrolling the beach, which automatically increased my level of confidence about being there – they stopped over and had a little chat with everyone on the beach, making sure that everyone was okay and reassuring all of us that they would be around should anything go wrong, though their simple presence would be a deterrent to anyone who might have considered trying something.

Later on I also met Nilo, who was the resident security guard at the beach, and I learned a number of interesting things from him. He stayed on the beach not only throughout the day but at night as well, and he assured me that it would be safe (and free) to camp on the beach. If I had a tent, I probably would have taken him up on the offer since I always wanted to camp out on a beach, so I told him next time I will be in Bocas I would bring a tent with me. He told me lots of stories that happened in the four years that he has been a security guard, and showed me some of the shells he used in his shotgun – all in all a fun time. We took a few pictures and I promised that I would send him copies as well. Towards the late afternoon, I noticed the crowd on the beach was thinning out, so I decided to make my way back to Bastimentos by the time the last group left, since I am a firm believer in power in numbers. I took the boat back to Isla Colon, and got to La Veranda as it started pouring rain, so I stayed in for the evening.

The following morning it was still raining, so I stayed in until it stopped, then headed to Starfleet, where I got the book for the course and made plans with Eddie to start the dives the next day. The course included 5 specialty dives, including a deep dive, night dive, navigation, buoyancy and underwater photography (!), and just like before, for taking the course with Starfleet I would also receive two free fun dives. Eddie’s advice was to start with the fun dives, to give me a chance to readjust to the equipment and overall with being underwater, so we made plans to get together early the next day. Walking back on the main street, another chance encounter: Erick, the guy who sold us the snorkeling, dolphin bay and red frog beach tour in March, also recognized me and seemed genuinely happy to see me (though I am sure for him that counted as another potential sale). I met Kim and Zoe again as well, and we made plans to go for dinner that evening. We went to Bongos café, where aside from enjoying dinner and a really good ceviche (almost raw fish lightly cooked in a lime sauce), we had live music from two guys who did a really good job with Bob Marley covers. After dinner, we returned to the Iguana bar, where we hung out for a few hours; by 11pm, the crowd started to thin out, as many were heading to Barco Hundido for a bikini contest (apparently this was the follow-up to a surfing competition earlier in the day). I debated going, not being sure simply because they were charging cover to get in, and knowing the place would be pretty packed. Kim and Zoe went ahead to the other bar, while I stayed behind, striking a conversation with an extremely drunk girl from Vancouver – I was surprised she was still able to stand by that point, since she had lost track of how many drinks she had. I told her about the tried and tested method of keeping a tally on your arm for every drink, but I don’t think she recalled that even 30 seconds later. Kim and Zoe returned from Barco Hundido, telling me the bikini contest was quite a disappointment, as most of the girls on stage should not have been in such attire even on the beach, let alone in a bar where everyone was gawking at them. I was happy that I made the right decision, but soon after I had to say goodbye and head back to La Veranda, since I wanted to be rested for diving the next day.

Isla Carenero

2008-07-08T11:17:00.012-06:00

The next morning I had breakfast at the Golden Grill, the closest thing to the Golden Griddle back home, mainly for their great coffee. As the skies were beginning to clear, I decided to head to Isla Carenero to the beach, ,but first I returned to La Veranda, where I finally saw and said hello to Rohman, and also asked him for a snorkel since I knew he had some in his office at the Backpackers place. I walked to the docks, and didn’t have to go very far before someone approached me about a boat. I took the short ride to the Aqua lounge, the hostel built over water, hence the name, and then walked around the island to the other side, through the small village and past numerous hotels and bars, including the Pickled Parrot, a name that always makes me laugh. Finally reaching the beach, I jumped into the water and went snorkeling all the way to the point where the waves were breaking off in the distance on the coral reef. I didn’t see as many fish as in Cahuita, but hey, this was free, so who could complain about it!

Back on the beach, I started playing with a really nice dog, throwing sticks into the water, and she was really well trained as she always brought it back and waited patiently for me to throw it again. Later on I met her owner, Heather, and learned the dog’s name was Luna; I actually remember seeing Heather (though I didn’t meet her) the first time I was in Bocas. This time around we spoke for a while and I learned that she was into yoga and heavily involved in the setup of a new yoga centre about to open in Bocas. She also mentioned that she offered ‘holistic healing’ sessions for about $60 for a half an hour, which I considered a total rip-off aimed at rich tourists – really, where you are surrounded by so much beauty, who needs to pay money to feel good? Not only that, but in an hour she would make as much as the locals would make in one week, if not more, but I didn’t say anything and played nice. Right next to me on the beach there was only a nice couple with their young (and really cute) daughter, and it looked like it was her first time on the beach, as she was afraid to get into the water, and would only go in held in her father’s arms.

Later on in the afternoon, a girl walked over and asked me if I had the time – we both froze for half a second and I realized it was Kim, the French girl I met in Cahuita a few days before. We were thrilled to see each other again, and spent a bit of time talking before she went further on the beach, to get her friend Zoe and Chela (the cute little dog from Ecuador). They returned in a little while and we all sat on the beach hanging out and taking pictures while they waited for their water taxi. They told me that since they were short on money, they worked out a deal with the hostel where they were staying at, working a few hours a day in return for free bed and free drinks. Their hostel, the Big Kahuna, was owned by the same people who run the Iguana bar, so all they had to do was to walk up and down the main street for a few hours in the afternoon handing out flyers to promote their events. We made plans to get together later on in the evening, and I stayed behind for a bit longer after they left; as it started getting dark I started walking back to Aqua lounge, where I took a water taxi back. This time the guy dropped me off at Barco Hundido, and I walked around for a bit, taking pictures and thinking of the contrast between how empty it was now versus how incredibly packed the place was during Semana Santa – that seemed like a different world back then.

In the evening, I headed back into town to meet with Kim and Zoe, and as I walking down the main street, I heard my name being called out, which automatically stopped me in my tracks since I am not Bob or Mike. There was Eddie, my instructor for the open water scuba diving course I took with Starfleet, who gave me a really nice welcome and we stayed to talk for a bit, while I was told him that I wanted to enroll in the advanced course this time around. We made plans to get together the next day, and I went to meet with Kim and Zoe. We had dinner at El Chitre (yes, it’s called the sand flea!), very much a ‘budget restaurant’ where you can get a full plate of food for $3 or less, then I decided to join the girls at the Iguana bar for ladies’ night. While they went to change and get ready, I went to sit in the main park for a while, and there I ran into Eddie again, who was there with his wife Sasha and Kevin, one of the other dive masters from Starfleet. They invited me to join them at Boumfaulks, but I told them that I was meeting someone else at Iguana, so we went our separate ways. At the Iguana bar, I could see that the girls did a great job promoting it, since it filled up pretty quickly. We found a table where we sat and talked and had a few drinks, watching people play that game with the circle on the string which has to be hooked to a nail in the wall (really a glorified version of the ball and string on a paddle – that’s the best way I can describe it). After a bit of time, a really old guy showed up, and got it done on the first try – we were really impressed, but that also meant that he had been spending way too much time at the place practicing his technique. Also at the Iguana, this guy comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder; I turned around to see Renato, the guy who was selling hand made crafts and who I met back in March when Rohman let him stay in his office during Semana Santa. Again, it was him who recognized me first, adding to the feeling of familiarity I was already experiencing here. We talked for a bit, and then he had to return to his table as he had potential clients surveying his crafts. After a few hours, the Iguana was packed to the brim, and tensions also escalated with the crowds, to the point where I watched a fight almost break out – that was my cue to get going. I said goodbye to the girls, and left the Iguana right as Eddie was walking in; I said hello and told him that I would come by Starfleet the next day to register for the course, and with that I headed home.

Returning to Bocas

2008-07-08T11:16:00.007-06:00

Since I took my sweet time getting ready and having breakfast, I decided to take a later bus towards the border with Panama, so that I can arrive there after their lunch break (the border closes for an hour each day at noon). So I waited for the bus in the centre of Puerto Viejo, then boarded for the 2 hour ride to Sixaola; it was pretty packed so I had to stand for the majority of the ride, but after Bri Bri I managed to find a seat. After making its way through the banana plantations, the bus finally pulled in to the border town. I cleared the Costa Rican customs fairly quickly, then made my way across the bridge to Guabito; having learned from my previous experience, this time I made sure that I asked for a tourism card, since apparently Canadians are not exempt from that policy. Once I passed through the Panamanian customs point, I proceeded to look for a collectivo cab to take me to Changuinola, but I was told that the water level was too low there and that we would have to go to Almirante. At first I suspected it was a ploy to get more money from us, since the cab ride is double the price, but having no other alternative, I had to go through with all the others. Nine people were packed in a small van, and took the hour long trek to the harbour, made even longer because a bridge was under construction and traffic was only moving in one direction at a time, at a snail’s pace. At least once we got to Almirante we didn’t have to wait too long for the boat to get there, and before I knew it, I was on my way to Bocas.

Since Almirante is closer, it only took about 45 minutes to reach Isla Colon, though first I recognized Isla San Cristobal with one of the dive sites that I explored a few months back with Kellie, Eric and Sara. We docked on the main island of Bocas, and right away I was accosted left right and centre by people wanting to recommend hotels so that they can receive their commissions. I tried to make them understand that I had been there before, I knew exactly where I was going and that they wouldn’t receive anything anyway, since I was heading straight to Rohman’s place. Eventually I fought my way through the crowd and started walking on the main street. I was shocked about how familiar everything was (after all I did spend two weeks here the first time around), but also about how quickly things have developed and changed in such a short period of time. Hotels were up and running where there was barely a skeleton structure before, restaurants and bars had opened and closed in just a few months, more streets were being paved. Now I had a better understanding of what Rohman was talking about with regards to the development in Bocas – I think that if I were to return in a few years, the place would be truly unrecognizable.

I arrived at Backpackers, wanting to speak to Rohman, but he wasn’t there so I met Carlos instead; once he heard that I knew his boss, he shook my hand and gave me a very warm welcome, telling me to check at La Veranda. I walked the extra block, but he wasn’t there either, though I did meet Katherine, the owner of the colonial house, and I decided to stay at her place (Rohman manages both anyway). My first order of business after settling in was to take a walk through the town, I waited until it got dark so I can fulfill my craving of having a few Caribbean burgers – at $1.25 each, how can you go wrong?

Manzanillo

2008-07-07T12:08:00.005-06:00

Wanting to visit a new place, I decided to go to Manzanillo, the last village on the road down the Caribbean coast; in order to travel to Panama you would have to backtrack past Puerto Viejo and then take the road inland. So after breakfast, got my beach stuff, grabbed the camera and parked myself in front of Lizard King waiting for the bus. Surprisingly it arrived only a few minutes behind schedule, and I settled in for the half hour ride. About half way there, the bus suddenly comes to a stop and I see everyone crowding by the windows to look at something outside. Of course curiosity got the better of me, so I joined in to see a group of people on the side of the road, one of whom was holding a sloth in his arms like a small baby. Eventually they put it back down in the bushes, and the sloth slowly made its way into the jungle. I arrived in Manzanillo and right away I fell in love with it – such a small, sleepy fishing village, with a very laid back atmosphere.

After taking a few pictures, I started walking on the path towards the jungle, passing so many fishing boats along the way. After crossing a small river and walking for a few more minutes, I came across a small bay with crystal clear water and absolutely secluded – there wasn’t anyone around. I decided to set camp there for the day, and went for a swim in the calm waters, so clear that you could see lots of fish swimming right by my legs. Once out of the water, I returned to my stuff in time to see two lizards chasing one another through the branches, so I sat there quietly and watched them for a while, and managed to get a few nice pictures along the way. After catching a little nap in the afternoon, I started walking back on the path, and something drew me closer to the river I had crossed in the morning. I stopped there for a while, and in the afternoon sunlight, I took a few really good pictures of a fishing boat. I loved it reflection in the calm water, and to top it all off it was painted in the traditional colour and the Costa Rican flag – this has to be one of my favourite pictures so far on this trip. Not wanting to miss the last bus back to Puerto Viejo, I returned to Manzanillo with about an hour to spare, and I spent that time sitting in a park, catching up on my reading, and watching a few kids play around with nothing more than a few sticks. I was mesmerized about their innocence and how much fun they could have without expensive toys or video games. Sometimes the simpler life is, the more enjoyment we can get out of it. As the bus arrived, I got on for the half an hour ride back into town, again passing by Playa Cocles along the way, and went out for a quick dinner in Puerto Viejo before returning to the hotel to pack my bags, since I was heading into Panama the next morning.

Puerto Viejo

2008-07-07T10:30:00.011-06:00

Holly, Paul and I were all going our separate ways: Holly was returning to the central valley, Paul was meeting with a few other students in his class to do some volunteer work with the turtles in the Cahuita National Park, while I was heading further south to Puerto Viejo. Holly recommended Lizard King as a good place to stay there, which is right next door to Cabinas Jordan, where I stayed my second time in the town. I packed my bags, said goodbye to Big Boy, promising that I would return, and then went to the bus terminal. I kept Holly company until her bus arrived, then settled in and waited for my own. The ride to Puerto Viejo is not very long, only about half an hour or so, but the last 5 kilometers are not paved, so I was in for a bit of a roller coaster ride. Once I arrived there, I walked straight to the hotel, and as luck would have it, I ended up getting the last room available, as everything else was taken up by a school group that was there for the weekend. While I was waiting for the room to be ready, I spent some time talking to the owners, husband and wife, he was Costa Rican, she was Ecuadorian, but they met in Los Angeles before deciding to return to the Caribbean coast. Their son also worked there as well, so it was definitely a family run operation.

Once the room was cleaned, I locked the computer, left my bags and went to the beach in town, which wasn’t my first choice, but again it looked like it was about to rain, so it was the smartest decision to be fairly close to home. I don’t think I spent more than an hour there before my prediction came true, but it didn’t last long. As soon as the rain stopped, I went into town for dinner, and on the way back I ran into Andrew, the guy who sold me a few bracelets several months before. To my surprise he did recognize me, despite the fact that he must be seeing lots of tourists every day; I stopped to chat with him for a while and got another bracelet, and then returned to Lizard King. I spent the evening in, but the drunken students who were too loud and splashing in the pool until way past midnight provided the evening entertainment.

The next morning, after the big group took off, I changed rooms, had breakfast and then took the road south of Puerto Viejo to Playa Cocles, a really nice, wide, 2km long beach that actually has lifeguards on duty due to the strong currents. After going for a few swims, I was sitting in the sun and taking in the crowds, since it was a weekend and it was busier than usual. At one point, I saw two of the lifeguards jump out of their tower and running across the beach, followed by a number of curiosity seekers; it turns out a little girl was being pulled away by the current and they had to go in to bring her back to safety. Her mother was seated very close to me, and as the girl return, did she ever get a stern talking, but the most important thing was that she was alright. Later on in the day, since it was getting really hot and I was craving something cold, I decided to take a walk further south on the road, since I remembered seeing a convenience store when I was here the last time. The catch was that last time I was driving, and the 5 minutes by car didn’t seem as far away as walking in the heat; to my surprise the store was halfway to Punta Uva, the next beach down, which was at least a 5km walk. I had learned my lesson, I would have been better off to walk back to Puerto Viejo, it would have been closer. By the time I returned to the beach I was already exhausted, so I caught a little nap before it got dark and I started walking back to Lizard King.

In the evening, I decided to go back to Puerto Viejo and my timing could not have been more perfect; right I arrived into town, three people zoomed past me in succession, seemingly following one another, yelling and screaming at the same time. They went into a restaurant next to Chile Rojo, and within seconds, the calm of the dinner hour was turned into a western movie. A fight broke out and a steady stream of clients ran out of the restaurant as chairs and tables went flying everywhere. Eventually some of the staff managed to restrain the three and took them out of the restaurant, after which they promptly closed the doors and the windows, waiting for the cops to arrive. That was by far the highlight and the entertainment for the evening, though luckily nobody got hurt.

The next morning I was feeling lazy and in no mood to go traveling very far, so I walked down the path past Rockin’ J’s, where I found a nice calm pool of water amongst the corals. Though it was very close to the shore, the water was deep enough that you could dive right in, which is exactly what I did. Because I didn’t want to walk on the sharp dead corals barefooted, I made the mistake of diving in with my flip flops, which could take the pressure and broke apart. No big deal, I just had to walk back into town barefooted until I bought another pair. While I was by the beach, I saw a couple selling coconuts and went over, bought one and spent some time talking to them; they even posed for a picture. When it started to get dark, I walked down the path back to the hotel, taking some nice shots of the sunset, and headed into town for dinner, but otherwise had a quiet evening (nothing like the excitement of the previous night). The next day, my last before crossing the border to Panama, I wanted to head to Manzanillo, literally the ‘end of the road’ on the Caribbean coast.

Cahuita National Park

2008-07-06T21:25:00.009-06:00

This morning I had another reason to have breakfast at Sol y Mar, aside from the unlimited coffee: the TV showing European championship, so I got to watch Romania play against

Italy

. Unfortunately the guy at the restaurant turned off the TV at half time, so I had to rely on the internet to find out the result later on that evening. I returned to the cabinas to get ready for the hike in the Cahuita National Park, when I got another unexpected surprise. I walked out of my room, said a quick hello to the new neighbours (since Abbie and Karina left the day before), then I had to do a double take…There was Holly, the girl who I met the first time I went to Isla Tortuga, more than five months before, when I was traveling with Rosco, Iwona and Sam. We were both taken back by the coincidence, and said a warm hello, promising that we would spend more time together in the evening. I headed into the park, down the familiar path, venturing further down, seeing the now familiar crabs and little lizards. I crossed the first river, stopped for a while on the driftwood beach, then took the forest path again. As soon as I got back on it, a capuchin monkey seemed like it was waiting for me, very low on a branch, not afraid as I approached it. It sat there as I took pictures, and even posed in the best impression it could make of the ‘Outbreak’ monkey. A few steps away I came across a hot spring just to the side of the path, where I took another quick break.

While sitting there I heard the howler monkeys in the distance, and I started to follow their calls. Soon after I got to see them, a group of at least 20 or 30, with many small babies in tow; they put on quite the concert in the jungle, probably a bit spooked by the crowd of tourists trying to find the best vantage point to watch them. Further down the path, after walking over planks over a swampy area, and passing by the remains of the old Cahuita, I finally reached Punta Cahuita, where I was a few days before as part of the snorkeling trip. This time around, however, all the tourists were already gone, and so were the monkeys and the viper (not that I expected the snake to stay in the same place just so I can take more pictures). Here I had a choice to make: I could either turn around and return to the village, or continue walking through the rest of the park. I decided on the latter and continued on my way, often stepping away from the path to get right to the water, where I admired the dead corals that were raised above the water by the earthquake. It took me a good few hours to reach the ranger station on the other side of the park, as I kept on stopping to take pictures, and in general I was in no rush by any means.

By the time I completed the 10km hike, it was already past the closing time of the park, and I reached the main highway after 5pm. Knowing that the bus from Puerto Viejo only came about once an hour, I didn’t want to take the chance of being stuck on the side of the road after dark (after all, I did learn from my first bus experience when I was stuck in Jaco). So I started to slowly walk on the side of the road back to Cahuita, looking behind me every few minutes to ensure I would not miss the bus if it were to pass by. About half way home, I saw the bus in the distance and flagged it down, arriving back at Riverside right as it was getting dark. After all that walking, I had quite a craving for Chinese food, so I headed there for dinner before meeting up with Holly and her friend Paul. They did not have the best of days, so we all hung out, had some fresh pineapple and mangos, and spent the rest of the evening chatting away. We were all heading our separate ways the next morning, so we made the most of the time we had together.

Snorkeling in Cahuita

2008-07-06T19:13:00.012-06:00

Abbie and Karina signed up for a snorkeling trip in the Cahuita National Park, and I decided to join them as well. We stopped for breakfast at Sol y Mar, where we saw Grayson one last time, as he was leaving to go inland at his family’s farm, and then we went over to the National Park hotel to meet our guides for the trip. Because we were going into a protected area, it is required to have a guide, unlike other places where you can just rent the mask and go on your own. As we got into the car to take us to the docking point, I noticed he had Panama plates, and he explained that it is cheaper to buy a car there and pay the duties to bring it into Costa Rica than buy one in the country. When we got to the boat dock, we also met his brother, and we all got in and took the short ride to the coral reef, which is apparently the best on this Caribbean side of Costa Rica, though more than half of it was destroyed in the 1991 earthquake that completely changed the landscape here. We got our gear and jumped in the water, which was surprisingly clear, and right away we saw tons of corals and lots of fish. Some of them were almost as big as me, I was quite surprised at their size and their colours. I even got to see a lobster, but that is nothing compared to what Abbie saw: a stingray. My reaction was quite silly, telling her: “hold on, I’ll be right there”… I could see the confusion on her face: was I telling her to hold on to the stingray??? Of

course it was gone by the time I got there, but it was still an interesting experience, at least for her.

We got back in the boat and we were taken to the second snorkel spot, though this one was not as clear as the first. Not only that, but the current was much stronger, and at times I had to fight it just to stay in the same place. Even the boat driver expressed regret for not staying at the first spot; at times the water was pretty shallow and with the current, I managed to scrape my knee against the coral (environmentalists, stay off my back, it was not on purpose), in pretty much the same spot where Karina got hurt as well. We returned to the boat to ‘nurse our wounds’ (really nothing more than a few scratches), and the boat driver started taking us to Punta Cahuita, the tip of the peninsula that makes up the national park. The water here was also very clear and very shallow, and even before we reached the shore we saw capuchin monkeys being followed by hoards of tourists. We jumped off the boat and joined the crowd, going after the monkeys and taking picture after picture. We paused for some water and fresh fruit, pineapple and watermelon, when we noticed a group staring at something up in a tree. We came closer and learned that there was a yellow viper somewhere up there, though all of us strained to see it, we were not so lucky. We turned our attention back on a monkey that had the courage to come down from the trees for a closer look around; it didn’t seem shy at all, curiously looking at each of us taking pictures or videos. Once it realized that there was not going to be any food coming from us, it moved closer to the beach and grabbed a black backpack for a closer inspection of its contents. We were all laughing, with the exception of the owner of the backpack, who quickly came over and reclaimed it from the monkey.

Right as that episode was over, our guide came to us and took us a little bit further on the path, where another yellow viper (much smaller than I would have anticipated) was sleeping on the trunk of a small tree. He told us that they are nocturnal creatures, and as long as we didn’t come in direct contact then we would be okay to approach it. If, however, something were to happen, the chances of survival were somewhere around 50%, due to its high level of poison and the fact the nearest hospital was about an hour away. Karina managed to take a few pictures before it came time for us to get back in the boat. As we made our way back to Cahuita, we asked about the remains of an old dock close by, and he told us that the old village of Cahuita was located right where the park is now, and when the national park was created, the entire community was moved to its current location. He was really proud to tell us that his family had been there for generations and that his grandmother was born and lived in the ‘old Cahuita; before the move. He returned us to the dock, and we walked across the village to Riverside, where we had to look after a few administrative things.

We passed by the bank and then stopped at the internet café, after which I went for a walk to Playa Negra, while Abbie and Karina stayed behind in the village. I watched a few people going horseback riding and jogging on the beach, but overall it was pretty empty, a little bit too much so. We were supposed to meet at the black sand beach, but it started getting dark and I walked back and joined them back in the village. Karina had found a restaurant serving guacamole (she had shared her craving with us for the whole day, so we were all looking for it), so we sat down and ordered a few portions, along with a pina collada that was so watered down that it’s not even worth talking about. As the rain came in, we sat at Riverside and chatted for a while, before realizing that even though it was dinner time we weren’t really hungry because of our late lunch. Later on in the evening we decided to at least get a pizza to go, in case we got hungry after the restaurants closed. Abbie and I were the only ones to stay up after everyone went to sleep, and we spent a few hours talking about all kinds of topics, while she taught me how to play rummy. The following morning we had our last breakfast together, as Abbie and Karina decided to make the trek to the west coast, to see Manuel Antonio for a few days before going back home. After they left, I went to the beach where I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, and returned to Riverside for the evening, making sure that I got enough rest, as the following morning I was planning on hiking the Cahuita National Park, from one end to the other.

Cahuita

2008-07-06T00:46:00.015-06:00

Woke up in the morning, eager to leave the central valley, packed my bags and after breakfast went to the TUASA bus terminal for the ride into San Jose. Once there, I walked on Calle Central towards the Gran Caribe terminal, arriving with plenty of time to spare. I was prepared for the 3.5 hour ride to Cahuita, but the rain extended the trip by a little bit; as we crossed the Braillo Carillo National Park, the storm became so heavy that I was wondering how the driver could still find his way since I couldn’t see more than a few meters in front. At the time I regretted not being able to enjoy the beautiful scenery, but only later did I find out how close I actually cut it. Upon arriving in Cahuita, I learned that a mudslide had completely blocked the highway from San Jose to Limon, and that my bus was the last one to go through – the highway ended up being closed for 4 days before everything was cleared up. Feeling that luck was on my side, I left the new bus terminal (which wasn’t completed last time I was in Cahuita) and walked down the main street before turning right by the entrance to the national park, reaching Cabinas Riverside. I had decided to come here since last time I stayed at another cabina, much closer to the black sand beach but also further away from town.

A nice german guy, Peter, went to get the guy who looked after the place, Big Boy from the adjacent Sol y Mar hotel, and before I knew it I had a place to stay. I left my bags there and hurried towards Playa Negra, knowing that I only had a few hours of sunlight left. Along the way a small dog befriended me and accompanied me all the way to the beach and back; I didn’t have much to share but a bag of cheetos, which he really seemed to enjoy. As it started to get dark, and knowing the reputation of the road leading to the black beach, I walked back into town, stopping at a pizzeria along the way, and then returned to Riverside. During the evening, while I was listening to my iPod in the hammock in front of the room, I met my two neighbours, a german woman named Angie and her really cute little girl. She really seemed to be enjoying my music and was dancing up a storm; at her mother’s request the show had to come to an end however, as it was already past her bedtime. I really enjoyed meeting them and I feel bad that I didn’t get a chance to get her email address, as they both left the following day.

That morning I had breakfast right in the middle of town, where a really nice lady gave me an impromptu Spanish lesson to accompany my gallo pinto. I also had my first encounter with the not-so-nice side of Cahuita, as one of the homeless guys asked me for a smoke and then launched into a ten minute tirade about something or other. I had stopped paying attention after a few seconds, just wanting him to keep going. Eventually he took off, and I went in the opposite direction, back to the Cabinas to grab what I needed for the beach. Soon after I found myself on the white sand beach of the Cahuita National Park, right after crossing Kelly creek and passing by the ranger station. After stopping on the beach for a while, I took a walk further into the park, and I was rewarded with the sight of many lizards and crabs. Soon after I came across the first of two rivers that cross the park and end in the ocean; at first sight it looked like it was really dirty, though later on I found out that its dirty, reddish colour is due to the minerals in the earth that actually promote coral growth. On the other side of the river there were a number of small beaches, nowhere near as nice as the main one, but full of driftwood of various shapes and sizes. After taking a number of pictures, I decided to turn around on the path, and just in time, as I came across a group of howler monkeys, with their babies in tow. I followed them for a while, and then spent the rest of the day at the beach, up until it started raining. What were at first just a few drops quickly turned into a torrential downpour, so I retreated back to Riverside, where I met Abbie and Karina, best friends since school and travel buddies, though they now live in opposite sides of the States. We spoke for a little while, but then we went our separate ways, not knowing then how much more time we would spend together. After a quick dinner and a stop at the internet café, returned home and spent the evening reading and listening to music.

I had already fallen into the habit of having breakfast at Sol y Mar, especially because they offer unlimited coffee. After that, back at the beach, met two nice girls who were drawing the tree of life in the sand, complete with real leaves; unfortunately it did not take long for the tide to wash it out, though not before we were able to take some pictures. I got a chance to see more howler monkeys before the rain came in the afternoon, so I went back to the cabins, where I spent more time talking to Abbie and Karina. That’s also when I met Grayson, an interesting guy with a lot to say about conspiracy theories, the Illuminati, 2012 and everything in between. We became engaged in a conversation that lasted at least a few hours, and it did cost me a dollar, though I still have it. He showed us all the hidden messages on the back of the one dollar bill, so the price was definitely worth it. We went for dinner at Cha Cha Cha’s, apparently one of the best reviewed restaurants on the Caribbean coast if not all of Costa Rica – it was a bit on the pricey side, but absolutely worth it. I enjoyed a really good chicken marsala, and the resident cats enjoyed all the leftovers, so everyone walked away happy and full.

Back at Riverside, most people went to sleep fairly early on, and I went over a few doors down, where I met Zoe and Kim, as well as their other travel companion (cannot remember his name), and the cutest little dog I have seen in all my life, Chela. Apparently Kim and Zoe got her in Ecuador when she was only 3 weeks old. Chela still had trouble walking steadily, and as soon as she got a hold of my finger she started sucking on it… how cute! Zoe went to sleep fairly early, but Kim and I sat outside and chatted for at least 2 or 3 hours; the greatest thing about that was that though both of them are French, they are fluent in Spanish. Not only that, but Kim had the willingness and patience (especially that!) to correct my Spanish and she made me repeat everything until I got it right. It was really good practice for me, though at times a bit frustrating since I wanted to express so much more than what I was able to say. Unfortunately they were heading further south to Puerto Viejo the next morning, as I wished I would have had more time to spend with them.

Voyage back to Costa Rica

2008-07-05T20:13:00.010-06:00

So here I am back in Alajuela, though I have been away for a month and a half, it feels as if I never left. Made reservations at the same hotel, only a few minutes from the airport, and started off the most recent leg of my trip very much the same way I ended the previous one, with few exceptions. For one thing, I have decided against the whole adventure of going through New York City to save a few bucks, as the extra day of traveling and sleep deprivation is simply not worth the small difference of taking the flight directly out of Toronto. Since I was not able to fall asleep before leaving, I spent the whole night packing and getting prepared, so by the time I got to the airport I was ready to fall asleep. Because of the layover in Charlotte, I had to first clear US immigration, where I was faced with the dumbest question I have heard from an official – why do I have a G in front of my name? After a lengthy explanation of how my middle and first names were switched upon immigrating to

Cana

, he finally let me pass through. I guess I must have set off a few alarms given the technology I am carrying with me, as the security people felt the need to swipe my electronics for bomb-making materials; I guess most people don’t travel with a laptop, two cameras, two mp3 players and enough batteries to last a lifetime. It didn’t take long to board the plane, and as soon as I took off I promptly fell asleep for the two hour flight to Charlotte. I spent a bit of time walking around the airport, but soon after I found a really comfortable carpeted spot where I could catch a few more hours of sleep, waking up just with enough time to use the free internet offered by the airport to check a few things before boarding again. This time around I didn’t present that much of a security risk apparently, since I boarded the plane right away, and I think I must have fallen asleep by the time the plane took off.

I won’t bore you with all the details of the flight, except to say that I struggled with the (much larger) guy who was also trying to sleep next to me, mostly on my shoulder…but enough of the intimate details of my flight, suffice to say that I arrive in Costa Rica safely. Everything seemed so familiar, the trek though the airport, waiting for the bags, then fighting through the crowd of people heckling to try to get me to hire a cab. Once I got to Hotel Paradise Alajuela, I said hello to both the owner and her daughter, left my bags in the room and took a walk around the city. While everything looks very similar, it is definitely much greener than the last time I was here – the backyard of the hotel is almost unrecognizable. The mango tree is taking over and shading half of the yard, and the fruits are falling off at random time, presenting quite the hazard. Before it got dark, I went to the central park, walked around for a bit and returned just in time for the rain to start. Big lesson to learn about the rainy season here – it really does rain a lot, though that should be expected since this is their winter, more or less (except for the temperatures). It continued rainy for the entire evening and throughout the night, and I started to worry that maybe I had picked the wrong time to come down here.

However, the next morning I woke up to beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures, and I was instantly reminded as to why I wanted to come down here. I spent the first part of the morning taking it easy, enjoying a few coffees with breakfast and trying to figure out where to go from here. After doing my research, I learned that the average rainfall in much less on the Caribbean side than on the Pacific this time of year, let alone the fact that the west coast was hit by a tropical storm about a week before, so lots of bridges have been washed away. I also learned that inflation is very prevalent here, as all prices for goods and services have gone up since I was last here. Even the bus from Alajuela to San Jose went up from 355 to 370 colones, and after reading one of the newspapers, I learned that as of the next week, the price will go up to 385 colones. On the brighter side of things, the exchange rate has also been adjusted, thanks to the declining US dollar, so everything works out in the end. I decided to head into San Jose, to walk around for a bit and then buy my ticket for Cahuita for the next morning. Last time I went to the Caribbean side, I showed up at the terminal a half hour before the departure time only to be informed that the bus was full, so now I have learned to plan ahead. I took the TUASA bus for the roughly half hour ride into San Jose.

Some things never change – and that also applies to the Costa Rican capital; same crowded place that I remembered from a few months ago. I walked around Calle Central for a few hours, making a detour to the Gran Caribe terminal to get a bus ticket for the next day. Much like when Toronto had the Moose project, the main pedestrian street is lined with painted animals, only in Costa Rica they are cows and not moose. I took a few pictures along the way, including a ‘stripper cow’ that was really hilarious. Before I knew it, the rain started coming down, so I took refuge in a restaurant, El Patio del Balmoral, where I enjoyed a few beers while listening to the live band entertaining the crowd. Since the rain did not seem to come to an end anytime soon, I decided to ‘brace the elements’ and made my way back to the bus terminal. On the way I stopped at the closest thing to a dollar store, where I bought a watch, though the salesperson warned me that it is not waterproof – I was wondering if the watch will stop working once I stepped out in the rain, but so far so good. We’ll see how long it lasts… Now I am back at the hotel, though the rain has stopped for the moment, so I will take advantage of the lull to head out to grab a bite to eat before getting ready to venture out to the Caribbean coast. Faithful readers of the blog already know how fond I am of the Central Valley, with its numerous cars, pollution and people, so I really am looking forward to returning to the ocean and the beach – my true calling.

Manuel Antonio & the end of the first journey

2008-07-05T20:07:00.011-06:00

Woke up feeling anxious to make our way down to the beach, since we had spent the entire previous day traveling from Montezuma. Our hotel was maybe a five minute walk to the main beach, where we quickly settled on a spot that had a bit of shade as well. This was now my third time back in Manuel Antonio, and I knew the place like the back of my hand – even some of the guys at the souvenir stands recognized me from before. I could never get enough of the view from the spot on the beach, with the National Park to the left of us, the few little rocky islands in the middle of the bay, and the jungle that surrounded us from three sides – it is easy to see why I kept on returning here. The capuchin monkeys made an appearance, jumping from tree to tree, but they were a bit too high up there to really capture a nice shot. In the afternoon, the sky started to get darker, and upon seeing the souvenir stands being packed up, I took that as a clue that the rain would be starting any minute. We walked back to the hotel while it was still dripping, though moments after we were under a roof, the sky seem to open above us and the torrential rains came in. Well, this was the beginning of the rainy season after all, but it made me wonder if this pattern would continue for all its six months. Given the weather, there was no chance that we would get to see the sunset, so we accepted that fate and resigned ourselves to being indoors that evening.

The next morning however, the sun was shining and I could not have asked for a better day. I wanted to introduce Donna to the huge breakfasts at Hostel Costa Linda, where for about $3 you get pancakes with syrup and lots of fresh fruit, another plate of gallo pinto (the rice and beans) and all the coffee or tea your heart desires. While we were eating, we had to decide what to do with Donna’s last full day, having to choose between the beach or the national park. She decided on a beach day, and I had already been to the park twice, so that was fine by me. So after breakfast, we went on the beach, where we finished our respective books, and spent a lot of time watching the surfers and boogie boarders, and the occasional parasail passing by. At least once a day, a weird looking plane (and I use the term loosely) flew overhead – it was really more of a glorified bicycle with an engine and wings – just looking at it brought back the fear of heights, since it didn’t strike me as being too safe of a mode of transportation, but I am sure the view from up there was fantastic. As it got dark later in the afternoon, we left the beach and did one last round of looking around at the souvenir stalls (all vendors of course trying to get us to buy in to their ‘today only’ specials). For dinner we headed up the hill to El Avion (it now seems like a rite of passage to bring everyone to that place), where we enjoyed a really good meal and I introduced Donna to Michelatas (cold beer served over ice and lime juice… really refreshing!). We didn’t stay up much past that since we had to return to the hotel and pack, as the next morning we were returning to the central valley.

The next morning, we drove through Quepos and over those two bridges under construction (a bit sketchier during the day since we could see all the wooden planks move around as we drove over them). Before Jaco, we paused to admire the Pacific ocean for one last time, and then we headed into the mountains; realizing that we still had plenty of time, we stopped for breakfast close to Atenas. I was wondering why there was so much traffic leaving the central valley, then I remembered that this was the Juan Santamaria long weekend in Costa Rica, and everyone was heading to the beaches. Once we got back in the car, without even knowing I took a wrong turn and all of a sudden we found ourselves on a small country road leading to nowhere. I stopped the car and asked a cab driver for instructions on how to get back to the main road (it reminded me of the Amazing Race) and he was kind enough not only to point in the right direction but he told me to follow him. Within minutes we were back on track and soon after we reached the InterAmericana highway, but as soon as we entered Alajuela, traffic was bumper-to-bumper. With an eye on the time, we finally reached the hotel, where I grabbed my duffle bag and emptied about half of its contents in Donna’s, jumped back in the car and went to return it at Budget. After they did their inspection and everything was in order, the shuttle bus drove us right to the airport, where she checked in her bags and we said our goodbyes and she went through the security point.

I took the bus back to Alajuela, and arrived back at the hotel just as it started raining, quite heavily, but for a short period of time. Once the rain subsided, I ventured out towards the central park, where the festivities were still in full swing. Streets were closed, stages erected in many parks around the city and many tents were housing all the merchants selling everything from street food to arts and crafts. I decided to spend another day in the city, since this was the biggest festival of the year here, and I am very glad I did. The next day I watched the drummer bands parade on the streets, and took in a number of live performances on the various stages – this was the closest experience that I have had to a carnival-type of atmosphere. As my trip was winding down, I decided to return to Manuel Antonio for the last week of my initial journey in Central America, content to just relax on the beach and have the time to take in all the adventures that I had experienced in the last three months. I had already knew that I would be returning to Costa Rica to resume my journey shortly, and I started planning and thinking about all the other places I would love to visit. As my plane took off that late April afternoon, I felt a bit of sadness leaving so many beautiful people and places behind, but at the same time I was looking forward to the adventures still to come.

Road to Manuel Antonio

2008-06-20T23:52:00.014-06:00

Donna and I decided to leave Montezuma and head Manuel Antonio, knowing it would be along drive given the roads and the ferry schedule. We went for breakfast in a small soda, and we were accompanied by a flock a blue jays, who were eyeing every single morsel that would fall on the floor. We managed to take a few pictures of them, and to our delight, once we finished our meal, the owner fed them the leftovers in a special dish she set up at the side of the restaurant. Since we still had time before checking out, we took a walk from the harbour, across the rocks to the main beach. along the way to collect shells and to examine the tide pools, but eventually we returned to theWe stopped hotel, packed up our bags and threw them in the back of the car. We thanked our host for the hospitality, returned the key then we were on our way. My plan seemed flawless – leave Montezuma by 11am, with plenty of time to catch the 12:30 ferry back to Puntarenas. The first few kilometers out of Montezuma are always the most challenging, even in a bus, let alone a small little rental Toyota, which we wondered if it would make it up the hill, but the baby held on and we made it to Cobano. From here on at least the road would be paved (with the obligatory pot holes), but much smoother none the less. We drove past Tambor, which used to be a nice beach, but now is taken over by all inclusive properties which destroy all the environment (thanks Barcelo!). We arrived in Paquera with plenty of time, drove to the dock and we saw the ferry there – we thought ‘perfect timing’ but it wasn’t meant to be. As we lined up, a guy came by selling newspapers, and as I said ‘no thanks, we’re about to leave’ he informed us that the ferry was already full and the line up we were in was for the next one, more than 2.5 hours later.

So we had plenty of time to spare, so we walked around (not much to see around there, just one restaurant and one souvenir stand) but I did manage to buy another bracelet for my collection. We stretched our necks waiting for the ferry to arrive, and eventually boarded it and headed for the cabin upstairs, where I took the same spot (needed a plug for the computer) and used the hour and a half crossing to catch up on things. The old economics principle of first in – last out definitely applied for the ferry; I think mine was one of the last cars off the boat, but no big deal, who is rushing? This time we drove on the southern part of Puntarenas, along the boardwalk, which did wonders towards changing my perception of the city (I was not that thrilled with it the first time I passed through it). We continued driving along the Pacific coast, and I had remembered from my previous bus trips to Manuel Antonio or Jaco that we would be passing over a bridge where you can see crocodiles below. Before we got there, I asked Donna to look out the window (lol drivers should not take their eyes off the road) and she confirmed that there was something in the river. We pulled the car over at the edge of the road, and walked back on the bridge from where we saw more than a dozen crocs sitting lazily in the river. I was glad to see them (from a distance), and I tried to take a bunch of pictures, but the sun was going down quickly. We also ran into a group of tourists who were bird watching from the same spot, so I guess the fauna comes alive more so at night than during the day.

After it was already dark we approached Jaco, and decided to pull in so that I can show Donna the city and what she wasn’t missing. We passed any and all imaginable north American fast food chains (McD’s, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc) as well as the Beatles hotel (obviously geared towards gringos). Before we knew it, we were back in the car and back on the road further south towards Quepos. There were so many crabs trying to cross the road that I am sure that some met their fate upon meeting the tires of the fierce Toyota, but there was nothing I could have done to save them. Towards the end of the drive, we had to cross two ‘questionable’ bridges which are still under construction, so it was probably a better idea that we did that at night, since we couldn’t see how close we were to the edge and the water below. But we got to Quepos okay, drove right through it since there isn’t much to see and headed straight for Manuel Antonio, where we found a hotel room at half the price of their high season rates (with A/C too!). We dropped off our bags and decided to head back out for dinner, settling on the restaurant Mono Azul (the blue monkey), where we each enjoyed a huge and delicious meal.

By the time we returned to the hotel I was so exhausted from all the driving that day; we decided to take it easy and stay in, but the fun was nowhere near over. We had been carrying around a bottle of Fanta (or the generic variety) for a few days now, and what I had forgotten was that it was sitting on the floor of the car, shaking and stirring with every bump. So I had the brilliant idea of opening it up, and what followed was a small disaster. Many of you (I hope) have seen the mentos and coke experiments, well it was exactly like that, minus the mentos – as soon as I made the mistake of opening the bottle, a fountain of orange soda erupted, covering myself and everything around in the sticky substance. After the initial shock and laughter, I realized that I had a lot of cleaning up to do. Took a good hour to wipe down the place with a small rag that Donna got, if for no other reason than to keep the ants away. Once that clean up operation was complete, I stepped outside to have a smoke, and that’s when I saw our security guard doing his rounds around the property. I said hello and wished him a good night, and as he was walking away, he was shining a bright and powerful flashlight everywhere around, including the roof. That’s when the beam of light came across a dark shadow in a mango tree above us – we both realized that it was a sloth up in the tree, so he started bugging it (since they don’t like direct light) until the sloth started to relocate so find a more secluded place. We shared a good laugh at the annoyance of the animal, and we both sat there for a while wondering what it will do next, but it eventually went out of our sight (very slowly of course). It was really interesting to see the locals interacting with the wildlife and their system of keeping them at bay.

Isla Tortuga

2008-06-20T22:47:00.012-06:00

We woke with just enough time to get ready for our day trip, and it typical gringo style we arrived at the agency a good fifteen minutes before the scheduled time. In contrast, in typical tico style, we had to wait for the boat transfer to Jaco to be loaded up first, so we didn’t truly leave until much closer to 10 (which is exactly what happened the last time around, too). We settled in the boat for the hour long ride, and we started to drive parallel to the shore, admiring one beach after the other. At Tamor beach, we watched a river form a waterfall right on the beach and drop the water right into the ocean; according to our guide, this is one of only seven in the world, so it is a rare sight. We stopped at the dolphin bay, and though we spun the boat around several times and stretched our necks all over, we couldn’t see the dolphins. I guess you cannot control nature, and these kind of trips never make any sort of guarantees, so that was the luck of the draw. However, we got a tour around one of the two islands that make up Isla Tortuga, and we saw some really interesting rock formations, including one where you can take your boat right through it. It was a throwback for me of my time in Capri, where the faraglioni rocks have the same effect, only bigger there. We stopped by the beach so we can drop off the coolers and

our cook, who would fire off the barbeque.

Meanwhile, we returned to the snorkeling rock, anchored and got our gear; this was Donna’s first time snorkeling, but as soon as she was in the water, she loved it right away. The water was very warm since it was pretty shallow, and hundreds of fish appeared as soon as I submerged. I spent some time floating around, watching the different schools and trying to decide which one to follow. This time around I had remembered to bring the waterproof camera (I had been carrying it throughout Central America for almost three months at this point, and to make the story even funnier, I bought it before I went to Cuba a year before, though obviously I didn’t use it then). While I was taking pictures, I noticed that if I dove in I could take much better and closer shots than just from above. I managed to get a few colourful fish, when something caught my eye – I looked closer and realized it was a small squid. I was so startled at the unexpected encounter than I blew out the rest of my air and had to return to the surface. By the time I went back down, the squid was gone, and the change to photograph it, but the experience was undeniable. As usual, I was the last one to return to the boat once I filled the camera with images of corals and fish, and we went to the beach to have our lunch and bum around. This is where we met and chatted with the other people from our group, who were in Costa Rica to celebrate a wedding anniversary (though for some reason the husband wasn’t there)… most of the people in the party we nice and chatty but I didn’t get a good vibe from the has-been bride. She didn’t try to hide her perception of me, and vice versa – we still had a decent conversation, but at times we were challenging each other a bit too much so I walked away from the situation. I went to see Paco, the resident parrot on the island, and even took a video of him calling out his own name. After browsing around the little store on the beach, I returned just as lunch was being served, the typical potatoes and fish or chicken, but it was really good and fresh, and there was lots of fresh pineapple and watermelon for desert.

Right after the meal, we saw the beer drinking wild pig which I met the first time around on the island, I believe her name was Penelope, but this time around she was already full of beer so she just wondered by and then went off in the bushes. We moved down to the beach (a nice blue flag beach with clear blue water), we went for a swim or a wade as the case may be, still hanging on to our cold cans of Imperial. Our guides came around and told us we should get ready for snorkeling in about half an hour, but my mistake was dosing off on the beach. About an hour later then came and told us that we were getting ready to return from Montezuma, since apparently nobody expressed interest in going again… This was more or less what happened the last time too, though at least then there was a bigger group of people insisting on the second part of the trip; this time I let it be since I was the only one who would have insisted about it or made a big deal of it.

So we let it go and started our trip back to Montezuma – this had to be the second worse boat ride in my travel, topped only by the torrential rain storm upon returning from a dive site in Bocas. There were really high waves and the boat was jumping up and down every one of them; we were all shaken around, but the people in the front were especially bounced and getting wet – they had to tell the drive to slow down for fear of the boat toppling over. The ride back seemed to take twice as long as the morning trip there, but eventually we saw the shores of Montezuma and, with sore bums and all, we jumped off the boat and almost kissed the ground, that’s how thankful were about returning to terra firma. Once back into the village, since we still a few hours of daylight, Donna and I decided to walk through to the main beach on the other side. We managed to catch the last beams of sunlight while bathing in the high surf, and we made yet another furry friend who wouldn’t leave our side while we were on the beach. As the sun went down, we returned to the hotel, absolutely exhausted from our day trip, and it didn’t take too long for me to fall asleep, even before having dinner. Because of this, I woke up in the middle of the night (3am) thinking that it was already morning, and then I couldn’t fall back asleep as the howler monkeys were putting on quite a tropical opera. I did fall asleep eventually, but I knew I would be tired for the drive the next day further south to Manuel Antonio.

Cahuita and road across Costa Rica

2008-06-16T23:35:00.010-06:00

We had another day left in Puerto Viejo, since the highway to the central valley was closed for the day, but we decided to return to Cahuita, about 13km away, since we loved the national park so much. That’s the advantage of having a car, the freedom that it allows us; but before that, we walked into town to have breakfast at Café Chili Rojo, a very small place, yet know all over Costa Rica. They serve delicious asian dishes and all the spices one could dream of. While having breakfast, our waitress saw the pack of Belmonts that Donna had put on the table, and absolutely freaked out – she hadn’t seen them in months! Donna giving her that smoke had absolutely made her day; we even heard her go back to her coworkers to try to make them understand what a treat this was for her. She was acting just like a kid on Christmas morning. One of the reasons why I went to Chili Rojo (aside from the reputation) was to try to track down the owner, Kevin, I believe, whom I had to pass on a message from my friend Rachael. I had met her about a month before, on her last night in Puerto Viejo, traveling with Kellie, Eric and Tristen. She loved the place so much that she was planning on returning and getting a job there. To my (and her) disappointment, our waitress told us that there was no one named Kevin, and that the owner was in fact a woman – I guess we must have gotten wires crossed at some point.

After breakfast, we got ready, hopped in the car and drove back to Cahuita, parked right by the entrance, crossed Kelly Creek and there we were back on the white sand beach stretching across the gulf. This time around the park was much busier as it was a Sunday, and many more locals also enjoyed the beautiful day. So we resumed the typical activities, swimming, reading, chatting, taking in the sun, but also we took a walk into the park, on the main trail to see the wildlife. It didn’t take long before the howler monkeys showed up to put on a show for the tourists. I learned from the previous experience, the pictures don’t always do justice to a place or setting, so I took the opportunity to take videos, as I think they relate the experience much better than still images. There was a baby following its mother as each monkey took turns crossing a branch from one tree to the other, and still learning how to balance, almost fell but recovered at the last minute. Eventually the group ventured further away, and we could always tell where they were on the beach based on the reactions of the people and the cameras pointed up in the trees. We left the park by the time it closed, and it was almost dark once we returned to Puerto Viejo. After dinner and walking around town, we returned to Jordan’s Cabinas, packing and getting ready as the next day would require a lot of travel time, since we were planning on crossing the entire country in one shot.

We were in such a rush to get going that we even skipped breakfast; we threw our bags in the back of the car, and hit the road. At least we could enjoy the scenery, as we made the drive from Puerto Limon down the Caribbean coast in the dark when we arrived. Now we could enjoy the fields of banana plantations, and we could also get a bit freaked out by the narrow bridges along the way. Also another advantage of having a car is that we could stop along the way and take pictures whenever we wanted. But not always do you simply come across some beautiful scenery, sometimes the situation falls right on your lap. As we followed a turn in the road, we saw the back of a huge truck hanging up in the air; it seemed as if the driver had trouble deciding which bridge to take (there was both an old and a new one) and since he couldn’t make up his mind he ended up between them. We pulled over and got out to make sure that everyone was okay, and once we were assured of that, we got the cameras out and took some pictures, and talked to the driver for a bit, as he was waiting for the cops to arrive. We were lucky to have already passed the scene, as once the cops would show up, the highway could have been closed for hours. We didn’t stick around to find out, since we had a long way to go, so we continued on. We passed Puerto Limon in a hurry, after our last experience, and took one last pit stop so I can finally take the picture of the bananas covered in the blue bags, to protect them from insecticides. As I drove through the mountains and the Braulio Carrillo national park, we hit a bit of rain, but nothing to worry about. I was personally more worried about driving through San Jose, as I did not want a repeat of the last time, driving around in circles for a couple of hours. Luckily, I found my way around much faster, and before we knew it we were on the interamericana, passing the Juan Santamaria airport and Alajuela, eventually veering off the highway to cross the Cordillera de Tilaran towards Puntarenas. We stopped for breakfast / lunch in Atenas, had a really huge casado that I could not finish, and we arrived on the west coast by late afternoon. We crossed Puntarenas and lined up for the ferry, for which we had to wait for another hour and a half. At this point, I realized that we would be arriving in Montezuma long after dark, but hey, at least I knew where we were going. I used the time on the ferry to plug in the laptop and do a bit of writing, as I knew the crossing of the bay would take about an hour and a half.

Once on the Nicoya peninsula and off the ferry, we followed the stream of cars, all backed up the road because of two trucks in front which were limiting our speed. We took the dirt road from Cobano towards the coast, and though I knew it was a bumpy ride, the last kilometer was more hellish than I remembered. A few times I wondered, as we hit a huge pothole, whether the car would make it out alright. But as luck would have it, we arrived in Montezuma, parked on the main street in front of El Sano Banano, and we got a room at the second place we asked at (the first one was a bit on the pricey side). The great thing was that the guy at the reception of Hotel Aurora thought I was a tico all throughout our conversation, so I felt very proud of myself. Then we realized that it was getting close to 10pm, and we rushed out the door to find a restaurant still open. We settled on a pizzeria, the same one where I was at the beginning of February, though we were the only people there aside from the employees, but they didn’t care, as they were listening to music and drinking wine. I had a great pizza, but was a bit too tired from the drive to enjoy it fully, thus after dinner we went back to the room and got some well deserved sleep, but not before stopping at an agency to book our trip to Isla Tortuga the following morning.

Playa Cocles and Punta Uva

2008-06-15T22:27:00.007-06:00

Being one of the few (if not only) people staying at Cabinas Talamanca, we ended up not getting much sleep that night, since there was a pack of stray(?) dogs who decided to be very close to our room throughout the night. So as soon as we got up and got organized, we walked down the road and found Jordan’s Cabinas, with a Japanese feel to it. It was cheaper and bigger than the previous room, nestled in the back of the property, with a nice fountain right in front of our window. We moved into the ‘Ninja’ room, which had really high ceilings and even a ladder leading to an upper level, where there was a third bed – one of the best cabinas I had seen so far. After settling in, we got our stuff ready for the day, and took the bumpy road south of Puerto Viejo. Only a few kilometers away, after swerving all over the road trying to avoid the biggest potholes in order to save the suspension, we came across a long stretch of road with cabinas and restaurants on one side and a long white sand beach and the endless ocean through the palm trees on the other.

We parked the car (tried to find a shady spot so that it wouldn’t be scorching hot when we got back in), and then we spent a good few hours just bumming around on the beach, swimming in the water, trying to fight off the big waves while not being swept by the current – at least there were lifeguards on duty – a rare sight in Costa Rica. We took some really night shots, especially of the rocky island a bit off the shore, then we made the decision to move further on. We got back in the car, continued along the road, with no real destination in mind. We stopped at a super for some cold drinks (it gets really hot on the Caribbean side), and we veered off at the intersection taking us to Punta Uva, about a kilometer off the main road. This village is not bigger than maybe 20 houses, most of which are aimed at tourism, but we went a bit beyond that and found a nice little beach, shaded under palm trees.

As we set our stuff down, a nice lady approached us, asked whether we spoke English or Spanish and then told us, very calmly, that if we didn’t like snakes we should consider moving away. True enough, there was a large snake sleeping in one of the branches right above us. Though she tried to assure us that it was not poisonous, I didn’t want to take any chances, so I moved out stuff away and then returned to take some pictures. We chatted with her for a while (she was from Bracebridge) and we found out that she lived in Punta Uva for three months a year for the last decade. We spent the rest of the afternoon on that beach, watching the fishermen gather enough to feed their families, and watching the clouds trying to predict whether and when it would rain, but we lucked out and it missed us. We returned to Puerto Viejo, and aside from the usual trip into town for internet and to grab something to eat, we decided that though we were staying an extra day (due to the highway closure), we would return to Cahuita to see more of the National Park.

Puerto Viejo

2008-06-15T19:47:00.009-06:00

Having made the decision to move on to explore new territory, we ventured out for some breakfast (mexican-style eggs with freshly baked bread) before returning to the Cabina to pack our bags and throw them in the back of the car. We waived goodbye to Cahuita and drove off onto the dusty road, and on towards Puerto Viejo, about 16 kilometers further south on the Caribbean coast. For the last five kilometers we left the main road that goes to Sixaola (the border with Panama) and also left the pavement behind. It was tough to negociate all the potholes and natural speed bumps, and it took a lot longer to arrive than we had planned. However, all of the sudden the trees gave way on our left to a huge black sand beach, and we could see the village in the distance. We drove around stopping at a few cabinas (I was searching for free wireless internet service), but most places were either full or too expensive. I soon gave up on that notion and decided to go with the familiar, heading back to Cabinas Talamanca, the same place where I spent a night on my way into

Panama

in march. The only difference was that this time the gate was gone, in the process of being rebuilt. We even ended up getting the same room as I shared with Sara, the german girl who I met on the bus on my first time down in Puerto Viejo.

After settling our stuff in, we walked down the main road into the village, grabbed a few cold drinks and stopped by one of the beaches in the area, finding a shady spot under a tree and next to a fishing boat. There was a natural pool of water, formed by the corals which were disturbed by the 1991 earthquake that shook and affected most of the country. It's a great place as though you can barely swim (the water is that shallow) you are protected from the waves that break much further off in the distance. We watched little kids wading in the water and playing with their parents as I assumed more families were here for the beginning of the weekend. A little bit later on, we noticed a group of tourists staring up at a palm tree and taking pictures, so we made our way over there as well. Luckily for us, there was a two-toed sloth, barely 3 meters up in the tree, lazily staring down at us before going back to sleep. As we were admiring this one, one of the locals got our attention and directed us to a tree right above the main road, where a three-toed sloth was (very) slowly maneuvering around the branches. I realized that it was going to make its way down, and that if we were to wait around for about an hour or so, we may see something truly spectacular. We were not disappointed, as the sloth made its way down the trunk, stopping every now and then to survey its surroundings. Eventually it got down close enough that we all crowded around it and took turns petting it and taking pictures. As my turn came, I was absolutely mesmerized – I was not only staring face to face with a sloth, but I got to touch it and pet its back – it was softer than I had anticipated. In response to my touch, it turned its head around 180 degrees, and offered me a warm perma-smile and kept on going about its business.

Eventually someone offered it a branch, and it graciously accepted it as it moved into the bush to ‘take care of its business’ before probably heading up another tree. Once the spectacle was over, we went back to Cabinas Talamanca to change and go out into town. We stopped at the internet café and to use the payphones, then stopped for dinner at a chicken restaurant – it was still happy hour so we took advantage of the 2-for-1 specials to accompany our casados. On our way back to the room, we took our time looking at the souvenir stands and managed to add another bracelet to my collection. For the next chapter, we decided to spend our next day in Puerto Viejo exploring the road to Manzanillo, further south, and to see all the beaches that line the coast.

Cahuita

2008-05-07T18:27:00.006-06:00

We woke up after a much needed long sleep, and the first thing we did as we got out of the room was to head to the garden of the hotel and stopped right by the water to admire the Caribbean Sea. There wasn't much of a beach right in front of the cabinas, but I already knew from other travelers (Sam raved about it) that the black sand beach, Playa Negra was not even 500m away. But first, we walked towards the main street in Cahuita and chose a patio facing the street to have breakfast, complete with really good coffee, which have to admit, I was slowly starting to take for granted.

I introduced Donna to salsa inglesa, which was also introduced to me by Rosco and Iwona, and she loved it right away. After breakfast and a quick stop at the internet café, we returned to the hotel, grabbed our beach stuff and walked for about half a kilometer to Playa Negra, which as the name suggests, is a black sand beach. We were surprised that there were so few people there, but I have to keep on reminding myself that it is the end of the season. The water here was fairly calm, with a few waves, but nothing too huge; we spent the morning here, taking in the sea, the sun and our surroundings. We spent some time reading (Donna brought fresh books!) and talking and just overall relaxing. We even made a four legged friend who hung out with us for a while, though we were feeling sorry for the thick coat he had on – must not be very comfortable.

After Playa Negra and a quick stop back at the hotel (it was on the way), we walked across Cahuita towards the other beach in the village. On the way we stopped for some cold drinks, and right as we were coming out of the super, a guy on horseback passed by on the main street; being very observant, Donna realized that the poor guy only had one tooth left. By the time we got to the beach, we had to cross a small stream over a bridge, where we saw our horseback friend right in the water, giving his horse a chance to rehydrate. To my surprise, the other beach in town is actually part of the Cahuita national park, but unlike all the other parks, the entrance fee here is voluntary, pay-what-you-can. I remember reading somewhere that when the government of Costa Rica decided on a uniform fee for the national park system, the people of Cahuita were so upset thinking that charging a large entrance fee would keep tourists away and reduce their income. So as a result, they staged a protest, blocked the entrance and encouraged tourists to bypass the gate and enter for free. A compromise was reached, and now Cahuita National Park has two entrances: the one by the village, where the fee is voluntary, and another entrance right off the main highway to Puerto Viejo, where the standard $10 fee applies. So we made our small donation and proceeded onto the white sand beach of the park.

That's where we spent the rest of the afternoon, bush. at the beginning of a huge, 2km white sand beach, paralled by a path through the forest of the National Park a few meters back into the We found a spot that had some shade from a palm tree and alternated between reading, swimming, chatting or just staring off into the infinite ocean and admiring the waves. At some point, the craving for fresh fruit set in and I walked 'all the way!' passed the bridge over Kellie Creek in order to grab some pineapple that was sliced right in front of my eyes - now that's service! By the time I returned, I saw some people on the beach gathered around with their cameras, and guessing there would be something going on, I followed suit. A large iguana was stretching out in the sun on the beach, and more or less posing for pictures - almost wondered where the collection plate was for the tips. To finish off the show before the park closed, a group of capuchin monkeys entertained us as we were about to leave; as usual, since we had nothing to offer them in terms of food, they eventually got the hint and took off back into the jungle. As soon as we exited the park, passed the Kellie Creek bridge, I saw one of the biggest beetles I have ever seen on the side of one of the souvenirs tables - everyone was marveling at it, even the locals.

Back at the Cabinas, we spent the rest of the evening, aside from going out for dinner, planning the rest of our road trip, and making sure that we could fit everything in the time we had. We also learned that the main highway between Limon and San Jose was going to closed on sunday for repainting of the road. One may question the logic of closing the only road into the Caribbean side of Costa Rica on a sunday, forcing many locals to leave a day early in order to make it to their jobs or classes. This led us to make the easy decision of extending our stay on the east side for another day, not a big change of plans, but yet shows that you do need to be flexible while traveling.

Road to Cahuita

2008-04-13T15:22:00.001-06:00

Tried to get up early so I could be as productive as possible before I had to leave; even though the first part was successful, the second one failed. It was almost check out time (11 am) and still I was trying to decide what goes in the backpack, with me, and what stays in the duffle bag at the hotel; I was so late in fact, that by 11 I simply dragged all my stuff in the middle of the hotel hallway and continued to divide up things. I knew I had until 2 pm to make my way to the airport, so I was in no rush. Eventually I asked the lady at the hotel to call a cab, since it would only be a 2 or 3 dollar ride to the airport. The car showed up almost immediately, and I got in and to my luck, I had a very chatty driver, which made me realize how little I had been using my Spanish for the last few weeks. He really seemed to like Canada and Canadians, and had only positive words to say about the country – in his younger days he was a sailor, so he had been to Montreal and Vancouver many times before. I enjoyed our little chat, gave him a tip though he dropped me off at departures, not arrivals, then made my way downstairs with the elevator. As soon as got off, I hear Donna’s voice and I realized I was late, though a more correct way of putting it was that her plane was early. We had a quick smoke then went back into the airport building, heading to the Budget counter to fill in the paperwork for the rental car. This was definitely going to be ten days of seeing the country from a different perspective, as I had relied solely on buses (or Brendan’s van) until this point. We got everything set, including passport photocopies that the guy at the desk was happy to accommodate, and then we went outside to wait for the shuttle bus. We were told that it would be there within five minutes, but I already knew those to be 5 Costa Rican minutes, so we settled in for a while. Eventually the shuttle arrived and even the driver apologized for the delay, which was not a big deal by any means – we took the short ride on the Inter-Americana and then off it, to get to darling Toyota Yaris that would be our white mechanical horse that would take us across the country. We did the usual inspection, after which we were just about to leave the parking lot without as much as a map. I went inside and got a map, though it was a basic one, it was better than nothing.

So finally we drove off onto the highway, already feeling the adrenaline of being in control of our fates and going wherever we pleased. We drove towards San Jose, only to run into a big stumbling block: we didn’t know how to find the caratera Limon. We ended up driving in circles, hitting dead ends, and just overall becoming frustrated. Often times we thought we were heading in the right direction, only to see the road turn in front of us. We eventually got out of San Jose into Guadalupe, only to hit another dead end, have to turn around, drive past the central park and return back to the capital. That’s when I decided that enough was enough; I stopped by the University of Costa Rica, at one of its campuses, and took the bold step in asking for directions. As a group of men were debating amongst themselves what the best way to the highway was, a young student ran back inside of the building, and returned a few minutes later with a piece of paper and a pen. He proceeded to draw me what ended up being a very good and detailed map, complete with points of reference, which happen to be the only way that I can orientate myself. It was excellent, and though he asked me several times if I understand, and I nodded and said ‘si’ as convincingly as possible, I still had doubts, until we hit the highway to Guadalupe again, though at least going in the right direction. We found all of the landmarks he had marked on the map, and within fifteen minutes we were on the caratera Limon, getting out of San Jose and towards the mountains.

What a relief! It had taken us over two hours to get out of San Jose – it was about time to see the rest of the country. As soon as we got out of the central valley, we drove through Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, a fantastic drive as it was getting dark; at some points we hit cloud patches where I could barely see the road. After passing through a pretty long tunnel cutting across and through a mountain, we ended of drive through the national park and headed towards Guapiles. It was already dark and the bus station was about to close as we parked the car and bought a phone card. After a brief break and phone call, we were back in the car and willing to get as far as Puerto Limon before stopping for the night; I was concerned that if we were going to push to Puerto Viejo it may be too late to get a room for the night. So after driving down the mountain and through the banana fields (we couldn’t see them but knew they were there), as well as avoiding all the potholes in the road, we eventually arrived in Puerto Limon. This is where the road became unknown since the bus promptly veered to the right when I was here last going to Puerto Viejo. We ended up driving through the town only to see prostitutes and drug dealers at every corner, as well as by-the-hour-hotels - certainly not the type of image Costa Rica would want to project, but it is a port city after all, so what can one expect? After a drive through town the decision was unanimous: we’re gonna keep on driving, not matter how long it takes – too bad that the drive further south from Puerto Limon is really beautiful, we just had to do it at night.

We continued on and didn’t get into Cahuita until after 9:30 pm; the town does close down very early, so by the time we found a cabina to rent for the night, we had to wake up the owners, or at least disturb them from their activities, so that we can get a room for the night. The girl took one look at us and said, in Spanish, you guys are so tired – we knew it but didn’t want to be reminded of it, but we still smiled politely and admitted the state we were in, and of course we took the room. Once we moved our stuff inside, we got back in the car and headed to the super, the only one in town that was still open. Luckily for us, we were its last customers, and they promptly closed the metal door after us. We headed back to the room to plan the rest of our time together and all the places we wanted to cover and see over the next week or so

Manuel Antonio National Park

2008-04-13T15:21:00.012-06:00

We wanted to go to the National Park early in the morning, since those are the best chances to see the animals, but we weren’t sure if the park opens at 7 or 8, so we decided to wake up by 7 and aimed to be at the park by 8. Kellie had us fall for an april fool’s joke, as she claimed with a serious and freaked out expression that she had found a snake in the room. We had a quick breakfast and stopped by the bakery to get some pastries and sandwiches for lunch, as well as picking up water, since there are no facilities in the park. My bus was leaving in the afternoon, so I knew I only had half a day in the park itself, but I had already been there two months prior. We walked on the beach, crossed the small stream, then continued walking on the path for only a few minutes before we arrived at the entrance. While waiting in line to pay the admission fee, an iguana passed right by our feet, spooked by the tourists on the beach and their flashes (who uses a flash on a sunny day???), and then ran off into the forest for some peace and quiet. Once we entered the park, we followed the path until we reached a fork in the road. I stopped along the way to take some pictures (no flash, lol) and to read the plaques to learn about the trees and the fauna in the park. We took the path towards the main beach, the one with the leaning palm tree that is seen in almost every postcard from here. We didn’t see any monkeys, though there was a sloth high up in the trees at one point, no doubt sleeping as it does for the vast majority of every day. Even though we didn’t pay for a profession guide in the park, it is easy to identify where the animals based on where the groups are huddled.

Off the main path, we headed towards Punto Escondido, stopping along the way at what I dubbed ‘crab beach’, though the official name escapes me now. Last time I was here there were so many hermit crabs that I tried my best not to step on them, but this time, though the holes were there, they were nowhere to be seen. We did see a few iguanas, who didn’t mind us getting closer to them to take pictures. After a walk over the rocks to an even smaller beach, with yet another iguana, we got back on the path and continued through the forest. Along the way, we saw a few capuchin monkeys, and stopped for a while to admire as they were jumping from branch to branch. We got to the mirador point, and after a brief break and much needed water, we retraced our steps back to the fork in the road. Here is where our group split up, with most going towards mirador playa Escondido, while we few of us deciding to return to Playa Manuel Antonio for a much needed dip in the water. One our way back, we deer crossed our path, and all of us exclaimed ‘awww, it’s Bamby’, which kinda spooked its mother who split up from the little one. I managed to take a picture of the baby, but then we decided to move on so that they can be reunited. We also saw a few more sloths and a group of howler monkeys, but these were further up in the trees. We picked a spot on the beach, and promptly jumped in the water, which was warm as soup and very clear – definitely a good snorkeling spot. We were soon joined by the rest and spent our last few hours together hanging by the beach.

Eric found himself a pair of swimming goggles, and we each took turns trying them on, but we had little luck in seeing a lot of fish – for good snorkeling you have to go further out from where all the people are swimming. We returned to the beach and found some shade to get away from the direct sunlight, and settled down to read. About ten minutes later, a guy stopped by to inform us that we were under a Manchineel tree, one of the most poisonous ones in the country, where not only its fruit and leaves are toxic, even the sap from it can irritate the skin. I did see these trees at the entrance of the park and I had read the warnings, but it didn’t even cross my mind to think about that when we settled in. We thanked him and promptly moved away; after another swim, I found a spot where I could sit on a tree trunk and continued reading. Next thing I know a capuchin monkey is right beside me, and walking even closer. I snuck away to grab my camera, and then realized what brought it over – Kellie had just finished eating an apple, and threw away the core. It is organic ‘trash’ so no harm done to the environment, but for the monkey, that was lunch. After grabbing the apple core, it moved further up in a tree to savour its meal; I soon realized that this is the decoy monkey, whose role is distract the tourists so that the others can sneak up and start searching bags. What followed was a good twenty minutes or half an hour of what I can only describe as a ‘nature paparazzi frenzy’. A whole group of us followed the monkeys, taking pictures and videos, and amusing ourselves as the occasional tourist got into a tug-of-war with one of them over a t-shirt or beach towel. Monkeys here are very used to people, and they are experts at opening zippers and ruffling through our belongings; I was even cautioned to keep my bag close to me – I replied that there was no food in there, but I learned that since the bag itself came from the bakery Musanni, the monkeys had learned to recognize the logo. In the process of following the monkeys, we managed to spook an iguana, who started running away from the group, and in returned spooked people as it made its way further down on the beach. Once their ‘attack’ was over, the group of monkeys disappeared into the trees almost as fast as their entrance. We returned to our beach spot and needless to say the conversation revolved around what we had just seen an on how lucky we were to see them so close up.

As the saying goes, ‘all good things must come to an end’, so as it went past 1 o’clock, I started the painful goodbyes… I have been traveling with Dana and Paula for almost two weeks, as for Kellie and Eric, I have been with them off and on through three different countries and we have known each other for over a month, a lifetime when it comes to travel. With hugs and kisses, we promised to keep in touch and share pictures whenever we got back. They were still spending another day in Manuel Antonio, while I had a bus to catch to return to Alajuela that evening. I took the walk towards the exit to the park, all the time reflecting on how much time I had actually spent with these friends and how I will be missing them. I went through the exit and headed back to Costa Linda, running half the time (which is surprisingly difficult in flip flops), and got there in time to finish packing and go to the bus stop. One thing I can say is that buses in Costa Rica, especially the direct ones, respect their schedules; not only that, but I had an assigned seat, this time much closer to the front than my trip to Puerto Viejo. We left right on time, passed through Quepos and Parrita, by which point the bus filled up. I read most of the ride to Alajuela, though I stopped for a while to admire the scenery as we approached Jaco, but seeing the high rise condominiums and hotels, I was instantly reminded why I never liked this place to begin with. After a quick stop at a soda to grab a bite to eat or something cold to drink, the driver made the sign of the cross and then we headed into the mountains. I was racing to finish my book by the time I arrived at the airport, and managed to do it just in time. I wasn’t the only one to get off there, grabbed my bag and then patiently waited for the bus to take me into town. It was already getting dark, and I was anxious to get back to the hotel, since I had so many things with me (trying to avoid traveling at night as much as possible). I got back to Hotel Paradise Alajuela, met a nice dutch couple who were at the end of the trip, and chatted with them for a bit as I was checking in. I was able to get my ‘usual’ room, grabbed my duffle bag, and made a quick trip into town before it got too late. Once reunited with my laptop, I spent the evening typing up blog entries and chatting on skype. I called my friend Donna, who was arriving to visit the next afternoon, and decided to play my own april fool’s joke. I pretended that I missed my bus, that I was still in Manuel Antonio, and would not return until the evening the following day. Despite the prospect of being in a new country and waiting at the airport for several hours, she was un-phased by that, so I had to admit that my joke failed miserably. I spent the rest of the evening wasting time on the internet, which always happens when you are free access to it, and started getting ready for the road trip the following day.

Manuel Antonio

2008-04-09T10:35:00.011-06:00

As the backpacking days of most of the friends I was traveling with were coming to an end, we decided to spend the next few days by the beach, making the most of the sun and the water. mosSot of us just stayed on the beach at Manuel Antonio, though Paula and Danne did take a trip into the National Park. We stayed fairly close to the van, taking turns watching it or going into the water, even Suzie got a bit more used to the hot sand and ventured out of the van for a while. Aaron and Brendan were busy for a while putting up the hammocks, debating whether they had enough rope for both, but eventually the decision was made that there wasn’t enough. Still one hammock was all that we really needed, since the rest of us had a place to stay. I took a few breaks from the beach, mainly to go use the internet, but by now I had learned that if I went to use one of the computers at the hotels, versus using the internet café, the price would be much more affordable. Upon my return from the café, I ran into Eric and Kellie, for whom I had booked a room at Costa Linda once we arrived there the day before. Paula and Danne returned early in the afternoon, thrilled with the national park and all that they got to see and do there. The rest of us planned on visiting it in two days, since the park is closed on Mondays. Danne was leaving on the 5:30 bus back to San Jose, since his flight departed early the next morning for Peru, so he had to go back and gather his bags. To pass the time until the bus came, we chose two tables at Marlin’s restaurant, just in time for happy hour and 2 X 1 drinks. We barely got to sip our first drinks when it started dripping; not a big deal, especially in such a humid place, but it soon turned into a downpour. It was so heavy in fact that we had to relocate to another table inside the restaurant.

And this is when the sad goodbyes started – we had all been traveling together for at least a week, though for most people it was two, as for Kellie, Eric and I it had been more than a month since we met at Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua. Danne was the first one of our group to leave, and we all wished him well on his continued adventures. He was really nice and even got bracelets for all of us, all different colours that he thought were fitting; and he was absolutely right: he picked a dark blue one for me since most of my clothes and my backpack are all the same shade. The toughest goodbye was between Paula and Danne, and even though they had their private farewell at the bus stop, it was really hard to lift up her spirits when she returned. It was a bit of a downer experience for all of us, though we did try to joke around and bring the situation around. We all reflected on how the rainy season was looming over us, and how it arrived a few days early, but with vengeance. We really had been lucky with the weather these last few months.

After is got dark, we returned to Costa Linda, where we had a small dinner, and then walked to the van, where the fire was already going. The machetes that Aaron and Brendan bought really did come in handy for chopping up the wood. We took turns adding to the fire and fanning it to keep it alive (which brought about more jokes, many made at Dana’s expense – though she was a willing participant). We played a few drinking games, but mainly we used the evening to reflect on the times we had together, as our group was about to be disbanded even more after this day. Even the cops showed up at some point, all of us thinking that we would get into trouble for having a fire on the beach; however they just came in to check up on us, to make sure that we would be keeping the fire under control, and telling us to be careful as there had been a number of thefts reported in the area. We had already had first hand knowledge of this from David, but we thanked them for their attention and then they were on their way. As the wood supply was diminishing, the fire started to dwindle and so did the party for the night. We headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep, knowing the next day would bring more hugs and tears.

We woke up as Aaron, Brendan and Audrey came by our hotel – they wanted to use the showers and bathrooms before continuing their road trip, and we had one more breakfast together. We started to refer to these as our ‘last dinner’ or ‘last breakfast’, losing sight that most of us were to continue traveling, just in separate directions. Once they were ready to go, we asked to accompany them to Quepos since the rest of us needed to buy bus tickets for our return to San Jose in the next few days. That’s where we said goodbye to Aaron, Audrey, Brendan and of course Suzie, who were first going to meet a friend of Audrey’s in Jaco, their destination being playa Herradura. They were planning on continuing to make their way up north, wanting to leave Costa Rica as soon as possible (by now we had all realized how much more expensive it is to be here than, say, Panama or Nicaragua). Their ultimate destination is California, and I still hold out some hope that I may run into them when I return to Central America. After a few hugs and well wishes, Dana, Paula, Eric, Kellie and I were left at the side of the road, looking as the van drove off into the distance. Those were great memories that we created together…

Though Quepos is not much of a big town, we spent a bit of time walking around, stopping at a bank machine, and looking at some shops before buying our tickets to San Jose. Paula and Dana stayed behind, since they wanted to do more shopping, while the three of us briefly stopped at an internet café before catching the bus back to Manuel Antonio. Eric and I returned to Marlin’s and had lunch, an expensive but really big and really good burger, then we joined Kellie on the beach. She had splurged on beach chairs (I think this was the first time I had used them since the beginning of my trip), but unfortunately it wasn’t much of a beach day. The sky was overcast, and after about an hour or so, it started to drip, so we took refuge at Costa Linda. Luckily it was just a quick shower, so we did return to the beach afterward, but our hopes for a nice sunset were all but dashed. I took a walk with Eric to what we thought was a book exchange not to far from the village – I was wrong on both accounts: it was neither close nor a book exchange: just a book store, and the walk there seemed so long that we were ready to turn around as we got to it. He did manage to buy a book and we retraced our steps to where the girls were on the beach. We still stayed out, and in the end we got to see a few rays before it got dark, but nowhere near the sunset I had experienced there before. I should have remembered this from before as well, since Manuel Antonio’s slowest day is Monday, when the park is closed, many restaurants and bars also take the night off, including the one at Costa Linda, the one affordable place in town. That’s when I recalled that I had the same dilemma last time as I was there, and we solved it by going to this little Soda right on the main street that I always used to pass by. It was eerily similar to the same night months before… we even pulled the same three tables together, dined outside with the waves within an earshot, I even ordered the same casado as last time – the similarities can go on and on. We were also joined by another Canadian couple, who work for the fisheries ministry and RCMP, if I remember correctly (my friends will have to help me out with names), so we were again a group of seven. Well, this group of seven had so much food to deal with that for the first time on this trip I have seen Eric not being able to lick his plate clean (let alone that often we finishes Kellie’s meals too). The poor RCMP woman ordered nachos from the ‘snacks’ section and received a plate bigger than her head, filled with so many vegetables that we are all asking – are there nachos under there? By the end, we carted the rest of the food, and more difficultly ourselves back to Costa Linda, where we were too tired and full to even sit and hang out, so almost everyone went to sleep right away. We knew the next day we would still have to wake up early, to go (re) visit Manuel Antonio National Park.