A Broad Abroad

I’m pretty glad I ended up on that second bus cuz I met some nice folks. A british couple, alka and rodri, are also in bocas now and we’ll meet up for drinks and a book swap ☺ and maybe christmas dinner. The rest of my crew (first shift) get in tomorrow: deb, dus and rita. I’m really looking forward to that!

The border crossing from sixaola, CR to guabito, panama is a trip. Very simple as far as paperwork is concerned but one must walk on a railroad bridge over a big river to get from one country to the other. It would be entirely possible to lose one’s footing and go over and I had to wonder if it has ever happened. video below!!

When we got to guabito we were told that our preferred boat launch out to bocas (archipelago off the coast of panama) from changuinola was inadvisable due to the rain (it uses canals that are prone to flood) and that instead we should take the 1.5 hr trip to almirante and catch a boat from there. The drive was lovely but almirante is pretty much a sh*t-hole. None-the-less we went in search of some beer (adios imperial brand, hello panama brand) and made the best of our time waiting for the ferry.

That was yesterday and it’s pretty much rained ever since. Druing a short breack in the rain this morn I walked all the way around isla caranero (observations to come) and made it back just in time for the rain to start again! I hope it stops again so I can catch a water taxi over to bocas town (on isla colon) and do some grocery shopping. I have a couple of craving I’d like to satisfy. So – hopefully the internet in the casita here starts to work then I can upload pics, video, etc. and also all these posts that have accumulated. Yay!

Mostly I just people watched while I was here. There was a futbol tournament going on in the late afternoon. An odd version of it tho, as it was played on a court as small as a tennis court (smaller actually, if you consider that tennis courts are bigger on account of the fact that they continue past the out-of-bounds line). They had 4 man teams and you can imagine that in an area that small the action is non-stop. I got to see the locals come out and it was really amazing to see what a melting pot it is: black, white and everything in between – with a healthy dose of the rasta spice.

Can’t say that I would have wanted to spend more time here. It’s got a big surfer-thing going on and they tend to be pretty cliquish. Did meet a couple of british guys visiting for the birding and we got to compare notes.

It starting pouring as I went to bed and continued all night. My plan was to catch the first bus for the border, which leaves PV at 6:30 am. When I awoke to hear it still pouring I had second thoughts but lept out of bed at the last minute to head for the bus. That was all for naught since I missed it. Imagine, in this land of phone outages and crappy roads the bus actually came and left 10 minutes early. D’oh! Since I’d already checked out of cabinas guarana (I recommend this place) I waited at the bus stop for 2 hours for the next bus.

Puerto viejo doesn’t look too bad, but my mission there was to get a few groceries to tide me over when grub wasn’t to be found in punta uva. This isn’t a problem when one has transportation (rental car, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Alby lodge had a community kitchen that I took advantage of some but I had yummy pizza my last night at corlione’s before i hit the sack. Overall, cahuita is ok. It’s a bit dusty despite it’s locale ... [Continue reading this entry]

Cahuita has a “gringo to local” ratio a bit higher than I like. Not to mention I saw my first gringo beggar here, which really chaps my hide. Damn hippies ☺. As a matter of fact – ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tortuguero village is small and rambling, with no cars. it is, in my experience, like many afro-carib communities where families blend and take care of each other and the entire family structure evolves very differently than in the US. ... [Continue reading this entry]

the city of guapiles sits roughly ½ way between san jose and tortuguero village. I made sure I was at the guapiles bus station by 9:30 am since there are several hops involved in getting to tortuguero the cheap ... [Continue reading this entry]

rather than risk a botched delivery of my pack, i arrived at the airport on monday hoping that my pack arrived on the same flight i did, only a day later. success! the relief of having all my ... [Continue reading this entry]

....or i suppose not, since they don't like raki and they failed to deliver my pack to me in costa rica. i am operating under the assumption that it will be here by tomorrow and i've been assured they ... [Continue reading this entry]