Jess and Stacey’s Travels

Click on photo for more Panama pix

We spent two weeks in Panama and really enjoyed it.  Stacey liked it more than Costa Rica.  What is not to love about a country that offers fried dough for breakfast and has $.25 ice cream cones!  We weren’t planning on going to Panama, but were convinced through the recommendations of others-and we’re happy we listened. Panama ranks up there as one of our favorites to visit in Central America.  The landscape in areas is beautiful, particulary on the ride from Bocas del Toro area to Boquete.

We heard mixed reviews of Boquete – too many gringos but a beautiful area.  We ended up really enjoying it.  We stayed there for several days in two different weeks, broken up by a trip to the San Blas islands.  We stayed at Hostal Boquete, which we recommend.  Paul (and Molly) were very helpful and just really nice people. Paul was kind enough to let us leave most of our stuff there while we visited the San Blas Islands so that we didn’t have to lug all of our stuff.  We had good weather for most of the time we were in Boquete with the exception of a few rainy days.  We took a really serene hike through an idyllic area, visited some gardens including a privately created ‘mi jardin su jardin’, lost lots of golfballs on the areas only golf course, and tooled around in the hills in our rental car.  In 2001(?) AARP named Boquete one of the top places to retire.  Consequently, there are lots of “older” Americans there but we didn’t encounter that many until the last couple of days when we ran into a bunch at a few restaurants.  Overall, our experience in Boquete was really nice.   

Click on photo for more pictures from Panama

As mentioned above, we went to The San Blas Islands, aka Comarca de Kuna Yala which were also recommended by other travelers.  The 360+ islands that make up the San Blas are located off the northeast coast of Panama and are governed by the Kuna, an indigenous group found in Panama and Columbia.  Only a few of the islands are inhabited.  We stayed on Yandup Island which is next to the Playon Chico community.  Yandup Lodge is the only thing on the island.

As you can see in the pictures, it is a set of cabanas and one larger cabana where guests dine. 

After breakfast each morning, we were taken by boat to a different nearby uninhabited island to snorkel and lounge in hammocks.  We were brought back to Yandup for lunch – usually a meal of fresh crab or fish.  After lunch. we read or napped and then were taken by boat to visit the Playon Chico community for a cultural excursion.  We were brought back for dinner, also a seafood based meal.  In the evenings, we played Uno with the Kuna couple (Johnny and Malwita?) who manages the lodge or we read.  The first day, we were the only ones at the lodge but for the following three days 1-2 other couples came and went which made our Uno games a bit more exciting.  If you’re looking for canopy tours, a bar scene, or a good burger, then this isn’t the place for you.  We enjoyed it very much. 

After San Blas, we rented a car in Panama City and headed back to Boquete to retrieve our stuff and explore the area.  After a few days there, we drove to El Valle de Anton.  On the way, we encountered Panamanian police four times-three license checkpoints and once being pulled over for allegedly commiting infraction #50, as the officer informed us.  We have rented a car now in two countries.  We have been pulled over in both countries.  First, if you remember from a previous blog entry, in Nicaragua for the triangle violation for which were were let off. Now in Panama, violation #50.  By virtue of it being #50, you might surmise that there are 49 other more agregious violations.  As we learned, #50 is driving in the left hand lane when you’re not passing. After the officer determined from us that we would be paying for the ticket and not the rental car company, he let us off. Phew, 0-2 on tickets so far.  We continued on our way to El Valle, in the right hand lane.

We spent four days in El Valle, and by our accounts about three days too long.  We heard great things about El Valle but we were pretty bored in the town.  The best part of our visit was spending part of the day at Playa Blanca (Farallon).  The beach is nice, good for swimming.  Unfortunately, we felt like we were under surveillance by the resort security guards.  There are a couple of resorts that virtually block most access to the public beach.  Most people pay a fee for a day pass to use the resort facilities.  Since we only wanted to enjoy the PUBLIC beach, we didn’t pay, and were quickly informed that we were not allowed to sit on the resort chairs on the beach.  We tried to exit the beach by walking through the resort’s property and were headed off by two resort security guys.  They take their job very seriously.  In El Valle, we visited the hot springs which were more like luke warm springs.  We were going to take a hike but were discouraged by the big group of kids who were hanging out at the trail head to offer their services as guides.  We stayed at Hotel Residencial which was decent and very clean  They had wi-fi access on their roof terrace which we appreciate.  We recommend the breakfast at Anton Valley Hotel.  We ate there a couple of times.  Looked like a nice place to stay but we didn’t stay there.

After El Valle, we drove to Panama City (staying in the right hand lane).  We’re not so good with the directions in Panama City.  We got lost trying to leave the city going to Boquete, and we missed our turn entering the city.  We stayed at Hotel Marpaiso because every other place we contacted was full.  It has it’s pros and cons.  Free internet, an ok restaurant downstairs, and airport pickup.  The rooms aren’t very good but they’re clean.  Panama City is one of the few Central American capital cities that you’d want to spend any time in.  There are decent restaurants and nice neighborhoods to explore.  We really liked Restaurant Beirut, great Middle Eastern food.  We walked quite a bit around the city, although it is not exactly a walkable city-too big.  We also took a bus to the visitor’s center of the Panama Canal.  It looks like a bigger version of the locks in Seattle, but without the cool salmon ladder.

We left Panama on the 22nd for El Salvador to spend Christmas with a fellow returned Peace Corp volunteer, Cynthia, who is living in Santa Tecla with her husband and daughter.  Next blog post will cover El Salvador.   

Costa Rica Pix-click on photo for more pix

Our first official tourst stop in Costa Rica was Rincon de la Vieja park, outside Liberia in the north.  On our hike, it was really windy with some rain but we had a good time hiking to a waterfall and to some hot, sulforous mud pits.  Jess swam in the blue waters below the waterfall with a German fellow we met on the hike.  The womenfolk stayed on the rocks watching the guys swim in the chilly water.  While on the trail we saw the things you’re suposed to see in Costa Rica, white faced capuchin monkeys, giant lizards, butterflies, etc. 

Costa Rica Pix-click on photo for more pix

We left Liberia the next day on a six hour bus ride to St. Elena/Monteverde, a stop on virtually every tourist’s itinerary.  We visited the Monteverde Reserve with a  3 hour guided tour of the cloud forest in the morning and some hiking on our own afterwards.  We would recommend taking the tour.  Without the guide, we don’t think we would have noticed most of the stuff he pointed out. An interesting thing about cloud forests is the amount of plant growth found on the trees, top and sides.  Some trees can be covered with dozens of different things.  Some plants living high in the trees send roots all the way to the ground for nourishment.  It takes a couple of years for these roots to reach the ground and many, many years for these roots to encircle and strangle the original tree.  The original tree rots away and these roots become the outer shell of a hollow tree.

In the park, we saw some more things that people come to Costa Rica to see-Quetzals (colorful bird), tarantulas, a sloth, some monkeys and a couple of other furry creatures.  We also saw an interesting spider that springloads its web.  When something hits the web, the web springs out toward the victim about an inch or two.  If you watch closely you can see the web being pulled back by the spider in preparation for the next victim.  Pretty cool. 

Costa Rica Pix-click on photo for more pix

In Santa Elena, we stayed at the Pensione Santa Elena, which gets high marks from us.  While the room was basic, the owners (Ran and his siter Shannon from the US) were great hosts as was their staff, all great sources of information.  We loved listening to the young backpackers sitting around in the morning drinking coffee and asking Shannon and Ran what they should do for the day.  They made excellent substitute parents for many of the guests.  Highly recommend the hostel but sugguest you make a reservation, even though we didn’t practice what we preach.  We got a room because there was a no-show.  And this was just at the beginning of peak season. 

From Monteverde we took a shuttle-boat-shuttle to La Fortuna.  Have to note here that the first leg shuttle ride was the most scenic hour ride that Jess has seen in Central America.  Soft rolling hills, mountains and clear streams for almost the entire ride.  (Jess is writing this in Panama and Stacey thinks it is prettier here.  While Jess agrese that we have seen more beauty in Panama, Jess would still vote for that one area in Costa Rica)  The hour boat ride was sunny and scenic although Volcano Arenal was in clouds.  Then it was another half hour shuttle into La Fortuna.  La Fortuna was a necessary stop due to transport timing.  This is a real tourist town.  Wow!  Not our favorite place but seemed to be another very popular tourist destination.  Lots of resorts, canopy tours,and souvenir shops.  We spent only one night here and mostly watched American football on TV – it was Sunday afterall. 

Next stop was the remote area of Tortuguero.  Getting there was fun.  First leg was a 4 hour mini bus … the last hour on bad roads.  When we arrived at the river, a boat pulled up and unloaded its passengers.  Great timing!  Not to be.  We had to wait “about 15 minutes” for some more travelers coming on public bus.  An hour later we were on our way.  Unfortunately,  it was now raining and would rain quite hard at times during our hour boat ride.  We arrived in Tortuguero wet and cold with a reservation at Miss Junies.  We were glad they had hot showers and immediately they let us know that they could dry our clothes.  We spent 2 nights here.  First morning, we had a guided canoe trip through the park…in the rain.  Saw another sloth, a couple of cayman about 4 feet long, some howler monkeys, different herons and an iguana.  The next day we rented a canoe and did some exploring on our own and got some exercise.  This area does not really have a dry season so it never really dries out. They rent out high rubber boots.  While this is a tourist destination as a  turtle nesting area, our timing was bad.  Only turtles we would see would be a couple we saw while on the boat trip leaving the area.  We took a 3 hour boat trip to Puerto Limon, south along the Caribbean cost.  That trip was was much nicer as we were in a small speed boat and the captain enjoyed speeding thru the twists and turns of the various rivers through the jungle.  We did hit some rain for about half an hour but it did not dampen the enjoyment of the trip.  Again we had to wait about an hour for others folks to show up.  Then we had another 2 hours in a shuttle to get to Puerto Viejo our destination.  It doesn’t normally take that long but the driver was kind enough to drive around Cahuita to help the other couples in the shuttle find lodging.  Cahuita is a beach town and becoming more and more popular with tourists. 

Puerto Viejo was our last stop before entering Panama.  It has several nice beaches and a nearby park.  We stayed at Hotel El Tesoro but would not recommend it.  We spent a couple of days resting up (not travelling) and met some interesting people.  We did a lot of walking, watched surfers, and rented bikes for a couple of afternoons.  We had decent weather, not a bad place to spend a few days.   

On Saturday, we took an hour bus ride to the Panamanian border at Sixoala.  We had read and heard lots of stories of long waits and customs officials completely unpacking bags.  Fortunately, we had short waits, no inspection and no problems.  Did not even need to show that we had a ticket for exiting Panama, which they say is needed.  Maybe it was because we crossed on a Saturday or it was just our lucky day.  Then it was a $5-bargained down to $3 ride to Changuinola where we caught a 4-5 hour bus ride to the bus terminal in David where we caught a 1 hour bus north to Boquete, where we are right now.