El Norte de El Caribe de Costa Rica!

Up at the crack of dawn, with the roosters, I was loaded onto a tour bus going to Parque Nacional Tortuguero. I booked an overnight tour to this National Park where sea turtles go to lay their eggs.

The lay of the land going north is all about the banana. Banana trees were pretty much everywhere on our route. We stopped at a banana processing plant, Del Monte actually, and watched the workers process the bananas from the huge bundles off the tree, straight into large vats of water, to quality control (size and number by bunches), to the boxes that you see at the supermarket. The folks that work in this industry only make $300 a month and it is hard work. The company provides housing and supports the schools for their children so they use that $300 for food and other necessities...I had mixed feelings about this. Seems to me that the company keeps the employees close to the plant so that they can work more for the same amount of money. Hmmm...

The tour bus reached the town of Caño Blanco where we had to get all of our stuff and load it onto a boat. The boat took us a long way up the Canales de Tortuguero to the Evergreen Lodge. The Lodge was really nice, with a pool and all meals included...a very pleasant surprise! I had about an hour and decided to take advantage of the pool...ahhh!!! That afternoon, it was off to Tortuguero Village via water taxi where we went to the turtle museum and to the beach to see the turtle nests. Yup...the eggs are there in the big hole that mama turtle dug and covered. Laura, our guide, gave us some info on these turtles. Green sea turtles lay about 110 eggs 3 times a year. Of those 110 eggs, approximately 1% survive. The outlook for these turtles was not looking too good. At one point they thought that there were only about 3000 females left. Now, with all the conservation efforts, they think there are more than 20,000! Yay!

The next morning, we were off with Tomas to slowly creep through the national park in a boat. Tomas is a biologist and his knowledge of birds, plants, animals and the area is quite extensive. We saw all kinds of birds...you know "oh look, there's the 2 toed, purple feathered, long beaked, 3 legged egret thing". Can you tell I am not a big bird watcher? We did get a really cool look at a sloth that was down low in the water, doing his business, and then he climbed back up the tree. Oh and one of the funniest things I have seen so far was on this boat tour. We found a group of white faced monkeys way up high in the trees. We were hanging out under the trees watching them and one of the monkeys got mad at us, someone must have smiled at him, and walked straight over the boat and peed on us. I barely escaped being peed on. The two ladies on the other side of the boat got hit. Hilarious! Even Tomas was cracking up.

Later, we went on a nature hike that afternoon and got eaten by the world's largest mosquitoes. They will eat you through your clothes! The entire time we were on this tour, we were being filmed for a local vacation channel, destinostv...look for me on your local cable network!

After the hike, it was on to a long boat and then bus ride to the capital of Costa Rica...San Jose!

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca - the Caribe de Costa Rica...

Back in good old Costa Rica with the Ticos, casados, sodas and great music! Tab and I headed to the town of Puerto Viejo located on the Southern Caribbean of Costa Rica. We didn't have reservations anywhere and ended up at a small place outside of town. It was OK, but definitely not Aqua Lodge caliber. We chilled out and had dinner and called it a night. The next day, Tab was off to San Jose to catch a flight back to the bay. Poor Tab, she was in for a long bumpy ride back to the airport. That is the one thing I forgot (and quickly remembered) about Costa Rica, the roads are horrible. That morning, I made my way into town and found Cabinas Guanara. The owners are Italian and Paulo kept saying "ciao bella" in Italian - loved it! They gave me a great deal so I stayed for 3 nights!

Puerto Viejo, duhhhude, is the most chill place I have ever been. It's Caribbean flavor, pura vida attitude and no worries lifestyle is just so relaxing! Puerto Viejo is also home of the amazing "Salsa Brava" which is what the biggest breaks in Costa Rica are called. The breaks got their name because of the "sauce" it serves up. These waves put Puerto Viejo on the map for surfers all over the world. There´s also a, ahh...how shall I say this, big fan base for herbs here. I was at the tour office, booking my tour for the next day and this older, kind of worn gentleman was in the office. He was rather chatty and I guess felt comfortable enough to ask me if I wanted some herb. Now this, within itself, is no big deal. I have been asked this many times here in Costa Rica. It turns out, revealed after he left the office, this guy is Captain Zero. There was a book written about him. In days past, he was a big drug smuggler and surfer here in Central America. He now lives on the beach and just kind of wanders. He is from Southern Marin...LOL here! What does that say...Jackie, Douglas, Ingrid??? Apparently, they were going to make a movie about him and Sean Penn had come down PV to do some research on him. Not sure what happend with the movie deal, something about book and movie rights. Anyway, I was asked by Captain Zero (let´s not have your kids strive to be like this Captain!) if I was interested in some herb! Whadya think about that?

The next day, I went on a snorkel and hiking tour in Cahuita which is a National Reserve about 20 minutes north of Puerto Viejo. On the way there, I met Tyler from NY via London. We hung out for the duration of the day. I just love that British humor - dry and hysterical. We took a boat out to the live coral reef just off the shore of Punta Cahuita. The water was a bit hazy, but we were able to see some pretty cool fish and the coral was amazing. Hiking through the reserve was next on the agenda. Our guide, we think his name was Ludvig - not sure because we couldn´t really understand him, but that´s what we called him, was a young guy from Cahuita. He spoke English but with a rather strong Caribbean accent. He was really knowledgeable about the plants, sea, animals, etc. I was impressed. Tyler and I had dinner and hung out for a while. Nothing like a cold Pina Colada on a warm night!

My last day in PV was spent on Play Cocles. I just chilled, as is the norm here, and watched the surfers do their thing. I found myself SO chill, that I didn´t take many pictures. I couldn´t lift my arms I guess. Tomorrow, off to Tortuguero, the Northern Caribbean of Costa Rica.

Freak out numero uno y dos...

I am so happy to say that, to date, my travels have gone by virtually without major incident. I did have two minor incidents that I can now laugh about...

Freak out numero uno:

When I was in Manuel Antonio, after school one day, Karen and I had gone into town and then back to my hotel room. When we got to my hotel room, I started looking for my camera. I couldn´t find it. I tore everything apart. Karen checked my bags again and I was at a loss. I was so bummed. I was "freaking out" a bit. I was thinking OMG, my mom just bought me that camera and then OMG, all my pictures. I was so bummed. Poor Karen, she didn´t really know me that well at that point, all she could say was, "I am so sorry". After reading all the "dangers and annoyances" sections of the guidebooks, I was sure that someone had taken my camera. Costa Rica has been known to have its share of pickpockets. I retraced my steps and decided that I should run back to the school and see if they found it. Well, sure enough they had it. I had left it by the computer. Thank Goodness! Whew! That was an adrenalin rush I could have done without!

So we are now at freak out numero dos:

When you get to the border of Panama and Costa Rica, on the Panama side, you have to stop and get your passport reviewed and then walk across this old rickety bridge. It´s a not a short bridge so there are guys on the Panama side that will carry your bags over the bridge for you. There was a guy that grabbed our suitcases and he had mine flung over his shoulder and was pulling Tab´s across the bridge. These are not small bags so he was high tailin it across. There was some sort of scuffle happening with the police and some guy so the border agent looking at my passport was distracted and took a while to get me through the process. We started walking across the bridge and as we get toward the end, I didn´t see the guy with our bags. Where did he go? I start to panic. OMG, he took our bags and just walked away with them. I was pretty much freaked out. In my mind I was thinking well, I am out of here. I have my passport and money and I am coming home early. Oh no, all my stuff. OMG! I walked past the Costa Rican immigration point and went looking for this guy. Tab was so calm..."he´s here somewhere, calm down". Turns out, he was waiting at the Costa Rican immigration point, with our bags, ready to explain to us the forms we need to fill out. I had walked right past him. Ahhh!!! I felt like an idoit. Tab was laughing at me. I think other people were like "what is up with this crazy one?". I laughed at me too...but not till later!

Mellow day and last night in Bocas...

Saturday was our last full day at the aqua lodge (sigh...). We had a mellow day, went into town for lunch, chilled out and went back to the lodge for dinner. We were hoping that the weather was going to cooperate and that it wouldn´t be raining that evening. All worked out. We took the water taxi into town with the lodge staff. They got off work at 10, so we hitched a ride. The ride into town was amazing. The weather was fantastic and there were so many stars in the sky, a site to remember for sure. One of the staff at the lodge, Angelo, took us to Bar Undido for a night of dancing. Poor Tab, Angelo was relentless and I tried to save her but...well you know. I danced most of the night away. The music was pretty good. They played a lot of reggae and salsa mucic, as well as some hip hop and merengue. We took a water taxi back to the lodge and crashed out.

The next day, we were off to Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica. In order to get there from Bocas, you have to take a water taxi to the town of Guabito and then a taxi to the border. The boat ride was like being in a car with Mario Andretti. The driver was a maniac and I think bi-polar...he´d go super fast and then slow way down and then super fast again. The scenery was gorgeous though and we made it there without incident. And then came...freak out numero dos...

Bocas minus one...

Karen left us on Friday morning. But, we tried to get some snorkeling in before she left. There wasn´t much to see. Apparently, around our cabin was supposed to be the best stuff but we didn´t see much. Adios for now Karen...buen viaje!

Tab and I took a private boat tour that day. Our tour included a ride to Bahia de los delfines, lunch, and a trip to red frog beach on Isla Bastimentos. We arrived at the Bahia de los delfines and immediately saw another boat stopped with tourists taking pictures. I had never seen dolphins before (other than sea world) and this was pretty amazing. We hung out there for quite a while just listening to the delfines come up for air and swimming around. I loved watching the mom and her baby just cruise around. At one point, it was like one of them said "I am out of here" because out of the blue, he took off really fast jumping in and out of the water. Los delfines were one of the major highlights of my travels so far.

After the dolphins, we ate lunch and made our way to red frog beach. We thought that we were going to see the little red frogs that this beach was named after, but it was really just a drop off to hang out on this gorgeous beach and chill in the sun. Tab was determined to see the little red frogs so we had Estefan, our driver, take us up the beach to a forested area to find frogs for us. He did and we were happy!

We thought we might go out that night, but it was raining and in order to get to town you have to take a water taxi and we weren´t in the mood to go out and arrive soaking wet. We had a chill evening at the aqua lodge.

Mamacita de azucar!

We took a short flight to Bocas del Toro, Panama. Bocas is on the Caribbean side of the country maybe an hour from the Costa Rican border. Bocas consists of 6 islands, all densely forested. Columbus landed on Bocas in 1502 but the region was forgotten since there was no gold to be found. The region was later populated by Afro Caribbean immagrants from Jamaica and San Andres. The main Island being Isla Colon where you find the City of Bocas. Bocas is Panama´s major tourist area and has a very Caribbean vibe. There is so much to do here by way of water...snorkeling, diving, beaches, etc.

We arrived at the airport and then took a water taxi to our accomodations. Oh my gosh was all I could say. Tabitha, who at this point I have decided is sugar mamma (mamacita de azucar en epañol), scored an incredible place at Punta Caracol. Punta Caracol an environmental friendly aqua lodge where each cabin is built on stilts over the Caribbean Sea. Each cabin has low voltage electricity so, no hair dryers! Of course, we had the master suite! This place was...off the hook, sick, bad ass, and every other adjective you can think of for WAY cool!

We hung out at the lodge for a while, ate breakfast and napped. We took the water taxi back into town where we had lunch and checked things out. Bocas, the town, is very small and laid back, but you can tell that it is growing in order to accomadate the fact that the word is out on this place! Here come more tourists! We water taxied back to the lodge and Tab and Karen took the kayaks out for a spin. You can kayak and snorkel right off the back deck of the cabin! We cracked up when Tab took a dump on the kayak...what?? you can´t stand up on these things? Dinner was served at the lodge restaurant and was really good. I had caracol (conch) for the 1st time. It´s kind of like calamari but a little more chewy. I crashed out that night around 10 and apparently slept through one of the biggest thunder and lightning storms ever. Tab and Karen were a bit freaked out and didn´t get much sleep. Tab claims she saw sparks on our thatched roof...hmmm. Me...snug as a bug...woke up fresh as a daisy, ready for the next day!

Our last day in Panama City...

Another late start to the day, but we were able to secure a tour to Gamboa. Gamboa is a small town heading toward the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. It´s located where the Chagres river meets Lago Gatun. We took a 45 minute taxi ride to Gamboa where we got on a boat to Monkey Island. We were basically on the man made lake/river that the ships take to pass through the canal. What do you think we saw on Monkey Island? Yup...more monos! Before our trip, our guide gave us the low down on the Monos - "Don´t smile at the monkeys". What??? You are kidding right? Turns out, if you smile at them, they take it as a sign of aggression and they will want to throw down with you. I couldn´t stop laughing. Whenever you try not to smile/laugh, you always do. This was never an issue before because we hadn´t been that close to them. After being in Costa Rica where feeding the monkeys is a big no no, I was a bit bummed that the tourists on the boat brought bananas and almonds to feed the monkeys and it was not only allowed, but encouraged. I couldn´t bring myself to do it. It was a fun boat ride nonetheless and we saw crockodiles, sloths, iguanas and turtles too. After the tour, we headed back to the hotel. We were all so tired...you know...that lack of sleep thing was kicking in!

That night, we hung out at the swanky hotel bar one last time and then Juan Carlos took us to a local food joint called Nikos. We were after some comida typical (typical Panamanian food). We had rice, beans, a really good pork dish, fish, and platanos (my favorite!). We weren´t sure what to expect when we pulled up to the restaurant but the food turned out to be fantastic! We had a late night at the hotel and basically didn´t sleep because we had to be up at some god awful hour, 4 a.m. or so, in order to catch our flight to Bocas del Toro. Adios Panama City...for now anyway...