Back to Nature

Hey all,
The day after my last post was supposed to be our kayak trip. In the morning we met up with our travel mates Simon and Seamus who live in London but are from New Zealand and Ireland. Locals on Bocas solicit tourists into go on a five hour tour of several bays and Islands for $15 per person. We ran into one of these locals on the way to the kayaks and chatted him up. It´s the low season right now, so the locals must be a little desparate because Martin let us take his boat for the day, leaving him on shore, for $10 each. The owners of our hostel had never heard of anything like that happening. We took his shoddy laminated drawing of the Islands and bays as our map. We were quickly lost.
-- Our boat for the day --

Regardless, we had a great day, finding our own little nooks, doing some snorkeling, and throwing anchor and hanging out, eating lunch on the boat.
From Bocas we headed to the Lost and Found hostel, one of eight parcels of private property in Panama´s largest nature preserve, and the one deepest into the jungle. Beautiful spot. It felt so good to get out of the towns we´d been traveling between and into a remote nature preserve.
We spent one day touring Cune´s organic coffee farm. Cune grows everything on his farm, and continues to experiment with rotations of his various crops to see how they affect and interact with the soil of the various steep mountain slopes he farms. Erosion is a big problem for Cune.

-- Cune and the love of his life, his farm --

At the end of the tour you eat a meal fresh from the farm and sample Cune´s fruit wines that he´s been making for the last several years.








The next day at lost and found, Mike and I went on the Hostel´s ¨treasure hunt.¨ The treasure hunt is a series of clues that take you through a surprisingly treachurous hike up and down a mountain and upstream a river. It was a great way to throw a little fun into a beautiful hike through the cloud forest.


-- Mikey going to get our next clue (under the yellow sign in the top left corner)


From Lost and Found we separated with our travel buddies, Seamus and Simon, of the previous 10 days, who were headed south to Panama city. Brandon, Mike and I took several buses to the small mountain village of Boquete, arriving last night. Today we took a leisurely three hour hike via mountain roads surrounding the town, stopping to explore ¨mi jardin es su jardin.¨ Beautiful area with countless rivers flowing down from the nearby volcano and the hills covered with coffee trees.


-- mi jardin es su jardin¨



This afternoon, when I finish writing this post, we head off to a hot springs. Tomorrow we have some more serious hiking in store...possibly in ¨ search of the elusive Quetzal bird. Hope all is well.

Panama

Hey All -
Last post I was in Mal Pais, Costa Rica. We stayed one more day than planned, renting ATVs and driving backroads, seeing the country. Rolling green hills dotted with white cattle, skirted by think jungle, and the blue ocean as a backdrop. I felt like I was finally seeing Costa Rica. The natural beauty of the country is the real draw. The touristy towns are the major setback.
We drove to Montezuma and hiked/scaled cliffs to get to the bottom of a giant waterfall. The falls cut a deep crevice in the sheer cliffs on either side, letting a bright shaft of light flood into the dark, thick jungle below. It was a special, powerful place.
We thought we'd been on somewhat of a trail, and were shocked by how dangerous it was. From the bottom of the falls, we found the real trail, which took us to the top of the waterfall. Three falls, nice swimming holes, culminating in one giant waterfall. We all took a jump off the top of the smaller waterfall - about a 40 foot drop. Tons of fun.
From malpais, we took several buses and a ferry SE to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Spent two nights there, doing some snorkeling and hanging out on the beach.
Now we are in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Beautiful place. Last night was the finale of a week long festival - the festival of the sea. We stayed for about three hours and had a great time sitting in the "club" (a tent on the beach) watching all of the locals dancing, the kids running around with toy guns. I love the mix of cultures here. It is predominately migrants from Caribbean islands with beautiful, dark skin. They speak Creole and Spanish. They dance the salsa and are Panamanian. The result is a fun, laid back community.
We will be here for maybe 3 or 4 days; excited to stay in one spot for a while after several long days of traveling in the past 4 days. From here we will head to either the Lost and Found hostel in the jungle, or Boquete, also in the mountains. So far, we are loving Panama. The hostel has free bikes and B and I enjoyed a nice tandem ride around town this morning. The bikes are all pretty old, and it was a great ride until the back tire collapsed, sending me to the dirt. Long walk back to the hostel dragging a tandem bike.
It's a rainy day today. If it's nice tomorrow, we'll rent some kayaks for the day and find some remote beaches to do some snorkeling.
Hope all is well with everyone.

Pictures

Somewhere along the way my electronics pouch carrying my ipod and various cords, including my camera cord, got left behind. I can only post pictures when somebody has a cord I can borrow, so unfortunately these posts may be less frequent.


Flakesy in San Juan del Sur



The first street sign I've seen in Nicaragua. Brought to you by Flor de Cana (Nicaraguan Rum)

Granada


Rain falling in the courtyard of the Bearded Monkey, the hostel in Granada


Lago Apoyo. So beautiful. A really special place. The lake is said to have healing powers.


Nancy fitting Brandon with one of her Sarongs. In the morning, Nancy led us through a 90 minute yoga class.


Angela, not sure of what to think of Brandon's new sarong.


The group at Lago Apoyo (minus Sean, Joe, and myself). A blury picture, but the only one I have of this group that we had so much fun with.

On the move

Hey All,
I'm writing to you from Malpais, Costa Rica.
Quick overview of the last four days:
We had an amazing trip to Lago Apoyo. A pristine crater lake; warm, deep blue water, rimmed with thick jungle full of bats and howler monkeys. Spent the day in the lake and the night with the six other people staying at the quaint little cabin/hostel. Great time that night. Played "drinking jenga," laughed, and had a late night skinny-dip in the lake. My kind of party.
On Saturday we headed to San Juan del Sur, returning to Casa Oro, the hostel where Flakesy and I had stayed earlier in the week. Great night in San Juan. Our friends from the Monkey Hut hostel at Lake Apollo, and several others we met in Granada, showed up and we started to form a big group.
Early Sunday we took the shuttle to Playa Maderas and spent the whole day on the beach. I got to surf a couple times, and it felt great to get back in the water. Back at the hostel, we met up with Flakesy and Tommi, a friend of mine from Austria that Flakesy and I met in Las Salinas. Another fun night in San Juan. In bed at 5am. Up at 9am for the 12 hour journey across border, on buses and ferries, to Malpais.
I had a fun surf this morning and will get in the water again tonight. Mike, Brandon and I are beginning to form a plan. In several days we will shoot diagonally, SE, across Costa Rica to Puerto Viejo, a Caribbean Rasta fishing town in the South East corner of the country and spend a few days there. Then we will cross the border to Bocas del Toro, a tropical Island in Panama, and meet up with several people we ran into in both Granada and San Juan del Sur. From Bocas, we will head into the mountains to the "Lost and Found" hostel, which apparently has incredible hiking through Panama's jungles.
I originally didn't think I'd make it all the way down to Panama, and am so excited that it has become part of our plan. Of course, when travelling, plans change pretty quickly. Pura Vida.

Mike and a surprise

Hey all -
Mike showed up Wed. around 8. I was so glad to see him. We went out with everyone from the hostel that night and had a good time. Randomly met another guy that went to GW law with us at the hostel.
Yesterday, in the comments from my previous post, I got a message from B - my good friend from USD - saying ¨Don´t move! I´m coming to Granada today.¨ Sure enough, around 7.30 last night B rolled up. We all had a great time last night. Great to see B - it´s been almost two years since I last saw him.
Today we head to a crater lake and will stay at a small hostel there. On Saturday we head back to San Juan del Sur and meet back up with Flakesy on Sunday. Can´t wait to get back in the water.
On Sunday we are going to try and catch the Seahawks game in San Juan del Sur.
that´s all for now.

Party Pooper

Hey all,
I´m sitting at the Bearded Monkey Hostel in Granada right now, waiting to meet Mike. Mike should be arriving from Honduras either tonight or tomorrow. I can´t wait to see him.
Flakesy and I left Playa Santana on Monday after a great weekend of surf. We headed to San Juan del Sur and stayed at the Casa Oro, a great hostel. We met up with a couple guys from Austria we´d met at Buena Onda the week before and had ourselves a night on the town.
I was up at dawn the next morning, not feeling hung over, but not feeling well. I had my first bout with travellers sickness and spent most of the day on the toilet. But I was keeping food down and it seemed like it would soon pass - at least that´s what I was hoping becuase I had 4 hours of bus rides in store for me the next day.
Flakesy and I travelled north near Playa Maderas to stay at a place he knew from his first trip to Nicaragua several years ago. We had a crowded but fun surf in small waves Tuesday night at Maderas, and then I was early to bed, hoping my stomach would improve.
This morning I woke up, having sweated through all my sheets and ripping them off in a kind of crazed deep sleep....but it worked and I was feeling a lot better. I surfed Maderas at dawn, then caught a shuttle back to San Juan del Sur after breakfast.
Just arrived at the hostel in Granada. Does not look like much from the outside, but you walk in and are greeted by an open courtyard full of palm trees and hammocks...pretty cool. Tomorrw will be my first day without surfing since arriving! Wow.

Surfin in the Rain

Last night Flakesy and I went for an evening surf, as the waves were still coming in even with the outgoing tide. After about 15 minutes we saw a storm coming our way. In another 15 minutes, the rain started to fall. Then the squall hit.
Rain poured down, shooting at our backs with the offshore winds. Gale-force winds picked up, sending pulses of energy out to the ocean, colliding with the oncoming waves. When the heart of the storm hit, visibility went to zero. The rain was pouring down, the wind was sweeping the rain sideways and picking so much water off the ocean that visability disapeared, not because of storm clouds, but because of the wall of water passing by us. You couldn´t see the guys sitting around you, but could just make out their hoots and hollers above the wind. The thick of the storm passed, but the pounding rain persisted for another 10 minutes, accompanied by strong winds, but much of the visibility returned. Fish began to jump out of the water all along the beach. Fish over a foot long, not the usual tiny flying fish you see skipping accross the surface. It was chaos, even for the fish. Sitting on my board, I was assaulted. A fish leapt out of the water and shot straight into my chest. In hindsight, I should have tried to catch it - just for the story. In reality, I lurched off the back of my board in fear.
When the storm completely passed and the rain stopped, we were left with glassy, perfect conditions, and only 6 guys out along the whole beach. Most had eventually grew tired of the storm and gone in. It was a unique and memorable session.
Sky and Kris - I thought of you guys while I was out there and wished you were with me for that surf.
That´s all for now.

Tamarindo, Costa Rica (...or is it Malibu?)

Camp in Avellanas, Costa Rica. We paid for beds, but they were infested with mold and spiders. The hammocks are more comfortable anyway.

The rooster perched five feet from our heads that woke us up an hour BEFORE dawn in Avellanas.
Gatito at Buena Onda.

Kris, Sky, and Flakesy lounging at Buena Onda. There was a lot of this the past week.

A wave from today (not mine). The swell fills in tomorrow. I can´t wait.

End of Trip #2

Kris and Sky left this morning.
Last night, our hosts at Buena Onda took us to a local hot springs. Going to a hot springs in the tropics sounded odd, but turned out to be a wonderful experience. The springs were unmarked, down a local dirt road. Beautiful palms and trees surrounded the pools. Birds and bugs sang and buzzed in the background.
The springs are used primarily by locals. Two of the pools are lined with washboards, where women do laundry on a daily basis.
It felt so nice, after being somewhat idle for a week at Buena Onda, to get out and explore. The little adventure filled me with excitement for the two months I have left, and all the places and experiences I have before me. Although I was sad that night that Sky and Kris would be leaving, I was looking forward to the next phase of my trip.
I woke up at 5am to say goodbye to Kris and Sky. I lolled in and out of sleep for another couple hours, then lifted myself out of my hammock. At this point, the sadness of my travelling companions´departure really hit me. We had such a great trip down here in Nicaragua and had so many good times together, it felt very different to now be in this country without them.
Cyril (Flakesy) and I moved from Buena Onda, which is now officially closed, to the spot on the beach where Sky and I have been having breakfast the last week. The incoming swell showed up a little early, and I just got back from a 3 hour surf in really fun chest high waves. Nothing like good waves to lift the spirits.
Next Wednsday I will meet up with Mike Elliott in Grenada, Nicaragua. I can´t wait to see him. I´m really looking forward, after a weekend of good surf, to get back on the move and explore new places. That´s all for now. I hope all is well with everyone.