Week 37 - San Juan del Sur, Isla Ometepe (Nicaragua)

We left San Jose early doors and walked a kilometre to the office for the bus company heading to Penas Blancas and the Nicaraguan border. 5 hours later we were at the border and had a surprisingly easy crossing despite the confusing layout and lack of signage to tell you where to go and the stories of 2 hour crossings. We made it on to a Rivas bound bus just as a fight broke out at the bus stop, wondering what Nicaragua had in store for us. After we left the border our impression of Nicaragua instantly improved with the locals shouting at us to get off the bus at a cross road to catch the San Juan del Sur bus.

San Juan del Sur, is a cute little town on the Pacific coast full of hostels, bars and surf shops. Although the beach in town is decent enough, everywhere offers transfers to the surrounding beaches where the surf is supposed to be world class - we didn’t make it out of the town. The first afternoon, after a wonder around to get our bearings, we ended up at happy hour at one of the bars right on the beach to watch the sunset, you can’t turn down $1 beers and rum and cokes. Once happy hour had finished a storm drifted in and we ended up running through the streets, shoes in hand, ‘Tom Cruise’ style, to a little curry restaurant we’d spied earlier. Back at the hostel we were happy to see the electricity had finally come on having been off all day.

The next day we’d intended to head to a nearby beach but decided instead to relax in town. Rhys stayed at the hostel to fix the computer while I wondered around town and along the beach, amazed at all the driftwood brought in by the storm and the unusual sight of people actually clearing it (this never seems to happen in South America). In the afternoon we headed up to Pelican Eyes, one of the plushiest hotels in the area where rooms were completely out of price range at upwards of $180 a night, but where they let you pay a couple of dollars to use the infinity pool with views out over the bay. An amazing storm with ridiculous thunder and lightening started just as we got in from dinner.

We left San Juan del Sur as soon as we woke to catch the chicken bus (an old American School bus, normally pimped to the nines) to Rivas. We were dropped in a frenetic market area where we ended up paying over the odds for a cab to get us to the dock in San Jorge thinking there was a ferry at 11:30. The ferry didn’t leave until 12:30. We ended up spending an hour sitting on the rickety old wooden boat waiting for it to leave. By 2pm we had docked in Moyogalpa, the main town of Isla de Ometepe.

Isla de Ometepe is Lago Nicaragua’s largest island and a bit of a backpacker hub. The island is dominated by the cones of two volcanoes, the active Volcan Concepcion in the north rising to 1,610m and the dormant Volcan Maderas in the south, standing at 1,394m. It’s an incredibly laid back and peaceful place with just one road running as a ‘figure 8’ around the two volcanoes. On arrival we negotiated a taxi to take us from the dock in the main town across to the southern, quieter side of the island, to the small village of Balgue and Finca Magdelena. The Finca is an old hacienda, converted into an organic coffee co-operative. Using our new bargaining skills picked up from Fleur we managed to get a private room for a bargain $10 a night before heading back along the 1km track from the Finca to the village to an amazing little cafe, Cafe Campestre, for a delicious organic, fresh meal and to pick up an equally yummy packed lunch for the next day. Back at the Finca we settled down to watch the mesmorising sunset over Volcan Concepcion from the veranda enjoying bargainous rum and cokes. 

We were up early again the next day to meet our compulsory guide for a hike up the verdant slopes of Volcan Maderas, the smaller of the two volcanoes on the island and supposedly the easier walk. The volcano is clothed in cloud forest filled with monkeys, birds, and super loud cicada bugs and we were lucky enough to spot a brightly coloured venomous coral snake. The hike is supposed to take 7-8 hours. We managed it in 6 ¼ hours. It took 3 hours to walk to the crater lake, a pretty steep and slippery up hill slog followed by a 10 minute downhill in to the crater. The lake was covered in cloud when we got there and was very mystical but I wouldn’t say mind blowing. We ate our sandwiches before starting the return leg which was just as difficult as the uphill since it had rained a bit and we were scrambling over muddy, slippery boulders. It was a shame that the clouds were low so our views over Volcan Concepcion and the lake were limited but all the same it was worthwhile. As we got back to the Finca a storm hit, great timing! We spent the rest of the day eating cake, drinking coffee grown in the Finca and finishing the bottle of rum from the night before. 

We’d intended to walk into the village and catch the bus back up to Santa Domingo, a little stretch of hostels lining the islands main beach. That was until we found out that buses don’t run on a Sunday. We ended up calling a taxi which for the sake of ease was worth every penny. We checked into a little loft room just as another storm hit and apart from a short walk along the beach, spent the day at the hostel with lunch at a nearby comedor.

The rains continued all of the next day and ruined our plans of renting a scooter. Rhys hung around the hostel and I only ventured out for a short walk along the road and down a footpath before realising that plastic flipflops and ankle deep mud were a bad combo.

Luckily when we woke the following day the rain had subsided, we booked in to the hostel for another night and headed out to rent a scooter for the day. It took us about an hour to get up to the main port town in the north, Moyogalpa where we stopped at a great little cafe for lunch. Since we couldn’t take the scooter along the unpaved road we turned back the way we came. We made two stops, the first at a beach/mirador, Punta Jesus Maria where a spit of sand juts out into the lake from where you can see both volcanoes. Our second stop was at the museum. We haven’t been to a museum in ages and thought it would be worth a look, if you don’t speak Spanish I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s by guided tour only and there are about 4 rooms showing the history of Nicaraguan money and then another 4 rooms with archaeological finds from the island. Next we were back on the scooter to ride around to the eastern side of the northern volcano to the second largest town, Altagracia, before heading back south to El Ojo de Agua, two outdoor swimming pools in the forest filled with thermal spring water with medicinal qualities. We didn’t have swim wear with us so only stayed long enough to dangle our legs in before heading on to El Porvenir, a hacienda where for a small fee you can walk around the grounds and admire the ancient petroglyphs, swirling patterns and stylised animals carved in the basalt rocks. We ended the day back at the cafe in Balgue for an early dinner before returning the scooter.

Rhys in the pool at Pelican Eyes Hotel, San Juan del Sur.

Sunset over Volcan Concepcion from Finca Magdelana, Isla Ometepe.

Hiking Volcan Maderas, Isla Ometepe.

Storks on Santo Domingo beach, Isla Ometepe.

Riding our scooter, Isla Ometepe.

Petroglyphs, El Porvenir, Isla Ometepe.

Week 36 - Pacuare Nature Reserve, Tortuguero, San Jose (Costa Rica)

We started the week at the north station of the Pacuare Nature Reserve, having written a lot of detail on the reserve last week I’ll concentrate on the highlights (and lowlights) in this week’s blog.

Alongside the activities I talked about last week, we also had the option of going out at 5am on the census, a walk of the beach in day light to make sure nothing was missed on night patrols, to count trails where hatchlings had hatched in the night and to check for any other activity. We went on one census in the north station and came across 4 hatched nests. A quick check of the top sand of the hatched nests (nests are about 50 – 70cm deep) for trapped hatchlings and we came across one who hadn’t made it out. He was so cute, a little dazed at first but he soon found his feet (flippers) and headed off to the sea, we named him Billy.

After 4 nights at the north station we packed our bags to head to the south station where we were due to stay for the remainder of our visit. After lunch we headed to the beach for a couple of hours to clear vines without any of the assistants bothering to join us. At 5pm we stopped work and headed to the hatchery – an area where some nests have been relocated for research purposes based on the temperature of the nests which determines the sex of the turtles. The nests were hatching and we were lucky enough to be there for the release of 13 hatchlings. They handed tiny hatchlings to us over the fence and pointed us to an area of shade where we could release them, for something so small they’re flippers were already pretty powerful and it was hard not trying not to drop them as they wiggled about. We let them go and watched as they made their way to the sea. You can’t help but laugh and smile as you see them go and getting wiped out with the first waves.

That night we’d asked to go on the 8pm patrol as all the turtles we’d seen so far had been out before midnight and the midnight shift is horrible messing with your sleep patterns. As soon as we started we noticed that the patrol was different with the assistant making constant contact with security with her torch and freaking when she saw a white light on the beach (assistants use red, poachers use white), it wasn’t until we reached the 3.5km mark where we met the patrol from the north station that we found out why. On a turtle project 30-40km along the coast an assistant had been shot by poachers while out on patrol with 4 foreigners. The assistants were shocked that we’d been kept in the dark and not having all the facts at our disposal we were angry and nervous about being on the beach. Fleur asked to be taken back to the station having had a bad experience in Colombia and we started back. Just when you least want it, we stumbled across a turtle and all agreed to stay with her until she was back in the sea. For an hour we all forgot about the shooting and were mesmerised by the turtle.

On the way back we bumped into Alvaro who was doing the midnight shift alone, closely followed by a security guard (where was our security guard?) and asked him why we weren’t told, he said we’d talk tomorrow and off we went to sleep on it. 

The next morning we had a meeting with Alvaro and Isabel after breakfast. We’d made up our minds that we wanted to leave, more because we didn’t want to create an awkward atmosphere than because we felt unsafe. Once we had all the facts I think me and Rhys would have gone on patrol anyway, the guy was singled out because he was petitioning for more police presence on his beach to stop poaching, it wasn’t a random shooting. The press release talks about drugs traffickers being unhappy that usually deserted beaches were being patrolled by environmentalists and that suggests that our beach could also have been at risk of attack. We were shocked that the team at the reserve had made the decision not to tell us, giving the reason that they wanted to keep things as normal as possible having spoken to the coast guard and the police and deemed there to be no risk – that doesn’t explain the increased security presence on the patrols that night, the reduced number of patrols (3 instead of 5) and the decision not to let anyone patrol alone! I am sure the Pacuare Reserve is a safe place for volunteers, it doesn’t border a town and access is difficult because the waves crash at the shore. There is a constant security guard presence watching the sea for boats and the poachers know this and no poachers have been seen on the beach at all this season – before the reserve was established, 98% of eggs were poached, now only 2% are poached. Poachers are far more likely to go to the beaches that can be accessed easily and where the patrls are understaffed. Our decision to leave the reserve was more based upon the way we’d been treated and not wanting to ruin such an amazing week by spending 2 days being awkward.

We caught a boat just before lunch for the 2 hour journey along the canal to Tortuguero. The boat trip was beautiful, winding through the waterways (which are more like murky rivers than British canals) surrounded by rainforest, spotting monkeys and birds along the way. The majority of the journey was actually through the Parque Nacional Tortuguero, an area which protects not only the canal and the surrounding forest but the stretch of beach that runs parallel and which is an important green turtle nesting site (Tortuguero translated means “Turtle Place”). The village itself was incredibly peaceful and despite it’s isolation with no road access (and so no cars) on a spit of land between the sea and the canal, it’s one of Costa Rica’s most popular spots, mainly because of the spectacular biodiversity. We were glad to be there before the green turtle season kicked in which meant the visitor numbers weren’t so high and it was quite peaceful.

After settling in to a hostel on the sea front with a great communal veranda (Fleur is amazing at bargaining the price down!) we headed for a beer by the canal before drinks at the hostel.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to meet our guide, Castor, for a 3 hour canoe tour of the canals. There were 8 of us in the boat and only 4 oars so we had to take it in turns rowing while Castor steered us around the canals pointing out monkeys, Jesus Christ Lizards (they can actually walk on water!), caiman and lots and lots of birds. Back on dry land we had a nap before heading back into the National Park to walk the land trail along the coast. It wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as Cahuita but was full of lizards of all different shapes and sizes - you’d be upset if you paid your $10 entrance and only did the walk but it was worth it with the canoe trip in the morning.

As we got back to the hostel we found Fleur in a bad way, something had gone in her eye and scratched her cornea and James ended up calling 911 and rushing her back to the mainland to meet an ambulance to get her to a clinic - she’s on the mend now. 

We’d intended to leave the next day but decided to have a chill day, Rhys stayed at the hostel and I only ventured out to buy cake and browse the souvenir shops (not that we’re actually buying any souvenirs, souvenirs = more weight). James and Fleur got back early evening as we were enjoying a glass of wine on the veranda and joined us for cards and take out dinner. After spending the last month traveling on and off together and having shared the once in a lifetime turtle reserve experience it was sad to be saying bye to Fleur and James, although we hope that they’ll get bored with Costa Rica and head up to Nicaragua sooner than planned to catch us up.

We ended the week in San Jose having left Tortuguero on a boat to La Pavona docks an hour away and catching a bus to Cariari and another bus in to San Jose. Arriving late afternoon we jumped in a cab to the hostel I stayed at last time I was here with Mum - we stayed in the room next door, happy memories! (Miss you mum). Since San Jose doesn’t have much to offer and a storm was just starting we decided to make for KFC and then chill watching a movie in the hostel.

Hatchlings heading for the sea, Pacuare Nature Reserve.

Heron in Tortuguero National Park.

Canoeing in Tortuguero National Park.

Adult leatherback turtle heading back to the sea, Pacuare Nature Reserve.

Week 35 - Cahuita, Pacuare Nature Reserve (Costa Rica)

We spent the first 4 nights of the week in Cahuita as we had time to kill while waiting for our volunteer placement at a turtle reserve to start. Cahuita is a little village on the Caribbean coast with a small but beautiful national park. The village itself is quieter and more untouched than Puerto Viejo and most businesses are still owned by locals instead of being overrun by expats.

The first full day in Cahuita we decided to head into the national park and walk the first 3.5km of the 8.3km trail (the only trail) that wound its way through the jungle parallel to the beach before cutting inland to the ranger station at the northern entrance. After 3.5km we reached Punta Cahuita, the peninsula and sat and ate our picnic there while a monkey tried to steal our crisps. On the way back down the trail we came across one of the rangers who pointed out racoons and snakes, so obvious when they point them out but invisible to us before hand. We bumped in to James and Fleur and sat on the beach for a bit before heading back into town for beers on the waterfront.

After moving hostels to a much nicer place with a lovely little tropical garden area, we headed into the national park again the next day (unlike the high entry fees to parks in the rest of Costa Rica, this one only required a small donation so we could go in and out as we pleased). The aim of the day was to walk the full 8.3km trail. Again we bumped into Fleur and James who had also come across a ranger and we joined them for a small tip. The ranger was incredible pointing out sloths, snakes, hummingbird nests, bats and all manner of other creatures every 2 metres along the path. We joined them for the first part of the walk to the river crossing where the ranger left us and the four of us continued to Punta Cahuita and onwards to the northern entrance. The trail was an easy walk, very wide and flat and after another picnic on the beach near the end of the trail we retraced our footsteps, leaving James and Fleur on a deserted beach, back into town. 

The following day Rhys had a computer day and stayed in the hostel enjoying the peace of the garden. After lunch I headed back to the park for a short walk to the river crossing to see if I could spot a yellow pit viper without the help of a ranger (no luck) and to chill on the beach with a book to make the most of the sun.

Our last day the weather had turned and it was too overcast to be a beach day. Instead we stayed at the hostel watching TV and organising things so we were ready for our week at the turtle reserve. We ventured out for dinner in the village and to marvel at the motorcycle club in town for a party, it was like a scene out of Sons of Anarchy.

At 9am we were at the bus station to meet with James and Fleur for a bus to Limon, the largest town in the area and not somewhere that you’d want to stick around. After asking around for a bus to Matina and realising it was too late for our connecting boat we ended up haggling with a taxi to take us all the way to the port just outside Matina. We got there early and ate our sandwiches in a little lean-to shack on the edge of the canal waiting for the boat. The boat arrived spot on time and we started the 30 minute journey to the Pacuare Nature Reserve where we’d be spending the next 8 nights.

The reserve was established by the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a British charity and covers 1,050 hectares of tropical rainforest. The land was acquired 25 years ago and stretches for 6km along the Caribbean coast sandwiched between the beach and the canal. The stretch of beach is the most important nesting ground for Leatherback turtles in Costa Rica. The reserve has two stations, a large station in the south that has facilities for high paying guests, school and other groups and a smaller station in the north that is much quieter and more ‘rustic’ with no internet access and limited electricity in the kitchen area. We were so impressed with the set up when we arrived, the location was beautiful, right on the beach surrounded by lush forest complete with ocelots and a jaguar and the rooms were clean and fresh. The food was delicious and fresh, although mostly vegetarian and by the end of it we were completely sick of eating beans and rice for three meals a day. After a night in the south station to settle in we were off to the north station for 4 nights after which we were due to return to the south station for our last 3 nights (we actually left two days early but I’ll leave that saga for next week’s blog).

The day to day running of the reserve is left to the two biologists, Alvaro and Isabel with Jess looking after logistics with a number of research assistants at each of the stations. Our daily activities were pretty much structured around meal times, breakfast at 9am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 6pm. By far the most important activity was the night time beach patrols.  

The north station had two shifts, one at 8pm and one at midnight, each running for 4 hours and involving walking up and down 2.5km of wet sand in the pitch black trying not to trip over drift wood. Me and Rhys patrolled together with an assistant, we went on one midnight shift and one 8pm shift at north station and we were lucky enough to come across four turtles. The first thing you see is the tracks up the beach, like a small tractor has emerged from the sea. Following the tracks you get to the turtle who goes through a process that can take up to 2 hours, digging a body pit, excavating a nest, laying the eggs filling in the hole and camouflaging the site. When the turtle is laying her eggs she goes into a trance and doesn’t notice that you’re there which gives you time to note down her tag number (and tag her if she doesn't have one), measure her length and breadth (which involves straddling her – not easy when their shells are over a metre wide and are a metre and a half long), check for injuries and tumours and last of all count the eggs and triangulate the nest position. The last job once the turtle has made it back to the sea is to cover her tracks, they make such a mess and it’s easy for poachers to see from the sea so you have to try and disguise it a bit which involves throwing and moving a lot of sand about in the dark, fighting off sandflies. 

Watching a turtle of that size was an amazing once in a lifetime experience. They’re so prehistoric looking and so powerful and determined. Leatherbacks are the largest living turtles and are critically endangered with poachers after both their eggs and meat. Adults average 1–1.75 m in carapace length, 1.83–2.2 m in total length and weigh 250 to 700 kg. The males never come ashore again one they reach the sea the first time and the females come back to land to lay every 10 days during the season, although not always to the same stretch of coast. They subsist almost entirely on jellyfish (I can’t find anywhere to support Alvaro’s claim that they only eat jellyfish gonads!!) and very little is known about their early years, their lifespan or statistics on hatchling survival.

Other than the evening patrols our jobs as volunteers ranged from sorting out the recycling to clearing driftwood and vines from the beach to make it easier for hatchlings to reach the sea. We helped to measure cliffs to see how the beach was changing for someone’s research project, triangulated nests that were due to hatch, cleaned equipment, watched assistants relocate nests that were two near to the sea and excavate nests that had hatched earlier in the week (or that the dog had dug up) and washed the buildings. The day time jobs weren’t difficult and barely took any time, generally we did less than 2 hours of work and spent the rest of the time playing cards, swimming in the sea, paddling the boat across the canal for a cold drink at the bar (the only building for miles around), reading and watching/playing volleyball.

Howler monkey in Cahuita National Park.

Cricket, Cahuita National Park.

Walking in Cahuita National Park with James and Fleur.

Coati, Cahuita National Park.

Boat trip to Pacuare Nature Reserve.

James cooling down in the sea, Pacuare Nature Reserve.

Sadie relocating a nest, Pacuare Nature Reserve.

Billy the hatchling Leatherback Turtle, Pacuare Nature Reserve.

The boys playing volleyball.  Pacuare Nature Reserve.

Adult leatherback turtle, Pacuare Nature Reserve.

Week 34 - Bocas, Puerto Viejo, Cahuita (Panama, Costa Rica)

Taking a gamble with the weather we decided to start the week with a boat trip.  The first stop was at Dolphin Bay, an area with a labyrinth of shallow channels formed by the mangroves.  The Archipelago of Bocas del Toro is home to a semi-permanent population of Bottlenose dolphins and you are pretty much guaranteed to see them.  After watching for a while the boat continued to Coral Cay where there was a cluster of restaurants built on wooden stilts over the water.  As the best snorkelling spot in Bocas, we were due to return there later for lunch and snorkel time but when we headed further out to try to reach the beaches at Zapatillas Cays the rain started, we were drenched and the waves were choppy.  Our captain made the decision to snorkel now and try the beach again later.  With the rain still hammering down we jumped into the sea, grateful for the bath temperature water.  There was an abundance of tropical fish, coral heads and colourful sponges and the waters were pretty calm and clear considering the weather.  After lunch the rain stopped and we tried again to reach Zapatillas Cays.  Located in Bastimentos National Marine Park, the Zapatillas Islands are generally considered the most beautiful islands of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago and they were pretty but nothing compared to the San Blas.  We walked a lap of the island and chilled on the beach before heading back to Bocas Town. 

That night we had arranged to meet up with a group of people from the trip and after a drink in the sports bar, we caught a boat to Isla Carenero, an island 200m from the island we stayed on where there is a bar with ‘legendary’ Wednesday night parties.  The bar had been described to us as an ‘Adults playground’ and I was expecting a bit more than a trampoline and sea swings.  Nevertheless we had a good night, ran in to Roland who we had met in San Blas and headed back to the hostel a little worse for wears.

We woke up and decided to move to another island in the Archipelago – Isla Bastimentos, a short water taxi trip away.  I immediately liked it more than Bocas Town, it was like being in a little village, away from all the tour companies and restaurants.  We checked in to a little wooden cabin in Beverly’s Hill and as it was raining we settled on the veranda to watch movies on the laptop for the rest of the day stopping only to play with the old man dog and the puppy.

The rain seemed to be holding off the next day so we decided to walk from the village to Red Frog Beach on the other side of the island.  We got halfway, to the highest point of the island and the weather turned.  Luckily there was a little eco-café at the top where we stopped for mocha’s and chocolate brownie.  With the rain and the slippery muddy tracks we gave up and headed back to the cabin for more TV. 

If we hadn’t already seen several of the famous red poison dart frogs of Red Frog Beach around our hostel and at the café we may have stayed another day but since it was looking like rain again we decided it was time to head north to Costa Rica.  We caught a boat back to Boca’s Town and another boat from there to Almirante.  We were planning on taking local buses to the border but there were mini-bus shuttles that made the journey easier.  We’re so glad we took the mini-bus as halfway we stopped and the driver jumped out to pick up a sloth and move him out of the way of the road – seeing a wild sloth that close up was incredible.  The border was easy, we’d been warned we needed to show our exit ticket and were not carrying anything to show them but when the immigration guy asked Rhys for his ticket he acted dumb and just kept saying “ten, ten” until he was waved through, I told him we had a flight from Mexico and was also waved through, happy days.  Once in Costa Rica we caught a bus to Puerto Viejo, a backpacker beach resort full of hippy boutique shops, hostels and restaurants.  We checked in to a hostel with a huge room and hot water (!!) and had a walk around town to orientate ourselves.

Although the weather forecast was predicting storms we decided to risk it and hire bikes for the day to cycle the 12km to Manzanillo recommended by the ‘Rough Guide’ as one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the country.  We cycled to the end point, the Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Gandoca-Manzanillo and chained the bikes to a tree to hike through the park to one of the small bays for our picnic lunch.  We’d hoped to snorkel but the waves were rough so we entertained ourselves building a sand castle and watching the surfers.  On the way back to Puerto Viejo we stopped at a little eco-café near Playa Chiquita for ginger lemonade before heading back in to town.

The next day we hired the bikes again and cycled along the same route but stopped after about 8km at Punta Uva.  We ate lunch on the beach before walking through the jungle up to a mirador to discover a far nicer beach on the other side.  We decided to go back for the bikes and head over to the second beach where we snorkelled around one of Costa Ricas last few coral reefs.  It was a shame the sea was quite choppy as visibility was poor and it was tiring swimming against the waves.  After snorkelling we headed back to our hostel in Puerto Viejo.

On Tuesday we decided to catch the bus to the next town along, Cahuita.  It’s far smaller than Puerto Viejo with far less tourists, just a little village with dirt roads bordering the Parque Nacional Cahuita.  We spent the morning running around Puerto Viejo trying to buy new torches so we didn’t get to Cahuita until after midday.  We checked into a hostel and explored the village and stretch to Playa Negra before turning in for the night.  

Red Dart Frog in our hostel garden, Isla Bastimentos.

Sloth on the road from Almirante to the Costa Rican border.

Manzanillo National Park.

Our sandfort, Manzanillo National Park (second line of defence most noteworthy).

Rhys rocking the bike, Puerto Viejo/Manzanillo.

Week 33 - Portobello, Panama City, Boquete, Bocas del Toro (Panama)

After a busy couple of weeks, the last week has been relatively relaxed.  We woke in Panama City for a pancake breakfast before heading to the bus terminal for a bus north back to the Caribbean coast to Colon where we changed buses to get to Portobello.  Colon is a dirty scary city and we were glad to be leaving straight away.  Once in Portobello it took us a while to find the hostel owned by one of the Darien Gapster owners, just a dorm room under a bar/restaurant on the hill.  The town itself is sweet, like something out of a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie with ruins of the old fortifications and canons scattered amongst the brightly painted wooden buildings set around a deep water bay filled with sailing boats.  When we were in town they were filming for a new Escobar movie and there were film crews on the main street.  We only arrived late afternoon and we were a bit fragile from the previous night out so spent the day in the hostel watching TV and ate dinner in the restaurant upstairs.

The next day in Portobello was a rain day and we were pretty happy as it meant we didn’t feel guilty about not going out.  We ventured into the village to pick up supplies for lunch but no further.  We spent a delightful day lounging at the hostel watching TV on the laptop.

Friday was Rhys’s 28^th birthday and we decided to leave Portobello and head back to Panama City.  Although not the best way to start a birthday with a 4 hour journey we were back in Panama City by lunch time and checked in to the Hard Rock Hotel in the new town.  It was incredible, we looked pretty out of place checking in, you don’t realise quite how scruffy you’re getting when you’re with other travellers all the time.  Our room was huge, on the 44^th floor with a massive bathroom, luxurious complimentary toiletries, fluffy bathrobes and views out over the skyline and into the bay where you could see ships waiting to traverse the canal.  We changed and headed to McDonalds for lunch (a treat for Rhys’s birthday!) before visiting the infinity pool for a swim and a beer (where we were politely asked whether we were actually staying there and in what room!!).  We spent the next couple of hours in our room with a bottle of gin and a bottle of rum in our bathrobes listening to music while the sun set and the lights of the city came on.  We even had a knock at the door and were handed chocolates without a word, it was a wonderful place.  Later we headed to the Hard Rock Café for dinner and a mojito in one of the hotel bars. 

We had intended to leave Panama City the next day but after a great night’s sleep in the super king bed with fluffy pillows and a feather duvet we couldn’t bring ourselves to check out until the last possible moment which didn’t give us enough time to make it all the way to our next destination.  Instead we checked out at noon and headed back to the hostel in Casco Viejo, back to a 10 bed dorm and roughing it – a bit of a downer after the Hard Rock.  We spent the day watching TV, catching up on correspondence and eating ice cream by the cathedral before spending happy hour in the bar.

We left Panama City on Saturday for a bus to David and a connecting bus on to Boquete in the highlands.  Arriving after dark we checked in to a little hostel where we were the only people and ate the baked beans Tim had brought out as a belated birthday treat for Rhys. 

It was another rainy day when we awoke and the couple who were working at the hostel were in bed and of absolutely no use in helping us plan our day (anyone going to Boquete, avoid Hostal Nomba, not only were they of little help, we had to actually ask if we could have the free breakfast were first offered a room without a working light and the room we did end up in was dirty).  We headed to another hostel, Mama Llena, where they happily gave us advice on the treks we could do in the local area.  We chose Sendero Los Quetzales and caught a taxi to the trail head arranging for a return pick up 5 hours later.  The walk was pretty, through forest and quite steep and muddy in places but wasn’t mind blowing and it drizzled all day so wasn’t as magical as it could have been.  We walked half the trail to a mirador before turning around to head back to the collection point to wait for the taxi.  That night we had a visit from James and Fleur, an Australian couple we met on the Darien Gapster who were also in town and had a couple of beers before they headed off and we had the remaining beans for dinner.

We were ready to leave Boquete and the weird hostel the next day and caught a bus back to David and an onward bus to Almirante.  From there we caught a taxi to the port and a boat out to Bocas del Toro, the main island of the Bocas archipelago.  We checked into a 6 bed dorm where two of the others had been there for so long they’d unpacked everything everywhere.  After a couple of rums on the hostel balcony we headed out for Mexican before bed. 

Rhys in the pool, Hard Rock Hotel, Panama City.

The view from our room on the 44th floor, Hard Rock Hotel, Panama City.

Sendero Los Quetzales, Boquete.

Week 32 - Turbo, La Miel, San Blas, Panama City (Colombia, Panama)

After a late night ice cream in Cartagena, we were up early to walk across town to the meeting point for our travel group to the Panamanian border.  Along with 7 others we jumped in a minibus organised by the Darien Gapster team to Monteria, 5 hours away, with Rhys perched on the bitch seat (definition – worst seat in a vehicle).  Once in Monteria we swapped to another van for the last 4 hours to Turbo.  Turbo has a terrible reputation and you wouldn’t want to explore the streets after dark which is part of the reason why we’d decided to join the travel group rather than making our own way to the start of the boat trip.  

The next morning we headed to the port to catch our boat to Capurgana a few hours away across the bay.  It was a beautiful little fishing village surrounded by lush forest and we wished we’d got there a few days earlier to explore.  We spent a couple of hours there waiting to get our passports stamped to leave Colombia, the electricity was out so we had to wait for the guy to text all our details to his head office to get clearance.  While waiting we ran into the oddest American guy ever, one of those people who should never have been allowed to travel alone, if you’ve ever seen Shooting Stars and are familiar with the character Angelos Epithemiou you’lll have some idea.  When our passports were finally stamped we boarded another smaller boat for a short trip to Sapzurro where we met our captain, Adam, on the dock and loaded our big backpacks into the boat for storage. 

From Sapzurro a short walk over a hill took us to the Panama border and down into the small bay of La Miel where we were to spend the night in hammocks at a hostel owned by the Darien Gapster team right on the beach.  The hostel is still in the process of being built so it’s pretty basic but is on a beautiful little beach with warm sea and lush green forest – although the end of the beach away from the hostel is completely covered in plastic litter.  To get there you pass through military checkpoints and past avocado trees full of fruit.  Once there we headed out to swim in a natural pool in the river in the forest behind the hostel before walking back into the village to grab some lunch cooked by some woman in her home kitchen.  That night we met the other 9 people who we would be spending the next 3 nights with and spent hours sitting on the beach drinking rum spotting shooting stars.

The first day of the Darien Gapster we walked a short distance to the next bay where we climbed aboard our boat.  The first stop was at Puerto Obaldia, essentially a military check point where we bumped in to the crazy American again and spent a couple of hours waiting to get our passports stamped by a very friendly chatty immigration guy.  Adam then spent another hour trying to convince the military that they didn’t need to empty and search the entire boat and managed to persuade them to find the sniffer dog to check it over.  Finally we were off and on our way to the San Blas.  We stopped for lunch at a deserted island and spent a couple of hours snorkelling and sun bathing before heading to Caledonia, a Kuna village where we were allocated hammocks for the night.  It was a great experience; we were the only gringos there and nothing had been put on for show, people were just going about their daily business.  We wondered around the village watching the kids play football and ate wonderfully fresh seafood in a small restaurant (and the only one on the island I think), Rhys had conch and I had octopus.  That night a lot of rum was drunk.

Our second day on the boat we had the longest at sea, a 3 hour trip to Isla Iguana.  The island was stunning, white sandy beaches, palm trees, coconuts and warm Caribbean Sea.  Other than a Kuna couple who looked after the coconuts we were the only people on the island and strung our hammocks in little huts.  We spent the afternoon on the beach and snorkelling, although the reef was a little way off the island and Rhys got stung by something unidentified.  That night was a lot more chilled, a campfire using the driftwood found along the beach (Rhys was in his element), dinner, a few rums and we were in bed relatively early.

The third day we packed up camp and headed to yet another stunning deserted island where we spent the morning and had lunch of fresh fish, rice and lentils brought over by a Kuna man.  This island was tiny and you could walk around it in 5 minutes.  It was a little slice of paradise.  The reef wrapped around like a half moon and offered great snorkelling with a huge sting ray.  After lunch we boarded the Darien Gapster again to head to the last island of our trip, Isla Senidup.  Still beautiful I think this was probably our least favourite stop, it had two hostels on the island, only little cabins on the beach not huge buildings or anything but still it was the first stop where we felt like we were back on the gringo trail.  Lunch was announced by a conch trumpet and we spent the afternoon snorkelling, swimming and reading on the beach.  As an addition to dinner we’d stopped some fisherman on our way to the island and brought their entire days catch of lobster and had it served up on massive platters, you’ve never seen anything like it, each lobster tail was the size of my forearm.  After dinner we went to sit on the beach away from the disco ball in the bar.  At about midnight the discovery was made of glowing plankton just off the beach so we all jumped in to splash around making the plankton glow like fairy dust in our wake.  We slept that night in beds in cabins, the first beds we’d had in days. 

Our last day we were woken for breakfast by the conch trumpet and spent the morning relaxing on the beach recovering from the previous night’s rum.  We transferred our bags to a different boat so the Darien Gapster could stay moored at the island and motored the final 30 minutes to Carti.  After weaving through mangroves, the boat docked in the middle of nowhere in the Kuna Reserve where we paid our fee and climbed into 4WD’s bound for Panama City.  The next hour of driving was like a rollercoaster the roads were ridiculously bendy.  I had the bitch seat and Rhys had to hold me in place to stop me flying around.  The 4WD dropped the 7 people in our jeep at Luna’s Castle, a hostel in a colonial mansion in the old town area of Casco Viejo where 5 of us ended up staying.  We were all pretty worn out (it’s surprising how tiring sitting on deserted islands drinking rum can be) and only ventured a couple of blocks from our hostel for dinner at a cheap café before heading to bed.

Grateful for a good night’s sleep, after a pancake breakfast we spent the morning exploring Casco Viejo.  It’s a really sweet little colonial area but is in quite a state of disrepair with crumbling buildings and cracked pavement everywhere.  There is a lot of investment in restoring the area at present and it’s starting to turn into a smaller version of Cartagena with flower filled balconies, art installations in the crumbling buildings and boutique shops and hotels lining the streets.  We spent a lovely couple of hours just wandering around and looking at the artisanal stalls and admiring the plazas and views of the skyline of the new city (which could rival some of the big North American cities).  After a brief visit to the fish market we headed back to the hostel before grabbing a cab with Caitlin and Brandon for a round trip to the visitor centre at the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal.

Although we’d been told that the Canal was a little boring we had a great time.  We saw a massive cargo ship pass through the lock followed by a tanker and some smaller fishing and tourist vessels.  The toll fees paid vary from $420k for the largest ever ship to $0.36 for a guy who swam it and the boat we saw had paid $400k – it seems expensive but apparently it would cost 10 times more and take 10-20 days to pass around the continent rather than through it.  After spending an hour on the viewing platform we headed to the theatre for a 3D showing with some great Canal facts before whizzing through the 4 storey museum and back to meet the cab for the drive back in to town.  The Canal is in the process of being enlarged, by 40% in width and 66% in length, due to complete next year and I can’t even imagine the size ships that will pass through then.

Back in Panama City we said goodbye to Brandon and stopped at a microbrewery around the corner from our hostel.  A few pitchers and a tour of the brewery later and we headed back to the hostel to find Gina, one of the girls from the San Blas, had been to hospital with a blood infection that she’d picked up from a sand-fly bite – scary stuff.  We spent the rest of the evening in the hostel bar in an outdoor courtyard making the most of $1 happy hour vodkas.

Isla Iguana, San Blas, Darien Gapster

Isla Iguana, San Blas, Darien Gapster

Isla Pelican, San Blas, Darien Gapster.

Sting Ray,  Isla Pelican, San Blas, Darien Gapster

Rhys with our lobster dinner, San Blas, Darien Gapster

Isla Senidup, San Blas, Darien Gapster

Panama City, view from Casco Viejo.

Cargo boat traversing the Panama Canal

Week 31 - Cabo de la Vela, Punta Gallinas, Palomino, Taganga, Cartagena (Colombia)

Our first day in Cabo de la Vela, considered the treasure of the La Guajira peninsula, we woke and jumped in the sea in place of a shower since there was no running water.  With the aim of getting to Pilon de Azucar beach, about an hour or so north of the village, and back before the midday sun kicked in we started walking around 8am.  The walk was hot, winding along the sandy tracks surrounded by miles of scrubland and hundreds of cacti.  After stopping a local on a motorcycle to check we were heading in the right direction we tackled the last dune and made it to the beach.  It was beautiful, other than a couple who were staying at our hostel in town it was deserted.  Although not a tropical beach, the desolation and golden sands made it one of the nicest we’ve been to in South America.  After an hour or so of relaxing and swimming in the Caribbean me and Rhys walked up to the view point where there is a statue of the Virgin and marvelled at the views over the bay and for miles beyond.  As it got close to midday and all shade was disappearing we headed back to the hostel leaving Tim on the beach.  Tim spent the afternoon walking to the lighthouse (apparently not worth the walk) and met us back at the hostel a few hours later.  Me and Rhys spent the time chilling on the beach outside our room, drinking beer and snorkelling a few metres off shore – plenty of fish considering it was just a clump of sea weed, we saw a ray, a plaice (we think) and lots of brightly coloured tropical fish.  That night we ate at a restaurant a little further along the beach and had the most amazing red snapper – Rhys chose large and no joke it could have fed a small family.

The next day we were awoken by a knock on the door at 7am.  We’d been told we’d booked on to a day trip to Punta Gallinas leaving at 8am.  The 4WD was already outside waiting for us.  Then as we were about to leave, the hostel owner rocked up and asked us if we wanted to store our bags at the hostel as we wouldn’t be back until the morning – a bit of a surprise but we hurriedly packed up our bags and rolled with it.  Lonely Planet had advised us we’d have to drive to a nearby bay where we’d then take a boat to get to Punta Gallinas and the hostel owner had given us the same story.  In actuality there was no boat – as it’s the end of the dry season it’s possible to just drive the whole way.  It was a bumpy few hours and by the time we got to our first stopping point we were excited to be out of the land cruiser.  Along the way we had been impressed with the road blocks put up by the locals – a piece of string across the track that gets lowered once you’ve made payment of a bar of soap.   

The first stop was Playa Taroa.  The scrubland gives way to huge golden sand dunes that run straight down into the sea.  Of course the first thing Rhys and Tim did was run down the dunes and jump into the sea (well Rhys made it to the sea, Tim stacked beforehand).  After 2 hours of soaking up the views and enjoying the sun we were back in the car to drive to the lighthouse – the most northern point of South America.  You really think they could have made more of an effort, I’ve seen more complex bits of scaffolding.  Next we were back in the car to drive to a lagoon with hundreds of shell fossils, bright blue water and mangroves.  Another beach stop and we drove back to a hostel (well a roofed area with some toilets and running water!) on the cliff overlooking the lagoon.  The view was breath-taking, in the middle of the desert suddenly there’s  this beautiful lagoon with trees of every shade of green and as the sun started to sink the colours just made it all the more magical.  We ate lobster for dinner while watching the full moon before retiring to our chinchorros – large hammocks made by the local people with big floppy sides you wrap over you like a blanket.

The next day we ate breakfast at the hostel before jumping in a fisherman’s boat for a quick 20 minute jaunt across the lagoon to where our tour guide Michael was waiting with the land cruiser.  About 2.5 hours and one speedy tire change later and we were back in Cabo de la Vela.  We collected our bags from the hostel and Michael drove us to Uribia where we jumped in a collective to Riohacha and then a bus back to Palomino.  I spent at least 30 minutes of the bus journey reading English to a little Colombian boy who was super excited to play with my Kindle.  After a 10 minute walk from the main road towards the village and the beach we managed to check into the last 3 beds in the Dreamer hostel where everybody seems to stay.  Within 5 minutes of walking in we saw Monique (who we’d last seen in Banos) and a group of Irish people we’d met in Taganga.  As we didn’t get there until 4ish we had a quick swim and spent the evening playing pool, eating pizza and drinking at the hostel before heading out for a midnight bonfire on the beach.  All three of us loved Punta Gallinas and were really happy we’d made the decision to head up north rather than go to Tayrona National Park, not only was it incredibly beautiful but there’s a smug satisfaction in knowing you’ve got off the gringo trail a little and made the effort to get to a place few people actually get to.

The following day we joined a group to go tubing – supposedly a really relaxing experience with toucans and monkeys everywhere I think the sheer number of tourists has made it a bit more difficult to see anything more than a few locals fishing and cleaning clothes in the river.  Other than a fleeting glimpse of a toucan the most wildlife we saw was a herd of cows wading the river.  We really enjoyed it though, sun burn, lost sunglasses and all.  A 20 minute truck ride with Rhys and Tim holding on for dear life and a 40 minute walk through the forest was followed by an hour and a half floating down the river to the beach, being pushed along by two guides when the current wasn’t strong enough. 

Back at the hostel we packed up and headed back to the main road to catch a bus back to Santa Marta and a taxi to Taganga.  Back in Taganga the hostel we liked was fully booked so we checked into a cheap and cheerful option next door before meeting up with Benjamin and Mathieu, the two Belgium guys and heading to a restaurant called Pachamama where we had one of the most amazing meals we’ve had in South America, the biggest steak and the most delicious fish.  After dinner we headed to happy hour at a quiet bar on the beach before me, Rhys and Tim decided to go to a nightclub to see Tim off in style.

Needless to say we weren’t feeling on top form the next morning and after moving our bags over to the hostel where beds had freed up we spent the day dozing in front of the TV, swimming and playing pool.  That night we headed out for dinner at another restaurant that had been highly recommended but that didn’t have a scratch on Pachamama – Babaganoush.  We were all pretty tired so we headed back to the hostel and I went to bed while the others stayed up on the roof for a while to have one last goodbye drink. 

Yesterday we said goodbye to Tim, Benjamin and Mathieu.  It has been amazing to have Tim with us and we made an awesome threesome, Tim is very easy to travel with and can understand more Spanish than me so made my life easier.  After they’d left, me, Rhys and Monique packed our bags and headed to the bus station in Santa Marta for a bus to Cartagena.  By the time we arrived it was late afternoon and we just had time to organise a few bits ready for our trip on the Darien Gapster.  I’ve been feeling abit under the weather so had a very early night while Rhys and Monique went out for late night ice cream.

Today has been another sorting day and a recovery day for me.  We’ve been in to town a few times but just to pick up odds and ends and change money into USD ready for Panama.  Tomorrow we have an early start to meet the rest of our travel group to head by land and boat to La Miel.

Pilon de Azucar, Cabo de la Vela. 

Me on Playa Taroa sand dunes.

The lighthouse at the most northern point of South America.

The lagoon, Punta Gallinas.

View from our hostel and one of my favourite views in the whole of South America, Punta Gallinas.

The drive to Punta Gallinas from Cabo de la Vela.

Our chinchorros, Punta Gallinas. 

Gas station on the road to Punta Gallinas from Cabo de la Vela.

Rhys tubing, Palomino.