My Last Stop

For me the last part of my journey was Costa Rica, to visit and relax with my friends there. They live in the countryside so when I go to visit it is generally a very different Costa Rican experience then what most tourists have.

I went first to San Jeronimo when my host family lives. I arrived at 7 pm and my host brother drove down to the bus stop to get me. Since it was the rainy season if I had walked tot he house it would have taken about 2 hours. That is because the bus cannot get as close tothe town in the rainy season. So that night I chatted with Ileana and then went to bed. The next 2 days I spent around the house and playing with the kids. I went over to Elizabeth's and Roy's house to visit with them as well. They had a bunch of new kittens which the kids were excited to show me. very nice and relaxing. On my final full day I went down to the old AMISCONDE office to chat with a group of volunteers who were there doing some work on building a new bathroom. They were a group of young Canadian and American girls doing soem back-breaking digging, but they were having fun and they only had to do that work for 2 weeks, then they got 2 weeks travel time. It was fun to talk to them.

The next day I left San Jeronimo early to head to Platanillo to visit Olivier and his family. I got there in the late morning and spent the next few days just hanging out. We went to the finca where he works to pick mangos. We also went to a nearby waterfall. Mostly however we just hung out and talked. It was great. Just what I needed to relax before coming home.

Panama City and Boquete

Panama City is a nice place. I did not spend long there really -- discounting the time in the immigration office only one morning. I did go an check out the canal though. It costs ships over $30,000 US to go through the canal, but saves them much more in time and basic costs. So for that reason most ships are built to not exceed the size of the Panama Canal. It was fun to watch the ships going through the locks at Miraflores. I didn´t know that the big vessels are actually pulled through the locks by rail cars -- neat.After that I said by to David and headed to old Panama -- the ruins of the orignal city from the 1600´s. They were fun to look at.Then it was time to move on to somewhere a little cooler -- Boquete a mountain town about 8 hours away. This town in great. It is warm but not too hot and very beautiful. There is a house with an amazing garden that is open to the public -- nice place to relax and get my clothes washed -- yea!!!!!

What a Trip -- Cartagena, Colombia to Panama City, Panama

The title really says it all -- I will describe this trip but leave conclusions for you. One thing it was, was beautiful.

I was supposed to leave Cartagena on Saturday -- but since I really wanted to go to the mud volcano and the boat's captain (Carlos) did not want to leave at night he decided that we would leave Sunday morning. Like on the Navimag we all got on the boat on Saturday night so that we could leave early. There were 6 of us all together Carlos, his girlfriend (Maria), 2 Bolivian ladies (a woman (Francy) and her mom (Sophia) --76 years old!), a Kiwi guy (David) and myself.

The first night was really good, Carlos made really good pasta and then we just hung out for a bit before bed. Then at 6 am we woke up to crazy winds -- in the harbour. This type of storm is called a 'coulo de pollo' or a 'chicken's a**' Our anchor had not held and we had drifted near some other boats, Crlos go the motor running and kept the boat out of trouble .-- welcome to sailing -- and we weren't even out of the harbour yet!!!

That wakeup call kinda slowed the morning down and we all got to see how well Carlos can drag his feet when he doesn't realize how fast time is passing. We didn't end up leaving until 5 pm -- oh well. The weather since the coulo had been nice -- so when we left it was really beautiful to watch the city light up and then grow smaller and smaller. We did not have any real wind that first night and so we were using the motor and all was good. The sunset that evening was amazing! That second night on the boat (first on the open ocean), I slept really well (in comparison to the rest of the nights -- this one was the coolest). The next day was spent on the open ocean. In the morning before eating my stomach did not like the water -- but only for a few minutes. In the middle of the day we stopped for a swim -- que rico! Carlos is a great cook -- so we ate really well. The only down side to the second day was that we got to see Carlos' attitude to Maria -- and that was not cool (no phyiscal violence). That was the downer to the trip -- and although it was not constant it always made all of us uncomfortable.

The following day was again spent in open water with nothing to see but clear blue ocean. On this day we had more wind and were able to sail and not use the motor -- which was nice. I do love being on a boat just staring out at the water -- but it is not as enjoyable when the combination of sun, heat and mild seasickness makes the trip more uncomfortable -- thankfully when things cooled down a bit all was better. That night the stars were unreal -- not quite as good as in the southern hemisphere -- but since some of the southern hemisphere stars were visible -- they were spectacular!

On the last day of open ocean I was sitting on the bow looking for land in the haze in front of us when a group of about 30 dolphins came and played in our bow wake for about 30 minutes -- that was so much fun to watch. Then about 1.5 hours later the islands of the San Blais came into view -- yea land! It stilll took anouther couple of hours to get there -- but it was fun to watch these paradise islands come into view. They all have white sand beaches and tons of coconut trees. Some are only big enough for one hut and some are quite large. We anchored at Waysanadu one of the islands, which are all run by a native group -- the Kuna. This particular island is Chief Julio's and since Carlos knows the Chief we got to hang out on the island a bit for free (normally tourists have to pay). That evening was spent anchored by the island and Dave, Francy, Sophia and I played lots of a new (Bolivian) card game -- good fun. The following day (Thursday), Francy and Sophia went to visit the island and Dave and I did some snorkling around the reef. There were some really colourful fish there -- my favs were a royal purple with bright orange tails :) After that in the early afternoon we left for El Porvenir, an island where we could check in to Panama. Sailing through the islands was beautiful and lots of fun. But we arrived a bit late -- or something was going on and we missed being able to get our passports stamped. There were a bunch of government officials on the island and they said -- just go to land tomorrow and and check-in in Panama City. Ok -- we said. All of us were very excited to sleep on land that night. Francy and I slept in hammoks on the beach, Sophia slept in one of the rooms and David camped. We also bought some beautiful local crafts -- I am coming close to the end of my trip and can now buy stuff -- yea!

The boat that we were supposed to take left Porvenir at 6 am Sunday. We got up and went to the docks and were there at 5:40, but the boat was really just a canoe with a motor and it was full of kitchen stuff (like propane tanks). Sophia was not into that idea, and the boat left before we could really decide. So we started talking to people to figure out what to do. The local police said to go straight to land instead of going to the port we wanted to go to -- they said it would be faster -- sounded good -- so we got that organized. Half way into our 45 minute speedboat ride the motor died -- fun fun. The police came by and took us the rest of the way. Then on land we were told the 3 hour truck ride to Panama City would coast $20 each -- what!!! Between Francy and I we got it down to $10 -- still pricy but not too bad.

By this point, it was 9:30 am we had had nothing to eat and we were a bit frustrated. We bought some snacks -- yea crackers, cookies and root beer for breakie, and got into the truck. The ride was beautiful -- through the rainforest.The truck driver dropped us off right at the immigration office at 11:20am. Good thing we got there early becuase we spent the next 5 hours waiting and arguing in order to get stamps. They tried to tell us that we needed to go back to Porvenir. Thankfully Francy is very good a talking people into things and we did get everything done.

So in the end I met 3 really cool people. I now have a place to stay in Bolivia and Cuba, I did some snorking, but had to put up with a guy mistreating a girl I liked -- so nothing is perfect -- although this trip could have been. I do have a stamp and soon I will be visiting friends in Costa Rica.

Mudtastic!

So in the last 3 years I have now speant at least one day covered from head to toe in mud -- and it has been great. This year´s mud was the best by far! (I did love the mud festival in Korea -- but this was the best quality mud) It was the perfect consistancy. When I got in I just floated, better then in the salt lake in San Pedro. When I tried to stand I couldn´t touch the bottom -- but I just floated standing up -- very fun. To top it off there was a guy there to give everyone a massage in the mud -- yea!, and I was the only one there -- even better! (sorry I should have turned the photo) Then at the end you walk down to a nearby lake and a woman helps you get clean :)What a great way to end my stay in Colombia -- as bright and early tomorrow I leave (via sailboat) for Panama.

To recap my time in Colombia -- it has been excellent. In Bogota I had a great time.I loved the city. There government area and central square had beautiful buildings and more pigeons then I have ever seen in one place. (There may be more in Saint Mark´s Square -- but I have not been there -- yet)I visited their biggest art gallery and their gold museum, which according the the LP is one of the best in the world.They did have a fantastic collection of gold. However my trip to the art gallery was more entertaining -- why you may ask? Well, you see -- in the art gallery all the rooms were watched by men. In the gold museum most of the observers were women. Keep in mind this is Colombia -- the men are latinos. On top of that they have been given coins specially minted for the gallery to give to the guests of their choice. So it started out normally, but since I was reading the signs (all of which were in Spanish) the room guards started to talk to me. First, the second guy I saw just said hi and gave me a coin -- I thought that was nice. He told me that they were special for the museum. A couple rooms later a younger guy gave me another coin and used that as an excuse to start talking. He was cute and sweet -- about 20 -- he said he wanted to study English in Canada. The next guy was the kicker -- 2 rooms later the guy was about my age and cute. About 2 seconds after I entered his area he came up and started talking. He was so typically latino -- which means very flattering -- it was great. He also gave me a coin and then invited me out for a romatic night of dancing. I took his number -- to be able to leave his room. No (mom) I didn´t go out with a strange latino guy in Bogota at night -- I am not that crazy -- but it was fun flirting. When I got back to my hostel I found out that one of the guys staying there had also been to the gallery that day -- but he didn´t get given any coins -- so I gave him one. I had that thought while I was there -- probably only female torists end up with coins :)

After the fun in Bogota I got on my last marathon bus ride to Cartagena, a coastal town. It is also fabulous. The town in really cute -- but the best part of this area is the day trip to the mud volcano. I came here to organize my trip to Panama -- via sailboat -- should be great I leave first thing tomorrow.

Popayan, Colombia

So I wasn´t sure if I was going to travel to Colombia on this trip, but in my first few weeks of traveling I met many people who said it was the best country they visited. So I figured I had to check it out. Also I can take a boat from the north coast to Panama, which is also a good thing. So here I am.

I entered Colombia the day before yesterday and then spent my first night in a small city called Pasto. I was so impressed by the city. It was clean and bright, much more like Argentina or Uraguay then Equador or Peru. The people are vey friendly, I am having a great time.

Yesterday I took a bus to the town of Popayan. It is a really cute colonial town with tons of old buildings that are all whitewashed, making the town feel very fresh and clean. There was a nice look out near the town that I climbed.At which there was another statue of a man on a horse, these are really common here, but since I had my camera out already...

Near the centre of town was this pretty old bride, and in the background is the hill with the outlook point.

You see I am getting tired of pictures of old churches, so although there were some nice ones, none that at this point were photo worthy. In the town square there were fabulous trees with great purple flowers all over them. Someone told me they are called may flowers. A very nice place to spend the day.Today I am off to Bogota.