30 dollar cab ride each way + 2xs $10 tourist card and no money = 7 hours and 10 minutes in the San Salvador airport

The San Salvador airport is actually really pretty nice - the stores are all very up scale - Gucci, Lacoste, etc. and it does have wifi, but still, its been a long 4 hours thus far. Its interesting because the airport is totally in the middle of nowhere and seems to periodically empty out. For much of our time here, hanging out by TACA Puerta 15, we've been outnumbered by airport personnel 10:1.

When a flight is about to board, the rope off half of the airport, set up tables, and search everyones bags. There are tons of guards here and police posters warning travelers a "no transporte drogas!" I don't think that it was any coincidence that we were greeted by a drug dog when we got off our flight from Panama... (Columbias northern neighbor).

Casco Viejo or New Orleans?

Miraflores Locks

We figured that we would be met with confused looks for the rest of our lives if we had gone to Panama without seeing the canal, so we decided that we had better go check it out.

They only run boats through the locks a few times a day, so we were lucky that our cab driver/tour guide was able to get us there in time. We rushed up the steps and up to the viewing deck just in time to see water pouring in to the lock. Then, for the next 15 minutes, we watched the water level rise nearly imperceptibly. It was not the most exciting thing that I have ever witnessed...

They did have a museum that told the history and future plans for the locks that was pretty interesting . We watched the Spanish version of a documentary that tracked all of the attempts at creating a passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. That put things in perspective a bit, but overall, the locks were cool but a boring!

Fun side note: When Adam set the metal detector off, the guide asked if he had a camera or cell phone. When Adam said that he did, he sent us in... Adam later realized that it was likely the switchblade in his pocket that had done it!

Ciudad de Panama

Seven mangos for a dollar?

Photocopies and lamination in vans on the street corners?

Hundreds of bathroom sized restaurants selling everything from soup to fried chicken on on the sidewalk?

Wild school busses decked out like hippie vans, blasting music and sporting bike tassels and shark fins dodging through through crowded streets?

Yes please. :)

Panama City, or simply "Panama" as everyone in the country seems to call it, was pretty amazing. It was like nothing neither Adam or I had experienced before - huge, modern and metropolitan, while still maintaining all of its Central American flair. Some people say its the Miami of the south, except with more english spoken!

The city skyline sweeps along the Pacific Coast and is within sight of the Panama Canal. Like any city, it has good parts and bad, and there is tons of diversity. There is still quite a bit of American influence (although not as much as in the past) and new army housing being built on the borders of the city. There are Brazilians, Colombians and of course Panamanians, and Barbadians and Chinese from the canal construction days.

The city itself has very modern highways and overpasses with pedestrian bridges and brick walking/bike path along the bay. There are huge sky scraping apartment buildings and offices, and low slung and often poorly maintained stores and housing complexes. Lots of new construction with gruas all over the city working on new buildings. The city is loud and fast, with lots of traffic, police officers, and tiny one way streets that apparently change direction overnight.

Tons of street vendors making snow cones (with or without malt) hand shaved from blocks, shining shoes, washing cars parked on the streets with buckets and of course selling lottery tickets and toothbrushes.

I feel like we were able to see the highlights in just one day, but wish that we had had longer to explore. We didn't tackle the huge independent bus system or eat any meals in the little restaurant boxes. On our way to the airport the next day, we also became aware of just how much of the city we had missed. It's pretty huge and would be cool to visit again.

Bussing it across Panama

Our deluxe ride was pretty nice and took plenty long enough, especially for being the express trip! When the bus arrived to the station, we put our luggage underneath and got tags to present to retrieve it later. We had assigned seats and probably watched about 4 movies dubbed into Spanish. One of the only strange things about the experience was our lunch stop at a roadside plaza. It was basically a rest stop for buses, but the food was cafeteria style. It was our first encounter with horchata - a drink made out of milk, rice powder, cinnamon and vanilla. We were stopped by immigration officials and had to present our passports, but overall the trip was pretty uneventful. Especially as we got closer to the city, it was really interesting to see how ... American things became.

Hacer esnorkel y las playas!

Just like Gilligan - Stranded on a Tropical Isle

Sunday morning we were walking around Bocas, trying to get our day planned out, and stopped to inquire about express tickets to Panama City (they cost more, but get you there without transfers in a mere ten hours). We found out that we had two options, a day bus at 8am, or a night one at 7pm.

We went back to the hotel to swim and think about it, and when we returned like an hour and a half later, they were ALL sold out. Both trips. So, left with the option to either wait another day and leave Tuesday or still leave Monday and coordinate a trip on our own that would probably take a minimum of 16 hrs, we decided to stay put. One more day at the beach isn't all that bad, I guess......

We ended up getting a water taxi to take us to one of the other islands, arranging for a round trip ride. It was kind of sketchy because we didn't even know where we were going and simply asked to go somewhere where we could swim. Our driver threw in a snorkel mask and had us jump out of the boat at a beach surrounded by no tresspassing signs.... Someone can own the jungle, but not the beach, right??? We had it to ourselves for the first few ours and then a few small boats showed up with people to swim and snorkel. It was called Playa Ladrones and, luckily, our driver came back to bring us home ;)

Bocas del Drago

Bocas del Toro

I don't know why at times I'm still surprised when my expectations of places in Central America turn out to be different than the actual place. The town we got off the bus in Almirante, is a small little town that sits on the banks of a canal used to transport Chiquita bananas. This is where we had to catch a water taxi out to Isla Colon, the main island in Bocas Del Toro. The water around the taxi terminal was not the brilliant bluish green color that is normally present in the Caribbean. This might be due to the floating trash, oil containers, and the outhouses that were built on stilts over the water.

We however moved on from that pretty fast and the beautiful Caribbean waters opened up before us as well as islands and mangrove forests. However, when we arrived in Bocas Town, the main town in the Bocas Del Toro, I was a little disappointed. This island was not a slum, but it was still pretty dirty and run down. Additionally, most signs were in english which Steph and I take to be a bad sign. And, as is typical in most tourist destinations in Central American countries, we were pounced on by young entrepreneurs looking to make a consignment from their hotel recommendations.

We walked down the main street past tons of Gringos, hostels, and Asian owned grocery stores to Hotel Las Brisas (the breezes). It wasn't the nicest hotel, but it was a big building on the water that was in our price range. Actually, the back third of the hotel was built on stilts in the water. The back deck was a dock complete with ladder! The hotel had rooms of varying sizes and prices and was occupied by young back packers from all over the world.

The restaurants were very Americanized and touristy; it was hard to find something authentic. We did manage to have the best seafood of our lives at a Caribbean restaurant overlooking the water and a few entertaining drinks at the shady local bar next door. The bar was dark and rambling and there were people passed out drunk on the tables at 4:30. People seemed very curious about us being there, but they weren't hostile. Some drunk kid actually tried to strike up several incoherent conversations with me. From what I can figure he wanted me to come drink with him. This is the first time in a long time I had no idea what someone was saying in Spanish. It might not have even been Spanish, it could have been the local creole language or maybe just indiscernible mumbling. On our way out I bought him a $1 rum and coke as an offering of good will.

Our other attempt for a local flavor resulted in a two dollar breakfast consisting of what could best be described as a cold corn dog and a yellow plastic tube filled with corn meal and margarine. It was pretty delicious...

Anyways, that's all that anyone really needs to know about Bocas Town. It's a good thing we took day trips to other islands and beaches, or else we would have been disappointed to say the least.

La Frontera

Adam!

Corriendo con Parrotas

While at Ojo Del Mar, I ran every day on the dirt road that stretched between the national park and Puerto Viejo. After the energy sucking hills, uneven sidewalks and diesel clouds of Quesada, running here was a huge relief. It was, for the most part, pretty flat and the surface was nice hard packed dirt. Some days I ran alone, and some with my dad, but either way, it had to be early in the morning and you still came back drenched in sweat.
We forded small streams, saw Jesus Cristo lizards run across water, heard howler monkeys, caused a stampede in a herd of escaped Brahman cattle (one eventually just bust through the barbed wire to get back with its fellows) and saw tons of parrots!!!

There was this one tree that must have been a nest sight, as it was loaded every morning. It was magical to randomly see pairs of huge red macaws soar overhead, raucously calling to one another. Flocks of small parots and parakeets swarmed past and groups of medium sized bird casually chattered and dropped fruit and seed pods to the ground below, unconcerned with my presence. I have always enjoyed running for the sights I see, but this blew everything else out of the water. I saw something like 30 macaws in a single 6 miler one day. It was unreal!

Peninsula de Osa y Ojo del Mar - Que Rico!

Sur y Manuel Antonio

Mi ultimo dia a al Green Forest

Mi ultimo viaje por Arenal - la mejor!

When I finished school and was waiting for them across the road in the small parking lot, initially a worker from the Panadaria shipping company that ran out of there was concerned that I was lost. Not so much. My parents were quite late due to construction and I started to get a little nervous waiting and was considering taking the bus home when they drove by. Luckily they showed up and randomly decided that they wanted to go to Arenal that day, as it was super clear and you could already see el volcan for only about the third time since I'd been here.
We ate at a restaurant along the way, as they hadn't really had lunch (except for at the sketchy fast food place around the plaza that even Adam and I hadn't ventured into). The resturant that we were ate was next to a pineapple plantation and had a clear view or Arenal. Randomly while we were there, a really friendly local guide showed up and really recommended that we go see the volcano tongiht. We also talked about how much the area had changed in the last few decades. He had lived there most of his life and commented on how while the volcano had killed many people, it also saved many lives with the opportunity and prosperity that it brought to the area... interesting to think about. p.s - I also had some pretty killer lomito de chocolate and a really weird juice with lots of tiny little seeds in it.
We visited La Fortuna and then, after getting ice cream, headed up to the volcano. We drove up into a resort where we basically had to pay admittance, but got to view the volcano from a really cool porch. Driving up the mountain was an experience in itself (super steep!), but the while we were waiting for it to get dark at the resort, we saw some crazy parrots just hanging out on the side of this little path. They were small and green and chattering all over the place. My dad had already returned to the porch and my mom and I were heading back, pretending to run from an imaginary eruption when we felt it for the first time.
The ground actually rumbled, sending a tremble to our core. We looked at each other and rushed back to my dad. When Adam and I had gone hiking on the base of Arenal, we had seen nothing and half convinced ourselves that we had at least felt it. Later on, someone had told me that if we had felt it, that there was no mistaking it. Now, I was sure, I most definitely had not felt it before!
We rushed back to the porch and watched the sun go down over Lago Arena, anticipating, wtih each mosquito bit, the moment when it would be dark enough to see the lava. I had been expecting a slow, molten flow of red, but was surprised to see bouncing explosions of sparks tumbling down its slopes. The eruption sounded like hard boiled eggs spitting and bouncing around a pan and you could see the chunks splitting and exploding as they kit obsticals along there way. I did my best to record the experience, but could not do it justice on my small digital camera. However, I certainly felt grateful to have finally had the experience that many fruitlessly come to Costa Rica for.
On our way back down the slopes, we were nearly forced to stop crossing a bridge where the view opened up enough to see the sparks of the lava. We got out of our vehicle, leaving my mom inside, to cling to the bridge rails along with everyone who wanted a veiw without the entrance feel. It was still impressive. but a little nerve racking to share the bridge with whizzing vehicles. I couldn't help but think that if my parents hadn't come, that would have been my most ideal way of experiencing the flow.
Additionally, its interesting to think about how there are all of these hotels set up with grossly expensive rooms offering the possibility of a glimpse at the flow thought the clouds, when the volcano could just as easily change the angle from which it was flowing with a single explosion. They would be left worthless, and other similar resorts would spring up in that direction! Still, without ever really seeking them out, I am kind of taken aback by how many volcanoes I have seen and how much I enjoy learning about them!

Mis Padres

I have to admit that my parents made me a little worried. I rushed home from school and walked right up to Noche de Paz, worried for the first time about my parents in transit. I remembered how stressful it was for me to travel to Quesada being young, reckless, y hablando espanol. Driving after two weeks in Costa Rica was stressful enough, and here they were, about to get off of the plane and drive through the crazy winding and mountain roads between Alejuela and San Carlos. How would they ever make it?
I was feeling antsy, sitting on the curb with Luna, when I impatiently looked up and saw a mini SUV pull into the drive with my parents inside. What a relief! I followed them to the padrking lot, hugged them, and checked out their vehicle. We then went over to meet Dagoberto and had an awkward translated exchange. I felt so desperate for them to like my place, and was relieved when they did.
We went down to get my things at Anna's house and I said my good bye's while my dad waited in the car. When I returned to the hotel, we walked down to find somewhere to eat, zigzagging through one way streets and being indecisive about where to eat. We ended up at the Mariscos place that I ate at with Cindie and J, after being directed by a concerned Tica.
The next morning, I ran, showed my dad where to get coffee (the only to go place is at the bus station) and headed on my way to school. feeling all the while strangely full circle being back at where I started my trip.