Archive for March, 2009

Our new favorite place

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

3/15 -Cahuita, Costa Rica

Today is our last day here and I think we all wish we could have stayed longer, but we have a place in Nosara ready and waiting for us and  this place will be nicer than any we have stayed in thus far.  As much as I’m looking forward to a place with a reasonable kitchen, more than one room, nice sheets and hot showers I’m sure those luxuries will come with a price.  I love going to a place and being out numbered by the locals.  Although I may get frustrated, I love going to the store and seeing what I can find to feed my family each meal. I loved the communal feel and the people we have met in the hostels.  I love going to places that have not been exploited by Westerners who come to a place only to change it into their version of home.
Zane and Jason rented surf boards today.  They both did great and stood up on the board several times. It was a pretty mellow day that started with coffee on the patio and ended with a family movie in the bedroom.  All in all not much different than life at home. I think that’s the ultimate in traveling…when you can make any place your home. Zane has been having a ball and looks like he belongs on the beach.  I think he must have been a water baby in a past life as he’s really comfortable in the water.
We all really like this little town and the comfortable feel of being here.

———– Jason’s Version

Cahuita
A place I could call home…
OK, not really, I wouldn’t want to live here.  Thinking back to last winter however, I think we must have picked one the worst places in the Caribbean last winter to live, Playa del Carmen.  Worst for us anyhow, as everybody has different things they are looking for in a location.  We can’t help but think, now what if we had moved here instead?  I could actually see being here for awhile and being OK with it.  There’s no climbing, but the scene is cool, the beaches are nice and the scene seems to fit pretty well.  There is a small town here bordered by beaches on either side.  The South side being a national park with a white sand beach and forests filled with animals and a coral reef.  The north side is black sand beaches that are good for surfing.

Zane and I rented surf boards today and had a great time surfing.  Both of us got up on the boards lots of times. The guy who rents us our Cabina is a big black man that is referred to as “the big guy”.  He is about my height, but way thicker.  He is also super helpful and friendly.  He speaks english, but we can only understand what he is saying some of the time because his caribbean accent is so thick.  The caribbean towns here are a mix of spanish and english.  I find it confusing not knowing what language to use.  On top of the bilingual aspect, all the grocery stores are owned by asians. In most cases they only seem to speak a little spanish and a little english.  I don’t know where to begin.  I sort of wish it was all spanish, and then I could stay focused and learn more (spanish).

We wish could have more time here, but we made reservations in Nosara and must travel across the country tomorrow to get to our room there.

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…finally…animals!!

Monday, March 16th, 2009

So we are now in Cahuita, just north of Puerto Viejo. It’s a great little town that hasn’t yet been ruined by Westerners…but give it time.  So far, I think we like it much better than Bocas.  It has more of a Caribbean feel to it.  We have a nice little cottage with a kitchen for $30 per night.  We are near a National Park Beach and another black sand beach.  Today, we did a 10K hike on a trail that followed the beach and saw lots of animals..Capuchin monkeys, Howler monkeys (little thieves), leave cutter ants, a pit viper, several hermit crabs, vultures, a three toed Sloth, a Coati, Raccoons and something that looked like a giant rat.  Zane did great and loved seeing all the wildlife.
One of the down sides to being in Costa Rica is the danger of theft.  I’ve been told about it from so many people and sure enough.  We have been here less than 24 hours and know of two people that have had things stolen.  They came in at night (they left their doors unlocked) and took a camera and some other stuff.  I don’t think violent crime is an issue, but it kind of sucks to have to be that watchful all the time.  It’s much different than Panama.
I think I am now just getting into the groove of traveling and we leave in about 10 days.  I can’t imagine how folks make due with two weeks a year of vacation. If there were more climbing in Panama I would consider living here for a year.  I was doing a little calculating and even with all the money we have spent on tours it’s about 1/2 what we spend in the US to live there.  If you rented a house it would be really cheap.!
The border crossing into Costa Rica from Panama was hilarious.  After a short chat with the exit patrol we walked with our many many many bags over a very long rickety bridge….yes, we have way to much shit here and we are reminded of it every time we get on a bus, hire a taxi and try to find a hotel in a new location. When ever I travel it leaves me with a desire to simplify my life at home. Really, we have so much shit it’s just ridiculous, and we have a pretty simple life.

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Border Crossing

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

We made it back across the border in Costa Rica.  Crossing a border is always a stressful and confusing experince.  Crossing by plane is usually the simplest, but not always.  It seems different at every border crossing regardless of the country.

After a high speed taxi ride from Almirante, Panama to the border, we were left under a bridge in what didn’t seem like a border crossing.  It was however. We went up to the bridge, and it was an old railroad tressle.  The border crossing was foot traffic only over the creaky bridge.  Felt like somethng out of an old Vietnam war movie.

We are in Cahuita, Costa Rica now and will be moving on again soon!

The bride to... where?
The bride to… where?

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Bocas Del Torro

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

Hello from Bocas Del Torro

We’ve been in Bocas Del Torro for the last couple of days.  It’s an archipelago in the Northeast Portion of Panama. It’s a funny mix of Spanish and English and then the people are a mix of black, latino, and indian.  The town is a run down tourist spot that half of which is built over the ocean.  It looks like it won’t be long before the sea overcomes this place entirely.
It rains a lot here, but we’ve been lucky enough to have great weather.
Some might say it looks like paradise here, others might think paradise has rotted away.
I think we’ll start working our way back north tomorrow in Costa Rica.
Funny things about Bocas Del Torro:
They grow bananas here (the Chiquita company is based out of here), but they are hard to find in the stores.
All the boat tour companies sell the same trip.

I think we all wish we were on a climbing trip.  Unfortunately, climbing is hard to come by in these parts, and what you do encounter, is hard to get excited about.  Climbing trips are great because they get us off the main tourist track, and give us something to do each day.  It also saves us from having to drop a bunch of money every-time we want to do something.  things are generally cheap until they are multiplied by three, and then they seem to start adding up.

Hello from Bocas Del Torro (video)

Did you see our video post?  – how fun is that?

All there is to climb...

All there is to climb…

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Bon voyette Boquette!

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

So my last day in Boquete was spent doing a beautiful hike up to a waterfall and horseback riding.  My mom would have been so proud!  I thought the trail was pretty rugged for beginner riders.  We rode up to the top of a hill then raced the horses across the top.  It was a blast!  They were very sure footed and well trained. I got hooked up with this by a friend of Jim’s from Boquete Outdoor Adventures.  I’m psyched I was able to do it.
We decided, at the last minute to go to Bocas Del Torro, instead of the Osa Peninsual.  The trip to the Osa was just looking a bit tough logistically.  I’ll tell you more on my thoughts about being here in the next post…for now, here are the top 5 things about Boquete.
1. the coffee – it’s cheap and wonderful and very available.
2: the hostle – what a wonderful place.  we had so much space, it was clean, quiet and the kitchen was great.
3. the island – drinking fresh coconut water and playing on the beach was awesome.
4. the horseback ride
5. baja reiki, the light rain that happens every afternoon.  It makes a rainbow!

Lisa and Zane hiking outside Boquette

Lisa and Zane hiking outside Boquette

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Lost

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

I kinda felt like one of the folks on the TV series “Lost” as we ran care free and naked (ok maybe not naked) on our own tropical deserted island for an entire day.  Jim and the guides from Boquete Outdoor Adventures did a great job running the trip.  Jim moved to Panama from Ridgway about a year ago to run from Boquete Outdoor Adventures, an adventure guide services that operates rafting trips, sea and white water kayaking trips, island tours and hikes
Our day began at 7:00 am in Boquete where we loaded into a van filled with food, beer, snorkel gear and sea kayaks.  We drove about 45 min down to David where we had one last pit stop before we headed out to Pedregal, a small fishing village just a few minutes outside David.  From there we loaded up a boat and spent about an hour getting to Isla Gamez, a small island on the Pacific Coast.  It was amazing to me that in two hours you could go from mountains to the sea and a deserted island none the less!  The boat ride was beautiful, much of it navigating through the Mangrove Forests.  On the island we swam, snorkeled, did a little sea kayaking and opened several coconuts, both green and ripe.  The fresh coconut water was amazing!  so much better than the stuff we get in the states.  The flesh is soft enough to eat with a spoon and has the texture of a gummy bear.  It was super yummy!  Jim’s guide Rolando did a great job helping us learn to roll in the sea kayaks.  Zane almost had it down!  I would love to get him on a mellow river trip with these guys.  He is really comfortable in the water.  Jason saw a huge sea turtle…he said is was as big as him.  Unfortunately, we don’t have many pictures as Jason’s camera went on the blink as soon as we got there.  Hopefully, we can get it working again.
I think we will leave here tomorrow and head to the Osa.  This (Boquete) is an easy place to hang…really mellow, comfortable and safe.

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Virigins and Volcanos

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

(Intro by Jason)
Well from what I remember from the stories is that you’re suppose to throw a virgin into a volcano when you get to the top.  I don’t understand why you would want to do something like that.  Something along the same reasons you have grape juice and a cracker at catholic mass I suppose.  So when I got to the top of the mountain, Lisa informed me that she wasn’t a virgin, and thus I was not able to throw her into it.  With her having a son Zane, I should have put two and two together.  I am just a male after all and sometimes we miss things.  There was no bubbling lava so I suppose it would have been fairly uneventful anyway.  Just some tumbling, bruises and a very angry wife.  Instead, there was lots of walking.. and then we turned around and walked back down.

(by Lisa)
…and that’s just what we did…for 9 hours, 15 miles (roundtrip) and 8000 feet of vertical gain.  Jason and I hiked the Vocano Baru (11,400 ft., the highest peak in Panama) today while Zane volunteered at the animal refuge.  It was a big day for all of us!  We walked our asses off and Zane got to hire is first cab…in Panama none the less!  Mission accomplished for all!

We started the day at 3:30 am, began hiking a litte after 5:00 am and finshed  at 2:30pm. At the summit you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.  Let me say that this was a HUGE day for me.  Like a Cross Fit workout or a hard lead climb, I had to break it into pieces to wrap my head around it.  I really wasn’t sure I was going to summit…my legs wern’t working very well for me in the beginning.  I have to say that determination goes a long way for me.  I just kept moving.  Anyway, just wanted to you guys to know we are still suffering and working our bodies here in Panama…but right now I’m sitting on a couch with ice on my kneese drinking a very strong drink.  Cheers!

(Jason again here)
You have to really like hiking to enjoy the Vocan Baru thing.  It’s a constantly steep jeep road that really doesn’t have much scenery, besides a wall of forest.  The road rarely flattens out, and doesn’t affor many view either until you near the top.  I guess you can ascend it by the Cerro Punta side for a more adventures single track.  You need a guide to do it this way, and hiring a guide to do something like going for a long walk would be hard on my ego.  It was also a quickly planned adventure, so climbing it from the other side would have been much more difficult logistically.

We don’t really like hiking for the sake of hiking, and thus, although we are glad we did it, it’s not a walk I would like to do again.  My knees and feet hurt, there was next to no wildlife, no diversity, and not much in the way of aesthetics.  The hike up was long, and the hike back down felt even longer.  We can say we did it now and we have a story to tell.

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Boquete day 1

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Our first day in Boquete was great.  After a good nights rest we were ready to explore the area.  The town is quite small and safe.  The temps are great and the scenery is beautiful.  You can walk pretty much anywhere you need to go but if you do need a taxi, they are very inexpensive.  We have a dorm type room in a hostel, but we have the whole room to ourselves.  It’s big, light and sunny with several windows that open to the river which runs behind the building.  We have our own bathroom with a huge shower and plenty of hot water. There is a fully equipped kitchen downstairs, although I’m not sure how much cooking I will do as eating out here is VERY cheap.  It’s simple but good food although getting veggies is a challenge…lots of rice and beans and bread.  A person (Alan…Tammy?) would have a very hard time on the Paleo Diet here.
Today we went to an animal refuge (Paradise Gardens) for endangered species.  It was great!  How many times in your life will a person have a chance to hold a baby ant eater? We also go to see an Otter Cat, Monkey’s, a baby Screech Owl, Parrots, an Ocelot, and Toucans.

Zane loved it and is scheduled to volunteer there three afternoons this week.  It will be a great experience for him. I feel like letting him wander here is fine…it’s very safe and quiet.  Not like the streets of Playa Del Carmen, where you feel like your in a frogger game trying to cross the street.
We ended our afternoon with pizza and then a coffee, the later being better then the first.  Boquete produces award winning coffee and the plantations are plentiful here.  It would be great to take a tour, if it’s in our budget.
We have been getting some of our cross fit  work outs in, but they are pretty simple and not nearly as much fun as Hypoxia! Tomorrow we plan to check out the climbing.

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Viajando a Panama

Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Architecture, or lack thereof
Architecture, or lack thereof

Well, we arrived in Boquete, Panama last night about almost 30 hrs of travel from Las Vegas. Las Vegas to Denver to San Jose via airplanes took up the night. Two taxi rides in San Jose took us not very far, but ate up some time, as the first taxi left us at the wrong bus station. A long, cramped bus ride on Tacopa, apparently a locals bus as we were the only foreigners, took us to the border of Panama. Some finagling, dragging our suitcases around, waiting in lines, and trying to understand what we needed to do ensued. Why do border crossing need to be such a hassle?
We couldn’t bear two more bus rides (one to David and then one to Boquete), so we let a taxi coerce us into a ride the rest of the way. It was a good move. The taxi was comfy, and it was an hour and half ride for $50.
The was no staff at the Hostal we had planned on staying at, so another hour was killed by the time we got a taxi to another one. Sleep found me quickly.
The bus ride yesterday was long, and uncomfortable, but a least it was interesting. In between fading in and out of sleep, there were mountains, valleys, and painted piles of cinder blocks and corrugated tin they refer to as towns. I was surprised that once in Panama, the roads became wider, the houses were nicer, and there seemed to be a much higher standard of living. I would have thought the opposite.
Gotta go now and see what this Panama place is all about.

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Red Rocks

Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Cross the Gap

We don’t have many great stories from Vegas.  Besides, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas right?  We did a little climbing, which was humbling.  The mixed climbing fitness didn’t translate directly to steep crimps.  Oh well, we’ll revist that issue when we return from South America.  Hopefully it won’t be an issue then.  Not sure how we’ll feel after being in the jungle and on the beach, but well… yes I know… it will be humbling once again. In the photo, I’m taking a little short cut to get to the climbing.

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