My time was up in Panama. I had spent a little over a month there and I was ready to move on to Nicaragua. Of course, there's a little bit of a geographical barrier between the two countries: Costa Rica. At the Panama/Costa Rica border I caught a bus to San Jose, arriving at about midnight. Passing through this city again I was disenchanted by the enormous shopping malls, Wall Marts and massive, illuminated parking lots. At 4am I caught a bus to Nicaragua and arrived at the border around 9am. When it was all said and done, my marathon voyage took me a total of twenty hours spread out over six sweaty (or freezing!) bus rides. Needless to say, when I arrived in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, with my hostel just a block away from the beach, I wanted nothing more than to throw down my pack, put on some trunks and jump straight in the cool, refrehsing ocean. And that's exactly what I did.
San Juan del Sur is another Central American spot that many foreigners have come to call home. Despite the amount of foreign influence and gringos flocking through the streets, the town seems to have a nice local vibe as well. Plenty of people seem to live there for reasons outside of tourism, although it's still the number one employer in this beach town. With a handful of great surf beaches nearby, including Playa Hermosa where "Survivor: Nicaragua" was filmed, one can spend numerous days catching waves suitable for any ability level. At Maderas beach the waves outside were hollowing out into tubes and breaking at close to 10ft, a little big for me to say the least, but the waves inside were just right. Regardless it was fun to watch the advanced surfers dropping in and catching some nice rides (even they get crushed sometimes).
In town the party is constantly hopping, with bottles of dirt-cheap but deliciously smooth Nicaraguan rum, Flor de Caña, available in stores on every corner and bars and restaurants lining the road that parallels the beach through town. And to top it off, this past weekend the town celebrated its días de fiesta for its patron saint, San Juan, that resulted in the standard all-day/all-night parties (this seems to be a theme in Latin America). Luckily these were only a block or so away from my hostel, so sleeping was pretty much out of the question. As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Playas y Montañas
In Panamá, one can hop from the beach to the mountains and back again within a few hours on the autobús. The ability to switch it up every few days has kept things very interesting, as I´m able to enjoy the best of both worlds in this lovely little country. My first stop after Panama City was Playa Venao*, a remote little surf town on the southern coast of the relatively unexplored Península Azuero. A wide, sandy beach enclosed by rocky, jungle-covered bluffs at either end make it a perfect little cove for catching consistent, rolling waves. And that´s pretty much all I did for a couple days. One day, when I was finally getting back in the groove of surfing (it had been two years), I was fortunate enough to discover the beauty of surfing in a tropical rainstorm with smooth, glassy water that didn´t mind that it was raining at all. On top of that, I had the company of some lively, laid-back locals and an especially attractive chica from Argentina that quickly showed me up with her fluid turns and seemingly effortless rides.
*To see the kind of waves that hit Playa Venao, you can check out the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games starting June 25th - it´s an event that will bring this little surf town into the spotlight as a surf destination and could quite possibly change it drastically, for better or for worse.
From the beach I headed up to the mountains of the Veraguas province, to a little town called Santa Fé. There I discovered the tranquility of this rural town, where locals use machetes for almost everthing they do, whether it´s gathering firewood, trimming shrubs and bushes or harvesting crops. A few friends from the hostel and I went out exploring one day and ended up hitching a ride in the back of a pickup truck to the next town, Alto de Piedra. The truck driver was not only nice enough to take us up the steep and winding road, he even asked his ten-year-old nephew to take us to the waterfalls just beyond the town. This little guy, Ariel, willingly led us to each one of these cascadas (waterfalls) and waited patiently as we bushwaked arduously along the slippery, unmarked trail. At the end of the hike, he was happy to accept an ice cold Coca-Cola and a little tip for his hard work.
Can you guess where I went next? That´s right, the beach. This time I took the bus (well four, to be exact) to Playa Santa Catalina. A past surf competition was supposed to change this place for the better, with improved roads and internet access. But as far as the locals are concerned, nothing has changed. Although they´re paved, the roads are filled with axle-bending potholes and ruts. As for the internet, I didn´t bother for the four days I was there; it was slow as molasses and probably just as expensive, so I didn´t bother with that noise. ATM? Yeah right, I left with just $5 of my carefully bugeted cash remaining in my pocket.
Although there´s epic surfing in Santa Catalina, my major focus for this stop was to do some diving, which was a long time coming for me (it had also been two years). After earning my Open Water certification in Galápagos, I hadn´t gone since. So when I heard that Isla de Coiba was a hot spot for Pacific coast diving in Central America, I had to jump on the opportunity. About 75km from the coast, many have called this isolated island and former site of a penal colony the ¨Galápagos of Panamá¨. With all of the wildlife I saw, I wasn´t disappointed.
Along the way to our dive site we saw majestic Bryde´s whales surfacing for air and playful spinner dolphins that could launch themselves up to ten feet in the air (scroll to the bottom of this page to see a photo). But that was just the beginning. Under the surface we encountered white-tipped reef sharks, nurse sharks, huge moray eels, octopus, lobster, green sea turtles and massive schools of vibrantly colored fish. I was estatic to have my first dive with favorable conditions to see such an abundant array of aquatic life.
*To see the kind of waves that hit Playa Venao, you can check out the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games starting June 25th - it´s an event that will bring this little surf town into the spotlight as a surf destination and could quite possibly change it drastically, for better or for worse.
From the beach I headed up to the mountains of the Veraguas province, to a little town called Santa Fé. There I discovered the tranquility of this rural town, where locals use machetes for almost everthing they do, whether it´s gathering firewood, trimming shrubs and bushes or harvesting crops. A few friends from the hostel and I went out exploring one day and ended up hitching a ride in the back of a pickup truck to the next town, Alto de Piedra. The truck driver was not only nice enough to take us up the steep and winding road, he even asked his ten-year-old nephew to take us to the waterfalls just beyond the town. This little guy, Ariel, willingly led us to each one of these cascadas (waterfalls) and waited patiently as we bushwaked arduously along the slippery, unmarked trail. At the end of the hike, he was happy to accept an ice cold Coca-Cola and a little tip for his hard work.
Can you guess where I went next? That´s right, the beach. This time I took the bus (well four, to be exact) to Playa Santa Catalina. A past surf competition was supposed to change this place for the better, with improved roads and internet access. But as far as the locals are concerned, nothing has changed. Although they´re paved, the roads are filled with axle-bending potholes and ruts. As for the internet, I didn´t bother for the four days I was there; it was slow as molasses and probably just as expensive, so I didn´t bother with that noise. ATM? Yeah right, I left with just $5 of my carefully bugeted cash remaining in my pocket.
Although there´s epic surfing in Santa Catalina, my major focus for this stop was to do some diving, which was a long time coming for me (it had also been two years). After earning my Open Water certification in Galápagos, I hadn´t gone since. So when I heard that Isla de Coiba was a hot spot for Pacific coast diving in Central America, I had to jump on the opportunity. About 75km from the coast, many have called this isolated island and former site of a penal colony the ¨Galápagos of Panamá¨. With all of the wildlife I saw, I wasn´t disappointed.
Along the way to our dive site we saw majestic Bryde´s whales surfacing for air and playful spinner dolphins that could launch themselves up to ten feet in the air (scroll to the bottom of this page to see a photo). But that was just the beginning. Under the surface we encountered white-tipped reef sharks, nurse sharks, huge moray eels, octopus, lobster, green sea turtles and massive schools of vibrantly colored fish. I was estatic to have my first dive with favorable conditions to see such an abundant array of aquatic life.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Panamá
Quite possibly one of the most important cities in the world for global commerce, Panama city is far different from any Latin American capital I have ever visited. The skyline is filled with countless skyscrapers, many more than I could have ever imagined seeing in Central America. According to the locals, many of them are owned by foreign investors (Donald Trump is currently having one built in the shape of a "D") and suprisingly, few of them are fully occupied. Despite this observation, everywhere you look there seems to be another one going up and adding to the dramatic panorama of downtown.
In contrast to the modern vibe of downtown Panamá, the ancient barrio of Casco Viejo is a old colonial neighborhood with narrow, cobblestone streets with balconies looking down onto them. Half of the bulidings have been cleaned up, renovated and restored to their original colonial charm and design; half are crumbling, covered in graffiti or already lying in piles of rubble.
To move about the city from barrio to barrio, one has the pleasure of taking the public bus, el Diablo Rojo. These are old U.S. school busses that have been decked out (or, for lack of a better word, "pimped" out) with 80´s style airbrush artwork, depicting a slew of different religious, cultural and societal themes. Every bus driver seems to take pride in making their ride the most unique representation of who they are - with their favorite sayings, quotes and mantras written proudly both inside and out, and their preferred genre of music blasting nonstop. For $0.25 a ride, you have the opportunity to hop on board and enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime (and once is enough for some) ride on these Red Devils, which surley wouldn´t meet any U.S. standards for safety or pass even the most generous emissions test... and that just adds to the experience!
Of course the most important aspects of the city is the Panama Canal, which has not only shaped the history of the city but of the entire country. Every day giant cargo ships, as well as private vessels, pass through its massive locks that open and close like the doors to a fairy tale castle. To see the amount of manpower it took to complete such a feat (nearly a century ago!) is baffling. After visiting the canal and its highly informative museum, I truly understood how intertwined the U.S. was in Panama´s history, because of its involvment in the construction of the canal. I was also thankful for the fact that we finally did the right thing in turning over the canal to the Panamanian government in 1999.
In contrast to the modern vibe of downtown Panamá, the ancient barrio of Casco Viejo is a old colonial neighborhood with narrow, cobblestone streets with balconies looking down onto them. Half of the bulidings have been cleaned up, renovated and restored to their original colonial charm and design; half are crumbling, covered in graffiti or already lying in piles of rubble.
To move about the city from barrio to barrio, one has the pleasure of taking the public bus, el Diablo Rojo. These are old U.S. school busses that have been decked out (or, for lack of a better word, "pimped" out) with 80´s style airbrush artwork, depicting a slew of different religious, cultural and societal themes. Every bus driver seems to take pride in making their ride the most unique representation of who they are - with their favorite sayings, quotes and mantras written proudly both inside and out, and their preferred genre of music blasting nonstop. For $0.25 a ride, you have the opportunity to hop on board and enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime (and once is enough for some) ride on these Red Devils, which surley wouldn´t meet any U.S. standards for safety or pass even the most generous emissions test... and that just adds to the experience!
Of course the most important aspects of the city is the Panama Canal, which has not only shaped the history of the city but of the entire country. Every day giant cargo ships, as well as private vessels, pass through its massive locks that open and close like the doors to a fairy tale castle. To see the amount of manpower it took to complete such a feat (nearly a century ago!) is baffling. After visiting the canal and its highly informative museum, I truly understood how intertwined the U.S. was in Panama´s history, because of its involvment in the construction of the canal. I was also thankful for the fact that we finally did the right thing in turning over the canal to the Panamanian government in 1999.
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