Granada

I have been in Granada for the past 10 days and I have fallen in love with the city. The ancient colonial city has an irresistible and inviting charm amongst its vibrant colored buildings and historic churches. At the city’s center is the central park that is full of local vendors and food stalls surrounded by upscale hotels and restaurants. Mingled in the mix are bars and real estate companies cashing in on the booming market.

For the first week I stayed at a lively hostel called the Bearded Monkey. The Bearded Monkey hosted a bar and delicious food menu at a reasonable price. At the center of the hostel was an open aired garden lined with hammocks and candle lit tables. The vibe was anything but mundane. Travelers would filter in and out every few days, each looking for adventure and new travelmates.

At night Granada turned into any other Central American city, meaning you should always walk in groups and take taxis when traveling more than a few blocks. Walking towards the lake at night would ensure Nicos (local people) to approach you selling drugs or asking other invasive questions. Needless to say during the day Granada poses no worries, but at night the seedy people always emerge as if they solely wake once the sun goes down.

Granada boasts many interesting activities. There are good museums and beautiful architecture everywhere you look. The nightlife in Granada is decent too. Similar to any Latin city salsa reigns supreme. It is not hard to find discos/clubs staying open until dawn. Also nearby is Nicaragua’s largest Market called Masaya where you can shop until you drop without spending your paycheck. One of my favorite places around Granada is a lake called Apoyo. Apoyo actually sits on a massive crater. The lake has crystal clear water and many relaxing places to enjoy the rays and the calm waters.

I got really lucky a few days into my stay and meet this girl Ana. Ana was born in Nicaragua, but at a young age her parents and she fled to America in hope of a better life. She now lives in Miami but has made her annual return to Granada for the holiday season. Ana and I became good friends and she invited me and others to virtually every family event including Christmas parties, meals, birthday parties and the famous Purisima (religious event). I got to see first hand Nico life to the fullest. Her lovable grandma insisted that I stay at her house and join every family affair. I met countless cousins, uncles and aunts. Her family was very liberal and loved to dance and throw massive parties. She was a great person to meet and even though she returned to Miami I still hangout with her cousins and of course her grandma.

I also decided to take a Spanish course at a local private school. The school provided a homestay for a nominal fee for a week which included a private room and three daily meals. The school is good, but 4 hours a day can be a bit of an overload. The family I am staying at is in a great location and is really friendly. The father is a doctor and the mother is a school teacher. There are 3 children ranging from 24 to 30 living in the house too. We practice Spanish during our meals and hangout during the day. The homestay really forces you to identify with Nico life. Right now I don’t know any foreigners in Granada which is nice considering Granada is full of tourism. By choosing to do the homestay I have been able to spend x-mas and new years the Nico way. Today is December 31 and the next two days are fiesta time. I’ll write more on the other side of the year.

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

My first stop in Nicaragua was the quaint town, San Juan del Sur. I met up with an Israeli girl and an American girl at the border and we shared a taxi to the surfing village. From the first instance I got into the taxi I knew Nicaragua was going to be an adventure unlike Costa Rica. Our taxi driver was a middle aged man who spoke no English and had a friend sitting shotgun drinking cans of Tona (local beer) like water. After about 40 minutes of bumpy roads, I safely arrived at my hostel called Casa Oro (House of Gold). Casa Oro was filled with backpackers and professional surfers hoping to catch some of the best Nicaraguan surf breaks. Over the next three days I took the local bus to the nearby beaches and attempted to surf. There were two beaches next to each other separated by rocks which were easy to walk over. The tranquil beach setting was a perfect introduction to the country.

On the first day at the beach my friend Becky from North Carolina and I were swimming in the massive waves and we both got stung by jellyfish. I got it pretty bad, resulting in countless red lesion looking like blisters on my right arm and leg. I thought about peeing on myself but latter thought better. Becky´s situation was quite comical. She got stung near her ¨lower region¨ and proceeded to quickly remove my bottoms holding them in the air and screaming ¨help me! help me!¨. Any onlookers would have either been terribly confused or possibly eager to help. To this day I still have remnants of the vicious creatures.

Other interesting things that San Juan del Sur offered during the hoilday season was a full marching band comprised of mostly small children that would parade throughout the small town blasting drums and blaring an asortment of horns between the hours of 3 and 4 in the morning. On the second straight night of this we realized this ritual happens every year 8 days prior to Christmas. I´m not sure why they choose to do this during prime sleeping hours, but I can tell you it was not appreciated by my fellow travelers. On the third straight night of this craziness we decide...hey if they are going to continue to do this we might as well join them. So when we heard the music rolling by we filed right in and we received a warm welcome. It was an interesting and bizarre experience that ended at the local church. After that fulfilling experience I decided I have had my fill of the town and gathered up some friends and decided to take the bus to Granada the next morning. The entourage included a South African Gavin a Brit Renee and two girls Becky and Windrose from North Carolina. Times in Granada looked promising.

Costa Rica

Recently I haven’t been very good at updating my blog, but hopefully I will be better in the future. My days have been busy hiking and travelling from city to city via local bus which always proves to be an arduous but eventful necessity. Some roads in Costa Rica and most in Nicaragua more suitably resemble dirt roads or paths.

I breezed through Costa Rica in about 10 days and I’m now in Nicaragua which is much cheaper and cultural authenticity is more evident. Costa Rica was nice for a vacation but not my style of traveling. Costa Rica of course boosts prime wildlife and hikes through rainforests but also was tailored toward rich white Americas looking for a home away from home. Some brief highlights of my trip included the remote forests of Corovado in the Peninsula de Osa where I saw snakes, monkeys, and countless tropical birds such as parrots and toucans. I also did some sweet kayaking through dense mangroves where we spotted a huge rattlesnake and tons of howler monkeys. By the way if you have never heard a howler monkey before you would swear you were being attacked by an angry army of rebels.

After the national park I went to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side which felt like Jamaica with all the Rastas and laidback vibes. Reggae music is king here and sitting in hammocks and smoking the local plant are the daily activities. Puerto Viejo is a small town or actually more like a village that has abundant nightlife and full of people who have seemed to forget about there past lives resulting in a strange mix of foreigners who has now call Puerto Viejo home and the many travelers who come to get the Caribbean feel.

After Puerto Viejo I made a quick stop in San Jose before meeting an old College friend in the touristy area of Nicoya at Flamingo Beach. This area resembled Cancun with all the hotels and white people struggling to say hola. Nevertheless staying there for a night was quite nice since I was staying in 4 star hotel and got a much needed recharge and hot shower before heading across the Nicaraguan Border the following day.

Crossing the border

Well my Panama journey is now complete and I have successfully crossing the Costa Rica border. The border did not possess much of a security check point. To get to the border I took a small bus from Boquete, Panama to a seedy border town full of peddlers, casinos, E coli infested food stands and one legged pimps. I quickly orientated myself and proceed to the immigration check point. I got my salida (exit) stamp and continued to a man who apparently was a border cop. You would never guess that was his profession since he was in 3 day old clothes and was stationed around frill ropes which made a makeshift "security check point". The "border cop" rarely looked in bags and when he did he was simply going through the motions to appease his nearby boss sipping coffee. I got though the area and jumped on a random bus that I hopped didn't go to San Jose. After about a half hour I decied to ask a Tico (local person from Costa Rica) where the bus was headed since I was getting a bad feeling. Luckily it was going to the exact place I needed...Golfito. Once I got to Golfito I exchance some money at the duty free shop since all other banks were closed for some still unknown reason. Then I caught the next speed boat to Penilusa de Osa. My plan was to hike the remote Corcovado National Park in search of tucans, parrots, the elusive solth, and friendly monkeys that covered the area. After 45 minutes of the bumpiest boat ride EVER. I arrived at Puerto Jimenez. This quaint town was a perect starting point for my ensuing hikes and activites.

Life as a volunteer

My friend Angela, in the Peace Corps, and I just parted ways. She has just return to her site earlier in the day. I’ll remain in the mountainous region of Chiriqui for one more night before heading to Costa Rica. I’ll recap the past few days I have spent. Visiting her was a special treat since I was able to see a side of Panama many don’t get the opportunity to encounter. Angela’s main job at her site is environmental conservation and education. Her simple while comfortable ¨casa¨ is in the town of Los Positions about a 10 minute ride from the volcanic beach, Playa La Barqueta. Half of her time is spent at the beach saving and protecting Olive Ridley sea turtles. I was lucky enough to take part in a turtle release. About 150 hatchlings emerged from their nests the day we arrived. Later that evening some community members and I released the newborns into the sea. Watching them struggle towards their new home was exciting and a bit depressing considering most of the little guys won’t make it. According to Angela only 1 in 1000 actually reach adulthood due to a combination of humans, natural causes, and predators. Regardless of the survival rate watching the turtles scurry across the black sand into the roaring Pacific Ocean was memorable.

Other things we did in her town included simple daily activities such local errands, visiting neighbors and playing with the children. Since she took a couple days off form her main projects to hang out with me, we mostly chatted with the community as I soaked in the culture. One of my favorite thing we did was actually when Angela took me to her first host family and we went on errands through different towns via a 21 year old stripped red Toyota pickup. I swear we stopped 10 times in an hour period visiting houses while our ¨guide¨ was chit chatting, swapping presents or actually I have no idea what she was doing, but it was cool because every time she stopped we got invited into houses and talked with the families.

After visiting Angela´s site we decide to head up the famous coffee region of Panama called, Boquete in the Chiriqui region. Boquete is a rapidly developing town. It acts as an oasis for cooler air since it is up in the mountains. Coffee plantations and other agriculture reign king in the area. Boquete reminds me of a ski village in Colorado substituting the ski hills with mountains and fields of coffee and bananas. Boquete is heading in a direction that many Panamanians aren’t fond of which is gringos (whites) buying prime land from the government and charging ridiculous prices for property. The prices have gotten so out of control the locals can’t even come close to affording the land or houses. As retirees are flooding the region the properties are being sold for the asking price which is driving the overall property values out of the reach of the locals. This common problem is something that will need to be addressed unless Panama wants to be the next Costa Rica (negatively speaking). This seems to be a growing trend around the world, or at least many of the places I have travelled in the past few years. Similar situation are occurring in the Philippines and Thailand.

To be continuted…

San Blas Islands

So I’m back in Panama City after going to San Blas islands instead of Colon. If it wasn’t for an Israeli backpacker I met at Voyager Hostel in Panama City I would have missed one of the most cultural and scenic trips to date. To get to these remote islands we had to take a three hours jeep ride through the unpaved jungle roads. San Blas is an untouched pristine archipelago. It is located near the Columbian border and is home to some 40,000 Kuna Indians who have preserved there cultural, livelihood and distinct separation from the citizens of Panama.

For two days I stayed with a family headed by a jovial man named Arquimedez Fernandez or “arqui”. His large family was very hospitable and engaging. The Kuna people have there own language. While many know Spanish, few know English. The Kuna are known for there idyllic lifestyle and impressive skill of making molas textiles. The Mola is the famous fabric and pattern many Kuna sell and wear as their traditional dress.

The hammock is god in Kuna land. They of course sleep in hammocks but also do much more. Such as…everything. They spend most of the day in the hammock. When they are not cooking or fetching water, you are guaranteed to find Kuna members lounging in their respective hammocks. During important village meetings you will find tribe leaders speaking while leisurely resting in a hammock. Possibly the most unconventional use of the hammock is attributed to how they burry their dead in hammocks. Yes, in hammocks. And if that wasn’t enough they burry their domesticated animals in hammocks within the family grave to boot.

The daily trips to the surrounding islands were at the least surreal. Picture perfect Caribbean holiday postcard images are the running theme of San Blas islands. Sitting on a small naturally manicured island with one or two huts housed by indigenous Kuna Indians is a common trait among the 450 postcard islands. Shades of turquoise waters dominate the area while dolphins and ship wrecks are abundant. While basking in the Carribean sun and gazing out to sea, my mind wonders and thinks about all the past and present voyages that sailed through the area. There are countless shipwrecks reportly carrying invaluable treasures still at large. Currently the Kuna Yala is a popular transit for massive drug cartels orginating in Columbia destined for the States. With all this exciting history one can only wonder what the furture holds for this magical area of the world.

The Kuna lifestyle has thrive through the centries. They have gained policital and social autonomy and have been described of being one of the most organized indigenous people of the world. I´m glad that I choose these tranquil islands opposed to the notorious Bocas Del Toro islands near Costa Rica.

Welcome to Panama

After a missed connection at the Bush International Airport and an undisirable overnight stay in North Houston, I've finally landed in Panama City, Panama. Keeping to my theme of the trip, "staying local", I decided not to follow the hoards of tourists filing from planes directly to overpriced taxis. Rather, I decided to follow the highway and catch the intercity bus. The hour and half bus trip to downtown cost a grand total of 25 cents. The bus ride was alright but the sweltering 108 degree weather took a toll (88 degrees plus 20 degrees for intercity poulation).

Tonight, while walking around my hostel, Voyager, I discovered a sports bar that will have the Packer/Cowboy game. Since Panama is in central time I figure I should grab some beers and watch the game on the big screen. After I will venture out surely during prime nightlife hours.

Tomorrow, my first stop will be the Panama Canal. My interest in the Canal is limited but since it is considered a modern day engineering marvel, I suppose it is worth a few MegaBites on my 2 gig flash card. Depending on the scenery I will either leisurely travel via boat upstream or if my expectations are correct and the canal is merely murky water contained by concerete I will save some money and take the public bus to Colon.