the (mis)adventures of green

December 23rd, 2017

Today was a mixture of the beautiful and bizarre. It was recommended to us to hike from Sapzurro, Colombia to La Miel, Panama, a gorgeous, but arduous and hot experience. The round trip adventure involves over 1000 steep stairs, and at the top culminates in a view of Panama on one side, and Colombia on the other. It is truly breathtaking. A brief passport check (no stamp necessary) and you’re all set.

At first as we walked along the shore we were nervous there was no safe spot to cool down in the rough sea that splashed onto some very violent looking coral, but eventually we came to a pristine (but a bit crowded) beach. We made our way through the crowd toward an empty shaded spot at the end, and relaxed there. It turned out to be a bit too rough to enjoy swimming, and just before we decided to leave, we saw a guy about our age that had jumped in and looked like he was attempting to bathe. As he got out, he we noticed he looked malnourished. He walked toward us slowly, and I we were both apprehensive about the possibility he was going to beg. Instead he said hi in English, and asked if we had our phones on us. Still unsure I slowly said yes, but with no signal, and he asked if we would take a photo of him and email it to his friend. I thought it odd when he was unsmiling, and turned out that he had not said “to tell them I have been kidnapped” but to say “I HAVE been kidnapped”. My face fell and he quickly gave me the email, I asked what happened, and he said he has been held in Panama City prison for 3 months and somehow was brought to La Miel, and they were saying they were going to transport him to Puerto Obaldia. There was honest fear in his eyes and we watched him walk back toward his military escort, without a chance to ask anything more. He loaded onto a boat with many police, and that was it.

After a lot of scary discussion, we made the rough hike back to a place we could get service and I sent the girl several messages. I don’t know what else to do, without even a name or country of origin.

UPDATE

After sending the message, I was able to find the friend via her email address on Facebook. She was very confused and asked me to call her, which I was unable to do until the following morning when we reached Capurgana. Grant and I were sitting in a cafe waiting for our hosts to meet us, and we saw the kidnapped man pass by, clearly at ease. I was shocked, and didn’t immediately go after him. I told his friend this via Facebook messenger, and she dismissed me as a crazy person and blocked me. The guy walked by again and I confronted him, he claimed they had returned his passport and let him enter Colombia legally. He hugged me and asked if there was anything he could do for us, but I was still quite dumbfounded. We later met a couple who said they had also met him, and had heard a similar story, but he had either already been crazy or the months in Panamanian jail put some voices in his head. I’m just thankful he’s physically ok.

Christmas Day 2017

First and foremost, Merry Christmas, everyone! I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience another holiday in a new and interesting place. It’s truly a blessing to be able to take this time away.

We are currently in Capurgana, Colombia AKA the Struggle Bus. The town itself seems to be a laid back holiday beach town for Colombians to get away, with a handful of foreign tourists thrown in for seasoning. The ride on the Bus actually began back in Panama City, on our last day as we frantically scoured the city for Colombian Pesos. Nada. Nunca. Anywhere with a decent exchange rate was sold out, and facing heavy rush hour traffic, we decided to brace ourselves for the financial issues ahead.

You see, we chose to enter Colombia in one of the least common ways, opting to forgo the beaten track in search of tiny, blissful, forgotten beach towns rather than a quick but spendy flight or a tourist party boat. A good friend of mine that I had spent time with in SE Asia is Colombian and had recommended the area as an alternative to the popular San Blas Island route, and I was all over it. It’s not as if this story has a bad ending exactly, just more of a reminder to keep expectations at bay and enjoy things for what they are. After some extensive research on the eve of our Panamanian departure, we were well aware that the options to obtain money in either Sapzurro or Capurgana were going to be limite, so we pulled out some last minute cash at the airport in Panama City and decided to bite the bullet with the crappy exchange rate we knew we would be getting after crossing the border.

Our flight from Panama City was on a tiny 8 seater plane, and shockingly departed only 40 minutes late. There was no announcement made about the delay, and we saw the captain and copilot stroll leisurely toward our transport with bags of snacks in hand. They ate the entire way. I was admittedly a bit nervous to board, as the plane looked like it had seen better days. The takeoff was slightly sketchy and there was a bit of nerve wracking turbulence, but we thankfully made it to the tiny, tiny airstrip in Puerto Obaldia in one piece.

Puerto Obaldia was really the first moment that the language barrier became overwhelmingly complicated and in-your-face. Our minimal Spanish skills were tapped out, and though we promptly figured out how to catch a boat into Colombia by following the small crowd, we were stuck at the Panama exit office for a few sweltering hours with a frustrating inability to understand the reasoning or how much longer we would be waiting. Our hosts in Sapzurro told us that we did not have to go all the way to the slightly larger port of Capurgana, where the immigration office is located, until we had been in the country for 3 days. This did sound a bit surprising to us as I had heard mixed things about the entrance to Colombia, but a local had said so, and we chose not to push for any more specifics. Our limited understanding had seemed to so far ensure that we would be getting dropped off at our desired destination, so though hot and frustrated, we were not yet concerned.

Eventually we were ushered to a sketchy looking skiff, where all of the locals were transferring their belongings into giant trash bags. Ours had rain covers, so we crossed our fingers that all would be well. As we were boarding, the captain informed us he would not indeed be dropping us off at our desired spot. This is where we begun to panic, as we had planned to use our 3 day entry time to buy the required proof of departure that you must show upon entrance to the country. Both of us had read and heard about people being denied entry without proof, and our brains were preoccupied with all of the possibilities of what could go wrong. One of the sketchiest hour-long boat trips I have ever experienced followed, where even Grant seemed nervous at the state of the rough seas. Thankfully we saw land and made it to Capurgana physically unscathed.

Our first task was to desperately search for a Wi-Fi signal in order to purchase a random ticket that we could later cancel, which Grant booked from Cartagena to Tucson. I guess that’s where our later decision came into play…

Anyhow, tickets purchased, we anxiously made our way to the customs and immigration office. The place was so small and unmarked that we actually passed it 4 times before finding it, and it took less than 3 minutes to get our stamps. Panic for no reason.

After getting some food into our very hungry bellies, we went to search for a boatman to take us to Sapzurro. Disembarking the boat, we began our search for our new home in the quaint beach town. It is much quieter here than it’s neighboring sibling, and we now wish we had stayed there the whole time. If we had thought it was hot there, well, we didn’t yet know what was in store.

Our cabana was charming and comfortable, and we enjoyed our breakfasts with our hosts, a Spanish retired architectural engineer in his 60’s and his Colombian wife, who could not have been a day over 30. They gave us some day trip suggestions to a local beach and a hike over to the Panama side, to a place called La Miel. Both were enjoyable, minus the Kidnapped Man, which I will follow up with later.

La Miel involved a sweltering 1000 stair hike, but culminates in a view that is beyond worth it. The Carribbean Sea on both sides, one Panamanian, one Colombian. The beach was pleasant but a bit busy, and we enjoyed a freshly caught fish lunch. The food in Sapzurro leaves something to be desired, always a plate of rice with either chicken or fish gets pretty old after more than a month of it. The exchange rate we expected was actually worse there, and we found ourselves beginning to worry about our money situation lasting until Capurgana, where we had read there was a place you could get cash back, though at a bad rate. A bad rate will do when you’re out of money.

The days passed far too quickly at our cute little casa, and it was time to come to the bigger side. Our next place was supposed to be a 20 minute walk away, and our new host met us at a little bar in town after we had secured our boat tickets to Necocli for the 27th to begin our journey to Cartagena. One half of the couple who we would be staying with met us in town on his bicycle and suggested we get a tuk tuk taxi (a motorcycle with a cart attached) and follow him, as this is the only form of motorized transport here. All else is horse cart, bicycle, and foot traffic.

As we arrived at our jungle home we were shown around by the Italian woman and French man that own the place, and we quickly resigned ourselves to the many, many mosquito bites and very sweaty nights to follow. At this moment, I lay in a hammock on day 2, and I’m already dreading laying in our musty, damp bed to cough away another sweat-drenched and sleepless night. I’m not sure how “eco-lodges” keep managing to charge more for less, but I’ve learned my lesson on this one. The cost of this place is nearly as much as our last, and is much more remote, hot, buggy, and significantly less private. The only saving graces are the lovely swimming holes and the myriad of flora, fauna, fruit trees, and abundance of food the couple seems to make from this. Home made chocolate from the cacao, locally grown coffee, and fresh jams are quite impressive and enjoyable. However, it’s hard not to grit ones teeth at the comparison.

By yesterday, we were getting quite desperate to spend money to get more money. This morning we learned that the one place that we thought this would be possible, no longer offered the service. Apparently the government kept trying to tax them on the income, and it got out of hand. After more sweating we managed to find some creative ways to pay our hosts for a few meals, as well as a hotel that thankfully would take a card (of course, at an alarming percentage rate). Armed with the knowledge that we wouldn’t be starving before reaching an ATM, we began the long walk to our luxury home and promptly jumped into the river to cool down and shed the stress of the day. Ahh, Merry Christmas!

All of this is not meant to gripe, just to highlight the very real struggles that can arise while traveling, and the danger of assuming anything at all. Ever. I think it’s safe to say I will now believe less than half of what I read about this country, ha! Grant is napping and I am starting to smell food – I am quite excited, as our hosts are preparing a (FREE!!) Christmas dinner for their neighbors, and we happen to be here. Who on earth can’t be grateful for food, am I right?

Love,

Green

We’ve just gotten onto what is probably the nicest bus I’ve ever been on. Currently, we are on Step #2 of the 5 total that will take us from the beautiful mountain town of Boquete to the beaches of Santa Catalina. I’m pretty thankful that the sun is shining and the forecast is looking good foe the next week, as we’ve been pretty soggy for a while now.

Our morning started at 5:45 after what turned out to be a garbage night of sleep for the both of us, Grant with what he mumbled were “soap opera dreams” and me with some non-specifized anxiety. Maybe that was due to realizing last minute that our plans to take a cush 4.5 hour direct shuttle were a no-go, and we were looking at 4 bus transfers over 9-10 hours. Ah, c’est la vie! We were pleasantly surprised with gorgonzola scrambled eggs and home made walnut current bread rather than the cereal our hosts had warned us was coming. Can’t complain about that!

We were kindly dropped off to a colectivo stop a few blocks down the road to begin our journey – it was a little crammed as during the morning the locals fill the bus, and we stupidly didn’t realize we could put our bags under the seat and kept them jammed on top of us for most of the ride. Arriving in David(2nd largest city in Panama), we were both pretty happy Grant had decided to double check where we needed to go to to buy our tickets to Santiago, as it would have been significantly more difficult to find if we had to ask with our basic-bitch Spanish skills. Fork! We need to practice.

I sometimes find it easier and more pleasant to write about the experiences a few days after they’ve happened, especially when in a new place. All things considered, our arrival from Bocas Del Toro to Boquete went pretty well. Our B&B was actually in Caldera, “25” minutes (40) outside of Boquete. In order to meet our host, we were informed it would be easiest to meet him on the side of the highway. The bus driver thought we were a little crazy when we mentioned this, and we had growing concern as we gained altitude, grew closer, and a light drizzle turned into a torrential downpour. Waiting on the side of a strange highway as the roads began to flood around us didn’t sound ideal, and I think both of us let out a sigh of relief when we saw the black SUV waiting for us on the side of the road.

Saying goodbye to the bus as our final piece of Bocas Del Toro, we quickly hopped into our awaiting chariot. On first impression, our host was a very straight forward guy in his 70’s that clearly didn’t feel any hesitation telling us what was what and being very up front about his wishes. This turned out to be spot on – he sometimes came off as slightly controlling (as the only bad review these people had mentioned) but ultimately was extremely helpful, kind, and interesting. If I make it to my late 70’s, I damn well better know what I want and how I like things by then, too.

I’m glad we decided to quickly move past the oddity of the guy telling us about his soulmate leaving him and him having to restart his life within 5 minutes. Information overshare from strangers is something that makes both of us uncomfortable, but really, a lot travel is about accepting discomfort and learning from it.

Our hosts turned out to be a wealth of information about not only Caldera/Boquete, but all of Panama. Over the course of our 5 days we enjoyed sharing meals and conversations with them, swapping stories and thankfully sharing a great love for dogs. I’m always a lot more comfortable with people who keep animals, and these guys had 3 sweet rescue dogs, along with a ranch full of cows, chickens, and a few horses. The property itself was beyond breathtaking with a view of the jungle below and the mountains beyond, always with the faint sound of the many nearby waterfalls. Rain or shine, the wrap around deck provided awe-inspiring scenery, and it was a great every morning to sip our coffee out there with the pups at our feet. The breakfasts made by the hosts were always carefully and thoughtfully prepared, and I now know I need a whole lot more gorgonzola omelettes in my life.

Our first afternoon was spent renting a car and going into the town to get our bearings, and to stuff our hungry faces. We made our way to our new home on the windy, bumpy road that reminded us both of the lovely conditions of our road to Chiniak, only with even more crazy drivers and people that had seemingly no idea of what they were doing. Dogs and people both dart sporadically around these roads, especially at night, so in the end it made sense the way most drove in the center of the road. On our last night, we actually saw a family lounging ON THE ROADSIDE fully equipped with some pillows for comfort. Completely bizarre!

I met two girls in Thailand earlier in the year, and one of them ended up moving to Panama to run a sailing charter. The three of us had discussed meeting here and unfortunately it didn’t work out as a group, but separately we all get to see one another! We met my Californian friend for dinner on our first night after settling into our new digs, and made tentative plans to explore the following day.

Everyone in Panama seems to tell us to make plans for the morning, because it often rains in the afternoon. We have somehow managed to frequently experience heavy rains on many of these planned mornings, and luckily had learned to expect it. Waterfall hikes aren’t so fun in a storm, so the three of us decided to do a little mini road trip around the area and take in some sights. While foggy and wet, the waterfalls and mountains were still incredible from the comfort of our car. After a brief stopover at a spa to use their sauna, we somehow ended up spending the remainder of the day watching American football at an expat bar. Not really our cup of tea, but my friend had taken a fall the previous day and the hot springs hike Grant and I had wanted to do was out for her. It was definitely a different experience meeting up here than Thailand, but I really need to stop comparing! Probably my worst travel habit of all.

I wound up drinking a few too many margaritas that night and not being the sweetest girlfriend, argh. Traveling can be stressful enough without added drama, and it’s SO important to continue to be respectful to your partner and not be a total butthead. I have a definite tendency to be stubborn even if I am wrong, and that’s something that is a work in progress. Strive to be better every day, right? Compete only with yourself.

Our second full day ended up shining a few rays of sun on us, so we took a day trip to Gualaca to swim in this beautiful canyon. We both actually had our expectations exceeded here and had a blast jumping into the rapids and floating through the crevass, especially as we had the whole place to ourselves. The second jump was quite literally a little rocky – as usual, Grant is a bit more adventurous than I, and wanted to try a more exciting jump. He tried to warn me it was shallow after he jumped first, and I opted out of heading this warning and smashed my tailbone into a big rock. Ouch!

Caldera Hotsprings was our final adventure, a muddy hike to some small rock-walled natural pools. It was relaxing and refreshing, but we were glad we made it there when we did, as a large group arrived upon our departure. The place is very minimally maintained and quite swampy, but we enjoyed seeing the peacocks, goats, and cows on the hike out.

We had a so-so meal with our hosts at a BEAUTIFUL restaurant overlooking a canyon and waterfall – the view made it worth it. After that it was time to pack, sleep, and get ready for the next adventure. Which brings me back to the fancy bus that I’m currently sitting on!

Overall, we really enjoyed Boquete and I would highly recommend a stop here to adventure, explore, and breathe the mountain air. People seemed a little more friendly here and the vibe was much more pleasant than Bocas. The temperature is also more comfortable! Coming into our 4th week in Panama, I think it’s safe to say I recommend getting an umbrella the second you enter the country. Every man, woman, and child carries one here even when it’s sunny, because they know what to expect. Grant actually admitted to me that he had never used an umbrella until we got to Boquete! We’ve refrained so far, as we’ve had a few loaners, and now we are just too far into the trip to be bothered. Maybe that stubbornness is still there, huh?

I’m going to get to working on that, but first, snacks.

Next stop, BEACH LIFE!!

 

(P.S. Hopefully can add photos soon, Wi-Fi here in Santa Catalina es muy mal)

It’s 10 am on December 9th, and there’s currently a city wide power outage. It’s no surprise, as the way things are wired here in Bocas appear to be quite shady. As we are getting close to leaving, I’m feeling pretty reflective about our time here. There have been ups and downs – we’ve definitely had our patience tested in the last few weeks. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this place, what started as a charming little island community has shown itself to have some steep downfalls.

As I’ve mentioned before, we were SO grateful to check into our ocean front air-conditioned apartment with a comfy bed and a fully equipped kitchen. That was definitely our most enjoyable time here, where we were able to just go at our own pace and read in the hammocks or do the short bike ride into town. Grant rented a surfboard from the owner of the place, and he was nice enough to take him out a couple of times while we were there. We were asked last minute if we wanted to do a day trip out to Zapatillas island, and to snorkel at a few different spots. Zapatillas was gorgeous, but we ended up spending our 2 hours there in the ocean, as it was much warmer than the air in the massive storm we got to enjoy all day. After a horrible experience at a tourist trap for lunch, ourselves and our new Dutch friends asked if we could cut the trip short. I will say we got to see a ton of sloths, which was the coolest part aside from the beach.

At the time, we were really happy with the guy we rented the condo from, as he was showing himself to be helpful and trustworthy. In hindsight, it may be just an act for his guests. I’ll come back to that.

Sometimes it’s nice to book far in advance, as you can get better deals at nicer places, but sometimes it ends up being a disaster and then you’re stuck. We moved from our cozy condo on Isla Colon to Isla Bastimentos, what we thought would be a sleepy, cute town with no cars. The vibe there was strange – it’s pretty dirty, and nobody seems to do much work there at all. Every time we wanted to go eat, most of the restaurants were inexplicably closed. Whatever – we were able to find a couple of things. The real kicker was the apartment we rented. It was basically a concrete box with a bed, and felt more like a sweltering prison than a home. The pictures don’t detail this information, it looks like you’re getting the lovely top floor. Instead, you’re stuck suffocating with zero air flow and only a Barbie doll sized fan to blow around the stale, musty air. There is also a casino just a few doors down that blared music literally all night – it was nearly impossible to sleep.

We did manage to do a gorgeous jungle hike to Wizard Beach, and have one day of sun after a lot of rainy days.

On day 2 in Bastimentos, we decided we would stay one more night and head into Isla Colon, eating the cost. 6 pm rolled around and we went to get some dinner, as we were walking and seeing zero options, I looked long and hard at Grant and asked if we could just leave. His eyes lit up like Christmas, and we promptly packed our belongings and hailed a water taxi to take us to comfort. A last minute hotel for the night wasn’t cheap, but sometimes you have to remind yourself that you worked really hard to ENJOY this trip and bite the bullet. Being honest about a situation is important, and having an open/honest line of communication in a bad situation is 100% necessary. I took a fall on the way down the hill, but I didn’t even care. We were escaping!

Do I look stoked or what?!

There will be a Bocas part 3 coming up, which will hopefully be more all encompassing of my feelings here. It’s certainly not that we don’t feel lucky to be here, but it’s a part of rolling with the punches of traveling to accept that some places just don’t meet your expectations.. which is a great reminder to always throw your expectations out the window.

Cheers, chicos!

I have to admit, it’s way too easy to press pause on the daily writing when you’re comfortable in your environment and just grateful to have “regular” amenities available to you. We have just arrived to Isla Bastimentos, and are experiencing the a minor reality check. On Isla Colon (where we’ve just spent the last week) we got lucky enough to score a new B&B on a deal, and I think it is safe to say we were more or less in the lap of luxury with air conditioning and an ocean front dock.

First, let’s press rewind…

Prior to our arrival in Bocas town, we finished out our stay on Isla San Cristobal. When I last left off, I was seeing our remote location through rose colored glasses. I won’t deny that it is beautiful, but the remote living turned out to be.. Not our cup of tea. Over the course of 5 days, Grant and I learned that we are not jungle people. Can we live minimally? Absolutely. But when you throw heat, isolation, and massive mother-f-you-can-finish-that sentence- SPIDERS into the mix… nah.

Composting toilets are cool and all, until you’ve got to hike through a jungle at night (when all the friendly critters seem to appear) to use the bathroom. Suddenly the beautiful path becomes scary, and the family of tarantulas that has decided to appear on the steps are damn right uninviting. Let’s just say we learned to operate during daylight hours out there.

I know, I sound a bit stuck up. But looking at Grant’s face, when he is generally less anxious about things, kind of sealed the deal on this one. The other bizarre thing about the place was the fact that our hosts were not there – and in the wilderness, hosts make all of the difference. (No fault of theirs – family emergency) That lovely Canadian woman I previously mentioned turned out to be hanging on by just a thread – a new arrival, she was supposed to be doing the job of 3, with very little warning or experience. When we got there, 2 young (mid/late 20’s) German volunteers greeted us. It turned out they were the laziest volunteers I have ever encountered, and were basically using the place as their free playground. They were sent packing 2 days into our trip, and so we were left alone with the poor cook. All of the hiking on the island needed to be done with machetes and a local, so we were unable to experience the beautiful/terrifying/monster arachnid laden/hotter than hell surroundings too much. It just ended up being a place that seemed to be growing too big for its britches – there was much more expansion on the property than we had been made aware of.

Okay, yeah. I don’t mean to sound entitled, just trying to say that pictures do tell 1000 words – but often not the whole story. This “rough” experience certainly wasn’t cheap, and I’m all about value on a long trip. I’ll quit my bitching now and show you what we were subjected to. Poor, poor us.

More soon – I’m hungry.

Green

 

After a short week in Costa Rica, it’s time to head begin our journey into Panama. It wouldn’t be a proper send off if we weren’t currently sitting in inexplicable traffic within 5 minutes of climbing into the minibus. As there’s not much scenery to observe on this dusty stretch of road, I catch myself eavesdropping on some travelers from Minsk chatting with another group they must have just met. One guy is giving the couple some serious misinformation about scuba diving, and I have to keep myself from rudely interrupting. Nobody likes that person. Time for headphones!

The driver seems to have not one, not two, but three cell phones. He’s answering one while he hangs up with the other, taking photos of documents in his vehicle and sensing them to various people. My Spanish isn’t yet good enough to follow what he’s juggling here. At this point I notice the device holder that is attached to the front window has a fun background- a scantily clad white woman in American flag lingerie. Classy.

As we begin to move again, it strikes me how much trash is strewn throughout the countryside. I’m not sure I’ve I have subconsciously blocked out the litter from when I was in the Guanacaste area back in 2014, but I don’t recall it being nearly this bad. Dense, lush jungle, breathtaking beaches, and majestic waterfalls are made significantly less beautiful by mass amounts of garbage strewn about carelessly everywhere you look. This country is often touted as being extremely “green” and energy efficient, and yet, I am just not seeing the environmental efforts on this part of the trip. Each place we’ve stayed has recycling bins, but they don’t seem to be in use by locals. Styrofoam to go containers are the norm, and plastic bags are given out with groceries even more liberally than in Alaska. I recently read an article written by an expat here, talking about the mass use of pesticides.l, specifically ones that have been banned in other countries. I have often been under the impression that this was not the case. An anicdote from said article stated that he once watched a man who was spraying the roadside with DHT playfully hose down a group of school children and laugh.

Another thing I have noticed here, like in many other rapidly developed countries, there is a huge juxtaposition between technological advances and doing things like the dark ages. We just came to a complete stop that I thought was a railroad crossing, but instead was an above-road track. Along comes a boy in a huge rubber apron and heavy boots, with a line strapped around his chest. There is a pulley attached to the line and 10 huge sacks full of what looks like grain slowly snake behind him. It’s probably 90 degrees at 9:30 this morning, and he looks utterly miserable. I’ve been a lot of places in the world, and I’ve never seen materials transported in quite this manner. As we get further down the road, I realize this is the standard method of transport for bananas, too! Apparently they are called banana crossings. The border crossing was relatively painless, minus an extra-sweaty moment when I wasn’t sure the “proof of departure from Panama” was going to cut it, as technically our flights just go to the Panamanian border in December, not leaving the country. Luckily enough, the tiny airline we bought tickets from has them in such vague language the customs agents weren’t seem to able to decipher where we were flying to.. win. [Insert nervous laughter..] Pay an exit fee in Costa Rica, walk across a bridge.. and boom! Bienvenidos à Panama!

Arriving by bus in Almirante, we were quickly crammed into a speedboat to Bocas Town. It was pretty choppy and we were flying over the waves – I watched some tourists faces panic a few times. I was slightly uncomfortable, and then here is Grant cracking a beer. Of course!

Bocas Town is all pastel buildings on stilts over the water, lots of little restaurants boasting (spendy!) fresh caught seafood and cocktails. After a struggle to find a place we would be allowed to leave our bags, we set off for some food and a drink. Half priced margaritas? Yaaas, girl.

At 5:30 our caretaker, Leo, picked us and a Spanish couple up to head out to Coco Vivo. Almost there!

Our arrival was smooth and we checked into our little fairy house, greeted by a lovely German couple who volunteers here, and the cook, a darling quirky Canadian woman who reminds me of one of my favorite aunts. It happened to be the German girl’s birthday, and after a fabulous dinner, she got a surprise birthday cake. I lucked out with some birthday celebrations, too! The evening ended with one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen – massive amounts of phosphorescent plankton light the waters here at night. We sat on the dock, drinks in hand, occasionally jumping up and down to watch the water sparkle. It was one of the most magical moments I’ve ever had – ahh, if only we could have gotten a photo. We were awakened in the evening by a horrible scratching sound, both of us a bit frightened, as we are set with the ocean on one side and the vast jungle on the other… We gradually realized it was the two neighborhood dogs, just looking for a cuddle. As I write this last bit, I’m laying in a hammock on the dock.. soaking up every lazy ounce of my 26th birthday. We spent the morning splashing around, doing a bit of snorkeling, and stuffing our faces. This is the life!

I’ve always been of the opinion that when things start off rocky at the beginning of a trip, it will be much smoother sailing down the road. That couldn’t have been a better mantra when the airline lost my bag, apparently accidentally sending it to Mexico. The initial response was that it wouldn’t arrive until after we had left for the coast… So, lets just say I’m thankful for my kind and loving boyfriend, who calmed my stressed mind down. A few million phone calls later, I was able to convince a kind airline employee to get it on another airline and boom.. I had clean clothes to wear a day later.

I’m going to be honest here – I did not like San Jose. We had a rad little apartment, but being from a small town does not exactly foster a love for traffic. Our Costa Rican adventure began with a lost bag, a 2 hour (for 10 miles!) taxi ride, and two very tired, hot, and hangry Alaskans. I did not find the city particularly enjoyable to walk around, nor easy to navigate. Later we learned that a politician is trying to stay in office by re-doing all of the roads… which was apparent in the current chaos. We had some great (albeit spendy) food there, and chose to cook breakfasts at home both days. I was very grateful when the morning of our departure arrived.

The bus to Puerto Viejo was pretty standard for Central America – advertised air conditioning but the vents were bizarrely glued shut. 5 hot hours later, we arrived in the hippy tourist town. Our place came with bikes, which made it much easier to get around as we stayed about 1.5 km from the center. Reggae floats around in the air with the breeze, and the sound of crashing waves follows you everywhere. I’ve been quite thankful for the tradewinds that have been a constant, the mornings start in the mid 70’s and by 8 am it’s in the high 80’s. If you’re missing something from home (food wise) there are munchies for you no matter where you’re from. The tuna is to die for, and so is any fresh caught ceviche.

This morning we undertook an adventure that Grant was pretty hesitant about – a 26 km (about 18 miles) round trip. Me being me, I believe things are attainable until I’m puking from minor heat stroke on the side of the road about 10 km into the trip. I decided to concede, and we made stops at some gorgeous beaches along the way. It probably didn’t help that we had some of the crappiest(though free) bikes on the planet. I think I’m going to take my own advise and be in the moment – so it’s time to disconnect from Wi-Fi and focus 100% on my tan. Off to Bocas Del Toro mañana!

Often when you have something big and exciting coming up (or really, could be big and awful) it’s hard to live in the moment. Too often, we are so busy looking forward that we forget to breathe and enjoy the NOW that surrounds us. As our trip to Latin America looms ahead (7 days!!) Grant and I have been working on enjoying the things we love about our current life, and appreciating what we have. We have a great house, amazing dogs, and we actually really like each other no matter where we are. This island we live on has so much to offer, and though it’s getting cold, it’s been wonderful to enjoy our beaches and favorite trails before we head south for the winter.

In hindsight, it’s been a long year for both of us. More so physically for him, working his ass off on various boats, but it hasn’t been particularly easy on either one of us. We began 2017 with me heading back to Thailand, and him taking on a very stressful and demanding job. Returning home from India in April only allowed us a short reunion before it was back to work… and it has been a busy summer. October 30th was our first day off together in many months, and it was a great reminder of how excited we are to share this upcoming adventure together. The last week has been filled with slow mornings, blanket covered laps, sipping coffee, mellow vinyasas, researching, listening to podcasts, and just soaking up all the sweet moments we missed this last season. Of course there are projects and chores that have had to get done – but how lovely it’s been to just be. Dogs, yummy food, yoga, and love are really all you need.

Namaste, lovelies

Green

How do you get ready to uproot your whole life time and time again? You work your ass off, but you also take the time to play and enjoy the little things in life. Like dogs.

For those of you that know me, my travels started quite some time ago. It’s taken me about 4 years longer than most people to actually get to this blog thing going – but, here we are! With a big trip looming in the future, it’s about damn time. I’ve finally settled on the importance of honest and current information to both look back on, and to serve as a guide (or major warning) to others looking to wander the world with abandon. I’ll be starting off with updates on my current travel plans, and hope to add some tales of wonder and caution from previous years. Cheers to finally getting off my (digital) ass!

 

Green