A More Thoughtful Post

If you think that Central America is a Third World backwater full of uncivilized native tribes and poisonous wildlife you may have been right a few decades ago, but not now. Ever since the political situations in the region’s countries became stable tourism has been growing. Costa Rica is by far the front runner in tourism infrastructure, but the high prices that accompany its growing popularity with traveller’s is sending more and more tourists to neighbouring Central American countries.

The evidence of this is everywhere - in consumer magazines targeted to ex-pats, the growth of the English language schools, young people wearing the latest fashions, etc. But the most obvious indicator of this to me has been the huge number of ex-pats we’ve met that are shopping for property or businesses (and that doesn’t include the ones that are already settled here). It’s a safe bet that any tourist you meet over the age of 35 is looking to buy property while they are visiting the region. Again Costa Rica was the first to experience this boom in interest from North American travellers, and again because of high prices for real estate people are looking elsewhere, specifically Panama is being advertised as the next hot spot for gringo retirees.

Because Mary Beth and I have already hit the two most popular retirement spots in Central America we’re both excited to get to the other, relatively undeveloped countries in Central America. The lower prices for food and accommodations will be welcome too.

Ever since I backpacked through Europe and realized how similar it was to life in North America I’ve wanted to travel in more remote and wild places. Parts of Central America may satisfy that urge in me, but part of me is wondering lately if there are any wild places left in the world. Often when I think about this countries like Uzbekistan and Kazakstan jump to mind, or maybe Africa, but I couldn’t say for sure how wild they are until I go there.

But I digress, I was talking about Central America. What does this surge in North American interest mean for the region? Beats me, but when you think about it the USA has been meddling in Central American life and politics for decades, so the influx of retirees and such is really just a more up-front manifestation of North America’s ongoing effects on the region. Whether or not gringo retirees were moving to the region, North American influence would be entering through television, movies, music, international economics and foreign policy.

I should say that I’m certainly no expert on Central America and my two months here has only been a small amount of exposure, so if you think you know better post a comment.

Think Keanu Reeves in Point Break . . .

. . . Not so much the former college football star turned crusading FBI agent part, but more the beginner surfer that discovers the thrill of catching his first wave under the tutelage of a hot surfer chick.


That was me the other day as Mary Beth and I took our first surf lesson with the Green Iguana Surf Camp in Dominical, Costa Rica. Unfortunately our instructor wasn’t a hot surfer chick a la Lori Petty in Point Break, but rather a California ex-pat named Vance whose body was covered in red welts from being shot with a BB-gun the night before. His explanation: "Just another Saturday night partying at the bar."

I had taken one surf lesson before a couple of years ago when I was in Indonesia, but I felt I hadn’t learned much. The little Indonesian guy that took me out didn’t give me a lot of instruction before strapping a board to me and sending me out. Essentially the lesson was him miming what I should do on the board and then yelling at me to paddle for the rest of the day. Because of the low level of instruction then, I told the Green Iguana folks that I had no experience when we signed up.

With Vance our lesson was much better. He even drew diagrams in the sand of what the waves were doing and what rip tides are (apparently there are lots on the Pacific Coast). Once we were in the water I was pretty quickly getting up on the board in the white water. Mary Beth had a little trouble but was catching on later in the two-hour lesson. Of course what we were doing that day isn’t even close to real surfing, where you catch a breaking wave and do turns and stuff, but it was the first step.

We’ve already booked a second lesson, but a stomach bug has sidelined the two of us for a couple of days. We had originally planned on being in Dominical for a little less than a week, but we’re going on our ninth day now. Because Costa Rica is expensive we plan to move quickly through the country to the cheaper lands of Nicaragua, but because learning to surf is one of my major goals for this trip we’ll probably stay until we feel comfortable with our surfing skills to try catching waves at other breaks along the Pacific coast in other countries.

Adventures with Andrew & Panama Wildlife

If you ever get the chance to visit a friend overseas I greatly encourage you to take it. It's like having your own personal guide free of charge. If that friend happens to have a car then it's like having a chauffeur too.

That is what it was like in Panama for me and Mary Beth. Andrew was able to take all the stress out of our time in Panama by giving us the inside scoop on where to go and what to do. Having access to his car also gave us new opportunities to visit out of the way spots we wouldn’t have been able to get to if we were just busing around.

Having a free place to crash at the Lost & Found Eco-Hostel (a.k.a. the Lost Paradise) was also a treat. I’m not sure exactly how much time we spent at the Lost & Found, but we came and went several times over the months of April and May between trips to other parts of the country. It was great to spend a few days up in the mountains at the Lost & Found to escape the hassles of being a tourist in a foreign country. Days spent at Andrew’s hostel included hikes on the nearby trails (one led to a secluded swimming hole), wildlife viewing and endless games of foosball (I’m proud to say that despite his superior skills I managed to beat Andrew twice during my stay).

Unfortunately we had to move on eventually if we want to get back to Canada, so last week Mary Beth and I crossed the border into Costa Rica and made our way to the quiet surf town of Dominical on the Pacific coast. We’ve been here a few days now just soaking in the relaxed vibes, and we’ll be signing up for surfing lessons any day now.

Costa Rica is noticeably different than Panama in many ways. As a result of their higher level of development in the tourism industry Costa Rica is much more expensive (luckily we’re here in the low season and are able to negotiate for lower prices on accommodations) and you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an ex-pat. Especially here in Dominical I’d say there are more gringos than locals, and the tiny village that really only has two roads has two or three real estate offices catering to the English-speaking customer.

Because of the higher prices we’ll most likely keep our time in Costa Rica to a minimum and just hit a few spots we really want to see. For me that includes checking out the surf at a few well-known spots along the Pacific, with a jaunt into the mountains to do the equally well-known zip-line tours through the rainforest canopy around Monteverde. Andrew also recommended a trip to Volcan Arenal to see an active volcano and we may hike up Cerro Chirripo, the highest peak in Costa Rica.

I had a few more photos I wanted to upload, but Blogger isn't cooperating right now. I'll try some other time, but at $4 an hour for Internet it isn't worth it right now.

A Few Photos to Catch Up With

I realize that first post was from over a month ago, so here are some photos to catch you up to where we are now.

The best part of the trip so far has been hanging out with my old friend Andrew (below, opening a coconut for us).


He took us to lots of great spots in and around his home base in northern Panama. And he also turned us on to great spots like the San Blas Islands (below).

These hundreds of small islands that make up the autonomous territory of the Kuna Indians were beautiful and remote. We were there for about two days and never tired of swinging in the hammocks as Mary Beth demonstrates below.

Another great spot was Bocas del Toro, another group of islands on Panama's Carribean coast, though these islands were a little more developed and touristy. Below Mary Beth, myself and Craig are on a boat tour that included dolphin watching, snorkelling, and getting a sunburn on Red Frog Beach.

Bocas del Toro had lots of great places to eat on decks that extended out over the water between the islands.

Between trips to Bocas del Toro, San Blas and other spots we would hook up with Andrew again and do smaller trips when he had time. Most recently we drove to Punta Burica to visit a resort called Mono Feliz (Happy Monkey). To get there we had to wait for the tide to go out and drive along the beach.

It wasn't called happy monkey for nothing since there are a number of species of monkeys that live around the 7 hectare resort. Below Mary Beth cuddles with an orphaned baby howler monkey that had been rescued by the resort's gringo owner.

And that brings us up to today pretty much. We are back in David (the major city closest to Andrew's hostel) and will most likely be heading to Costa Rica soon.

The First Step

Everything started with a trip on the Clipper to downtown Seattle, my first time even though I grew up in Victoria and took every other ferry off Vancouver Island at least once. Now that I've done it I wouldn't do it again if I could avoid it. The trip was doubled in time by waiting at the harbour in Victoria before setting off and then waiting again at the wharf in Seattle to clear US customs. After that it was an easy walk to the Green Tortoise hostel that Craig had recommended.

We walked around Seattle for a bit the next day before our flight to LA in the evening and our next flight to San Jose, Costa Rice via a stopover in El Salvador where we ate Subway in the airport. I was so tired after the overnight flight from LA that I hadn't realized it was my first meal outside of North America and I spent the rest of the wait feeling sick to my stomach because I was convinced that the chopped lettuce and tomatoes had been washed in Hepatitis-ridden water.

We landed in San Jose in the late morning and wasted a bunch of time at the airport trying to find the office of a small airline that supposedly had flights to David, Panama. The airline didn't really have an office and we ended up asking all the small airlines, couriers and other companies with offices there until one said that they coordinated flights for the airline, but the flight for today had already left and there wasn't another for two days. That was Plan A out the window since we had hoped to get to David and meet up with Andrew as quickly as possible to arrive at the same time as Craig, who was coming from Columbia.

Plan B was to find a bus from San Jose to David or Paso de Canoas - the Panamanian bordertown -from downtown San Jose. A taxi driver pointed us to the airport bus stop and we got on the first bus that was heading for downtown. Once on the bus we realized we had no idea where the bus was going or where we wanted to go. An Aussie girl on the bus that was in San Jose to take Spanish lessons sort of knew where she was going and helped us figure out the fare. We jumped out at a central square in town and using a map from the Aussie girl we headed on foot for the bus terminal. No street signs meant we were soon unsure of where we were. First we flagged down a passing gringo but he wasn't sure where to go. He also offered us a map of the city from his pocket.

We tried to ask a old woman shopkeeper for help when we were buying a water, but she didn't speak English and we didn't speak any Spanish, and it was a chore just to pay the right amount for the water so we headed out randomly again. I eventually asked a guy just hanging out on the sidewalk in what seemed to be a market area. He was eager to help but also spoke no English but with the map from the Aussie girl and a lot of body language we got going on the right direction.

We got to the bus stop and spotted a hostel on our way. But once at the terminal a taxi driver told us that the bus to Panama doesn't leave from that station anymore and the hostel we spotted was dangerous and we would probably get robbed. I talked back and forth with him for a bit cause I didn't believe anything he said. He wanted to take us for a wild ride to catch a bus that had left already, claiming that he knew the driver and could stop it for us.

The prospect of getting on a bus for Panama as quickly as possible won out and we ended up jumping into the cab and took off for a 20 km ride to a smaller town on the outskirts of San Jose where we could intersect the bus. After sitting at the side of the road in a sweltering cab and a greedy cab driver the bus showed up, but after paying an outrageous price for the cab ride we didn't have enough cash for the bus ride. After hearing this the bus driver and his assistant immediately went to take our bags out of the luggage compartment. I stalled them with questions about credit cards and traveler's cheques until a local passenger piped up and offered the idea that we could pay the fare after getting money out of an ATM at a restaurant that we would stop at along the way to Panama. With that settled we jumped on the bus and slouched in to our seats under what seemed like the hateful gaze of the other passengers that just wanted to get the 8-hour bus ride on its way.

The movie showing on the bus was The Pursuit of Happyness, and it seemed oddly prophetic to me as Will Smith ran around with no money just as I was running around Central America with no money and no clear idea about where any future funds could be coming from. I was obviously overreacting to the strong portrayal of despair put forth by the Fresh Prince because when we got to the restaurant stop I got out a bunch of cash, paid the bus driver, and had a big feast of chicken and rice with a couple of sodas with Mary Beth.

The border crossing was a big nuisance. We got off the bus in Costa Rica to get an exit visa, walked a couple hundred yards to go through a lengthy entrance process for Panama. A young guy that attached himself to us to aid in the process kept saying that not having proof of onward travel from Panama would be a problem. I knew that we could just flash a decent amount of traveler's cheques to show proof of adequate funds, so I ignored him and only gave the small change out of my pocket when he asked for a tip before we got back on the bus.

The whole Panama border are seemed like a make-work project to me. We had to go to a different representative at a different window for each step. One for passport inspection, then on to the visitor visa window for the $5 visa, then a $1 stamp from the municipality, back to the passport verification window to see if we got all our stamps and proof of onward travel (or adequate funds as we showed), then finally to get our bags inspected. After all the tedious steps of the process I thought the search would be just as long when the agent asked to open my bag. But then he just sort of looked at it patted it down and let us go. Back on the bus and on our way to David.

We got to David much faster than I thought it would take. A quick 45-minutes later we found ourselves across the street from a T.G.I. Fridays and a shopping mall. It took me a few tries on the payphone to figure out how to properly dial Andrew's cellphone number, and when it finally worked I got his voicemail. After twenty minutes of waiting to see if Andrew would check his messages we called a hotel and found out how to get a taxi there. During the taxi ride we received a mango from the guy riding shotgun, who I assumed was just another passenger that ended up sharing the cab with us.

We booked a room with a fan and a hot shower and crashed out for the night, after I left Andrew another message telling him where we were. I also apologized for calling him in the middle of the night since my watch had stopped during the bus ride (and we had entered a new time zone) and I had no idea what time it was. The next morning I was awoken by a phone call from Andrew, he was in the lobby waiting to pick us up.