List of Places We’ve Stayed (updated & expanded!!)

Here is a list of towns we’ve stayed in since leaving Victoria, B.C. on April 15, 2007. I’ll be updating this list as we go, so check back to see where we are or where we’ve been.

USA:
Seattle, Washington - 1 night at Green Tortoise Hostel before flight to San Jose, Costa Rica

Panama: (entered April 18, 2007)
David (we stayed here several times during our time in Panama)
-the capital of Panama’s northern province Chiriqui. I don’t really know much about the town as we spent most of our time there hanging with Andrew’s friends and his in-laws, and then going to the casino, bars and grocery store.
Valle de la Minas (village closest to the Lost & Found Eco-Hostel)
- only went into the actual village once to see the weekend party, but all they were doing was playing volleyball and there was no beer because the power was out.
Bocas del Toro
- Panama’s corner of the Caribbean, best part for us was a snorkeling trip when we saw dolphins from the boat.
Panama City
- big city, lots of traffic, nice waterfront views and the old part of town has great architecture. Oh yeah, the Panama Canal, too.
Robinson’s Island, San Blas Islands
- a true island paradise experience Just us and the palm trees on a small island you can walk around in 5 minutes.
Pedasi
- small village on the Pacific coast, mostly just surfers come here, but we did see a few older gringos looking for property to buy. Also stayed at the cheapest hostel so far on the trip, a room with shared bathroom for $8 for both of us.
Boquete
- mountain town with lots of old gringos (that explains the midnight curfew), went to some hot springs and a wildlife rehabilitation centre that had parrots, various monkeys, an ocelot and a kinkajou that Andrew subsequently adopted.
Playa Larga on Isla Bastimentos
- went to Bocas del Toro again to see more after Craig left. Mary Beth and I hiked to a secluded beach and camped for 2 nights. Had an amazing last night there when a huge leatherback turtle laid its eggs right outside our tent.
Punta Burica
- not really a town, just an area where you can find the Mono Feliz (translated means Happy Monkey) hostel. Very rustic accommodations and tough to get to since you have to drive on the beach at low tide to get here, but an amazing spot to see howler, white-faced and squirrel monkeys. The owner has been feeding the monkeys for years and now they come around every morning.
NOTE: our time in Panama also included day trips to Las Lajas, a long beach, and Playa Venao, the best surf break in Panama (or so I hear).

Costa Rica: (entered June 11, 2007)
Dominical
- small surfing village inundated with gringos (we would later find out Dominical was relatively unspoiled by the gringo migration to Costa Rica). Did surfing lessons with Green Iguana surf camp. Stayed at a hostel that had iguanas crawling all over it.
Jacó
- Mary Beth’s brother told her about a small cabin he stayed in here 6 years ago for $6, now the whole beach front is private resorts and all the girls in town are prostitutes. Saw a large number of older gringos here with significantly younger Tica girlfriends. We didn’t stay long here.
Santa Elena/Monteverde
- practically the birthplace of canopy/zipline tours and eco-tourism in Costa Rica. Canopy tour was a blast, but once again there were just too many tourists here.
La Fortuna/Volcan Arenal
- expensive to get here from Monteverde, and the super expensive ($60 each!) tour to see the volcano was a huge disappointment as the volcano was behind the clouds the whole time we were there, we never once saw the volcano. The volcano tour did include a trip to a hot springs resort and a buffet dinner that was quite nice.
Puntarenas
- nice coastal town with a large fishing a shipping industry, we were just here for one night to catch the ferry to the Penisula de Nicoya.
Montezuma
- similar to Dominical in that this is a smaller seaside village that is popular with tourists, we went to a great waterfall within walking distance from the town. Good party scene here too.
San Jose
- only went here because there are no roads up the coast from Montezuma to Samara, instead we went to the capital and caught a direct bus for Samara after a couple of days. Saw some of the free events that were part of a clown convention, stayed at a swank hostel: Costa Rica Backpackers.
Samara
- another surfing village that is getting overpopulated with tourists, we just spent our time chilling out on the beach and swimming.
Liberia
- just a one night stop over on the way to the border, kind of glad to be leaving Costa Rica, it just didn’t seem like much of an adventure when there were at least 60 other tourists right behind you at every attraction.

Nicaragua: (entered July 15, 2007)
San Juan del Sur
- first stop in Nicaragua at this small resort town. Prices not much lower than Costa Rica. We rented a dune buggy and drove up the coast and on the beaches.
Granada
- we had thought about staying in this city known for its colonial architecture and friendliness longer to do Spanish lessons, but while looking around town on our first night Mary Beth got a job offer to teach English, ended up staying 3 months. Too many adventures to mention here, but we now have many memories and friends from this place.
Laguna de Apoyo
- a crater lake just 40 minutes from Granada, amazing swimming, good for relaxing as it is very, very quiet here. PS - there are 2 hostels for sale at the laguna, check the Crater’s Edge website, the other is called the Monkey Hut (sister hostel to the Bearded Monkey in Granada).
Masaya
- just did a day-trip here to see the market and traditional dancing. Market was somewhat disappointing after hearing about it so much, all the stalls had the same stuff and I didn’t want any of it.
Montelimar
- the estate of former-dictator Somoza is now an all-inclusive resort owned by Barcelo. We treated ourselves to a night here for my birthday, $70 per person per night gets you a room and all the food and drinks you want, as well as access to the beach, casino and other amenities.
Moyogalpa, Omotepe Island
- an island formed by 2 volcanoes in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua, we actually saw this from the plane on our way to Panama. Amazing geography and scenery, but not much else to do.
Managua
- never wanted to stay here as we heard it was dangerous, crowded and not a particularly nice city to visit. Just stayed one night before flying to the Corn Islands.
Big Corn Island
- Nicaragua’s very little corner of the Caribbean. Didn’t need to speak Spanish here as most of the friendly locals are of Caribe descent. With no ATM and no set ferry schedule it is a bit of a hassle to visit here. When we tried to go back to the mainland we ended up at the other island.
Little Corn Island
- actually better than Big Corn, more backpackers chilling out here and good scuba diving too. No cars on the island make it very peaceful, but when the occasional bundle of cocaine washes up on the beach we heard everybody goes crazy (more on this later).
Bluefields
- just a one-night stop over before taking the river boat-bus combo trip back to Managua.
Leon
- Granada’s rival, Leon is bigger and more liberal they say. A university here, and a population twice the size of Granada, makes Leon a bit better for nightlife, but not as friendly. Lots of volcanoes nearby make for good hiking, we did an overnight with QuetzalTrekkers to Volcan Telica. Also look for volcano boarding at BigFoot Hostel.
Esteli
- quiet town up in the mountains, we stopped here on our way to Honduras. Went to some very nice waterfalls that we had all to ourselves.

Honduras: (entered Nov. 16/2007)
Tegucigalpa
-just one night in the capital, the whole place was too crowded and polluted, the only place we went to was a modern shopping mall to get to an ATM.
La Cieba
- a long bus ride form Tegucigalpa got us to this town on the north coast, it’s really just a jumping off point to go to the Bay Islands, but we stayed for 3 days while trying to get laundry done, our hotel didn’t have a dryer so after 2 days straight of rain we had to take our damp clothes to a laundromat that had a dryer.
West End, Roatan, Bay Islands
- advertised as paradise, but the brochure pics don’t show the all-inclusive resorts full of families just the beach and blue water.
- we ended up staying in the basement of an old local called Uncle Bud, he rented out a couple of apartments as well as having a couple rooms in his basement, it was the best deal we could find which was good because we stayed close to a week after I got sick and had to stay in bed for a couple of days.
Utila, Bay Islands
- we took a ride on a private catamaran to get to this smaller island, at $50 each it was still cheaper than taking the ferry to the mainland and then again to Utila.
- more of a budget backpackers scene here because of the cheap diving, just about everybody was there to do a dive course.
- MB did her Open Water cert. with Cross Creek Dive Center, I did a few fun dives and we met a lot of good people there.
San Pedro Sula
- just one night at this transportation hub on our way to Omoa.
Omoa
- very quiet coastal town with a well-preserved Spanish fort, the most popular hostel, Rolie’s Place, is nice - we slept in a little, raised wooden hut - but Rolie is grumpy and doesn’t like talking to guests.
Copan Ruinas
- our last stop in Honduras was at these Mayan ruins (1 of only 3 sets of ruins we plan to visit while here), surprised to find a cheap room despite the popularity of the ruins, the hotel staff kept offering us a horseback riding tour we didn’t want.

El Salvador: (entered Dec. 12/2007)
La Palma
- a slow start from Copan meant we had to stay in this mountain village right after the Honduras border, spent the next day wandering around the village, then left for the coast.
Playa El Zonte, La Libertad
- just a tiny village on the beach west from La Libertad, wanted to go surfing here but couldn’t find a good instructor, went to a good reggae party on the weekend, if I were to go back I would stay at Esencia Nativa.
Juayua
- a mountain village recommended to us by a guy we met in Bouquete, Panama, supposed to be good hiking but we never went, the tiny town is very picturesque but there are way too many intoxicated guys in the streets asking for money for the size of this village.
Tacuba
- another spot recommended by the fella in Panama for hiking with Imposible Tours, did a great all day tour that included hiking through coffee fields and ended at waterfalls, good accommodations at Mama y Papa Hostel, almost didn’t leave Tacuba when the tour operator asked us to run his business for 2 months while he went to Europe, he kept saying "Don’t go to gringo land and spend all your money."

Guatemala: (entered Dec. 20/2007)
Monterrico
Antigua
San Pedro de Laguna, Lago de Atitlan
San Marcos de Laguna, Lago de Atitlan
Chichicastenango

Belize: (coming soon)

Mexico: (coming soon)

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.