Volcano, Mayan, Cenote, Spanish, and Jungle

Esplendor Panama hotel and home

2011-02-17T17:52:00.000-05:00

A little about the Esplendor Panama hotel we ended up stayed for 5-nights. It was an apartment/condominium that was converted into boutique hotel.

We paid $175 (included taxes and everything) per night. The building seems to be poorly constructed and designed (like rest of Panama). The kitchen electric stoves does not get hot, the kitchen water faucet splashed everywhere every time you turn it on. The storage room's light switch (used to be laundry room) is behind the door near the hinge! And if one stands outside of the front door you can see the small gap between the door frames and see the light inside. The bedroom's toilet seat is behind a clear glass swing door (not all the way to the ceiling) so if someone were to lie on the bed he/she can see the person using the toilet, not to mention the noise and smell! The main lobby was small but not too bad looking, the only problem is the floor is made of black marble tile, looked nice but with the dusty nature of the city, everyone comes and their footprints are clearly visible on the floor, so they have one person dedicated to mob behind guests that come in and all the way to the elevators!

The receptionists at lobby are all very friendly with exception of one young girl. She seems able to speak English ok, but can’t understand what we are asking since her answers didn’t make any sense to what we are asking of her. Her older assistant chimed in to help answer our question. May be she got her position because she is young and not bad looking. The older assistant seems to be more capable. One time we asked if she can call the taxi driver that supposed to pick us up from the hotel but was not here yet, first thing out her mouth is that we can call from our room and it will cost us if she is going call for us! Hello, if I can speak good Spanish, I would not need your help. So I just ask other more helpful person from the hotel where is the public paid phone and made the call myself for 25c.

The breakfast was included and was ok, but since we booked as two people, the third person is not allowed to have breakfast. They mark people off every morning as you entered the breakfast room. On weekends with fewer guests, the service people hover around your table to get you used plate, etc.: too attentive! The fitness room is a joke, no ac, and only half of the few pieces of equipment that there are functioning properly. I went for morning runs outside instead. During our stay, the in-hotel restaurant is not ready so is the business center, so no internet access unless you have your own laptop (Wi-Fi is available). The outdoor pool also seems to be out the commission the whole time. I think the fair price would be around $100-125.

On the plus, our room is spacious with big living room and sofa where I sleep – almost too much space. Bed is comfortable. The hotel is centrally located in the safe area of the city (not much help with terrible city traffic). There is a Rey supermarket very close by as well as couple good and cheap place to eat. We especial liked Jimmy’s Restaurant, we went there 3 times! It served yummy local food.

On the morning of our last day in Panama, after a quick breakfast, I went to wait in line at the nearby bank to get a chance of exchange some $1 Panamanian coin. I was told the National Bank might have it. I have tried goto the same bank couple times before, but both time I turned back because the huge long line inside and outside the door! I got there around 7:30AM, half an hour before it is to open, so I am only 4th person in line! I guess the 3rd time was the charm and I was able to exchanged $5 worth of the shiny big coins and some half balboa coins as well. I left the bank all happy and went next door to the internet café last email check.

The checkout time is 11AM, so we stayed in our room as long as we can, then we had the hotel store our luggage with the hotel, we took a taxi went to checkout a nearby indoor mall. It was not bad looking mall, not many people were there, I guess middle of working day keep the crowd away. I got myself a nice looking jean, ok price on it. One thing interesting about the mall is that the mall doesn’t seem to have AC, but the individual store has. With our quick shopping done, we got back to the hotel and walk over to Jimmy’s for our last lunch. Afterward we just wait in the hotel for our taxi to pick us up at three. I had negotiated another taxi driver the previous day, and he is older guy, and offered us even cheaper deal than others and his taxi looks new and with strong ac.

The taxi arrived about 15 minutes early and we are on our way to the airport. No traffic this time as we took the toll road, which we paid on top of the negotiated fare. We passed some nice developments and the taxi driver told us they belong to rich “refugees” Venezuelans. They are escaped the crazy and narcissistic Hugo Chavez.

We arrived at airport with plenty of time for our 7PM flight. So we walked around the huge duty free area and purchased some more rum. Even after that we still have time to kill, so I used my new Continental Presidential Plus card to get into one those airport lounges, which was nice with snacks, drinks, internet, and nice chairs.

Our flight home was delayed by an hour because they kept the door open for passengers on a late flight, but in the end those people never made it as our flight took off without them. I think it might because Dulles airport might have a curfew on last flight coming in. We arrived at Dulles well past midnight and didn’t get to my house until 1:30AM. We were lucky as when I got out, there were only 3 taxi waiting. We were the first people to get out from the flight.

Panama City

2011-02-16T15:40:00.004-05:00

We visited Panama Viejo, the original Panama City, today sits among the skyscrapers. It was nice to walk around the ruins and there are souvenir shops. When we were there, Yanni’s group was setting a stage for concert that night. The ticket we told is $50. I was tempted because we have done nothing at night here in Panama. But we ended up on visiting Mi Pubelo (recreation various tribal housing from Panama) and the Causeway (the hip and trendy speck of islands connect by the causeway to the mainland), which both turn out to be a bust as the traffic was terrible and Mi Pubelo closed earlier than book said due to bad traffic and by the time we got to the Causeway, it was getting dark, so we didn’t have the chance of walking the path along the ocean. On top of that the taxi driver wanted more money for the traffic and extra distance to the Causeway even though we picked up a person on our way there. So we ended gave him couple more $ than what we thought was the rate, but less than what he asked for. After few photos, we hailed another taxi and were on our back to the hotel, hungry and disappointed. Luckily this time the taxi driver was honest.

One morning Wendy and I visited nearby Parque Natural Metropolitano to try our luck in spotting animals by ourselves. It was a short drive from the hotel, but traffic was, you guessed, bad. There aren’t other tourists while we were there. We did spot some monkeys, but too far to make it out, but since the park is known for its titi monkeys, we assume it was. We also spotted a frog and some rat like animals. But other than that we just have a nice walk in the forest.

What can I say about Panama City? Traffic here is terrible, ever where you go you get stuck in traffic. One saving grace is that the taxi around town cost about $3-5.

The city itself has lots new constructions. It certainly has lots potential as it is expanding the canal to accommodate larger ships. But it is still have lots room to improve. Beside the traffic, there are many poor neighborhoods with high crime rate. It will go a long way if Panama can build a metro to relieve the congested roads. And use some of the wealth generated from the foreign investments and canal income to reduce the poverty, therefore crime.

The price here is starting to get expensive, especially in the higher end area like hotel. But certain luxury goods/liquors are cheaper here because of the low import taxes.

We stayed here for 6 nights here. Could have visited more places if not for the bad traffic and my mom’s broken arm. But with the long stay, we got pretty comfortable walking around the hotel and getting around in taxis.

It is hard to say this is my last visit to Central America, but currently there is no plan to come back anytime soon. I am also not sure where to go from here. There are lots place left in the world.

So until next time I come back to Central America, happy travel everyone!

Panama Canal & Portobelo

2011-02-14T22:51:00.004-05:00

We hired a taxi driver/barber for a day of sightseeing from Panama. We had him for our ride to Panama Viejo ruins in the city and he seems to be an honest guy from San Pedro Sula Honduras. We negotiated $8/hr. But apparent he thought we are just going be around Panama City instead of all the way across to the other side of Panama to Portobelo on the Caribbean side even though I told him before that we wanted to visit Portobelo. It must be my poor Spanish. He also had us pay the gas, which we weren't expecting. He arrived at hotel 20 minutes late and in a beat up Landover with no ac, but it was ok since was careful with driving and good smooth ride, very important for my mom.

We set out for Panama Canal’s Miraflores gate on the Pacific side; it has very nice visitor center and display as well as view platforms. What can I say about the canal? It certainly a modern engineering wonder with genuine human toll. Also just think some of items in our house passed through these locks. We arrived shortly after the visitor center was open, but there were some tourists already. But just enough room to get good pictures (and still decent lighting). We watched few of the big ships (as well small ones) transit through the lock and on its way to Atlantic side. The rise and fall of water in the lock is all by gravity, no pumps! The cost of transit is very expensive, you can even swim across, but that will cost you as well.

As a kid I have seen the photos from my dad when he transited through the canal on the ship he was working on, so it was especially nice to see what my dad saw and experienced. After hand over of the canal to Panamanian government, the Canal Authority has planned for expansion for deepening and widening of the canal and as well additional lock to accommodate the modern mammoth ships. The expansion work is already underway. China is said to looking for an alternate transit beside Panama Canal, it will be interesting to see if it did go ahead with alternative project.

After the canal visit, I told the drive we want to goto Portobelo, but he insist we goto a nearby place called Gamboa. So I figure, it is on the way anyway, so why not. But he forgot to make a turn (I saw the sign, but didn’t tell him) and we ended near the toll road to Portobelo. He wanted to head back to Gamboa, but told him forget about Gamboa and just take us to Portobelo, that when all the misunderstanding came to ahead. He finally agreed and head for the toll road, but got on the wrong direction toward Panama City! There are no exits between where we got on and Panama City, so he made an illegal turn in tiny opening in the medium divider. I was ok with that. We pass through few toll booths and he wanted us to pay for the toll, which I was ok with it since the fast road save us time. Then as we approached a turn off for Portobelo, he pulled into a gas station and asked for money to pay for the gas, we all kind upset, since we didn’t expect it. He lost our confidence and appreciation as a result after that.

Anyway we arrived at Portobelo without further incidents. Portobelo was once a greatest Spanish port in Central America. It was destroyed by British admiral Edward Vernon in 1739. It was rebuilt in 1751, but never achieved its formal glory. Today it is a sleepy fishing village with ruins scattered around the town. It is a nice and quiet town to explorer for half a day. There was flooding in Panama back in December 2010, and part of town and part of the ruins were destroyed again. It also has couple beaches nearby as well as offshore island Isla Grande for more R&R, but to do all that one needs to stay here for couple nights. We skipped lunch and just walk around the town and ruins while dodging rain showers. We stopped by Lobster beach on the way back to Panama.

One way back our hotel, we hit major traffic jam again, Panama City traffic really sucked! The driver wanted to know if we still want transport with him to the airport on Wednesday, and I told him if we do, we will call him the night before. After the communication fiasco, we are reluctant go with him again.

El Valle

2011-02-13T21:05:00.001-05:00

On the airplane down from Washington DC, the on board program had a story on El Valle and its golden frog, so that clinched the decision for me to visit El Valle for sure.

On Sunday, Wendy and I took a taxi from our hotel to the bus terminal and caught a minivan transport for the 2+ hours ride to the town in the valley.

This place is also famous for its Sunday craft and flower market as well as some hiking trail in the hills around the town.

Wendy and I got there may be around 11. The market is already in full swing. But the sky was looked threatening. It pretty much showered on and off the whole time with some peeks of sunshine.

We purchased some handcrafts (the price here is a bit better than in Panama City) as well some passion fruits.

In order to explorer more of the area, one would probably need to stay overnight, I thought about it before the trip, but not possible with my mom's condition.

After the market visit, we walked to the nearby zoo to see the famous golden frog of Panama, endemic specie. The zoo is actually bigger than I expected: lots birds. No sure if they raise some for eating as there are lots chicken/turkey enclosures.

Here is also where I lost my tripod head nob. Not sure how it happened, some kid was touching it while I was photographing the frogs, maybe he took it off or it could be just yanked off when I snagged it on a tree branch, but there was no ruined thread. Anyway it set me back $26 for a replacement.

On the way back we hit major traffic jam as we approached Panama City, I guess everyone was heading home after weekend of fun in the country sun and beach outing.

Casco Viejo

2011-02-11T21:21:00.001-05:00

This morning we got up early to catch the bus to David and then the long distance bus to Panama City. As we walk to the bus station, we saw the bus just pass in front of us, I made quick wave, hoping to catch the attention of the bus attendant, but the bus continue on, and I thought to myself it is going to be at least 30 minute wait for next one. But couple seconds later, I heard backup sound of a vehicle and the bus has saw us and we are on our way to David (the 3rd time). It took a while to get to David as the bus stop for a while to wait for passengers to show up along the way. We got to the David’s bus terminal about 8:30 and got our bus tickets ($12.50) and settle in on the bus for the 7 hours ride.

We arrived in Panama City’s main bus terminal without any problems (the bus crossed over the Bridge of Americas over the Panama Canal). The terminal itself is a gigantic place with taxi, minivans, and school buses everywhere. After retrieving our luggage, we headed toward taxi area and were quickly approached by a guy asking if we need taxi, he is obvious targeting foreigners. I didn’t mind it too much and just ask how much it cost to goto Casco Viejo figuring as long as he is not overcharging us too much, it is ok. I think we paid $6 (should be around 4-5), and we are on our way to a hostel in Casco Viejo. We passed some depressing looking slums, and arrived at the hostel very quickly.

There aren’t many budget accommodations in Panama City and many places are all booked out in the short term. So we ended with one bunk bed for me and a private room with share bath for Wendy and mom. It is not the best looking hostel I have seen, but it will have to do for couple days. The free breakfast consisted thing bread with peanut butter and bananas, not very appetizing. The bathrooms were very messy by evening and one have “jammed”. Mom wanted something more comfortable for her arm, so I was going to checkout another place near the next day, but a couple Spanish travelers offered to let me use their laptop, so I spend an hour or so looking for reasonable priced, centrally located, and safe place. It was impossible to find one, so I ended go for a boutique hotel in central banking district of Panama City for $180 a night! More on that in later post.

Casco Viejo (Old Compound) is old part of Panama City. It was built here following the destruction of the old city (Panama Viejo) in 1671 by Henry Morgan. This tiny enclave was all that of Panama City at 1904 when Panama canal construction started. The neighborhood here quickly deteriorated into slum after the city's expansion during canal era.

Today, gentrification is well under way. With many newly rebuild/restored buildings co-exist side-by-side with abandoned or dilapidated ones. But overall the vibe here is very positive and energetic (no small thanks to heavy police presence). Lots new high end restaurants and stored, but you still can find some cheap cafeteria style eateries (run by Chinese).

It was nice to wonder the narrow and cobbled streets with its distinct "smell", while try to avoid cars and construction. We wondered the street in the late afternoon sun as well during the early morning hours. We even visited the outside of the President’s palace after many attempts only to be told to come back one hour later and to be told the same thing again. There is a museum on Panama Canal in heart of Casco Viejo which we visited. Even though almost everything is in Spanish, it was still nice, especially it has air conditioning, benches, and very nice restroom, which we all had the pleasure of taking a seat  We also visited nearby shopping area with department stores and street vendors – very few tourist venture out to this area.

We wished we were able to spend a weekend night here, as there surely a fiesta or two among its squares.

Boquete

2011-02-09T21:49:00.000-05:00

We left for Bahia Drake early in morning, it was sad to say goodbye. But we also excited about the new country Panama. I planned rest of our trip with no planning – going by local transport with no reservation what so ever. As soon as we arrived at Sierpe, we were bombarded with taxi drivers and were quickly hurried into the taxi along with a young couple from Italy. We got to the Palmar Norte, where the bus head to the border stops, but not knowing when the next one will arrive is the hardest part of any travel. At the station we encountered a father and son from Vienna, Austria that stayed at El Mirador for a night. They were waiting for but to San Jose, where they are flying home. Our bus eventually come, and we off to the border. One the bus there was the young Italian couple, heading to David Panama. So we stuck together to get across the busy border. I was worry about the long wait mentioned by the book. But we lucked out, the line wasn’t too long on Costa Rican side – we got there before a bus full people arrived from San Jose. After we got our exit visa, we walked across the “unguarded” border and got our entry visa for Panama (US$1 tax, Panama uses only US$ bills, although it has its own coins made of same size as US, US coins also accepted and circulated.) and again the line was very short, and we all cleared very quickly. The Panamanian immigration officer asked for evidence of a plan of exiting Panama in the future, so I showed him our e-ticket for our return flight. It is not uncommon for this in some less developed countries. Soon as we stepped out the immigration area, we were asked of our destination and quickly we were on the minivan full of people to David. As in other countries, the driver is free to pick-up and drop-off people along the highway and packs as many people as they can. Even with that we arrived in David in good time due to the nice 4-lane highway – not like that of bad roads in Costa Rica. Once we arrived in the main bus terminal in David we said goodbye to the Italian couple and we are onto the bus for Boquete. At this time I started to worry about our stay in Boquete as we didn’t have a confirmed reservation. But on the bus there was a Columbian lady (married to a Canadian) who lived in Boquete and offered to ask her daughter if there is room at her hostel, and although they don’t have a private room, they offered us to stay in a 5 bed dorm room for the price of the a private room. So we are all set for Boquete.

All in all, the journey took about 10.5 hours with 1 boat, 1 taxi, 2 buses, and 1 minivan and 1 time zone crossing.

Boquete sits in a valley in about 3500 feet above sea level, so it is a bit cooler. It is popular with American retirees.

After settling into our room, we are off to check out the town and get something to eat. Since it was Sunday, most of the stores have closed. But we did manage find a tourists restaurant with ok price and good food.

Our first order of business next day was having an x-ray for my mom’s arm. We manage to locate the small local clinic/hospital with help of a nice lady who speaks excellent English. She helped us get an appointment with the ER. Then she told us, when it is our term to see the doctor, come and get her at next door. When it was our turn, I went next door to look for her, but she was busy with a patient, so she sent the patient’s daughter who resides in US to help us translate. Soon my mom had her x-ray taken and doctor quickly pointed out it is broken – right below the shoulder. She told us we have goto David for consultation and treatment and that we have 2 options : option 1 goto to the public hospital there and wait may be 6-7 hours and the price is very cheap or goto the private run hospital there and get to see the doctor within a an hour, but more expensive. We opted for the private hospital since we don’t want to wait around. With the cost of the ER visit of US$12.75, I think we can afford the private hospital. It is a law in Panama, where everyone is covered under the universal health plan, even the tourists!

We quickly went back to our room and packed some food and were on our way to David. The private hospital is very close to the bus terminal and the taxi ride cost $3. After entering the hospital we were directed to the orthopedic doctor’s office, but he was in a surgery and it was around lunch time, so the receptionist told us to come back in an hour, so we had our lunch at the cafeteria. We then met the doctor, who happens to be of Chinese ancestry from Southern China and planned to visit China for the first time in the China. He said we have two options, one is surgery and the other is to immobilize the arm with a modified sling. He mentioned in the US, most of the doctors would have recommended the aggressive form of treatment which is surgery; the doctor has studied in NY. But he said that he always treat his patient as he would treat his own family member and recommend the sling option. So he gave my mom a modified sling that wrap around the wrist and waist that you don’t see here in the states (after we came back US, and the doctor here was intrigued about the sling). Then we thank the doctor and paid the US$50 for the service; why can US’s private health care system as this cheap and efficient as Panama?

After we got back to Boquete, we don’t have much time to do any tours, so we went to look for tours that we can do for the next couple days. I had planned to do hiking in the famous trail called Sendero Los Quetzales, but it was closed for maintenance. It may as well since we lost a day anyway. So we ended up signing up for a jeep tour of a coffee plantation, a short hike in the nearby cloud forest, and hot spring and zip-lining. For rest of the afternoon we just took it easy and walk around the town a little near sunset.

A little more about the place we stayed, Hostal Reufgio del Rio. It has nice kitchen, common room and courtyard. We bought fruits and stuff from markets/stores and prepared our own breakfast every morning. Although as we noticed throughout Panama, the workmanship and material of the houses/building leave a lot to be desired. I am not sure if it is because the rapid development in the country that good and cheap builders are hard to come by and that if the reliance on Chinese imports (like many countries) introduce the concept of as long as it is cheap, who cares. We didn’t interact too much with other travelers, but we did chat with few friendlier ones. There is one couple that was studying Spanish for couple weeks here. They traveled many months in the Americas with her mom; she left for home not too long before we arrived in Boquete. There is one annoying thing about the place: the night time care taker of the place like to hog the computer to play Farmville game. She gets angry when we asked if we can use it. The machine is supposed for the guest to check internet and make skype calls. She would also the kitchen trash can overflow while playing the game, no wonder she is bit chubby!

Next day, we went on our jeep tour of a coffee plantation, a short hike in the nearby cloud forest, and hot spring. The jeep was a very old one with diesel engine and smoke can be overwhelming sometime. We went up the hill surrounding the town and got a good view of the town as well various nice houses of rich Panamanian and American retirees as well as coffee farms. We got to taste the various type of coffee beans right off the tree. We also learn the various roasting types. Wendy bought 3 bags from the farm. Next we drove to a nearby cloud forest, it was almost 11AM, so we didn’t see anything, but it was a nice short hike. We then head back into town and had lunch at a local eatery next to the tour office, very good and cheap (part of the tour). After lunch we were joined by other tourists for the hot spring and scenic drive the jeep.

The scenic drive took us back up the hills, but then the paved road turned into 4-wheel drive only rocky dirt road. My mom’s arm was not happy with constant shaking and jolting. The view was ok, not even worth a photo. We did see the water channel that diverts some of the river water to David. After we came back down from hill, the road is good again, but then we turned off for the hot spring and the road got even worst as well got closer to the hot spring, some of the pot holes are the size of bath tubs! We parked near a gate and walk down rocked filled slope toward the hot spring. By this time, my mom was definitely not in the good mode and that if she had known about this bad ride, she would have stayed at the hostel. The hot spring itself is couple of pools with various temperatures. We got into the hottest one, but very quickly most people got out and went to the nearby river to cool off. And they never came back to the hot spring. Later they said they enjoyed the river dip more than the hot spring. It also rained a little while we were there. So all in all we didn’t spend much time at the hot spring and overall the trip itself was ok, something to do if one has extra time.

Next morning Wendy and I went on zip-lining, which was fun but not as good as the one in Monte Verde, Costa Rica. It is also more expensive – no competition here. We got on another big jeep-truck and up the mountain we go again. The sun was out, so you don’t get that misty and mystery of flying through the cloud and into the unknown. The guides are friendly and funny though. I was not nervous like before, but other people who haven’t done it definitely a bit nervous, so I went first. But I was not sure if I remember all the proper zip-lining techniques and I break too soon on the first line and had to pull myself a little to the platform. After few lines everyone got comfortable. At one of the lines, Wendy didn’t break soon enough and she literately ran into the guide on the platform. After that the guide step more to the side when people are coming in. Afterward we hang around the restaurant area while waiting for them to put the photos and video they took onto a CD (for sale). There is lodging here as well, so one can stay up here. We had back down to the town around 11AM.

We went back to the hostel to pick up our mom and had lunch. We rested a bit back in the hostel before we head out to checkout a nearby garden. The garden is called mi jardin es su jardin (my garden is your garden), and it is part of a private resident. They must enjoy showing off their well cared and beautiful garden to the visitor. We enjoyed our time walking around the big garden, even though the heavily overcast sky was spitting rain shower and the small black flies were eating me alive – no mosquitos because many koi ponds. On the way to the garden, we passed the house of the Columbia lady who helped us on the first day. Her picture is prominently display on the big banner right outside the house. She and her husband run a small bakery right from their home. For our last dinner in town we decided go a Peruvian restaurant and it was pretty good.

Although Boquete is refreshing and pretty, I didn’t feel as relaxed as in Bahia Drake. May it was because my mom’s broken arm, but I think it also has to do with the congested traffic in around the town. Price in Panama is about 25% less than Costa Rica, but much higher than the prices stated in my 4 year old guide book. They are making the nearby city David’s airport into an international airport, and expanding the two-lane highway to 4 to Boquete. I can imagine this place will be overflow with tourists and retired American in not so distance future. One interesting observation from the locals we talked to: the nice lady from local clinic that helped us told us that American are like locust that come and drive up the real estate and cost of living and when it gets too expensive even for them, they move on to another country, they did that to Costa Rica, now Panama, and few has move on to Ecuador. While one of our guide in the coffee jeep tour told us, that he welcome the new transplants and tourist, as it bring jobs and development to his country. I guess it all depend on who gets the benefit and who bear the burden of the cost. Tomorrow we are heading to Panama City, another full day of traveling.

Bahia Drake

2011-02-05T23:19:00.003-05:00

You can get to Bahia Drake by small plane, really bad potholes filled road (not passable during rainy season), or small boat ride in the Pacific Ocean. We opted for the boat ride from Sierpe down the river of the same name into Pacific Ocean then along the coast to this place with a beach landing.

We left Quepos around 7:15AM with a private van transport to the boat dock at Sierpe. You can get there via public transport, but we didn’t want to risk it because there is only 1 boat that leaves for Bahia Drake a day at 11:30AM. We passed lots palm oil plantation on our way to Sierpe. It reminded me of what I saw in Malaysia a bit. We arrived before 9AM, so we got lots time on our hand. There was a French couple, Hervé and Ineke of La Rochelle France, who also stayed at Wide-Mouth Frog Hostel, arrived at the boat dock later than us, but they took the public bus with couple transfers. Hervé and Ineke were also going to stay at El Mirado Cabinas as us, so over the next 4 days we saw lots of each other :)

Come around 11:30AM, the activities on the docks heated up a bit with lots people get off incoming speed boats and people try to get on. We weren't sure which boat to get on, as no one tells us there are here for us. Eventually I asked the boat that is taking Hervé and Ineke to see if they are taking us as well, and they did, so we are on our way cruising down the Sierpe River. Not knowing the ride is like, we were surprised at the mouth of the river and seeing incoming waves we have to go over to reach open Pacific Ocean. Once we cross into the open ocean, we cruised parallel to the shore, until we reach Bahia drake area. The boat first drop off people stayed at the other end of the bay, we then realized there will be no dock to boats around here, only beach landing. We got off the boat after about 1 hour and 15 minutes ride from Sierpe.

El Mirado Cabinas is up a small hill from the beach - it is certainly a very short by good workout to get up and down every day. The owner had atv waiting for us to pick-up our luggage. The view from the common area of the Cabinas was very nice, it lookout into the bay. The owner asked if we want lunch first or see our room first, we all wanted lunch first, we were hungry. The lunch was very nice.

There is no electricity at most the cabinas, but candle is provided. You get to enjoy the sound of the wave pounding the beach as well the view of the bay among the trees. Main dining area has electricity so you can charge device there as well as using the internet. After lunch we all decided on what to do over the next few days. We decided on visit the Corcovado National Park at Sirena Ranger Station tomorrow. Also we signed up for night tour with bug Lady name Tracy. She is highly touted in many guide books. And we will decide what other things to do later.

A little about El Mirado Cabina, I booked via email a while back. I opted for its 4-nights package including all meals. You can pick from various fix-priced tours. And if you pay cash you get a discount. It has a small lookout place nearby, that you can see sunset or watch noise parrots flying by in the morning and evening. They also have an organic farm, everything here is made fresh, and so every meal was yummy. Most like gained weight here! Also you would think a place like this will have lots mosquitos, but we didn’t encounter many, I think it might because of the numerous geckos that live around the dwellings. Some are huge!

First evening we took it easy and just enjoy views from our room and around the lodge. Although our room is in the end, and can’t see the bay directly, but since the 2 other adjacent cabinas were empty, we were able to use the whole porch area and see the bay at the other end of the porch. We even spotted an iguana sunbathing on a tree near the beach one morning.

At dinner time (7PM) we joined Hervé and Ineke, a wonderful couple we enjoyed chatting with every day. Hervé has a keen eye for finding things among the tree/bush. There were other guests too, but there are leaving tomorrow. After dinner every hang around to get to know each other and chat about what they did so far. And then by 9PM everyone was ready for bed as everyone has early day tomorrow for park or leaving.

The day after our Corcovado Park visit (see Corcovado blog for detail of the visit), we decided to take it easy and just walk around the beach and town. I spend the morning looking for creatures in the tide pool while Wendy and mom walk around the beach. There were lots small crabs, but they move so fast, so it was impossible to take its photos. But after a while I finally find couple pools with tiny sea slugs. I also found some brittle sea stars under some of the rocks. The sun was get hot and tide is started to turn, so head closer to the sure to get some tree cover while look for anything interesting to photography. I then met up with Wendy and mom and they told me they heard and saw a coconut fell from the tree, so I asked where and went to pick it up. The coconut was intact and with a shake, juice inside it is confirmed. So we walked back to our lodge to have a rest before lunch time and also to see if they can cut open the coconut.

After lunch and tried the coconut, we went out to walk around the bay and checkout the town as well check where we would need to be for the night tour. It took us about 30min to get to the night tour meeting place on the other side of the bay. Along the way we saw a group of racers resting, they are running some of rainforest race, it sounded interesting.

After we got back to our lodge, my mom decided she doesn’t want to do the tour as it was far and dangerous for her to walk in the dark on the uneven ground. We informed the owner and he told us there are opening for tonight’s (Friday) tour and see if we want to switch from Saturday to today, we decided to go tonight. Hervé and Ineke also decided to sign up for the tour. Since the tour starts at 7:30, we have an early dinner. But we got part of the information wrong as to when to be at the meeting place, so we were late to leave the lodge, and have to rush in the dark to get to the other side of the bay. Close to the meeting place, the bug lady’s assistant came and guide us through the unmark trail along the beach to the restaurant. After everyone is ready, he took us to the boat dock and ferried us 3 at a time across to the starting point.

I had expect the bug lady, Tracy to be an old lady, but she turned out to be young, may be in her late 20s or early 30s. She is not bad looking either. We each had headlamp handed from the guide as it has a red filter that helps when she is talking to everyone so we don’t blind each other. Also it is pretty bright, much better than my weak head lamp. Tracy and her guide walked us through the pathway around a hotel, and stop along the way to show us the night time creature as well as offer some interesting and fun facts about the creatures. We saw spiders, frogs and toads, insects, a snake, even an ant eater. All in all it was a good night. We didn’t get back to our lodge until 11:30PM. Luckily we have nothing planned for Saturday.

Next morning, we decided to go for a horseback riding for couple hours. The guide didn’t speak any English and smelled, but he seems friendly enough. He asked if you like to go along the beach or head inland. Since we have seen the beach, we decided to try the inland route. My mom has never been on a horse before. We started along the beach then turned inland along the road until we came to a river, then the guide took us riding along the river. It was nice to ride the shaded shallow river border by jungle and small family farms. There were many Jesus Christ lizards darting across the water as we approach. We also try to avoid getting our shoes wet because some area the water can get up to the foot level, in the end we all had soaked shoes. About an hour into the ride we reach a turn-around point in the river, so we got off our horse and taking a water & photo break. There was a big fallen tree on the sandbar so I climbed up for a photo. Then our guide urge my mom also get up for a family photo, as he reach down grabbed hold of my mom’s left hand, my mom’s foot slipped on the smooth trunk, and her body swung toward the left, and that sharp motion, broke her right arm just under the shoulder/arm socket. At that time we didn’t know that it was broken, just she had a sharp pain and that her right arm hurts with certain movement (especially up). We thought she might have a strained or dislocated shoulder, but we were not sure of anything. We then hopped back on the horses with my mom’s arm in a sling made from a scarf. When we got back to the lodge, we had request some ice pack for my mom and asked if there is a doctor around, but there was none because the jungle race have move on and along with it the doctors. Since we are leaving for Panama tomorrow, we would have to wait until we get to Panama before we can take my mom’s arm.

During lunch time, we chatted with Hervé and Ineke and exchanged what we each did/saw in the morning. Hervé showed us some of the photos he has taken of a big orb spider that he spotted along the road, so with that information I was off with my tripod and macro lens after lunch to look for it. It wasn’t easy for me to find the spider, it took me a while looking around before I found it on top of a 3-foot drainage pipe. It is too tall to take it from the drainage entrance, and coming down via the road is difficult because of the slope and loose dirt/rocks. I ended perched above the drainage pipe with one of my tripod legs close the lip of the drainage pipe, even that wasn’t the best angle for the given lighting and direction, but it will have to do. I must spend at least half hour taking the photos of the spider with web and preys, while waiting for the strong sea breeze to pause for a second. My legs sure gotten a good workout and needed to stretch once in a while. My weird presence above a drainage pipe attracted few locals as well couple tourists, but when I pointed out the big spider, then they all started to wooing and wowing at the size of the spider and its web. With enough photos, I head down the road to look for macaws that Hervé had also mentioned, but I didn’t see/hear anything although saw a hawk, but it flew away every time I try to setup my tripod. With a threaten sky, I headed back to lodge.

During our last dinner, there were new tourists that has arrived, some bird watchers from Wisconsin. The couple has spent many days in the park bird watching with a big group, and now they are done, and ready for some relaxation. We sat down at the dinner table first and since they are new arrival, they didn’t know Hervé and Ineke always sat cross from us, so they sat across from US and then went away to get something, but when they get back to table, Hervé and Ineke had arrived and sat in their place, the guy wasn’t very happy, and make quick comment about it. Hervé and Ineke didn’t know about the hat the guy left on the table to mark it as taken, but they clearly sense the guy wasn’t happy with them. For a while there was this divide in the group conversation that separates them. But eventually they did talk to each other a little. After dinner as everyone was talking, bunch insects started buzz around the fluorescent lights: cicadas, moths, and one very interesting praying mantis. Few of us spent the rest of night chasing the insects around for its photos. Tomorrow we leave here for Panama.

Bahia Drake is certainly a difficult to get to place, but definitely worth the effort. We enjoyed our peaceful and quiet time here as well the jungle surrounding it.

Corcovado National Park

2011-02-03T17:20:00.001-05:00

We are all excited visiting the park this morning. There are only few places left in Central America that still has relative pristine nature with little human impact. The unique location of this park in Osa Peninsula as a stopping point between North and South American birds, provides bird watchers with ample opportunities to spot many bird species.

We opted for the Sirena Ranger Station entrance, which is further away and less crowded and requires boat landing on to the beach. Our departure from Bahia Drake beach and landing near the station had rough sea waves, so it was an experience in itself. We arrived near the station during low tide at around 8:20AM. As we were treading our way to the shore, we saw a small flounder stranded at shallow water and trying to find its way back out to sea.

People from the boats were divided into multiple groups and we ended up in the "slow" group that included Ineke, (Hervé wanted to visit mostly primary forest, so he got his own guide) and an older New Yorker and his teenage nephew. Our guide didn't even have spotting scope like other guides. We just have a pair of binocular. Our group started along the beach then head into the secondary forest (with little primary forest). Near a river entrance, we encountered a sleeping tapir. It must be its home as there was yellow tape around the entrance to its "den" of thick and thorny brush which keeps it safe from predators. I think I could have spotted the well-marked entrance myself. For the rest of our first half of walk, we also saw some birds. We also heard the very loud and distinct sound of howler monkeys but can't get close enough to see it. But we did see some spider monkeys high up the trees.

Then about half way through our 5 hours hike, we arrived at the Sirena Ranger station. It has a small grass airstrip (a plane landed while we were here) and some lodging available. It also has a kitchen. It certainly worth staying here for couple nights I think. After a short lunch and restroom break, we are off to see more wildlife.

We started with good fortune of spotting not so common gray-headed kit. Then we ran into a troop of all so cute squirrel monkeys! Couple of them came down and just right above our heads, so very good close up photos. And we don’t have strain our neck or eyes to try spot it! However after the squirrel monkey encounter, we saw couple more birds and then pretty much nothing after that, probably too hot for the wildlife :)

We arrived back at our landing point and meetup with rest of the group and got on our boats and headed back to Bahia Drake.

All in all it was a good day. It would be nice to stay at least one night in the park to see wildlife in the evening and early morning.

Manuel Antonio

2011-02-02T23:08:00.002-05:00

Last year (2010) I opted for mountain of interior Costa Rica, so this year I went for the Pacific side of the country.

This time I have my sister and mom with me, figuring this might be the last time for me in Central America.

Manuel Antonio is our first destination in Costa Rica (2011) - a bit of R&R at the beach and the nearby rainforest park. It was nice to get away from the winter cold in Washington DC area, as this year was unusually cold, but not much snow. Our arrival into San Jose airport was pretty normal and got out the airport very fast. We got in the airport taxi for the nearby restaurant where we wait for our private van transport to Manuel Antonio at 3PM. There are also other tourists there waiting for their transport to various parts of Costa Rica. Costa Rica definitely got its tourist transport infrastructure down. We had about 3 hours wait, so we just chilled at restaurant (changing into summer clothing). We have reservation in Quepos, a little town right before Manuel Antonio, but they only hold the reservation until 6PM. I was crossing my fingers. Of course the van didn’t arrive on time, but the driver was pretty speedy. But once we were out the San Jose region, we started headed down to the Pacific coast and the winding 2-lane highway. There are many big trucks, buses, and slow cars, so going was slow and I was keep looking at my watch. The van stopped at a place for a 15 min break for people to eat, buy souvenir, and toilet break. But all the people just wait around – it is more for van driver to eat.

Once we got down to sea level, the roads straighten up and we picked speed. Lucky for us that we are heading toward the coast on Sunday, the traffic heading back was very bad. On flat road, we make good time and arrived at Wide-Mouth Frog hostel with 5 minutes to spare!

Wide-Mouth Frog hostel has a nice setting with a pool in the middle. We had a 3 person room with shared bathroom. Our room is very small, a bunk bed that is wide at lower level (2 people) and 1 person up top. It does not have much space for all our stuff and it was hot, so we turn on the fan immediately and have it on all the time. We then checked out the shared bathrooms, and it looked decent and didn’t smell bad. Next order of business was dinner, we walked around the town for a little bit looking for a cheap place to eat, but we didn’t have much luck. The supermarket near us was already closed. So we opted for a cheap Costa Rican eatery near the hostel. It was not bad. Afterward, we head back to the hostel and getting ready for bed, we had a long day of travel, so time to call it a night.

Next morning we got up early and walked around Quepos for a little bit as well bought some water. And after the free breakfast at the hostel, we caught the local bus for the 45min ride to Manuel Antonio. The parks in Costa Rica close on Mondays, so today for us will be just walking around Manuel Antonio, and laying on the beach and relax.

Manuel Antonio is build up with lots hotels (I am sure expensive), but it was still charming because the beach and surrounding rainforest. But finding a decent cheap place to eat wasn’t easy. We did manage to found a place right in front of the beach that offer good priced meal with a view. We ended up coming back here the next day. We also checked out the shops, but all the prices are very expensive, so we didn’t buy anything, and we ended up not buying souvenirs in Costa Rica. We also booked a guided tour for the park for Tuesday morning, so we are all set on Tuesday. For rest of the afternoon, we just lying on the rented beach chairs and umbrella, the price had come down since the morning  I went for a little run along the beach once the sun dropped lower in the sky. After that Wendy and mom went for their beach walk and when they finished we packed up and headed back to Quepos.

The next day we got to Manuel Antonio very early, skipping free breakfast in hoping of getting good photos, but there was none. So went to the meeting spot for our guide. We got there early and he was also there, and he told us, his cousin is currently leading a group, and wanted us to join that group, so we rushed to catch the group. I wonder if that is why he is a bit chubby, while his cousin is fit and married to a Dutch lady – she was not there but their son and her parents were there too.

Our guide he seems pretty knowledgeable and capable of spotting wildlife. He had a spotting scope with him, so it makes easier to see things once his spotted something. We were among bunch of Dutch tourists, and one of them had two big slr cameras, she had her husband carry the other. It was good to start early as it was less hot and less crowded. Because by 10AM or so, the crowd has arrived and overwhelm some parts of the Park’s beach. Since our guide made the extra effort of take us back to the entrance so we can see a boa constrictor, I decided to give him tip at the end. We decided to take a lunch break after our tour, so we tried one of the recommended cheap to eat place that we walked by a day earlier, but they were closed for lunch, so we headed back to the same place we had for lunch the day before.

After the lunch break, we headed back into the park by ourselves from the other side (along the beach). We take a break in the shade of trees on a long stretch of white sandy beach in the park. Around 3PM, we started out hike around a small peninsula in the park. We didn’t see any wildlife, but it was a good hike. One funny thing happened while we were hiking it, I saw a bright red sun visor on the side of the trail, it looked new, so it must have been dropped recently. I just ignore it since I thought the owner might come to look for it or ranger will retrieve it. A moment later down the trail (20 minutes may be) I heard a lady asking people if they have seen a red visor that she just bought today, so I told her that I saw it a while back on the side of the trail. The girl not sure what to do as she has gone back partially to look for it, and luck for her the next group of people came and they have picked up the hat and she was very thankful!

After the short hike, we went to a beach area where we saw bunch capuchin monkeys earlier in the morning. The capuchin monkeys can be aggressive in steal/grab tourist's stuff. But if you keep your distance, and backpack on you, you are ok. I had my tripod with me, so I was able to take some decent shots of the monkeys. Event caught one catching an insect and eating it. With park closing time near, we traced our steps and head back to Manuel Anotonio to catch the bus back to Quepos.

On the bus ride back from Manuel Antonio, we saw a big super market near the bus station, so we visited the store on our way to the chicken eatery across the street for dinner. It is certainly bigger and better looking than the one close to the hostel. We had big dinner at the chicken eatery, which feature big portion of meat of your choices.

Although we stayed at a hostel, we didn’t socialize much at all. At night Wendy and mom would to bed around 9PM in the hot room. We would goto the common area to watch some tv. During one night there was some interesting discussion between a red neck American who said he sold his investment portfolio because he thinks US stock market is a shame (which might be partially right) and a young liberal and idealistic Dutch girl. There was also a German couple and a Lithuanian guy that clearly had a little too much to drink.

My impression of Quepos and Manuel is pretty good, can be touristy and pricy, but there is enough authenticity and local escape to justify the couple days of visit here.

Epilogue 2010

2010-02-23T23:17:00.005-05:00

As they said all good journey must come to an end. For most of my trips I have always been ready to come home by the end, but for this trip I felt I still want see and do more. There is so much more to see in Costa Rica as well as Panama. With only (yes only) 18 days for this trip, it is one of my shorter trips.

I really enjoyed the still some what unspoiled Nicaragua with its friendly people. And for Costa Rica, its well preserved parks and reserves.

Highlights of this trip

Food: Gallo Pinto
Hike: The El Hoyo Hike, Rio Celeste, Night hike at Monteverde
People: Friendly Nicaraguan, fellow backpackers, and Pension Santa Elena front desk folks.
Creatures: Sloth, orange kneed tarantula, quetzal, and hummingbirds.
Extracurricular activity: Ziplining and Canopy walk, baseball game in Granada

Can do without list:

People: dishonest bus assistant and taxi drivers from Granada to Rivas
Transportation: long ferry ride from Ometepe to San Carols.
Cost: high cost of everything in Costa Rica.
Damage: lost and damage travel gears.
Pain: dysentery from Costa Rica (got sick soon after coming home).

The damage done by this trip is $1145, not including pain and suffering and work day lost from dysentery. Not too bad for 18-day trip.

Heading home

2010-02-22T23:17:00.002-05:00

This morning, I got up around 6AM to have a shower and breakfast and last minute shopping - got a small bottle Nicaragua Rum, expensive, but it was in case I could not find one in the Panama City airport duty free shop or too expensive there. I went back to my room afterward to do the final packing. My pickup is at 8AM, and I had little time, and I asked the receptionist at the desk if she has any small denominated Colones coins and she was kind enough to dig through the piles of coins in the cash drawer as well storage locker and got me some including some old type of the coins!

There were bunch people waiting for shuttles to various places around Costa Rica, I am the only the one that is going home, a sad moment, but also a hope that someday I will come back to finish up rest of the country and Panama. There were a couple on my shuttle that are from Washington DC of all places! They are catching a domestic flight to another part of Costa Rica. They left a week after the big snow storm.

Our ride down the winding road to highway 1 was non-eventful. The highway 1, Pan-American Highway, was a two-lane road like most places it passed through in Central America, with lots truck traffic, and was interesting to see cars trying to pass the big trucks on the twisted road, our van included. Anyway we arrived at the airport around 11, which was over 4 hours before my flight to Panama City, I was hoping they have internet cafe inside, but they didn't and they sell $7 for few pages reprinted black and white of USA Today and all souvenirs are super pricey too! Everything in the airport is so expensive, like that of US price if not more. I also have to pay $26 departure tax, cash only. If not for the great amount of natural beauty, I would think twice before coming to this expensive place. After walking to every shops in the small airport (they are expanding I think), I settled into my gate area and had my lunch of sweet bread I brought this morning in Santa Elena as well some cookies. I also felt into light sleep for a while.

Then I noticed lots Canadian around my area, and I turn around to find that the gate is now for departure to Toronto, and not Panama City, so I went to check the board and they changed the gate to next door at 9, so I moved my self over and waited, then a group of big musicians (from Caribbean???) started to seating down around the empty seats around me, and I stood out like a sore thumb around them! It was almost boarding time, but I still did not see anyone at the gate, and not many people at the gate area, so when the last of musicians showed up, I offered my seat as an excuse to get out :) and went to check the board again, and this time it said the departure gate is 13 downstairs. They were already boarding when I got there.

The flight down to Panama City was less than hour, but we lost an hour due to the time change. I had time until my flight to Dulles airport so I walked the whole airport (small too, but expanding as well) looking to buy coffee and another bottle of Nicaragua rum and newspaper. There was not a single book shop and only one coffee shop, so I got couple bags for Lynn and Steve, hope it is good. There are many shops but selling pretty much of the same typical things you find in all duty free shops around all airports. I did find the rum at cheaper price than Costa Rica. With my shopping done, I went the gate to get ready for the boarding process.

The plane for US needed additional security check, but it was a joke if you ask me. Basically they put bunch chairs together acting a barrier to prevent people from come into the area, but you can just climb over the chair when no one is watching or someone just pass you something once you get through the simple bag check (no water allowed, but someone had her friend hand her water from "outside") and pat down. Anyway no one looked like terrorists, so we had a good 5 hour or so flight included dinner and drinks, again US airlines really need to improve their service instead nickel and dimes people to death with super bad service. When I got on the plane there was a little girl seating in my seat on the exit row, kids are not allowed to seat in the exit row. Not sure which idiot parents left their little daughter there, and the flight crew had to have the little girl take them to the mother, she looked a little scared with all the attention and questions, bad parents! Anyway they got some big guy to switch seat, and the poor guy now seat in the middle seat occupied both arm rests and still felt uncomfortable. Later he was able to get to an empty aisle seat.

The plane landed a little early and we boarded the old people move thingy (international arrival still using the old people mover, while everyone else use the new train system) to the immigration area. There were only two people working there for US residents, so everyone looked unhappy at the potentially long wait. Luckily I got there relatively early and waited may be 20 minutes. And my luggage came out soon after I came out the immigration, and I was cleared of custom in no time as well.

I noticed on the taxi into our gate, there didn't seen to be much of snow accumulation left and temperature felt like above freezing, so I hold out hope that my driveway will not be bad.

I went to last arrival pickup area to wait for Steve to pick me up, I stepped out for a moment to see Steve is there, and quickly went back in to put on my long sleeve shirt and rain jacket and zip up my convertible paints legs. And soon as I was done, Steve showed up, perfect timing. Not sure what time we got to my place, probably after 1AM, and we noticed someone shoveled part of my driveway! It turned out to be Steve Hodecker! He will get a bottle of rum from me for sure.

I quickly unpacked my stuff, turn the heat to automatic setting, and turn on the water heater. But I noticed the water leaked around the heater area!!! I checked the carpet and it was bit wet, anyway nothing I can do now, so time to call it a day.....

Last walk into 15 seconds of fame

2010-02-22T06:17:00.004-05:00

For my last full day in Monteverde, I decided since I will be by myself the whole day, I will go all out with full day of activities with all my camera equipments. I awoke around 6, still a bit tired from under 6 hours of sleep, I got ready to catch the 7AM shared taxi to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. I plan to get out about half way to hike the short 3km Children Eternal Forest, a reserve created by children who were tired of seeing adults waste the natural resource around them. The weather this morning was the best of the all of my days here, bright sunny morning and no wind what so ever.

I got to the park office and waited for it to open at 7:30, but by 7:36, there was nobody, so I decided to start my hike and pay when I get back. I quickly noticed that this park is very different than cloud forest. It is much drier and from what I read from book, it is compose of some first and second growth trees as well as reclaimed farm land. I did not see much on this hike, just a toucan like bird and some bird walking into the woods. There were couple lookout points that let you see down the valley, but with bright sun the contrast was too great for any decent photos, so I decided I should find something like flowers or insects or small plants, but the trail was lack of those as well. I guess this trail is good for people to enjoy a quiet solitude in the woods as I did not see a single soul during my walk.

After a while I finally spotted some small flowers and I decided to whip out my long lens to get a blur background shot of the flower. As I was fumbling to get the lens hood on the lens, I dropped onto the trail and it bounced off the trail down the thickets, where I saw it drop down and disappeared. Since it sounded like it did stop some where and the drop off did not look that deadly, I decided to go after it! The slope was steep so I tried to hold on to any tree trunk or root and at same time hoping some of the rocks under my foot will not fall off. I was able to find the lens hood (over $40 saved) and got back up to the trail in may be 3-5 minutes. It definitely made the boring hike so far much more fun! After making my photos, I started heading back toward the visitor center. At one section of the trail, it was more shaded and more moist, and there were lots birds of paradise flowers (none too photogenic due to its various state of decaying) with some of its new leaves curled up. From my previous experience, I know some creature like to hide in it, so decided to see if there was anything, and wala there was a spider in one of the leaf, so I brought out my macro lens to try to capture it. But the lighting was very dark inside the leaf. Next I tried the camera flash without the lens hood, and it was better. I spent a while with various setting and flashing power, and I think the photos were not the greatest, but still nice enough to enjoy the spiral shaped leaf and spider. After the fun shoot, I hiked back up to the visitor center which is now opened and paid my due and was on my way to the Butterfly Garden. On the way there I went to the Sheila's bakery to recharge with juice and lemon pastry. By this time sun is high in the sky and hot, and I tried to walk in the shade as much as possible as I don't have sun screen with me, but there were not much shade on the way to the garden.

I have been to the many butterfly gardens before, but the best is still the Brookside garden in Maryland! It was a hot day so by the time I got there the butterflies are super active, rarely stopping and lighting was harsh in some enclosures, so I think I only took THREE photos of the butterflies! But the guide provided some nice and interesting information on some of other insects they kept there, and I was able to take many photos there in a controlled condition :) I was also took some photos of strange looking caterpillars as well as leaf cutter ants (they had a small colony on display).

With lots walking and standing with photo equipments, I needed another break, so on the way back to Santa Elena, I stopped by the ice cream parlor for a sundae.

My next objective was the frog pond that we went to the first night. Since the 2nd visit is free and wanted better pictures, I stopped in and suddenly realized that the two of people (one guy, one woman) working there were some of the same Ticos that hung out at the night club every night! Anyway they got me a flash and I was back in the frog display. The lighting this time is definitely better, but some frogs were hard to find or in hard to photo places, and combine this with glare from the glass window, it was till difficult to shoot. But did my best with my macro lens and hopefully few will be decent.

As I was approaching the last display I noticed there was a film crew of some sort, but I ignored it, and when I got to the last display and noticed that they were still there and shooting at the famous red eyed green frog with display window opened, how nice they open it for the film crew so they don't have to deal with glare! I attempt to get myself close so I can photo the frog without the glass as well. The frog was sleeping in a nice set of leaves and the filter sun light was soft, perfect photo op! As I was setting up my tripod, they asked if I like the place or not. I saw the CNN logo on their shirt, and ask if they are from CNN, and they said yes, but CNN Latin America. They asked me to continue to take the photos of the frog as they filmed me, then they interviewed me about my experience of frog pond and Monteverde. I am not sure I will make the cut during their editing, but I was happy enough to be interviewed by a tv crew for the first time and of all places in a frog pond. As they said, if you hang around a place long enough, things will come and happen to you :)

By this time it was just past 4PM, and I have been out for 7 hours, so decided to go back to the hostal to rest for a little bit and drop off my rain gears - not needed any more. Soon I was out again for my last photo shoot of the day - snake/reptile display near by. The lighting is bit better with each display has its own incandescent light (not all working), but some snakes hide in dark places or behind leaves. Also some display have mixed lighting with strong ambient/filter sun/incandescent light source - good luck with getting the right white balance on the whole snake. There was no CNN crew there, but I was there when they fed some of the snakes with live white mice and was able to capture some of the "fun" imagery through the glass of course.

With my last activity of the day out the way I was hungry, so I went to the near by place that serves "budget" end of the meal, and had good dinner that I quickly devoured. Didn't feel like to make new friends on my last night, I thanked Diego for all his helpful information and went back to my room to pack-up and gone to sleep around 9:15.

Zipline and canopy walk

2010-02-21T20:34:00.010-05:00

This morning we took it easy and decided to go on ziplining through the cloud forest at 10:30PM. I was a bit excited and at same time little worry as I never done ziplining before, but it sounded fun. The package include a Tarzan swing and I heard from other people who have gone before that it included a big drop from a platform, knowing I don't like roller coaster stomach drop, this worried me the most.

Before the van came to pick us up, I went to walk around the town (Santa Elena) a little (to new street I had not walked before). I stumbled into a Saturday morning farmer's market. It was ok, and Diego and his band was there playing as well as Vanessa picking up few things for her dinner. I took some photos of the market and was approached by a girl asking if I can send her my photos so she can use to promote the market. I told her that I need to leave now as van is coming soon, and will send her what I got when I get back home.

There were couple from Germany from the hostal also going the same zipline company while some people from the hostal went to the most extreme version without the canopy walk. Once we arrived the place, we rented a locker to put our belonging into and put on rain jacket as the forest was total in the mist. There was no rain and wind was calm, and temperature just fine. There were people went a day before and they were soaked due to the wind and rain. We got our helmet, straps/clip/pulley, and gloves, and was on way to the instructional area where the instructor showed us the in and out of proper ziplining. He also asked if anyone want to have taxi ride: where an instructor zip tandem with the afraid person. 5 people wanted the taxi ride. In our group there was a big group of most old people (volunteers from a Methodist church from Minnesota), and another group of girls from NYC.

As we lined up for our first platform, the taxi riders get to go first, but couple of the girls from NYC who wanted taxi ride freaked out and said they don't want to do it anymore. So the rest of the group went ahead. Since we are in the mist, we can't see where end of line is, so we were all zipping into a blanket of white and trees. When it was my turn, I just hope the speed will not be too fast as I am not afraid of the height. The first line was a warm up, so it wasn't too fast and I was happy that I was not scared and shaking before and afterward :)

The next couple lines got a little fast, but nothing people can't handle. The two scared girls from NYC did show up eventually, and everyone gave them a cheer! For one of the line we zipped through the whiteness, and then suddenly below us the tree tops appeared, and we are zipping atop of the forest! It was an amazing feeling!

We were told there was a bottle neck on the lines where the two groups in front of us was causing a traffic jam, and were told the wait might an hour or so, so they had us went on a shorter route of 11 lines total instead of the 13. After the 8th line, we arrived at the Tarzan swing. Looking up the 8 meters or so platform (with more drop below the platform), I questioned myself if I wanted to do it. So I waited to see what it is like with other people go first. With most of the old people doing it as well Vanessa, I decided I should not embarrass myself in front of them and will go for it. Vanessa asked me to take a video of her jump with her camera, and I did. After that I asked Vanessa to do the same for me on my Canon 7D, it will be my first video of the trip. When it was my turn to jump off, I was a bit nervous, and jump off with my eyes closed. I was scared silence on the drop, then I realized it wasn't that bad, and opened my eyes and let out a small cheerful yell.

When we finished our last 3 lines, we dropped off our equipments and had a quick snack break and started our canopy bridges walk. With the calm and super foggy condition, the walk among and above the forest was serene! It took us about 50 minutes for the walk. We got back just in time to catch the 3PM shuttle back to town. Overall it was a great experience!

After we got back to town, I went across the street to have fast a food lunch. Vanessa and I agreed to meetup at 7:30 for dinner. After my late lunch I went for a shower. At 7:30 I met Vanessa at the lobby. We had want to goto the Japanese restaurant near by, but was told by couple people that it was deserted last night. Figure that is not a good sign and especially a sushi place, we decided to try some place else and luckily someone suggested a couple of places near by and we off to get a proper and none local meal.

The restaurant was called Morpho´s, name of a beautiful butterfly common in Costa Rica. The price is on par with US, but I figure it was ok to splurge one night. I had blackberry sauce pork chop with papaya juice for drink, and Vanessa had Dijon chicken with white wine. I paid for the dinner figure that Vanessa had kept me company for few days, it was time to show some appreciation and besides I could afford it easily :) After dinner we agree to meetup again at 10 to goto the restaurant/bar/club that has become common to us.

There was no live music this night, the music was nice though, and at urging of Vanessa and Diego, I got on the floor for 1 hr or so of dance. At midnight, I called it a night and said goodbye to Vanessa as she is leaving at 6AM for the beach, and I am sure won't be out the bed at that time, but probably will be awake though.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

2010-02-20T19:49:00.004-05:00

This morning Vanessa and I got up early to catch the 6:15AM public bus to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. It was hard to get up at 5:30AM after a late night of dancing. Previous day we went to the market to get something for sandwich, and this morning we stop by the bakery next to the bus stop to grab quick stuff for breakfast.

The weather this morning was calmer than the day before, the wind was less strong and the mist-rain less intense.

We arrived at the reserve around 7 and while we were waiting for the office to open, some tour guide motioned us to to come to the parking lot and there were couple of the elusive and beautiful quetzal birds : a male and a female. It is difficult to see a quetzal, and we were happy to see it so close!

We decided to go with a guide from the park, while couple people from the hostal got a private tour guide. We should have gone with the private tour guide as our group is big with 9 people and the guide spend half the time chit chatting with the group. During the tour, we spot couple more quetzals but it was farther away and one needs a binocular to see it. The guide mentioned of all the tree in the reserve, 80% are some sort of avocado tree, and each tree to host up to 200 different plants on it. I was hoping to see some monkeys and sloths, but no luck with it this morning. Another interesting fact about the cloud foreast is that since it is wet all year around, the grow season is all year so no tree rings are formed, so they have to use carbon dating to calculate a tree´s age.

After getting back to the entrance, we decided to take a lunch break and make our sandwich. After lunch we went back on the trail by ourselves to hike to the La Ventena (the window) that in a clear day one can see both the Caribbean and the Pacific from this continental divide. Of course with whole reserve covered in the mist and cloud one could barely see beyond 30 feet. Also on the Caribbean side there was strong wind while one the Pacific side, it was calm.

After the view point, we made our way back the entrance and decided to check the near by Hummingbird garden. We were presented so many hummingbirds feed on the sugar water hanging near the building. I took many photos, but the birds are so fast, I only got few ok photos. There was one guy with huge telephoto lens and a big flash, and some of his photos looked great with birds hovering mid air - a really difficult capture. We saw may be 4 species of the birds there.

After the hummingbird viewing, we caught the 3PM bus to get back to Santa Elena. I decided I want to do a nighttime walk to see some insects and creatures, while Vanessa had enough information overload from today´s hike.

The van came around 5:30 to pick me and other tourists from Pension up. I had my macro lens and tripod with me. They offered each us a small flash light, I opted for my own headlamp as it gave me free hands to toy with my tripod and camera. On our group was Maria who also liked insects and night time walk. She and couple other girls (Stephine, and Iris) are volunteering in a organic farm in near by El Castillo and they are on their 3 day break (Stephine is done with her volunteering and will head to the beach with Vanessa on Sunday).

During the night walk, we spot sleeping Emerald Toucan and was told this Toucan will eat other birds eggs and young chicks, especially the quetzal's - a bad bird! We also spotted sleeping hummingbird, and green viper high up on the tree, very difficult to spot if you don´t know what to look for. We spot couple strange and well camouflaged insects. The highlight of the tour was the spotting of couple two clawed sloth and orange kneed tarantula! The sloths looked like giant fur ball and moving very slowly up on the tree. And the tarantula looked spectacular and big as human hand. I really enjoyed this very productive night hike.

Back at the hostal, Vanessa was getting ready for another night time party at the same place last night, this time jazz/blue music. I was tired from early start this morning, but decide to check it out with Stephine and Iris a little later. Maria was too tired to go, they are getting up to the reserve next morning like we did this morning. We got there around 10:15, the music was nice but a bit loud. after 30 or so minutes Stephine and Iris decided to call it a night, and I was soon to follow. As I got back to my room, I could hear the music from the restaurant!

A little word about the party/music restaurant, there are also some local guys hanging around hope to score with the women tourists. A guy was onto Iris both night :)

Ranario

2010-02-20T10:59:00.002-05:00

After we got settled in, the receptionist Diego gather all the new comers around in the lobby gave us information on what to do and see in Monteverde. It was sunny, but windy and rainy at the same time, the clouds get blow from the east side of the mountain over the continental divide while the west side is clear.

With bad weather, we decided the best thing to do is doing stuff indoor, so we will visit the Ranario this evening. It is a frog exhibit that show off some of the frog species in Costa Rica. Vanessa and I decided to walk around the small town of Santa Elena a little, we stop by the bakery and grocery store for some items for the Monteverde Reserve park early tomorrow morning. We grabbed lunch at a Pizzeria. As we are walking back to the Pension, we bumped into Luke and Abby and they also decided to meet us for the frog pond tour as we told them night time walk is not good with wind and rain.

At 5:30PM we gathered at the reception area and made our way to the frog pond. It was still windy with blowing mist. We were told there is no flash photos allowed, so I was a little disappointed with prospect of the guide using a flash light to show us the frogs in the glass enclosure. I had my macro lens and tripod, and Luke had his Canon Xti (I think). One saving grace is that we are allow to return to the pond one more time, I plan to come back during the day on Sunday, the light should be better and with frog not moving around much, I might be able to use longer exposure and lower iso as well. Overall the frog pond wasn't what I expected, I expected a really frog pond with natural setting and only glass enclosure for predatory species.

After the frog pond tour, Luke and Abby parted company but agree to meetup again at a near by restaurant/bar/club later in the night for its Salsa music and dance night. Vanessa and I had cup of noodle for dinner as we had a late lunch. Around 9 we headed to the restaurant to meet up with Abby and Luke to enjoy the music and dance. They had a lesson for beginner earlier. Diego was playing in the band there, and we enjoy the music and dance with other fellow people from the Pension until 1130 or so. Vanessa and I need to get up early to catch 615AM bus to the park.

Rio Celeste

2010-02-20T09:55:00.002-05:00

I woke up around 6:30 to get ready for picking up the rental car with the German sisters at 7:30. We had a reasonable size mid size car with small tires, whole town has only this rental car left, but the road to get to Rio Celeste is poor the last 10km or so. Hope we make it!

Christiane decided to drive as she had her driver license with her (Susanne left hers at the dorm). The fist part of the drive was straight forward with few mis-turns here and there, with quick correction or guide from local people. Christiane spoke very good Spanish (spent 3 months in Spain study Spainish before). We stop by a town midway to get breakfast. Once we got on the unpaved rough road, we quickly realized that with our small tires, we will have a slow journey from here on out. But after about 3km or so we came to a bridge under construction and was told the way to the Rio Celeste is not possible from here and we have to go from another direction. So heading back out to the main road and went on another dirt/rocky road. It was another slow ride up the mountain. Finally around noon we arrived at park entrance. After paying for the entrance fee, we are on our way to see the blue water and fall.

We walked through dense cloud forest and soon arrived at a waterfall with the blue water. I have seen many colored river/lake water before, but this river's color I have never seen before. After taking some photos we headed back up the hill to the small thermal hot pool. We had our lunch here. It was cloudy so it was nice and cool by the river (except near the hot spring). I got bitten by few black flies here, but over all I have not been bitten that much during my current trip, I had worst, like that of the 2008 trip. After lunch we headed for our final destination to see the source of the blue water. It was a strange place where the normal color river water become blue at a very defined line in the river. They said it is from the mineral seeping out the ground at that location. My guess is that someone put some coloring agent at that spot :) On the way back to our car, we detoured a little and saw some bubbling hot water. Just when we about to reach our car it started to rain heavily. We ran to the park restaurant and was relative dry, very lucky!

Christiane was too thrilled about the driving back in the poor road in the rain, but the rain stopped as we get further down the mountain, but then she miscalculated on a concrete path and the left front wheel dropped into the 'ditch' to the right and the car bottom scrapped the concrete and soon we were a little stuck. We got out to assess the situation, decided backing up is the best option and tried to get the right front wheel off the ditch and get on the concrete. But soon the front wheel start to spin and we are stuck again. Luckily couple local folks heard what happened and one guy suggested that we lift the front of the car while Christiane backup the car, and wola, we were unstuck. Good thing we were only lightly stuck and that the car is small and light. We thanks the local profusely and Christiane gave them couple kisses and we are on our way back to La Fortuna. Susanne and I felt asleep half way into the ride and poor Christiane had to keep awake. She was extremely tired mentally when we got back, I can understand that because the dirt road requires extreme concentration to avoid potholes, big rocks at all time.

Back at the hostal, I had a quick shower and caught up with Vanessa, Luke on each others adventure. Vanessa went for horseback riding to waterfall and a farm, while Luke and Abby went for a hike to the same waterfall. Abby was asleep by the time we got back, she slept for 12 hours that night. Christiane and Christiane and I had dinner at the hostal as it was raining. It rained all night and still raining the next day. They said it is dry season. All it means is that the rain is not downpour and not for 5 consecutive days. I bought Christiane a beer (and with happy hour, buy 1 get 1 free, I got Susanne one too) for her hard work of driving. Christiane called it a night arounf 9, and me around 10.

Next morning with rain stilling coming down, we all got ready to leave La Fortuna. Christiane and Susanne are heading to the beach. They have to drop off the car first as the office was closed last evening, but the office was still closed at 7:20. Vanessa, Luke, Abby and I are catching a van/boat/van transfer to cloud forest of Monteverde. The journey wasn't too eventful other that everything is damp or wet with every transfer of backpacks from van to boat, boat to van. There was not much of a view either with heavy wind driven rain cloud. On the van ride from the boat to Monteverde, the sky started to clear a bit, we were all happy.

I decided to stay Pension Santa Elena where Vanessa is going to stay. Luke and Abby already booked a hotel closer to Monteverde Park. I also decided I wanted private room with bath for last 4 days of my trip and paid $20 a night for that privilege. The room was small but it has nice bed/sheet/pillow and clean. I upacked all my stuff in the room to dry them out!

La Fortuna

2010-02-19T22:37:00.001-05:00

The hostal at La Fortunas requires you to wear a wrist band like that of a resort, hence the name, but I find that a bit weird. You also need to pay first before they will check you in. I met few people in the hostal, sisters Christiane and Susanne from Germany, Luke and Abby from Asheville, NC, Vanessa from Montreal.

It rained overnight at La Fortuna, the first rain since the start of my trip. Also the cost in Costa Rica is about twice as expensive as in Nicaragua with lots higher end tourists.

After looking through the day trip options, I decided to go with a hike to Rio Celeste where the water is blue. I also inquired about the night hike to active Volcano Arenal, and the receptionists at the desk said it is 50-50 of seeing the lava, but I didn't believe them as the it was super cloudy and decided to wait and see. The Rio Celeste trip costs $80, so I was not committal either. Then the German sisters asked people if anyone want to share a rental car to Rio Celeste, I jump in and my day for tomorrow was set.

I went to a local eatery (called Soda in Costa Rica) with Vanessa, Luke and Abby. On the way I stopped by an atm to get some cash as I didn't have much left. Here the atm also gives out US$ or local currency Colon. The dinner itself was ok, but we overheard a loud domestic violence next door, with loud yelling and crying. This upset us quite a bit even though we did not understand the yelling.

After the dinner I was ready for bed, a much needed rest after long journey.

Long Journey to La Fortuna in Costa Rica

2010-02-19T16:54:00.001-05:00

I thought the walk to the ferry was a short walk, but it turn out the ferry dock is at least 30 minutes walk from town, I turn around half way because I left my big pack at the hotel. On the way back I was picked up by the mini van carry other backpackers to the dock. Paco from Canary Island recognized me and told the driver to stop. Luckily for me, else I would have to pay for a taxi to get me there.

By the time we got to the ferry there were already lots backpackers waiting for the ferry. We lined up for the ticket, but the line was super slow, the people at window had to stamps many things many times! All the foreigners booked the upper deck. The ferry suppose to leave at 7:30, but it took them forever to unload and load cargoes we must have waited for 3 hours to board the boat. By the time we got on, the upper deck is already full of people (some came from Granada, the boat's starting point). Paco and I went for the cabin, and that was pretty full too, and I got a bench sharing with another guy.

Trying to sleep on the hard bench was difficult. I wake up every 30-60 minutes.

The boat made couple stops to pick and drop off people and cargo. Around 6:40 we finally arrived at San Carlos, a small border town. I went to the atm to grab some money for the boat trip into Costa Rica and then met Paco for breakfast next to the town square. Paco wanted to stay one night in San Carlos to rest up before head into Costa Rica. He paid for my breakfast before I realized it. Paco took a buyout offer from Spain Airlines Iberia with 2 years of pay, and is traveling around for 9 months.

After saying goodbye to Paco I went to the immigration office off the dock to get my exit stamp. It is one of those small out the place post right off the water!

The small boat left for Los Chiles, Costa Rica around 10:30AM and went up Rio Frio. On the way we saw many water birds and as well the loud Howler monkeys. There are also many tourist boats heading the opposite direction, and some of the tourists on boat took the picture of our boat. Crazy tourists!

After arriving in Los Chiles, we went through the Custom (a desk and a guy in the court yard), then walk a short distance to pay $1 local tax, and then to immigration to get our entry stamp. Not too bad for border crossing in the middle of no where. I walked to the towns bus station to catch a bus to San Carlos (Costa Rica) and then transfer there to La Fortuna.

At the station a young student couple from Argentina (also from the same Ferry) also heading toward La Fortuna direction, so we stay in a pack on the bus. The bus in Costa Rica is not chicken bus, but it has tight seats and still stop frequently at the various bus stops along the road, so a bit better the chicken bus, but not much.

We arrived at San Carlos just in time to catch the next bus to La Fortuna. I think we arrived at La Fortuna around 5:15PM to cloudy weather. I say goodbye to the Argentinian couple (they are heading toward Monteverde).

After checking into the Arenal Backpacker Resort, I had needed shower and with naps on the bus, I think was feeling better. My long journey is finally over!

I will stay at La Fortuna for couple nights before heading to Monteverde, my last stop.

Ometepe

2010-02-15T17:06:00.001-05:00

After the rum accident, I got up the next morning to walk around the town one last time before heading to Volcanic Island Ometepe in lake Nicaragua. I need to get enough money to last the 3 days 2 nights on the island as it only have 1 atm and not always working and transportation on the island is infrequent with cheap buses and expensive with 30 or so taxi on the island. I also decided to get a replacement rum but this time a less expensive version (5 year), after last minute email check and saying good bye to Joel and Eda, I was off to catch the bus to Rivas and from there to San Jorge and then the 12PM ferry to Ometepe.

There were few other people on the bus that are going to Ometepe as well. We told the bus assistant to tell us when to get off so we can catch a taxi for a short ride to San Jorge. The guide book mentioned one should get off near a shell gas station just on the outskirt of Rivas, but the evil assistant told us to get about 1km from the place, not familiar with the place and trusty of the guy, we all got off and there was two taxi waiting and nothing around the area. When asked how much is to San Jorge dock, the drivers wanted $3 per person! We have 7 people, and the German mom and young son said it should cost at most $3 per taxi! She argued with one of the driver for a while, but he just won't give in, and in the end he charged us $2.5 per person. This is the first time I got ripped off in Nicaragua. The taxis then take us to the dock in front the restaurant and had us go in to have lunch. Now I realized this is just a scam by the bus assistant, the taxi drivers, and restaurant. I step right out the restaurant to the ticket office to get my ferry ticket. The rude window lady refused to take my 200 cordobas bill saying she doesn't have 140 in cordobas, not believing her but unwilling to be bother with her, I decided to just get my ticket on board. One also need to pay 10 cordobas to get into the dock area...

One the boat I sat in the middle level with ac and movie, and was joined by the German mother and son. Most other tourists sat up top to get sun. I had enough sun damage and my skin needs some healing. The ride itself was under 1 hour through some rough water in the beginning. They were playing fast and furious I think. As we approached Ometepe the Volcano Concepcion loomed large with its perfect and symmetric slope/cone. While the smaller asymmetric Volcano Maderas hides in the clouds.

Once we got off the boat at Moyogalpa, I decided to stick with the German lady and her son, while other tourists all hopped on to a shared taxi. We were the only one left. I know there is a bus for Finca Madalena at 3:30PM. I was willing to wait for that one, but the Germany lady want to catch a bus to Altagarcia and get off at the intersection to road to Finca Madalena, so we were off with Altagarcia bus. When we got off the driver assistant told us a bus for Finca Madalena from direction of Altagarcia should come very shortly. Unlucky for us the bus left about 5 minutes before we got off at the intersection. So we waited for almost 2 hours and around 4 the next minibus finally came. The bus already some what packed, so we ened up standing. The road from here to Finca Madalena is unpaved rough road, going was slow, hot, and dusty. Then more people came on, and some had to sat on the roof of the minivan! By the time I got off, I was covered with sweat and dust. The German mother and son stayed at Finca a km or so early than where I am going to stay, we might see each other again as we all want to climb volcano Maderas the next day and the trail starts at Finca Madalena.

On the bus ride I met a couple from Vermont, and they had a local guide Willy with them (from Altagarcia). We decided to climb together. The Finca Madalena itself is actually 1.2km up hill from where the bus let us out, so more sweat for us.

As for the Finca itself, it is not bad of a place, clean and in a nice setting, better than what I expected based what Jenifer who I met in my last Central America trip described to me. It was clean and the "bed" is just a plastic stretch over wood frame. But for $3, one can't complain to much, beside I was the only person in the tiny 3-bed dorm, as there weren't too many tourists, most group/people got there own dorm room as well.

Soon as we settled in, we all quickly went for the shower to wash away the dirt and sweat. Afterward, we were greeted by nice dusk view of Volcano Concepcion!

There is no other choice to eat except in Finca Madalena unless you want to walk down to the main road and the walk backup. There was a nice breeze but we incline to stayed as the meal price isn't too high. I chatted with Nabi and Dave over the dinner. Nabi is a Korean American in her early 30s and Dave is white American in his early 50s. I think there are traveling for 1.5 month?? in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Dave is a dairy milk inspector and Nabi, I don't remember if I asked her, but she was from NYC originally and met Dave 3 years ago and have been together ever since. She is a bit "wild" and "crazy" while Dave is a bit more reserved, perfect match I think.

We also chatted with few other people who had done the volcano hike today and a couple actually went up from the other side and came down this side. They said it was lot muddy on our side. O well....

Our guide told us we leave at 7AM, so I call it a night at 10.
There was lots wind at night and my dorm is on the windward so I got some draft coming in, with the super thin sheet, I kept on waking up, luckily I was able to get enough sleep in.

I got up around 6 to take few photos and order my breakfast. We were off at around 7:28, I guess the German mother and son won't be join us.

Our guide Willy is a bit funny and talkative and shows some of the plants, insects, etc along the trail. A group of hikers pasted us, but their guide looked like just marching them along boringly. Willy is a bit chubby, and I thought he is not fit, but he was able climb very fast and coming down very fast too. He competes in the local annual volcano run!

We lucked out on our hike as there was nice breeze and since most of the trail was shaded, we didn't get super hot, and I ended only need 1 1.5 litter of water instead of the two. Also the trail wasn't super muddy either, not the terrible condition Jenifer described. We got back down around 4PM. There is a crater lake 300+ feet below on the other side of the summit, and stopped there for lunch break. I just had bars and chocolate while Nabi and Dave had cookies, bread-frijoles-tomatoes. During the hike we chatted on many different topics included how Asian (Korean and Chinese) are so into with rate race and keeping with the Jones. I told Nabi that she is a rare breed. We also discussed how the TV/Movie portrait Asian Americans in past and glad finally few started to broke the stereotypical Asian role. I told her I hated Sandra Oh's ugly look, and she promised to use Sandra as her facebook profile :)

After we came down, I decided to pay Willy 120 cordobas ($6) and Nabi and Dave want to give Willy $10 each. The typical rate is $5 per person.

The only atm on the Island was broken when Nabi and Dave visited, so they are running low on cash so they needed to negotiate with the management to reduce what you own by few $ as well cook the pasta their brought with them. I offered some money to them, but they were able to just squeeze by with what they have and needed the atm to be working when they get to Moyogalpa the next morning to catch the ferry to San Jorge and on ward to Granada. In the mean time I was convinced by few people to take the river way of crossing the border into Costa Rica. Instead of the notorious road crossing of Sapoa/Penas Blancas with border bus at Rivas, I decided to take a 10 hours 7PM ferry tomorrow from Altagarcia to swampy San Carlos on the Southeastern corner of Lake Nicaragua and then another boat over the border to Costa Rica town of Los Chiles, from there a two hours bus ride to Ciudad Quesada (also called San Carlos) and switch to another 1.5 hours bus ride to La Fortuna, a new destination I added just now since I had one day to spare. It is going be a very long Journey, over 24 hours with some waiting time for the immigration office to open at 8AM in San Carlos and the 10:30AM boat ride to Costa Rica. I hope to get to La Fortuna before dark!

This morning I said goodbye to Nabi and Dave as they left at 7AM to Moyogalpa, I decided to goto Altagarcia at 11AM, this give some time to walk around the Finca for some macro photos of insects. When I got back to Finca most people has left with exception of a group of volunteers?? but soon they left as well. I was left to try to get a splinter from my right thumb, but without much luck, hopefully it will not get worst.

I got to Altagarcia around 12:15 and decided to get a lunch from a place recommended by Dave and Nabi, and there I met Willy, he lives there with his family (owns the hotel). He told us yesterday he had clients that wanted to climb volcano Concepcion at 4AM today, but it didn't pan out and he had too much to drink as well and got up around 9. Initially he didn't remember that I climbed with him from yesterday! Anyway I had a fish soup (with two whole fish, very yummy), again recommended by Nabi. I asked Willy if he can exchange my $20 bill for me as I needed the money to pay $10 for the ferry. I might need to hit the atm in San Carlos to get me over the border to Costa Rica, that ferry costs may be $7, hope that atm works!

Anyway I will probably stay at La Fortuna for 2 nights and then catch a jeep-ferry-jeep shuttle to Monteverde. I will ended up with 1.5 less days in Monteverde, and hope that is enough.

Ok, time to goto the dock to get my ferry ticket.....

Take me out to the market and ballgame

2010-02-15T15:38:00.002-05:00

I arrived back in Oasis Hostal in Granada before noon, where I checked in and drop off my backpack and laundry and caught a bus to Masaya to visit its handicraft market.

The Old Market sells mostly locally made goods to tourists. There are hand made hammocks, shoes, paintings, wood carvings etc. I wasn't impressed by the selections as I was only looking for small and light weight items. So I bought only 3 tiny oil paintings and 2 wood/paintings. I also want to visit the workshops where some of the stuff were made, but the tourist office was closed so I have no map to the workshops. I did manage to find a shoe shop near the tourist office, but no pictures are allowed. So I decided to take a taxi to a neighborhood mention in the book and find my way around there. After arriving at Monimbo neighborhood, I walked around and did not see anything. Then I notice a museum and the lady at the desk spoke some English, and she decided to show me a sandal making place near by. To my surprise she led me to a what looked a mud house dump, and in it the family are making sandals. I would not have found the mom and pop place by myself! Afterward she ask if I was interested in more shops, I told her no (not too impressed with the shoe shops) and she had her helper get me a cab to catch a bus back to Granada.

John from Apoyo told me about baseball game he saw in Granada the first time he was here 3 weeks ago. So I decided to inquire about if there is a game in the city tonight. I was told there is a game on, but wasn't sure about starting time. Knowing baseball is the national sports of Nicaragua and their hero El Presidente is Dennis Martínez, I decided to try catch a game tonight. Before I do that I went to the market to get a bottle of 7 year rum by Flor de Caña, the most expensive one in the market for $7 and left in the locker unwrapped (what a mistake, more on the sad story later). I figure Granada is the last big city I will be in Nicaragua so I should get a bottle before I leave the country in few days.

I then went to the main square to see if I missed any good photo ops the first time I was here. There I saw Eda from the airport/Leon. I went up to say hi to her and her new travel friend Joel, a literature professor who is also from Vancouver. They have planned to meetup at Granada. Joel had just arrived today. They both checked into Oasis as well and we decided to walk around the town a little before have dinner together. We caught up on what's happening since we parted way back in Leon. And during the dinner time we asked the waiter what time is the baseball game, and he informed us it is at 6PM. Joel and I were both interested in seeing the game while Eda is interested in catching a children's play near by, and in the end Joel and I win out. We caught a taxi to the stadium and purchased a bleacher seat behind the home team Sharks' dugout. I believe we were the only non-native people watching that night. We each paid $1.75 for the game and round trip taxi ride!

As for the game itself (vs team from Rivas) it has the similar things you see in the states, but with many local characters. The stadium itself is not much to look at. Vendors sells various local food/snacks/drinks. There is a fence separate the seats the field of play all around. But you can get up to the fence and talk to the players if you wish. I used this opportunity to get some close up shots of the players, which would never happen in the states unless you paid big buck or under special circumstances. There were kids play their own version of baseball with empty soft drink bottles. The fan cheer with whistles or whistling. The game was scoreless through the 9 innings. Definitely no steroid usage here, most of the ball hit didn't travel too far. During top of the 10th, the Rivas' manager argued with a ball/strike call, and got into heated shouting match with the home plate empire and was toss out the game. The empire responded by kicking the bat that was on the field, a twist to what you would see in the states. The game ended in the bottom of the 10th when the Sharks got a hit with base loaded. The fans and player quickly exited the game, the stadium lights started to be turn off before we all made out of it! I guess electricity is expensive down here. We caught a taxi back to the hostal and call it a night. As I went into my dorm I noticed a guy already sleeping, not wanting to disturb him too much, I unlocked my locker in the dark and grab my backpack to look for things. Then the sound of a bottle broke on the floor, my expensive rum like that was gone. I told the front desk I needed to clean up the accident and they got me a mob so I can clean up. I felt a bit stupid for not take care the bottle when got it earlier. I told Eda and Joel about and was debating whether to get a replacement or not.

Laguna Apoyo

2010-02-12T11:07:00.002-05:00

There was one other person in the van ride to Laguna Apoyo, John from Minnesota, on a long open ended travel, 13 months so for. He is returning to the lodge after 3 weeks, he stayed here for 5 days last time.

After arriving at the Laguna Apoyo and Crater's Edge lodge, we were shown to our dorm room. It was a nice big open room. We were told there will be one or two more people tonight at the dorm. There was a group of 23 young Canadians that booked out the whole lodge the night before, thank goodness there is nothing like that today.

The view next the to lake is great with nice breeze, I avoid going to the water as my sunburned and heat rash skin can't take more sunscreen or sun. I waited after the sun to dipped over the crater rim before going to the water. I brought out my gaggle but lost it in the water as it slipped out my pocket.

There was also day trippers that came just for few hours of sun and swim/kayak. I didn't do much the whole day, and dozed off in the hammock for a little bit.

I skipped the lunch to let my stomach a rest, and just have cookies and banana. Since the place is kind of "remote", the food and drink price is expensive.

I decided to have dinner here as there is no other choices. Join us for dinner were Gabriela from Germany and a group of 2 doctors and 3 4-year medical students from Florida who came to relax after 2 weeks of medical mission in the northwestern part of the country. With exception of the older retired female doctor, none of the doctors were chatty, not sure if they think they are better than "us" the backpackers. The three of us and female doctor (Betsy) chatted after dinner for couple hours and had great laugh. We called it a night around 10. I was not tired due to whole day of doing nothing, a nap, and a great night of sleep the previous night. I tossed and turned frequently. The dorm room has a motion sensor that turns on an outdoor light, but I think there is also a sensor indoor, as the light turn on when people move in the dorm, but not 100% sure.

I got up around 6 to check out the sun rise over the rim, it was a ok sunrise.

I was hungry and was glad to see the $4 breakfast looked nice, cakes, fruits, hard boiled egg, cereal and milk (avoided this due to lactose), bread/sour cream. After the breakfast, I had a shower and now just waiting for my ride back to Granada.

After getting back to Granada, I will drop off my dirty cloth for washing, pickup some water from the super market and head to Masaya for its craft market.

BTW, The owner of place is a Canadian women from BC, and she is looking to sell the place, but would not give us a price unless we are serious. So people if you are interested let her know.

Volcan Mombacho National Park

2010-02-10T11:08:00.002-05:00

I got up early this morning, had a shower before heading out to west of the town for photos of couple churches and the cemetery.

Afterward I went back to the hostal for breakfast. I decided to head to the park early, so I got to the entrance around 12. The lady at the booth was surprised that I came early because it is very steep up the volcano and it has a special truck that takes tourists up and the next one is around 3PM. There were a small group of tourists that came around the same time, and were told if would cost I think over $100 for the truck to come down early and take them up! Needless to say they decided not to go up. Luckily for me, a ranger was going up with his pickup and I was able get a ride from him. BTW, the lady at the booth was able to exchange some small coins that you can't get in the general circulation, so now I am only missing 1 type I think.

As we ascent the volcano I can see why they only allow authorized vehicle to go up. It is a narrowed stone road and very step, may be 3000 feet. After arriving, I was shown to my bed in the dormitory, and I will be the only person tonight, so it will be great sleep! There is lots wind up here and it is less hot, so there is hot water shower, the first I seen in Nicaragua as it is too hot for hot shower every where else. The accommodation is basic with compost indoor toilet.

I was introduced to my English speaking guide and he told me there are couple hikes around the craters but it is additional cost to my $45 room, dinner, breakfast, and nighttime hike. I was not too happy about it (did not show it), but decided to go for it since I am here for the day anywhere, and I love volcanoes. I told my guide to go at 3PM. I chatted with my guide while we wait, he is 24 and want to study about building computer, web admin so he can earn more and support his future wife.

The hike took us through cloud forest. In the dry month, the fog/cloud move in at night and clear around 11AM. This daily moisture sustain many plant species. There are monkeys, deers, sloth, and puma. There is also a salamander that is endemic to the mountain. It was a nice 2 hour hike through cool forest. I was able to see Granada, and Ometepe from the hike.

We got back to the refuge before sunset, but unfortunately with the trees surround the area I could not see it.

After dinner at 6:30, we went on night hike at 7:30 to look for the salamander as well insects and sloth. We were able to spot some salamanders and few insects, not as many as I had hoped. During the hike I started to feel something funny in my stomach, and told my guide I need to goto the toilet. I am not sure if it was the dinner, the super sour passion fruits, what ever it was, I had to go again later.

I felt tired after the hike, must be all that walk, hike and lack of sleep, so I went to sleep around 10, and I had very good night sleep despite the wind noise outside. My best sleep by far since I left home.

btw, there is a small baby deer around the building that would come in during the meal time to get hand out from the people, the little deer is really cute.

I woke up to see the cloud and mist had surround the mountain and everything is wet and even my things felt damp. I decide to try the breakfast, luckily nothing bad happened, but I don't think my stomach is 100% yet.

I got a ride from the same truck back down the mountain, and was able to get back to Granada right before 10 and in time to catch the van to crater lake Apoyo. I was going to at 4PM thinking I was not going to get back in time. So now I can cut a day from Granada and head down to Ometepe on Saturday. Tomorrow I will go back to Granada and go shopping at Masaya.

Granada

2010-02-10T11:03:00.002-05:00

Arriving at Granada around 12, I already notice some the building looked much nicer compared to Leon. I read there is lots effort putting in to restore some of the building to its formal colonial glory.

I decided to stay at Oasis hostal, the sister hostal of Lazybones. It has quiet atmosphere which I prefer over party types. After checking in, I was out to search for lunch and water. It felt hotter here and I finished my water on ride from Leon to Managua, I just wanted something to drink, so I had a 7up with my meal in the market. You have to drink so often here, just forgot how life is like when there in no ac in homes and shops.

After lunch, I went to the town square to get myself familiar with the city and scouting what to photograph when sun is a bit lower in the afternoon. I went to the tourist office to inquire about Volcan Mombacho National Park as I am interested in staying overnight there.

I then to a super market to stock up water and fruits and then head back to hostal to catchup on my blogs before heading out around 4:30 to take some photos

I was luckily enough to climb up to the Bell tower of the main church in the square and take some view of the city. I believe you can`t climb it, but there was some construction and only one worker there at that time, and he didn't seems to care. Besides I am not the only one, some local girls already up to the top. I then walk around the east side of the town and saw some really nice colonial building and churches before ending up at bank of lake Nicaragua. At this point my feet start to irritate because I was walking in the sandals. I decided to hail a cab to get back to town center, it cost me 50c, how cheap! and on top of the that the taxi driver seems to be nice and friendly not like some of the drivers in Leon.

I tried to renter the church bell tower to get a sunset photo, but this time couple of the people in it told me that you can't climb to the top, o well, one can't be that lucky. I then went to reserve my stay at the Volcan Mombacho National Park for tomorrow night and got the necessary info I needed to get there with the chicken bus. Apparently it is cheaper to pay in US $ instead of Cordobas, so I went to the bank to get some US $. It also cost more for an English guide, o well as long as the money is used to preserve the park, I have no problem with that.

I went for another cheap dinner on the street, but I think I am a bit tired of the local dish - gallo pinto: rice & bean mix with a block of thick cheese and with chicken, beef, or sunny sidfe egg, and plantain (crispy or soft). I think I will have a western breakfast at the hostal tomorrow morning. I went to the square again to see if there is any activity there, there was none, so I decided to head back to the hostal to cactup on more blogging and call it an early night to catch up on some needed zzzs.

El Hoyo Hike

2010-02-09T22:06:00.010-05:00

I was not expecting the this 2 days one night hike to be difficult, but with the hot sun and temperature, the hike turned out to be more challenging than I expected.

A quick note on Quetzaltrekkers can be found here

We have 9 hikers, 3 guides, and one we don't know what his role is.
Let me see if I can name everyone:
Mike and Martin from Denmark, Father and son from France, a couple from Germany, Beth from Australia, Andrea from Germany. Our guides are David (lead) from Germany?, Amy and James from England.

We all gathered at the Quetzaltrekkers office at 4:30 AM. We put all our unneeded stuff into knapsack. And each one of us needed to carry at least 6 1.5 liters of bottle water, as well as share of lunch, dinner, and breakfast ingredients. We also borrowed the sleeping bag (stinky) and sleeping mat from the company.

After everyone was packed and ate a quick and simple breakfast of tea/coffee and banana and orange, we were off to catch the chicken bus to drop us off at start of our hike.

The ride was pleasant as it was still early and sun just got up, so it was not that hot yet. After we got off the bus, we took some toilet break and put on sun screen and started off on the dusty dirt path toward our first volcano: Cerro Nigro, a relative young and active volcano in the area. It has lose small volcanic rocks so it is hard to walk up the volcano, you slide a bit backward with each step up. Cerro Negro has two active craters and voided of any plant life. There were some nice sulfur crystals near some its vents. When we were ready to come down, we were told run down the steep side of the volcano. I knew about this before, and never really master the technique in my previous tries. But others were able to trust the technique and run down the steep slope. I manage to side step my way down, and definitely not as fast or as efficient as the run down method. Need less to say, everyone wass covered with black volcanic dust by the time we came down.

We then proceed to retrieve our backpacks and head to the near by ranger station for a water/snack/toilet break. We also cleaned up a bit. We noticed there were lots baby iguanas in a pen as well some snakes in other enclosure. I am not sure if they are protecting it or farming it.

After the break, we started our ascend toward Volcan El Hoyo. By this time sun is high in the sky and walking up hill with big pack in heat/sun, make you sweat like crazy. We all constantly sipping our water. By this time, the group had slit into two: a fast group and a slow group. After reaching a gap in our climb we broke for lunch and a short siesta. Our meal was pretty light, consist mainly vegetarian tortilla wrap (the guides made them while we all hungrily looking on).

After our siesta, we begun our final climb up El Hoyo, on the way up, we stop to gather some fire wood as there is no tree near where we camp. I think we arrived at our camp around 4:30. It was windy where we camped, and I was told that the wind will not died down after sunset. This would not be a problem if we were camping, but we are not! We are going to sleep under the stars! This will be my first experience. After dropping off our packs, we proceed to checkout the volcano itself. We climb up to see a large hole as well as a dark and large fumarole. Finally we stepped on highest point of El Hoyo and enjoyed the 360 degree view. We then came down to a lower place near our camp to watch the sunset.

Once the sun went down, we headed back to our camp and started to layout our sleeping pad under the sky and place our backpack to block the wind while our guides started the fire and dinner preparation. Dinner consisted of pasta with pasta cooked back in Leon, and the guides just put in the tomato pastes and sauce stuff. We were extremely hungry, so we gobbled up the first serving in a heart beat, and everyone got a 2nd half portion serving, and we down that pretty quickly as well. We then have marshmallow around the fire as well some cookies. It was around 7:45ish but the David said we can't goto sleep until at least 8PM. Even though everyone was extremely tired and ready sleep, no one wanted to be the first to leave the fire circle. Finally around 8:15ish Beth went off, and everyone followed quickly.

Five of us lined up in a row hope to dampen the wind, but it did not work, I still get wind around my head. I tried my best to move my bag, and stuff around to block it, and only thing seems to work is pull the sleeping back over the head, but I was reluctant to do so with a stinky bag as well gas problem. I was not cold in my sleeping bag, but Mike said he was freezing, and Beth said she felt no wind, as she is small and sandwiched between the two big Danish guys. I had good 4 or 5 hours of sleep before the wind got to me and began to toss and turn frequently. Someone kept the fire going during the night or part of the night, and I got up to pee in the dark as the fog rolled in, but I got lost on the way back. Luckily I was able to see the fire and walk toward it and then use it as my bearing and walk back to my sleeping bag - who needs gps!

We got a wake up call around 6 to watch the sunrise. It was nice sunrise with Volcano Momotombo in the foreground. We then have toasts for breakfast, nothing fancy to write home about. We were all eager to get to the crater lake laguna Asososca for a swim!

Even though the lake looked near from our camp site, it took us may be 5 hours to get there. It was very hot, and hardly any shade or wind. Even with downhill or flat walk and lighter pack, by now we have consume at least half of our water and ate most of our food, it was still tough going. The small lose rocks and dirt make down hill walk slippery and most of us have a slip or two and landed on our butts.

With less than an hour left to the lake, Andrea slipped and twisted her ankle. She was already the slowest before, and now she needed her ankle wrapped. So we decided to take her pack and move some her content to amongst our pack. David and James will stay with her until she cool off and rest a bit. While rest of us pushed on to the small beach on the lake's far end.

Few funny things happened on this hike, with so much dust coated to our skin (with sticky sun screen, every time we reapply the screen, we smear the dust into a grayish color, and Beth got some right above the lips, and it appeared that she has grown a beard! Then when she went up to check on Andrea after she felt, we noticed that her paints has split right at the butt mid-section, and we were treated to an PG-Rated view :) One last thing, I joked to the group that if someone fell into the hole on the side of the El Hoyo and died, then that person would be famous and remembered. Andrea said it would probably be her who felt and the hole will be called Andrea's Hole, she quickly realized what that could be interpreted as, but it was too late and we all laughed so hard on that comment.

We arrived at the lake around 1, and the French boy jump right in not waiting to take off his shorts (or that was his swimming shorts). We were all really sweaty hot and probably stink a bit, everyone quickly drop their packs, change and got into the warm water. There are cows that graze in these area, so the water is definitely not clean in that sense. But no one really cared about the manure around the bank at this point. I forgot to reapply sun screen before go into the water, and parts my shoulders now is badly sunburned as well small burn on my lip. My sunscreen induced heat rash also appeared. Going to be a painful and itchy few days.

After we were all cool off and cleaned, Amy prepared lunch for us, bread with veggie and cheese. Just when we finished eating, Andrea, David, and James showed up, we were all happy to see them. They were quickly into the water as well. We decided to stay longer so people can take a siesta. We decided Andrea should get a head start out the crater to the bus stop given her foot condition, so Amy accompanied her out half an hour early.

The final hour or so hike is pretty flat, with exception of the first 10 minutes of so of climbing out the crater. We arrived at the bus stop with a treat of refreshing cool coca cola. The return bus ride was longer and required us to change bus. We arrived back at Leon may be around 5. We returned all the water bottles and borrowed equipments and retreated our stored belongs and repack. We gave some small tips to our guides for their excellent guide and trip. We all got a free t-shirt. The branch at Guatemala where I hiked with two years ago, you have to buy one.

There was Quetzaltrekkers trivial pursuit fund raising night at restaurant at 8:30, so we all agree to show up to play and support. Andrea, Beth, Martin, Mike, and I all decided to go back to Lazybones, where we stayed before. We all got dorm beds and eager to take the needed shower.

Now we are cleaned, we are ready to eat, so we headed to restaurant a little early so we can eat while playing.

Everyone looked nice now cleaned. Amy and Beth put on dresses, I was impressed since as a backpacker, packing light and only what you need is always trumps looking good - most of the time :) Our team consist mostly the people that we hiked with, plus one other person Beth/Andrea met during their trip. We did poorly the first round thanks to me for being poor at Geography of all things! But we improved and tied for first after the 2nd round. In the final round we missed one question out the five, but one team got all 5 questions correct and claimed the victory and priced bottle of rum. With 3 other teams tied for 2nd including ours. So we have a final question to breakup the tie, and unfortunately we lost and placed 4th and out the price. But the 3rd place winner gave us their price (a bottle of beer) and we all cheered to that! We stayed around a little longer before head back to our hostal and get ready for bed, at least me. Beth, Andrea, Martin, and Mike decided to have more beer at the hostal, I joined them for little chat before head to bed, wanted to get up early to take picture of nice mural near the town center.

The next morning I got up early and went out for my last photo shoot at Leon as well getting my breakfast ($1.2) at the market. When I got back, I was surprised that most the gang have already got up. Andrea's ankle got a little better but still swollen, she said she might have someone take a look. The gang has no plan for the day and just going to chill out a bit. We exchanged emails so I can send them the group photo. Andrea will head to Honduras to meet some friend before go to the island in the North. Martin and Mike will head south and into Costa Rica, Beth who is still looking for her younger brother will be heading to Panama after finding her brother and might stop by couple spots in Nicaragua before that. So I might bump into some of them later.

I said my goodbyes and caught a taxi to the bus station for my ride to Managua and from there to Granada.

Chat with the locals at Las Peñitas Beach

2010-02-09T17:17:00.005-05:00

Day 2 in Leon, after morning photo shoot and breakfast at the local market. I met the Canadians at the hostal and we debated what to do: the beach near by, Rum distillery, or Volcano day hike. After we visited a near by tour company, the Canadians decided to go for a day hike to Cerro Negro volcano after we were told that the distillery no longer allow visits. I was not in mood for volcano hike since I decided to go with Quetzaltrekkers' two day one night volcanoes hike. After showing Gary and Janet where the market, I went back to Quetzaltrekkers' to book the volcano tour (got lost earlier in the morning after made 90 degree mental error, street here don't have signs, need to count blocks and by land marks). Anyway the trek meets 4AM the following morning, more little sleep again!

I decided to goto the Las Peñitas beach on the Pacific coast. I figure this will be my only ocean beach part of the trip, I better go for it. I walk to the bus station which was 15 minutes away and waited for 30 minutes or so for the bus to leave for the 1 hour ride to the beach.

After arriving at the beach, it was too hot to be out, so I decided to get a lunch first at a restaurant near the beach. I was expecting a great seafood dish like that of Honduras or El Salvador, but they served western styled blend fillet.

Refueled, I head toward the beach to catch some local life. It was apparent low tide and the tributary near by was dry, so some kids started to play baseball on the compacted sand. They were also dogs, pig, and tourists walking around. I then headed toward the Pacific ocean to see if there were any surfers, there were none because the tide was low, so I just stroll along the beach and wonder how lucky that I am here and family and friends back home are buried up to 3 feet of snow at the same time!

I did not go into the water as I don't have someone to watch my stuff. So I just took a little water break at beach side hostal/restaurant before my final walk and head back to Leon. By the time I finished my soda, the surfers started to head into the water, but the sun was in front of me and wave is getting bigger, so no shots. All I got was couple surf boards leaning against a pole and some little girl with surf board.

As I was walking to "bus stop" (bus stop is any where on the road where the bus pass through), I saw a tiny fishing boat unload its catch. I walk right up and motioned that I wish to take some photos, the fishermen all glad showing off their catch of large snappers and small baby lobsters. I asked how much does he get for a large red snapper, I think he said $10, how cheap!!! He also told me he used spear gun to catch the snappers with an air tube from the boat to help him breath under water. After they were done unloading, I head back toward road again, but a guy motioned from his beach side house saying something sounded like photos. So I thought may be he saw me taking fishermen's photos and he want some photos as well. It turn out, he invited me to sit down with his family and friends in his court yard. We chitchatted about an hour. Between my broken Spanish and his daughter and his wife's cousin (or sister) limited English, we manage to get most of idea across! He offered me something to drink, and I opted for just water. I believe he is a bit drunk as he was making mocking Chinese gesture and sounds. I believe he means no offense, just culture misunderstand and ignored it. I did take some photos of the family and friends and we exchanged emails so I can send it when I get back home. One interesting thing I learned about the cousin, is that she does not work or study, and had iphone and a big SUV, but when she mentioned that her husband works in the US for Continental Airlines, it all make sense, he send the money back to her! He comes back about twice a month.

When the bus came, I said good bye to the family and got back to Leon to meetup with the Canadians for dinner and trading stories about our adventure today.

I needed to reshuffle everything in my bags as I needed the big bag for the El Hoyo hike, always hate to do major reshuffling in the dorm. Anyway I say goodbye to my Canadians friends and headed to bed (might see Janet and Gary near Granada since they are heading that way after the Corn Islands).

Leon

2010-02-09T16:35:00.008-05:00

The day started with Steve came to pick me up at 2AM, apparent a miscommunication on my part. I expected 3 AM, and probably told Lynn wrong. But I actually woke up at 1:55, so it turned out ok. We waited at my house until 3. Dulles airport was pretty quiet with only couple other flights (to Central America) going out at that time. I also get to ride on the new aerotrain to my terminal.

The flight down to Panama City was none eventful. With only a super loud snorer (luckily he woke up quickly), and lack any good sleep. The flight got in late and I was worry that my checked in backpack won't make the connection to Managua. Luckily it did.

After arriving at Managua, I met up with 3 Canadians: couples Gary and Janet from Victoria, and Eda from Vancouver. We all decided to share a taxi into the city and then catch a minibus to Leon. The taxi driver tempted us with offer of $70 to take us to Leon (it is $20 to going to the bus station). We thought about it and were thinking may be we will go for $60 since you do get AC. But the drive never made another offer, so we hopped on the minibus for $2.5 each in minibus. Minibus is like that of chicken bus with stop and pick up any where, but just smaller in size. We got to Leon around 3PM and decided to take the taxi to the hostal Lazybones since it was hot - 90 degree or so, and we didn't want to walk the 1km with our backpack. We had little communication problem with the taxi driver thinking that it cost $1 to take all 4 of us to the hostal. But once we got on, he started with bunch numbers, and we got confused and thinking he is asking for $20 or something ridicules. So we insist to pay the agreed price of $1 total and not to say anything until we got our backpacks from the taxi. The driver followed us into the hostal and finally the receptionist at the desk explained that it cost about $1 per person for the ride. So we finally calm down and paid the driver. Anyway, the driver seems to be shady, so he probably was try to scam us in the taxi. Gary and Janet (nurses) stayed in the private room while Eda and I opt for a dorm bed for $8 a night. There is no ac just fans in the room, so it was kind hot. Also the room is right next to the busy street, as it turn out, very noise well into the night.

I decided to check out the town a little as sun was getting low, perfect time for photos as well checkout Quetzeltrekkers to see what volcano hikes they have for tomorrow and Sunday. My Canadians friends also like to do a volcano hike, but only one day. And by the time I got to the office, it was too late to book for Saturday climb. After my photo session I went back to inform my friends what I found out, and was told Gary and Jane is leaving Sunday for Corn Island.

We had dinner together across the street at a tourist restaurant. We shared about our travel experiences, and life in general. Typical mature adult topics since we are in our 30s and early 50s.

So far I had not much free time to blog, so I might just wait until I return home before I post any photos.

My impression of Leon after few days of wondering around the downtown area is that it is not too touristy. There are couple streets with tourists bar/restaurants that is about it. Most of the city goes about its thing regardless the presence of tourists. Most of the people seems to reserve in the begining, but in general they are all approachable and friendly after the ice is broken. I have not seen many overweight people, and women in general are dark, but pleasant looking.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica Trip

2010-01-26T16:20:00.009-05:00

New (but short) adventure starts 5:26AM Feb 5^th 2010.
Direction of Travel North to South. Flying into Managua, and fly out of San Jose. Travel by local bus, boat, and shared van. Nothing is booked, so the plan is very flexible.

View Nicaragua & Costa Rica in a larger map

My Final Thoughts

2008-04-13T16:01:00.020-04:00

Now that I have settled back into the rat race, doing taxes, work, commute, stress etc, I have few thoughts about my trip.

I am glad that I took a Spanish class, some people say it didn't help, but in my case - no speaking or hearing experience, and a little knowledge of the grammar, it helped me on the speaking and hearing part. I was able to get by with what I learned.

As with most of the developing countries, the needs of the people often come before any environment damages that might result of the development. Slash and burn are common in Guatemala. And most of the other countries, there are not many pristine areas left.

As for the people of CA, most of them are friendly, some areas are more so than the others, while some are less (Guatemala highlands, where Maya lived)

With ending of any good trip, it is time to ponder where to go next. I am incline to go back to CA next winter and visiting Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama with family. It will be less of backpacking (may be Nicaragua by myself), and more nature sightseeing and culture visit.

Finally I like to thank those of you who read my blog and/or commented. I enjoyed you all's comments. Until next time, be out there!

Favorite list:

Towns: San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico and Copan Ruinas, Honduras.
Maya ruins: Tikal, Copan, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Tulum
Maya things: ATM cave, San Juan Chamula Village
Best treks: El Mirador - 120km jungle trek, Tajumulco climb - highest point in Central America over 14000 feet, 10 waterfalls hike in Juayua, seeing and feeling hot lava on Pacaya
Food: passion fruits

Can do without list:

Food: Frijoles & tortillas combination, Mexican food
People: the crazy and the drunk
Insect: mosquitoes in the room
Transportation: black smoke spewing chicken buses
Towns: Rio Dulce, Antigua (must see, but only once - like that of Disney)

Final Trip Cost Breakdown:

Country/Payment	Prepaid	TC	Cash	Credit Card	ATM	Misc	Total
Airplane Ticket	$417.03						$417.03
Honduras		$450.00	$141.00	$38.73	$132.31		$762.04
El Salvador			$265.92		$50.00		$315.92
Guatemala		$150.00	$13.00	$35.06	$691.53		$889.95
Belize		$150.00	$30.00	$65.57	$172.51		$418.08
Mexico		$50.00	$22.00	$4.68	$951.48		$1028.16
							$3,795.82 (-$35 for change back to $)

I also update my trip map to reflect the actually places I visited

My Last Day and the flight home

2008-04-02T22:06:00.015-04:00

I spent my last full day of my trip checking out museums, National Palace, wondering the streets, markets, and visiting Templo Mayor, an Aztec ruin right in the center of the city. Actually Mexico City is built on top of a great Aztec (Mexica) City of Tenochtitlan, the capital of Aztec Empire, after the Spanish defeated the empire.

I saw some murals of Diego Rivera, a famous Mexican painter, at the palace and Diego Rivera museum. The strangest thing is that the palace (free) had 5-6 of Rivera's murals, but the museum ($1.5) that dedicated to him, only had one! Ok, the museum is under renovation, so the upstairs was closed.

I tried to visit the engraving museum, but it was closed, and I can't understand what the reason was because there were what looked like people there (the guards tried to explain to me, but my Spanish was not that good). My final visit was to the Post Office Palace, which was built in 1908 of Italian Gothic Renaissance. Still a functional post office with pretty interior, a postal library, and naval museum.

I also got more silver coins and old paper currency (happen to walk by a coin shop), and loaded up on more passion fruits.

After shower and packing up, I met Brian for dinner again. He was struggling with his ex-girlfriend's cancer, his future plan to move to Columbia, and his promise to another girl for a road trip in western US in May.

After the dinner, I just got ready for the final packing. But the dorm is now full, at max of 12 people as well as mosquitoes. I tried to goto sleep around 9, but the light was on, so by 10:30, I asked the couple people in the room to turn off the light. Even with lights off, I still had really hard time falling sleep, too many mosquitoes buzzing around, too hot, and just too worried about overslept for my flight home.

I got up around 4:40AM, because it was too hot and few people were already making noise with their luggage rummage. Couple people in room got up because it was just too hot sleep for them as well. I took the metro to the airport. It took about 45 minutes with 3 transfers. Only at one of the transfer that I have to wait for may be 10 minutes. The Benito Juarez airport looked pretty new, I think I got there early, so the lines for checkin and security were short. The United flight was not packed, and the middle seat of my area was empty - it was only a 4-hour flight to Dulles.

With two-hour time difference, I arrived in Dulles around 3:15PM. It was cloudy and started to rain and sleet soon as I stepped out - welcome home! At the immigration area, someone or something trigger a hand-held device of an officer, and we went into "hold" the line mode for few minutes while they search for the person who I guess carried may be radioactive, biological, or suspicious content. The person who sat at my row was pull out, but he was not the one. I also had bad luck of meeting a strict immigration officer who took his time, and make me goto the baggage inspection area, which I waited 15-20 minutes, only to be asked the same questions, but no search. I think the officer there was wondering like me, why am I in the baggage inspection area. This is the first time, I got pull for baggage inspection, it's more common with people with lots luggage and travel in family. A backpacker? come-on, the immigration officer must be green. He marked the lady in front me for inspection as well. Although I did see a young girl that had big luggage, and they found 4-5 large cartons of what looked like eggs, big no no!

I'll wrap up my blog with my final thoughts and upload the rest of my Mexico photos in a week or 2, need to do tax, catch up on mails, emails, and various finance stuff.

Mexico City Part II

2008-04-01T21:46:00.011-04:00

This morning I took it easy from sightseeing, partly because all museums here open at 9 or 10. So I had time to eat the free breakfast from the hostal. It was actually pretty good, the best free breakfast I had on this trip, toasts, scrambled eggs (with ham), and papaya and water melon. Before the breakfast I went to get some money from the ATM (all that shopping yesterday....) and got some bake goods for lunch.

After the breakfast I went to the Museo National de Anthropologia. I walked around the park near by before heading to the museum. I spent almost 4 hours there I think, my feet was tired (standing). It was very impressive museum on the culture of Mexico, from pre-historic ones to present. A lot of English explanation as well.

After a shower back in the hostal, I went to checkout the temporary travel exhibit by Gregory Colbert, Ashes and Snow, in the Plaza. Afterward as I was looking for a dinner place, I saw Brian from Oaxaca. He arrived here today, and reason was that his on and off girlfriend in England just found out she has cancer, and he wanted to be close to a major airport hub, so if he needs to get back, he can do it quickly. Brian and I had dinner at the same joint I had dinner the night before.

A little on what I saw so far of Mexico City, yes parts of it is dangerous (so is DC), and a bit chaotic. But it's population of 20 millions or so seems to have lots energy as well. People scratch out living any way they can. Street performers, guys with speaker strapped to their back, playing western music that they wish to sell on the metro, just colorful display of living and life.

There will be no more photos upload because the hostal's internet machine is super old and it takes forever to process the photos - we allow only 20 mins of internet usage at a time, and the couple of the internet places near by locked down their machines, so no software installation.

Mexico City

2008-03-31T16:16:00.010-04:00

Yesterday I made it to Mexico city after 6.5 hour bus ride from Oaxaca (left at 6:30AM). My guide book for this part of Mexico is from 2004, very old in term of backpacker time. So I decided to stay at the International Youth Hostel near the old city center after reading Brian's newer edition. But the place is like a party zone, loud music. But they assured me it will be quiet by 10PM. Also the place is expensive for a dorm $14 or 158 pesos, which does not make sense in pesos since the exchange rate is around 1$ to 10.7 Pesos, even if you use 11, it should be 156, what a cheat. Anyway after I talked to my dorm-mate, he (from Thailand) informed me that the music did not shut off on Friday and Saturday until may be 2AM! Deeply concerned I started to look for a place to stay for the next 3 nights at around 7PM. Luckily few steps from the youth hostel there is another hostal, no loud music, clean bathroom and $4 cheaper and they use $1 to 10 pesos (the norm throughout my Mexico trip). Only drawback was 12 beds in a dorm compares to 4 in the other one. I was able to get my money back at the first hostal and this morning at 6:30AM I dropped off my backpack in the new place and went to see the Teotihuacan, a large ancient city.

The builders of Teotihuacan, the place of the gods, dated around 300BC - AD 600, still a mystery. It was not just a ceremony center, it also housed artisans, laborers, merchants. It even housed merchants from Maya area as well Monte Alban from Oaxaca.

After the visit to Teotihuacan, I moved my stuff into the dorm, had quick small lunch and went walk around the city. I was told by Jorge that there is a 100 pesos coin as well as a 20 pesos coin mentioned in the book. So I went to the bank and got my hand on the big and beautiful coin. I walk around more, there are so many historic buildings. I even stumbled onto Chinatown, a tiny area, but full of Chinese restaurants. I also found a market where I got half kilo of passion fruits. I also grab some street tacos and afterward I went to checkout couple handicraft markets. Of course I overpaid for the items at the first one. The reason I Iknew is that at 2nd market I saw the same item priced at much lower without even haggling! Tomorrow, I will visit some museums (most of museums close on Monday)

There are very few Internet places at the city center, and all were closed yesterday. The hostal has 'free' Internet, which is what I am using now.

As for yesterday I just walk around the colonial city center, got some groceries. O, I had a Chinese buffet (no comparison to US). I was sorry afterward. I felt bad till may be 10:30PM (after a juice and ice cream sundae). Too much fiber all the sudden, and my body can't process it fast enough, I felt pain, and luckily the small blockage went away. I'll need to lighten up my diet a bit, don't want any medical condition when I only have few days left on my trip.

Oaxaca

2008-03-29T20:26:00.009-04:00

The bus arrived in Oaxaca in about 11.5 hours. Luckily during the long ride I was able to get enough sleep in. This time the bus was not as cold and seats a little more reclined. On the bus I met Ana from BC Canada and Brian from England. Ana is taking a break from school and her part time job of car body work. Brian, a assisted living helper, is taking his last backpacking trip before deciding if he is going to move to Cali Columbia.

We tried to find a place cheap near the center of the city, but unfortunately Oaxaca is not as cheap as San Cristobal. We finally find a place where Brian and I each got a single room with shared bathroom for $12, and Ana got a single private bathroom with TV for may be $20. Ana's mom is coming tomorrow to join her backpacking for a month in Guatemala. Brian and I were wondering how Ana who does not speak Spanish, and seems to get into trouble quite a lot (riding is stranger's car etc), smoke pot, is going to handle a more dangerous country like Guatemala. Her divorced mom apparently is copying her daughter's behaviors like smoking pot, etc. This is first time that I heard that the kid is a bad influence on the parent. I guess it is all in the family.

Anyway after a shower, we went out to find a place to eat for lunch, after a looking for a while we settled on a $10 buffet place (which was way over Brian's budget). I was stuffed. We walked around the town center for a little bit before retiring back to our hotel. Then I went to check out the local market to find the local delicacy of fried insects, but I was not able to find it. I saw a wedding photo shoot, a wedding (separate), and a special mass for a little girl, just your everyday life of the city. Although Oaxaca is only about 500 meters (1650 feet) lower than San Cristobal de Las Casas, it felt much hotter. Also it is twice as big and not as charming. San Cristobal de Las Casas has to rank as one of my favorite city or town.

O, I was assaulted by a crazy, while walking in the central plaza. A guy without shirt or shoes, approached me asking for time, so I gave him the time, then he started asking where I am from, but I ignored him and he said Japan. I just keep on walking, then he grabs my shirt and arm and pull me back. I broke free, almost torn my shirt, and stared him down. He did not advance further, if he did I would have punch him out or kick him, he is an old guy, so I can take care him. Anyway, later I pointed out the guy to the tourist police, and she said, yeah he is crazy. It seems in a lot of places that I visited, there is always one or two crazy, either really crazy or drunk. And they tend to signal me out :)

Since I ate so much during lunch, I just had a bottle of apple juice, 3 passion fruits (I think they are now my favorite fruit), and an ice cream from Burger King, which Brian and I went to.

Finally I met Ada (from Copan Spanish school) here. Apparently Brian knew her from some where else as well. I recognized her bright pink sweater even though she was bending down doing something.

Sumidero Canyon

2008-03-28T20:36:00.009-04:00

This morning I went on a tour to visit a deep river canyon near San Cristobal de Las Casas. The river was not navigable before a dam was build down stream in the 1970s. It was clear sky with haze, and we stared our tour around 10:20 or so, hard to make any decent pictures. It was also pretty dry, so the canyon wall's vegetation is a bit brown. The boat has no roof, so the sun beat down on us really good.

The high canyon walls are pretty impressive. We saw alligators, and egrets. Anyway I had better boat trips than this one during this journey.

After boat trip we visited a town called Chiapas de Corzo, another unimpressive town.

After returning to San Cristobal de Las Casas around 2:30, I ordered a takeout (yes chicken) for lunch, and afterward wondering around the city visiting some of the churches as well its market. Now I am just passing time before my bus ride.

San Cristobal de Las Casas

2008-03-27T20:20:00.009-04:00

This morning I got up to walk around the town a bit in the bright and chilly sunshine. I don't think I have done this since may be Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. The many beautiful churches shine brightly in the morning sun as well the colorful building in the central area. Unfortunately the heavy cloud moved in the afternoon, so no pictures of the church facing the sunset direction. I hoping it will be sunny tomorrow afternoon, before I catch my 10:45PM bus for Oaxaca.

The city was founded in 1528 and is a Spanish-colonial wonder with low-lying haciendas and cobbled streets. The city was made famous when in 1994, the Zapatistas briefly took control of the city to protest NAFTA and rights of the indigenous people. With a population of 120,000 there are many color churches that each with its own color, like the many colors of the houses lined its streets.

After the quick early morning walk through I went on a tour to the couple of the Maya village surrounding the city. One of them is San Juan Chamula, where they followed their own blend of Catholicism, they don't answer to the Pope. In the church, there are no chairs, just fresh pine needles, where people sit. Candles are placed on the table or ground. They worship the western saints, but with a mirror on the neck of the saints. The saints are corresponding to their Maya gods. They offer drinks like coco cola, eggs, chickens (killed in the church), to have their "priests" heal what ever trouble them. Outsiders like us are welcome to visit it, but photos are absolute no in the church as well outside photos of priests and religious objects and ceremonies. People's cameras have been smashed as result of not obeying the rule, and in some case, people got punched out as well. The outsiders are not allowed to live in their town. They bury their dead with crosses. But depend on the age of the person, the color of the cross will be different. Also they bury those that died of nature cause away from non-natural ones (like accident). In additional, they select their own leaders, when someone commits a crime, it is up to the leaders to decide the punishment. The maximum sentence is 3 days in local jail. If the person repeats, then there will be community service added as well. Some of the criminals become local policemen as part of their community service, looking for tourists taking pictures is one of their jobs. It was very interesting to see this kind of belief, almost like that of Amish community mixed with native American in the US.

After San Juan Chamula, we went to another Maya village of San Lorenzo Zinacantan that speaks the same language, but practiced different form of Catholicism. Not chickens, eggs, etc in the church. The inside of their church is more like that of Catholic we know. But they don't perform their Mayan rituals in it, instead they do it at a small temple on top of a tall hill. Anyway this village is known for their weaving and flowers. We visited one the house where they showed us their wares and try black tortillas with green onions, salt, salsa, very good (we were hungry). I tried to buy some cup mats to support them, but they don't have 4 of the same kind.

This was one wonderful tour with good insight into the Mayan culture that you don't see or read.

Tonight I am just to wonder around the city and checkout the festival and shops. Tomorrow morning if the weather is nice, I'll check the local market before my tour of Canon del Sumidero.

Although I am not into food, but I'll talk a little about what I eat during my trip. A lot of places (small city or towns), there are not many choices. Breakfast I usually brought fruits with pastries or bread. Bananas, oranges, and apples are common. Lunch and dinner usually similar, cheap local dishes. Sometime if I arrive hungry in a place, I might go for a "higher" priced meal. Couple times my lunch will be around 4 or so due to a tour, and dinner usually 2-3 hours latter. The #1 meal by far I had during my trip is chicken. Yesterday I was so tired eating more chicken, I went for 2 set meals in couple proper restaurants - fish filets! Luckily the price here is very cheap, the meals cost around $6, including soup, main meal, and dessert. One thing I am missing the most after Jorge mentioned is green vegetable! Central American don’t eat much green at all.

Good weather returned

2008-03-26T23:14:00.007-04:00

Yesterday morning I decided to take a chance and goto to Villahermosa and checkout its Olmec display at Parque National La Venta. It was still pretty cloudy in the morning, but not the dark heavy cloud of the previous day. There was no collectivo, so I decided to take the earliest bus, which is more expensive one. As with so many bus journey in my trip the 2.5 hour trip turned into 3 hours because of accident in the road. Anyway the sky turned into sunshine the closer we got to Villahermosa. The book said the park is near the bus station, but rather not take the chance and got a taxi.

The park itself is right in the city and around a lake. The original ruin was located in La Venta, 120 km west of Villahermosa. It was moved here in the 1950s due to discovery of oil and the threat it post to the ruins. The main ruin is the huge head weights 20 tons. There is also a zoo that features Tabasco state jungle animals: alligators, monkeys, jaguar, as well as other non-native ones.

Just when I was ready to leave the park, I saw Jorge from Belize walked in. I have tried to contact him in Palenque since he said he will be there about the same time as me, but after the initial confirmation. I got no respond back. So we both were surprised to see each other in Villahermosa. He had a flight to catch from Villahermosa at night and was just want to kill some time at the park. Anyway we caught on what's happening since Belize. Lots interesting story about Jenifer and him in Guatemala, and more tourists got robbed or scammed. We chatted more over lunch as well as my wait for my bus back to Palenque. Jorge skipped couple of classes, but will have get up early on Wednesday for his all day classes.

This morning I woke up to clear sky, just perfect for my delay visit to Palenque ruin. I got there at 8, its opening time, there were very few tourists, but the many vendors already setting up their wares, like that of Chichen Itza. I wish the Mexican government would control it a bit and move the vendors away from the ruins. It is a little like Tikal where the site is surround by jungle with monkeys.

The Maya name of Palenque means Palisade in Spanish. It was first occupied around 100BC and its peak was around 7th century AD with a population of around 8000. It lost war with its neighbor Tonina and was abandoned around 900. It was not discovered until 1773. In 1952 the secret tomb of the King Pakal was discovered, one of the biggest finds in Maya world. The carving on the sarcophagus was extremely fine. I spend may be 3 hours at the site - it was not that big and Maya ruin fatigue is hitting me.

After return from the ruin I got a quick lunch and my bag and I decide to take the collectivos from Palenque to San Cristobal de Las Casas instead of waiting for the 1:30. My journey turn out not much fast I think, waiting enough people to get on, and people get off in the middle, change at the town of Ocosingo, more wait. But I got to SCDLC before dark, and I checked into a hostel, and wonder around the town a little. There were only one other person in the 6 bed dorm, the lightest dorm I have stayed so far.

Unlike Palenque which existed pure because of the ruin and tourism - nothing to see in town, San Cristobal de Las Casas is delightful beautiful city in the heart of Chiapas. High in the mountains (7000 or more feet), it is a bit chilly at night, may be around low 40s. Yes there is tourism here, but most the original culture remains in the surrounding Mayan villages as well in parts of the city itself. I wish I have more time than the 2 full days here. Yes I have decided to take the 12 bus ride from here to Oaxaca, another beautiful city so many people told me, and have 1 day tour of the city, and catch next day bus to Mexico City on Sunday morning.

Bad Weather and Bored in Palenque

2008-03-24T14:44:00.006-04:00

My 8.5 hour bus ride from Merida to Palenque was ok. AC was set to 64.5F so it was too cold to sleep, but luckily when I stop at Campeche (2.5 hours later), I was able to retrieve some clothing from backpack and the new driver raise the temp to 70F. The seats was ok for sleep, I think I got may be 4+ hours of sleep.

The weather through the journey got worst as we get closer to Palenque. Although we arrived in cloudy weather, soon it was downpour intermixed with small breaks. After a quick shower and breakfast, I decided to wait out the weather by going to sleep. I woke up couple hours later and it still rainy pretty good. So my plan here wait be depend on the weather. Now that today is washed out by rain I probably will cut the visit to remote Mayan ruins near the Guatemala since it cost more. If more rain for tomorrow, I might have to cut out the Olmec ruin visit as well and leave here one day early.

I heard a lot of good review San Cristobal De Las Casas, and it is over 7000 feet, so better weather than here. Also there is a festival going on there this week.

Anyway I did nothing (sightseeing) today, just waiting around. I'll visit Palenque ruin tomorrow morning if it is not raining too hard. There is a TV in my room, but no cable, just two Mexican channels. I am bored out of my mind :)

BTW, I feel a cough and sore throat coming again :( I still have little of cough syrup left, might need to get more. The old cough never really went away totally. Also I seem to get bad stomach more frequently in Mexico than other CA countries, nothing serious, but it made you wonder. Come to think of, the Canadians I met on the first day of my trip warned me about Mexican food. Praying for decent weather tomorrow!

Merida Fiestas

2008-03-23T15:44:00.012-04:00

Today started with full of sunshine. I plan to stay in town the whole day because I need to checkout of my hostel by noon. O a little about the Nomadas hostel. It is a pretty cool hostels, rooms are decent and clean, and so are the bathrooms. They offer a lot of travel information, like do yourself tours, bus schedules (although some are a bit off). And best of all they have quiet hours at 11PM. Only problem is that there are tons of mosquitoes in the room so one need to put bug spray on face or cover it with the bed sheet. I did not know the first night and got bitten few times in the face. They offer bag store for $1.5 that includes a locker, and use of the facility (shower and bathroom). BTW, I went to the grocery store yesterday and got some fruits, drink and snacks. And I noticed an old guy (working for the hostel) drunk my grape fruit juice that was in fridge, even though it clear stated on the door, eat your own food!

Today Sunday (Happy Easter Everyone) is Merida en Domingo (Merida on Sunday), and you guessed, more fiesta that goes from 9 to 9. More street closing near the main plaza with live music, dancing, handicraft and food. They said it is continuation of the last night's festival. Despite the couple days of bad weather, Merida is a cool city to rest a bit and doing day trips from it. But I am looking forward to Palenque and my last set of Mayan ruins. I think I am ready for something different after that.

Ever since I have been arrived in Merida, I have been eyeing an all you can eat seafood buffet for around $10. Today I final went for it. After many days or weeks of small diet, I felt my tummy was able to burst. Anyway I'll have a small dinner tonight before my bus ride.

I bought some old Mexican currency (paper money) as well as a silver Mexican coin. It will be a nice addition to my collection. After lunch I went back to see if I can find more to buy, but the vendor had left.

Anyway I spend my day visiting the festival, break with Internet, food, and a shower. I am pretty much packed, so just passing time before bus ride.

Izamal

2008-03-22T22:02:00.013-04:00

This morning I took the a bus to a town that is painted in yellow and its famous Convento de San Antonio de Padua (1562). I missed the first bus, so waited an hour extra hour. But the sun finally breaks fully through when I arrived in Izamal. The bright sunshine and the bright color, make the town extremely pretty. I just lazy walk around this small town, and stop for lunch and juice when I got too hot.

The convent was built over one of the Mayan pyramids. It is also famous for the monk Fray Diego de Landa, its founder, who burned all the Indian scripts, and then feeling remorse for what he had done, tried to write all he could remember of the ways of the Indians in the Relation of Things of the Yucatan.

John Paul II visited this town back in 1993 and held a special meeting and mass specially for the indigenous people of the area.

This town has some mostly un-restored Mayan building, including one of pretty big one called Kinich-Kamo.

There were a group of architecture students from US here in Mexico with their professor on the bus with me, apparent they are spending 1 semester travel in CA study various architecture in the region. I heard of exchange students and study at sea, but this is first I heard of traveling studying.

Saturday in Merida is Corazon de Merida (Heart of Merida), which they close streets around the main plaza at night, where the restaurants setup table with various live music. There are also mime performers, drummer, vendors, crowns, and outdoor masses. It was fun to walk around.

O, before I went to Izamal, I walked past the Popular local market of Lucas de Galvez in Merida. They sell all kind of goods in there, local fast food, fruits and vegetables, spices, daily items, pets, chickens, pretty much everything. It was nice to see what the local do instead of always on the tourists’ circuit.

Dzibilchaltun & Uxmal

2008-03-21T14:46:00.013-04:00

This morning it was more cloudy and drizzle so I decided to visit the nearby small ruin of Dzibilchaltun just outside of Merida. The information about where to find the collectivo to get to the site was incorrect and I was directed by the local to another area. Unfortunately it was a holiday in Mexico, there were few transportation option for getting to the site, and I paid the high price of $10 ($20) round trip. And then the entrance fee to the site included $2 for service charge, using bathroom, restaurant, etc, which is ridiculous given the site is so small, one probably don't need to use either.

As for the site itself, it is very disappointing. Not much to see, and weather get worst as time goes on. Although there was a nice museum. Also one of the building the house of seven dolls (for 7 dolls found in the building), during the Spring and Fall equinox, the sun will shine straight through its door way and the glows, of course there was no sun this day. There was a small Cenote at the site, but it was closed.

Anyway, after get back in Merida, I went for seafood lunch, and ordered something with shrimp and conch, and what I got was a cocktail of the both in a glass, not what I had expected. It was pretty good none the less.

This morning before Dzibilchaltun visit I signed with the hostel where I am staying for a afternoon visit of a Mayan site Uxmal (means That which was build three times) that included light and story show at night. The bus that picked us up had mostly Mexican tourists - there were many Mexican tourists here in the Yucatan, I think this is where they come for their vacation. As we arrived in Uxmal, small break in the sky started to appear, but it was not enough for great picture.

This site is much more impressive, really great Mayan architecture and carving. It flourished from AD600-900. It's intricate, puuc (means hill) style architecture, includes many wonderful carving of rain god Chaac. In this part of Yucatan, it is drier than the South, so lots praying to the rain god during the drought. There was no cenote found here, but there was evidence of great hydraulic engineering system used to collection rain water in the cisterns which held from 20-35 thousand liters of water each. Over 150 of these cisterns have been found in the center of Uxmal alone.

The tour included 1.5 hour of guided tour, but since we got there late, we did not have much free time before the place closes at 5. We then head to a nearby place for dinner, I decided to pay the $8 get the meal, which wasn’t too expensive given the limited choices here. But the shocker was when the waiter came to ask to pay for the drinks I did not know it was not included in the meal, and you guess it, the drink was pretty expensive, $2.5 for a limonada!

After the dinner we went back to the site to see the light and story show. It was in Spanish, but I was not going to shell out more money for a translation device. Of course I was clueless on what the story about. But did hear the Mayan god Chac many times :) The light show was ok. We got back around 10PM.

BTW, the Mayan people here dress differently the highland Mayans of Guatemala. Since it is hot here in Northern Yucatan, they dress in white and thin fabric.

Ek-Balam and Merida

2008-03-20T22:19:00.008-04:00

This morning I decided to goto another Mayan ruin near Valladolid because it was cloudy and with very light rain. The first "bad" weather in many weeks. This site is not on the tourist trail so there was only handful of tourists when I was there. I hired a taxi for $25 including two hour wait. Ek-Balam means Black Jaguar. The main temple known as 'The Tower', is an immaculate seven tiered staircase leading up to a flattened area with the remains of a temple. A tree at the site was buzzing with many humming birds. Even though I have seen many humming birds on my trip, this time I was finally able get close and take some photos.

One strange thing happened to me while at the ruin, a family of I assume Mexican that I thought they wanted me to take their photo, but it turn out, they want take a photo me with one of them. I knew white people get ask for photos in place like Asia, but me in Mexico, go figure. I have gotten quiet dark the last few weeks in the Yucatan sun, so maybe I am looking a little like a famous Mexican - just kidding.

After the about an hour at the site, I went next door to the Cenote X-Canche. I have been wanted to do a rappelling, so I paid $15 for the bike (1.5km to the cenote), and did my first rappelling. I was nervous, but I manage to get down without a problem. Afterward I put on a life jacket and get into an inner tube and swum around the sinkhole a bit. An hour late I was on my back to Valladolid, took a shower and pack up to goto Merida.

The suppose 2 hour bus ride turn into 4 hours, not sure if the book is wrong or it was just super slow. I got to Merida around 4. The weather at Merida was even more damp and heavy overcast. But the city is full of activity none the less. According the book it is one of the most Spanish city in the Yucatan. Although lots of business seems to be closed for the Easter Holiday. I spend rest of the afternoon grab a lunch, bought my night time bus ticket to Palenque for Sunday night (first class, 9 hours ride that leaves at 10PM, will be my first night time bus in this trip). Afterward I walk around the town a little more.

I have not decide what do tomorrow yet, it will be depend on the weather, and unfortunately most the sights, Mayan ruins, colorful town, around Merida needs blue sky to give good view with exception of cenotes, even it needs some sun to give the water good colors.

Chichen Itza

2008-03-19T22:24:00.009-04:00

This morning I went to the most famous Mayan site in Mexico. The bus arrived at the gate just in time for the opening. The words Chichen Itza means 'Mouth of the well of the water sorcerer'. The site was built in the late classic times (AD600-900). It was abandoned by end of 10th century. The architecture was heavily influenced by Toltec of Central Mexico. There were very few tourists at the opening, most of the Group tourist bus don't arrive until 10.

The site is not as big as some of the sites I visited, but the main building El Castillo is very impressive. It has 91 stairs on all 4 side to get to the top, unfortunately all the building here are closed for climbing because some tourist fell to her death climbing on of them - it was not that steep, the Tikal is steeper.

Then there is the ball court with grandstand and towering walls. Each set with a projecting ring of stone high up, at eye level is a relief showing the decapitation of the winning capital, but that was debatable as some says it was the losing captain. I think this is the largest ball court in Mesoamerica.

At the Group of thousand columns and market, you almost think that you're in Greek time. All those columns.....

There are couple cenotes at the site, the main one Cenote Sagrado (the well of Sacrifice), contained objects like animals and human sacrifices, pottery, jade, copper, gold, beads, lump of copal resins, small bells.

By 10:30 or so I finished all the sights, and it has become very hot and touristy. So decided to just seat at a cafe/store for 3 plus hours to wait for the afternoon sun to die down a bit. In additional to tons of tourists, there are also tons of vendors selling souvenirs. I bought couple small stone carving - my backpack is slowing gaining weight and size.

I started my afternoon walk around 2:30, which was still hot. I took my time, and try to staying in shade as much as possible. But it was still too hot, even my water got hot.

After get back in town, I went to get more money fearing that the coming 4-5 day Easter holiday will cause ATM to run dry. I think I am set for 5 and more days.

I am not sure what my plan will be tomorrow morning, I can head to Merida early or try to visit another ruin/cenote that you can rappel into - no bus, so it will be costly to get to it.

Valladolid and Cenotes

2008-03-18T22:16:00.007-04:00

I thought checking out this morning was going to be quick and easy. Pay the 1 night (pre-paid one night online already), return the key and get my passport back.

But it was anything but easy. The guy at the reception told me, there is no record of me prepaid for one night and that I had two keys, which means I lost a key and was issued a 2nd key! None of it was true of course. He insisted that I show him the proof that paid for a night with a print of the confirmation paper. I told him can I just show him the email I received from the PayPal, but no he insist a paper copy even though I would just print the email. So I went to search for Internet cafe, and of course none was open at 7:45AM. I came back to logon to the my email account at the hostel's slow internet machine, and guess what the internet went down as I was able to open the email. Since they are holding my passport (no place I stayed in the whole trip ever hold my passport), so I can't just dump the 1 night room charge and leave. So I reluctantly went back to plead with the guy, telling him that I forward the confirmation email to the hostel, when I made the reservation and that he look through the hostel's emails. Anyway I am not sure he went through the emails or not, 30 secs later he told, yes indeed I paid for 1 night already, also no mention of the 2nd key. Anyway this almost turned into a nightmare. The hostel room stinks and pretty bad looking, hot, and noisy - people were still talking loudly around 2AM. One of the worst hostels I ever stayed. If you're not a weary backpacker, you would have been one after the stay here for sure! The Weary Traveler Hostel sure lives up to its name.

Anyway I was able to catch the 8:30AM bus for Valladolid. The Spanish girls did not get up in time to catch the same bus for Coba (later to Valladolid as well). The bus' AC wasn't working too good, so it was very warm, luckily the ride was less than 2 hours. After I got off the bus, I went to look for a hostel listed in the book. But it was closed for renovation. So I decided to with a hotel, and $25 a night. I figure, after two nights here, there will be 3 nights of hostel, a nice break from the hostel scene. The hotel has a pool.

After lunch I went to checkout couple cenotes (water filled sink holes). The first in my trip. The first one was in the town itself, I took some pictures, but did not going for a dip. There are many different kinds of fish in the pool. The sink hole was partial covered, so you get plenty for sun and light. The 2nd one is 7km outside of the town, and I decided to go with bike, but before I got to the bike shop, a shared van driver ask me if I am going to the cenote, and the price was $2, so I decided to be lazy. The 2nd sink hole is totally underground with exception of a tiny opening at its roof. It was near the closing time, so it was not too crowded. After I took some pictures, I decided it is time for me to get into pool. The pool has shallow area, so I was able to seat and standing and enjoying the view and water.

Early tomorrow morning I'll either catch a bus or share van to Chichen Itza, one of best Mayan Ruin in Mexico. I plan to stay the whole day there - I got some snack ready. BTW, I finished all the food I bought from US back early days in Belize, with exception a half bag of beef jerky, which I expect to finish it tomorrow :)

As for town of Valladolid, I like it, not too touristy, people are friendly - better than Tulum by far (although Tulum has cheaper souvenirs).

Coba & Tulum Market festivity

2008-03-17T22:01:00.007-04:00

This morning I caught the 7:30 bus for Merida, which stops at Coba. I was wrong about Mexico chicken bus don't cramming people, they do! I and many other people were standing in the aisle. Luckily the AC was working well and ride was 35 minutes. I met Stuart from London, who is also staying at Weary Traveler Hostel in Tulum. He just bought a flat (50% owner ship) and decided to take time off to travel after saving 6 year and without vacation.

As for the Coba site itself, this classic-era city was situated in the tropical jungle. It is more linked with Tikal than Tulum or Chichen Itza. At its peak some 55,000 lived here (between AD 800-1100). The Mayan name Coba mean 'ruffled waters' - likely refers to the reedy croc-filled lakes in the area. It is estimated to have 6500 structures, but only few have been excavated. After many Mayan ruins I was not too impress with the site. When we arrived there was only hand full of tourists, but half way through, bus load of tourists started to show up. We finished the site around 11 and so we have 2.5 hours before the first bus go back to Tulum. We had lunch and chat a little more and just hang out in the shade (very hot in the sun h- upper 80s).

After get back in town I took a shower and start my wondering around the town, looking at shops, bought some leather bookmarks, had an ice cream, visited internet. Later I went to check out the town's market and happen on a 'rodeo' show. Pretty much just some bulls that get let on into a ring one at time with few men holding blanket to have the bull charge at them. There was a big crowd. After the rodeo (it was dark), I stayed around to check out the night time market. Almost all locals, with people selling daily stuff, games, food - a real night market. I felt this is the first time in my trip where a night out does not risk your life and involves things other than visiting a bar. There is a concert I was told at 10:30 tonight.

After the internet I went back to the hostel, and met our new dormmate, couple girls from Spain. One spoke good English. They were ready to goto bed, but once they knew about the concert, they are ready to go - Spanish know how to party. We hang around the concert area for a while waiting for the band to resume their play and we visited a Mayan church. After 1.5 hours or so we call it a night and head back to goto sleep.

Anyway I am heading to Valladolid tomorrow morning and get ready to visit Chichen Itza.

BTW, You guys must be day light saving time, because I just noticed that I am now two hours behind you.