Panama City, Panama

OUR LAST NIGHT
Tonight is our last night in Central America - tomorrow we fly to Tampa to join Sara's family for Christmas. It's been a wild and sometimes bumpy ride down through Central America but today was a day to reflect on what we're done and celebrate a trip that has progressed as smoothly as we could have hoped for. One of our treats for today was renting a tandem bike and riding out to the causeway near the entrance of the canal (another form of transport to add to our list). The weather was hot again today so we only managed to last for an hour but it was well worth it. Tonight we plan on taking it easy, having a nice meal at the hotel and trying more of the local beer.

Biking around the causeway

 Leaving Panama - our first flight since Mexico

MORE
Stay tuned for more wacky updates in the new year from some even more remote places.

San Jose to Panama City, Panama

COSTA RICA - PANAMA BORDER CROSSING
The aforementioned 14 hour bus journey from San Jose to Panama's capital took more than 20 hours. I was always confused by our departure time of 8pm knowing that the border was 350km away on good roads but only open between 6am and 11pm. And with that we turned up at the border at 3am and waited in the bus for three hours for it to open. When it did it was almost farcical. The queues moved slowly and the signs at both sides of the borders were nonexistent. To leave Costa Rica and enter Panama we had to buy a postage stamp looking thing on each side and present it to the immigration official but the only people selling the stamps were dodgy looking folk who couldn't explain why we should be buying them in the first place and they were charging more than the face value of the stamp "because it's my business" we were told. In comparison to every other Central American border this one was awful – we spent most of our time in lines without knowing why we had to be in them in the first place and having to do it at six in the morning on very little sleep made it very difficult. Things improved slightly once in Panama - during the journey we were treated with three movies, but all of them finished between 5 and 10 minutes short of the actual ending. At least I had seen them all before.

THAT CANAL
Today we took a bus out to the Miraflora locks, one of three huge locks on the Panama Canal and the closest to downtown Panama City. We spent a few hours in the hot sun, watched a few ships pass through and saw the video at the information center. There is still a lot of work being done to improve the canal including widening the Gaillard Cut, which is the 14km stretch through rock and shale mid-way through the canal, as well as the annual maintenance to keep the canal open 24 hours a day. Something like 12,000 ships passed through the canal last year, paying an average of US$55,000 to do so. Vessels are charged according to weight and passenger capacity and are guided through the canal waters by a canal captain who assumes charge from the regular captain during the ten hour journey. Famously the Crown Princess passenger ship holds the record for the highest toll, around US$150k, while some bloke holds the record for the lowest fare, 0.36c, when he swam through in 1928.

Miraflora Lock - Panama Canal

 Me at the Canal

We were both surprised by Panama City and had a great time walking around the streets of the old San Felipe district. The markets were packed with holiday traffic but the plazas and cathedrals were really lovely. From San Felipe we could also get a good view of the new part of Panama City with huge high rises to rival Singapore. Sara tried a few of the cheap ice drinks from the street vendors but on our walk back to the hotel this evening we picked up a few cans of Balboa Beer for 0.50c each. Bargain!

San Felipe district

San Felipe district

 Panama City skyline

 Buying shaved ice from a street vendor

Monteverde to San Jose, Costa Rica

CLOUD FOREST
After spending the best part of a day in bed or on the couch in Monteverde I decided it was time to do a canopy tour. I did one in Nicaragua a few weeks back and loved it so I was keen to take another one. I found one which purported to have 16 cables, a repel and a Tarzan swing so I signed up. The safety aspect was left very much to chance and for the majority of the time the guides didn't bother securing my safety line but that was okay. I was the only one on the course at the time so they let me take as much time as I wanted and I got a few extra goes on the Tarzan swing. Some of the cables were enormous - the last one was over 600m long and took us over a valley and clear above the canopy through the clouds. Many of the other cables went through thick vegetation and a few times I had to kick branches out of the way to prevent any loss of speed.

The following day I went to the Santa Elena cloud forest reserve on my own as Sara was still a little too tender to walk around much - plus she knows what I mean by a walk, two hours, brisk pace, no stops except for one photo. A cloud forest is pretty much like a rain forest but because of its elevation it is permanently covered by cloud which helps keep it damp and fertile year round. I walked all four of the trails in about two and a half hours and finished just before the clouds decided to deliver rain. I heard a lot of wildlife but didn't actually see that much. I kept my eyes peeled for the elusive Sloths but saw nothing but birds and bugs of various hue.

Santa Elena cloud forest reserve

L.A. IS A GREAT BIG FREEWAY, PUT A HUNDRED DOWN AND BUY A CAR
All this morning I was humming 'Do you know the way to San Jose?'- the Deone Warwick version. We caught the 6.30am direct bus from Monteverde to Costa Rica's busy capital, San Jose and it's here we'll be for one night only. Tomorrow night we catch a 14 hour overnight bus to Panama City but before that we want to shop around for some hammocks and other things from the local market. By Saturday this adventure will all be over.

Travel stats - December 2002

SOME STATS
Yesterday was day 200 on the road.
Last night was our 96th different bed since leaving. Our last night in Panama will be an even hundred.
In our hotel or hostel rooms we have had ants, cockroaches, geckos, spiders, a slug, one rat and an over friendly Nicaraguan mouse that joined me in bed one morning.
We have never had a butterfly a kitten or a puppy in our room.
We've crossed 22 international borders – ten at airports, six on a bus, three on a train, two on foot and one on a boat on the Mekong river.
We've caught 68 different buses.
Over the last six months apart from planes and trains etc we've also traveled via motorcycle, bicycle, tricycle, cyclo, tuk-tuk, jeepney, school bus, pick-up truck, tram, speedboat, riverboat, row boat, ferry boat, bamboo raft, inflatable raft, horse and an elephant.
We've seen two dead people – Lenin and Chairman Mao.

Here's our average spend per day for Central America

• Mexico: US$50.25 (19.5 days)
• Belize: US$56.50 (4 days)
• Guatemala: US$45.50 (9 days)
• Honduras: US$38.60 (6 days)
• Nicaragua: US$42.50 (11 days)
• Costa Rica: US$64.00 (8.5 days)
• Panama: US$46.30 (4 days)

Fortuna to Monteverde, Costa Rica

LEAVING NICARAGUA
We traveled with our friends Lynsey and Nick down to San Jose, and although we caught a different bus we met up at the same hotel near the city center in the evening. It was strange leaving Nicaragua and entering the somewhat more developed Costa Rica. We have planned to do quite a lot in Costa Rica, including white water rafting and horse trekking around the Fortuna area so we only stayed one night in San Jose before catching the bus up to Fortuna - now we find ourselves in the shadow of the Arenal Volcano and tonight we are heading up to the viewing area to see if we can spot some lava during sunset.

Sara with two British doctors - Lynsey & Nick

VOLCANO ARENAL
On our first evening in Fortuna we decided to take a tour to the nearby Arenal volcano, which is supposed to be the most active volcano in Central America. Unfortunately the mountain was surrounded by cloud but we were able to hear a couple of loud eruptions and for a few brief seconds we could clearly see a lava flow down one of the flanks. Afterwards we visited one of the nearby hot springs under the shadow of the volcano – about six or seven pools all at different temperatures and a wet bar where we had some of the local Imperial beer.

Kinda near Arenal

WHITE WATER
The following day we decided to treat ourselves to white water rafting. We drove about 60km from Fortuna through coffee, banana, coconut, papaya and yuka plantations to a river whose name escapes me right now. After a quick safety briefing and a review of some of the calls – forward, back paddle, lean in, fall out etc – we started on our two and a half hour journey down river. After about 17 seconds a woman from Virginia fell in when we hit the very first area of turbulence. About 12 seconds after that, with everyone just watching the woman float away through the rapids, we hit a rock side on and the boat flipped over tossing us all in the river. It was not the ideal start to the show but we quickly regrouped back in the boat and carried on with our various cuts and bruises. Sara seemed to have caught the brunt of the damage from a French guy next to her who seemed to think that Sara was some sort of flotation device that he should grab hold of in the water. We did, however, complete the rest of the course without incident, spotting some of the local wildlife along the way – monkeys, egrets, herons, cormorants, kingfishers and even a cow.

Sara & I after our white water rafting trip

AUSSIE BLOKE
On the bus from San Jose to Fortuna we met a young Australian surfer, Mark, from Cocos Island, off the west coast of Australia just south of Indonesia who joined us for a few days, including the horse trek to Monteverde. But that bit deserves its own paragraph.

Sara with our Australian pal Mark

HORSE TREK
It was advertised as a nice easy trek from Fortuna to Monteverde – three hours, nice views, big lunch, piece of cake. We took a boat across the glass like Arenal lake next to the volcano to begin the trek. The first half hour was great, through rolling countryside, rain forest, and three river crossings (the first one a little too deep for our liking). After the last crossing the trail veered sharply up hill. For the next three hours we trudged through knee deep mud the consistency of smooth peanut butter, all the time climbing. About two thirds of the way up the mountain Sara’s horse lost its footing and quickly fell to the left, throwing Sara off. Thankfully the mud was so deep that the horse was a foot or so closer to the ground, the landing was as soft as a terra landing could have been and the horse regained its balance quickly enough to stop itself from falling on her. Nonetheless it was a scary experience but to her credit Sara, after briefly brushing herself down, got straight back on the horse. I think there is a saying about that. We completed the remainder of the trek without too many scares but when we dismounted our steeds it felt as if someone had spanked us for past three hours with a table tennis bat. We never did get that big lunch either.

Driving the speedboat across Lake Arenal

Sara crossing one of the many rivers during our horse trek to Monteverde

Ometepe, Nicaragua

OMETEPE
We traveled down to Ometepe Island with an English couple, Lynsey and Nick, whom we met for the first time in Guatemala three weeks ago. By chance we bumped into them again in Granada and were all heading in the same direction. It was a long journey there -taxi, bus, taxi, boat, bus - but after seven hours we made it to the small beach resort at Santo Domingo. We stayed two nights at Villa Paraiso for around US$20 a night - a charming little place with pigs wandering around the grounds and a monkey named Tony.

The island, the largest in a freshwater lake, is formed by two large volcanoes - the active Concepcion and the dormant Madera, which forms a figure eight shape lying on its side. Santo Domingo is right at the center of the eight on the northern shore. It is known as the windiest place in Nicaragua and from our beach bungalow I can see why. From our bed we could see the lake and the beach but the wind whipped in from the northeast the whole time. My initial plans to scale Madera and repel into the crater to see the lake were dashed because there were not enough people interested to get a tour group together. I would have to leave another volcano unconquered.

Our view of Lake Nicaragua from Ometepe

Leon & Grenada, Nicaragua

LEON
After some time in the nations capital we decided to head to the oldest city in the country - Leon - about 90 minutes away and also the former capital. The bus trip was quick but the windows were down and the road was dusty so we were very dirty by the time we arrived. It took some time to find out where we were on the city map and then walked about 30 minutes into the center of town. We checked out the Hospedaje Via Via but didn't like it and ended up choosing Hotel America for US$13 a night.

Leon is another very Spanish city with some fantastic old churches including the biggest cathedral in Central America. It was incredibly hot during the day so we were forced to keep our sightseeing to small doses. The bus from Leon back to Managua ran out of gas about half way through the journey so the driver had to wave down the passing traffic until someone let him siphon some gas from their tank.

 Lion outside the Basilica Catedral de la Asuncion

A couple of really beautiful churches in Leon

GRANADA
We were relieved to finally make it to Granada after a couple of taxing bus journeys. Most of the bus windows are kept open so that the breeze can keep the passengers cool but it also means that everyone gets covered with a layer of dirt as well. Granada is much more vibrant than Leon, with far more tourists too. The town square is flanked by a beautiful old church and filled with the typical food stalls and shoe shine kids. Today we ate lunch in the square for less than a dollar and Sara drank her Coke from a plastic bag so that the vendor could keep the bottle.

The town square in Granada

Scaling a palm on the shores of Lake Nicaragua

CANOPY TOUR
Today Sara stayed in the town while I ventured out toward the nearby volcano to do a canopy tour. The tour involves climbing high into the trees to a platform and then flying from tree to tree via a cable and a harness. The experience was fascinating as we flew over coffee plantations surrounded by howler monkeys. It was all over too quickly though, covering the 800m course in just over an hour.

MOUSE
One morning in Granada I woke up with a mouse in my bed. It wasn't the best way to start the day but after I got over the initial shock it was pretty funny. In the bleary eyed first glance it looked for all money like a cockroach so I grabbed our can of fly spray and started chasing it around our room, much to Sara's entertainment. It wasn't until after she moved her backpack out of the way that we saw a tiny brown mouse, cornered, wrinkling his nose at us. So I sprayed it some more - probably blinding it - until it scurried away never to be seen again.

BILINGUAL
Sara is busy at the terminal next to me looking at the horse treks available at our next port of call - Ometepe. She's just found one that has bilingual guides and horses.