San Jose

One last day of vacation today. We took the train out to la sabana park on the west end of downtown. Not a great decision. Super slow moving, and a bit confusing to ride. Kate had asked a couple people at the stop, and they told us which train to get on, but I started freaking out when the train started moving the opposite direction that it should be. A guy next to us spoke English and said it was switching directions. A guess it went in an arc. A large, slow, inefficient arc. I can't believe that citizens don't scream for something faster. It took 45 minutes to get there and it can't have been more than 3 miles. The park isn't huge by any means but we made maybe a 15 min loop around it and it worked out alright. A good experience at least.

Our hotel, aranjuez has an amazing breakfast that we had post run. Complementary, they have like 7 kinds of breads, omlettes to order, pancakes to order, wonderful Costa Rican coffee, passion fruit juice, star fruits, and more stuff I'm probably forgetting. It's been an awesome stay here. All at 37$ a night.

Slow trains aside, San Jose is great. It feels a lot like San Juan or even a European city. Spain perhaps. The neighborhoods near us have nice fixed up colonial looking houses with many shady streets and nice plazas near downtown. They have a couple extended walking only streets. Avenida central stretches quite a ways and is filled with shoppers. The central market was cool to check out as well. Crammed with tiny vendors selling everything from fine coffee, to fresh seafood, or pots to cook it in.

We took in a coffee at the teatro nacional cafe. It's a beautiful old building in the heart of downtown. Very ornate with lots of murals on the ceilings and fancy pillars and such. The coffee was great too. Weaving our way through the various parks and squares, we took in an afternoon beer at ell Geff, a locally owned brewery (no expats this time) with solid brews. They had no idea what a flight was and weren't familiar with the concept so we made our own with half pints. Good to try as many as possible. Dinner was spent at a reasonable, if forgettable place in our neighborhood with Costa Rican fare. The plan was to go to a jazz show after dinner that was nearby, but the music didn't start until 930 which more likely means 945 and we just weren't feeling being out late. I certainly wouldn't dwell in San Jose on a trip, but it's worth a stop en route to whatever adventure you are headed to in Costa Rica. A cool city with unexpected charm.

The road to San Jose

Well, one of the drawbacks to staying on a remote island off the coast is getting back to the coast. We were up at 6 to catch a shuttle to the main island at 645. The guy was late, not surprisingly I suppose, so by 7, we were again zipping back on a small boat though the mangroves. Plenty of rain this morning, fitting, I suppose for an island where I think it rained 50% of the time we were here. Fromm. The main. Island, we caught the slightly larger taxi to the mainland. I'm quite surprised that they don't have a real ferry for this leg. Bocas island must be 10000 people if I had to guess, with lots of tourist traffic in and out. We were stuck on many a 25 ft boat powered by a 250 horse outdoor motor. Once on the mainland (Almirante), we then had to take a short bus ride to chinguinola, the larger regional hub that supposedly had a bust for San Jose. It's Chiquita's panama banana hub, and the rows of banana trees sure backed up that idea as we came in and out of town.

This is where our drawbacks for the day started. The sign was still up for San Jose, but the bus no longer ran. As of four months ago meaning there was no way my guide book would have known that. Hungry, we got a couple batidos and a panini (can't remember the term in Spanish) before grabbing a cab to the border and the next town that would have buses to San Jose.

Border towns/crossings are always an interesting experience. It went rather quick both sides today, and other than a crappy 4$ fee to leave panama (fairly sure it was a local tax) it went rather smoothly. The border here is a river, so across the bridge we walked, back onto Costa Rican soil. The Costa Rican town is small, we found the bus station without much problem, and saw a bus leaving for San Jose right as we rounded the corner. We flagged him down, but evidently, longer distance buses can't pick up passengers.

Drawback number two for the day. The next bus didn't leave for 5 hrs to San Jose. The prospect of waiting around in this tiny town seemed dim, so we hooked a ticket instead to limon, a larger hub on the coast with more possibilities to the capital. I read up a little on the city during the ride over, didn't seem like the rough guide thought too highly of it. A shipping city, grungy, and a high crime rate. We didn't linger.

Buses to San Jose were indeed frequent here, although the larger road they normally travel was out, leaving us again with a sinuous path to our destination. It was 645 when we finally pulled in to the station.

It bit of a tiring day of travel, but the hotel Kate found wow great. It's in an older, quiet neighborhood, and actually made up of a bunch of old houses strung together with courtyards in between. The concierge gave us an awesome recommendation for Costa Rican typica, so with 12$ Total, we had the set meal of the day (consado), then walked to a great pasty place for dessert. Hoping to check out the market, and stroll some of the plazas tomorrow. One last day before home.

Bocas day 2

The original plan today was to walk to a beach for snorkeling, although when we asked at breakfast about the possibility for a longer snorkel trip by boat, they said there wouldn't be one tomorrow, but there was a longer cruise running today that they would making som snorkeling stops on. $65 for the day.

In a spur of the moment decision, we went for it. Didn't even have time to think about packing the camera. The boat was actually a catamaran/(sailboat?). It was owned by this guy that was evidently a third generation sailor and had spent most of his life savings on it only 6 months ago. He was dating the yoga instructor and the two of them were starting to charter tours and even some overnights on their boat (where they also lived).

This ended up being a fantastic decision. We were with 9 others from our lodge and just hung out cruising the islands. Jamie, the girlfriend made lunch, snacks, and drinks throughout the day. We stopped at a couple spots to snorkel too. The first one as a bit of a swim to get to the reef and not super amazing, though any snorkeling is really awesome when you think about it. The second stop though was really cool. Tons of fish, really cool coral all over the place. The sun barely poked out, lots of rain throughout the day, but this was probably the best way to spend it. In the water snorkeling, it's not really a big deal if it's raining or not.

The crew we were with was awesome too. Very interesting to talk to. Mainly couples in their 20s and 30s, but also a mom and her son.

Palmer tent lodge has been an awesome place to stay. They are completely off the grid meaning the only electricity they get is from solar panels and they have some batteries that can power limited amounts of appliances at night. All the water they use comes from rain water (which isn't hard to get here) but needless to say, showers and sinks are fairly limited.

The beach out front is great. Huge breaking waves, but a little farther out making for a decent area to swim. Body surfing is a little so so as the breaking waves are huge and thereafter they are smaller with less energy.

Palmer is owned by a couple guys that can't be much older than me. Both U.S. Natives, I believe, but one was born in Venezuela or so I've heard and speaks great Spanish. One more relaxing in the sun on the beach today, then we'll be reaching the beginning of the end. I think I'm ready to head home though. It's been a good trip.

Sunday update: we spent our last day on the beach just that: on the beach. Another morning run on the limited roads of the island, breakfast, then some good old beach lounging. The sun poked out around 11 and it ended up being a beautiful day. Lots of swimming and body surfing, or just chilling underneath the umbrella watching the Caribbean waves roll in. We found a couple days ago a happy hour spot with $3.50 cocktails and are patrons of that again. Wifi and a fine view down hurt either. 

Bocas

Another travel day today. One more of wonderful Panaminian coffee and we were on another mini bus bound for bocas. There isn't really a direct route there, so it's probably not that far as the crow flies, but with mountains and general lack of roads, it was a 3.5 hour ride. Not that I am complaining about the no roads thing. Much of the space between the towns is a national park, shared with Costa Rica, the thing is massive. Nice to know there are still areas where animals can roam without human impact of any kind.

It was a beautiful ride curving through the mountains. Many small, subsistence cattle farmers. We crossed a few dammed rivers. A little sad to see, but then again, not contributing to climate change. It rained for a good portion in the middle, a little hair-raising on the windy roads, but I guess what's left other than trust and prayer.

The ferry ride to the main island of bocas was nuts. On a boat with maybe 15 people, just rolling over super choppy waves. Stupidly, I had forgotten my small boat lessons from north center and we experienced the worst of it in the front of the boat. Needless to say I was happy to get to the dock...to get in one more boat and go to this land that we are staying at. The island chain is pretty compact. Many aren't even the distance across pioneer lake and the length might no be more than going down north center.

Once at our dock on island bastamientos (?) we had a 5 min walk to get to the other side of the island. It looks like a corona commercial. The restaurant is more or less on the beach and our tent is feet from that. We spent the afternoon swimming (finally!) and then a happy hour with $3.50 piña coladas. It's going to be a good next couple of days. Hoping for some snorkeling tomorrow.

last day in boquete

Another hiking day today. Took a very leisurely start to the day of sorts with an 8 am run, my latest yet of the trip. Quads are just killing me right now. Too much slamming down the hills. Add in a little stomach problems and it was a pretty miserable 5 miles. Got a huge breakfast sandwich at a bakery (very much dominated by expats). Chorizo, eggs, and fresh mozzarella.

We hooked a ride back up bajo Mano, the road to many of trail heads, but this time bound for the sendero quetzal, a well known 6 km hike to the next town over. Also many varying notes of the extent of needing a guide here, but we figured we'd give it a shot. I might have said this yesterday, but it's funny, for as much of a tourist town as boquete is, I don't feel they sell their hiking trails nearly enough. They have a fantastic network, almost entirely on pieces of public land and from what I could see, fairly well kept and signed. It's amazing to me they don't have the organization to have a exclusive trails map that they do at a place like Rocky Mountain national park. Similar to yesterday, there is no way you'd need a guide on this trail. It's extremely well marked and there was never a point we were unsure of the trail. Possibly, people are pushing for guides due to the economic impact, but I feel like it's driven more by people that don't hike and don't realize that many people traveling that would like to hike would have no problem navigating/"enduring" these trails.

This one was also fairly well traveled. We saw a tour group, along with a few other groups in our 5 mile hike. The trail followed this cool river, lots of glimpses at Rapids through the cloud forest. Alas, no quetzal again. Another reason to return to. Central America some day I guess. The last half mile to the lookout (we didn't hike the entire length of th trail) was pretty strenuous. Steep stairs that just didn't seem to end. The lookout was stunning, but a fine place to eat lunch and soak up another day in the cloud forest. The max elevation here is actually quite high, somewhere around 7200 feet, and I'd imagine our turn around point was close to that. Tons of species of birds at the lunch stop. I didn't bring my guide book iPad for fear of rain, but I looked up a few when I got back and didn't I.d. Many of them at all. I've 44 recorded in my guide book, but I'd say I'm conservatively missing at least 50% of all the birds I've seen since we've been here.

Dinner was one of the best yet. A mom and pop type place down the street, we had try to get here the last two nights, but the close at 630 and last night they were in-explicitly closed. They only had 5 items on the menu. The meal of the day (a stew) and 4 different options for grilled food, pork, chicken, beef, or fish. I got pork with a side of beets and plantains (can't get enough of them). Very good and total tab with drinks: 13 dollars. By far the cheapest dinner we've had yet.

I've had a great time in boquete. Glad we spent two days here, but I'm ready for lounging around on the beach and snorkeling. On to bocas.

Another 6 am wakeup for a morning run up the same valley as yesterday. Strenuous, but I'll still gladly take over the sweltering heat. We were in a little bit of a time crunch as we wanted to make the 8 am tour at one of the local coffee plantations. This is the place to grow coffee in panama. They don't export a large quantity I'm told, but the stuff that is is very high in quality. The tour was brief 50 minutes or so and just the basics, but I probably wouldn't have focused much longer anyway and didn't know much to start to it was mostly new. Cafe Ruiz was the name of the plantation. I think they have been roasting coffee in the family for nearly 100 years. Pretty impressive and the coffee was great too. We considered packing some out, but hauling around the extra bulk and weight the next week didn't sound super appealing and I'm not sure if I can tell the difference between superbly good coffee and really good coffee anyway.  Perhaps we wait until San Jose.

Post tour, we had another breakfast of batidos and pastries as well as some lychees we found a guy selling out of his truck. I had been looking for them for a while but they have a different name in Spanish (that still escapes me).

We collected ourselves and headed for the local taxi/mini bus hub that will take you to farther flung parts of the town. We had read up on some hikes, there are many here, and settled on the pipeline trail up to a waterfall somewhere up the bajo Mano road. We had read differing accounts of how well the trails are marked here but the

driver knew the place so we piled in along with a couple other guys that evidently lived up there. Lots of farms as we climbed the sinuous and steep road. Mainly coffee, but corn and other crops too. It was a bit of a drive and I was sitting there wondering how this guy even covered gas at 2$ a trip, when we pulled over and picked up something like 13 primary school students out of school for the day and were on their our way again. As rural as the road increasingly got, I supposed there are still people of there that need rides.

The trail head was marked, as we had seen online and we hopped out, paid the 3$ entrance, and set off for the waterfall. There are supposedly good chances of seeing quetzals here, but no such luck today. We had played the call a lot and were both fairly sure we heard it, but with literally hundreds of trees and many over 100 feet tall, it's like looking for a needle In a haystack. 

The waterfall was beautiful. A 300 foot drop, not large in volume, but tucked away in a cool canyon. The trail was generally well mark and a steady, but not overwhelming group of people were out on the trail.

We were a little unsure of how long it would be before a bus or taxi made their way up the crazy hill, but sure enough, in 5 minutes or so, we were piled into another van and on our way down the steep country hill bound for home.

Afternoon was whittled away in the brew pub. Yes, the craft beer scene is taking off even here. To be fair, it was run by expats and the cliental was also expats. It was worth a stop if only to say we did it. Solid beer too.

Dinner was a Mexican place in town. Decent food, although they were evidently short on lettuce, Guac, and would break two 20s for a 23$ tab. Everyone only does small bills here, you wonder how the process ever gets started if 20s are what pop out of the atm. Something to ponder I suppose.