Day 4:
Panama- Costa Rica trek
Apparently in Boquete, they ring their church bells at 630am. Ridiculous, but slept in another hour. We packed up our bags and grabbed some breakfast that was served in a cute outdoor seating next to the garden. This breakfast was delicious! Tejano (chicken w/ salsa) con tortilla de mais. Man, the salsas here are amazing! Complete Panamanian breakfast, smile!
And that… that was Panama! Definitely could have used more Panamanian food, experience the culture, play in the beautiful mountains, lay on the beach… but that was it. Will definitely have to come again!
…And we’re off to Costa Rica, oh my!
We return the car at the airport (can’t take a car across the border) and look for a taxi van or shuttle to haul us to La Frontera (the border). There is a taxi driver in a car smaller than ours that is insisting on taking us. We won’t be able to put the car seats in the car safely (face forward), will have to pack our luggage in and squeeze Anson and Sarah in between the car seats. Well? That’s what we did. ~45 min drive, packed like sardines to the border. We wait in line for ~ 1 hr, get our passports reviewed and approved then head over to Costa Rica side, a little confused. We have no guidance on where we were supposed to go, what we were supposed to do. We walk aimlessly in the rain, with the babies, and luggage…find the CR Entry location and get our passports stamped… now for a taxi.
Costa Rica has significant water flow and apparently due to the recent rain, the roads were getting overflown with water. We were told by one of the drivers that there were no buses coming to this part of the town due to the over flown rivers, so we had to take a 4x4 taxi to the next town over. We drove over the flooding, which wasn’t really significant; however, this driver was trying to score a deal. He was a little shady and was trying to get us to take his taxi all the way to Quepos… a $200 taxi ride vs. the $20 we were paying to the bus station and $36 bus ride to Quepos. Of course the $200 wasn’t the preferred option.
We arrive at the bus station with ~45 min to spare. We wait, wait, wait… bus arrives and the line starts to form. Sarah and I are trying to quickly load our luggage in the bus while Anson negotiates a better deal and holds a spot in the line. The bus is pretty much full and well, there is a long line of people, including us, who need to load the bus. We make our way on without a seat. Fortunately, there were a couple nice folks who made room for Sarah and I since we were holding the babies. There were about 10 people standing on the bus as we make our ~3 hr journey to Quepos. The babies were not having the ride, so I swapped spots with Anson and stood up about 1.5 hrs of the way until some folks got off. Let me tell you, holding onto the upper rails of the bus while trekking along on a windy and bumpy Costa Rican road wasn’t the most comfortable. Now, I did get nice views of all the rivers, trees and foliage.
We basically were thrown off the bus on the main street- highway in Quepos. The bus passengers were probably relieved the crying babies and bundle of luggage were off the bus. We waited on the side of the road for a bit, only to learn that we weren’t going to find a taxi on this road. We head down a street a bit and picked up a taxi. Again, another jam packing in a small car, car seats in the trunk, ghetto rigged down, babies in laps packed in the rear seat. We decide on staying at the Best Western and hook up with Sarah’s friend, Melissa. Dinner, drinks, bed.
Day 5:
Quepos
Quepos is not the nicest of Costa Rican towns, but it is next to Manuel Antonio, which is beautiful and has a small panaderia that sells phenonmenal papa rellenas! I had some breakfast then wandered the town for a bit, exchanged some dollars into colones, purchased a few gift and souvenirs. Anson and Sarah had gotten another rental car... this time? a hatchback and a bit smaller even though we had one more person and more luggage. We had to cram ourselves into the car and make another trek to Dominical to look for a hotel to stay at.
Dominical
We got to Dominical, a cute and small surfer town. There were many hostels and small motels on the beach. We checked prices at a few locations and found a small treehouse type of hostel that was right across from the beach and was $25/night. Melissa and I shared one room while Anson, Sarah and the babies shared another one. We unpacked then checked out Dominical beach. We headed down the road a bit to surf for buenas olas and ended up at another cool beach. I wandered, took some pics and picked up some shells with Catalina.
Got back to the hotel, cleaned up then had some dinner.
I flew into Ft. Lauderdale at 530pm with a 6 hr layover. I couldn’t see myself spending the long duration in the airport, so immediately searched for something to do. The beach was within a skip and jump away, so decided to find a nice restaurant/bar to enjoy. I hopped in a taxi with Spazio's as the destination. The restaurant, as described in Yelp, was a Mediterranean restaurant with a live band and good food. Apparently Yelp didn’t understand the difference between Italian and Mediterranean, because, well, Calzone was high on the menu and what my stomach decided on. I had a beer, enjoyed a 12” pie of Calzone while spectating the locals and tourists strolling the beach. The most interesting character was a late middle age man dressed in a thong, hiking boots and a purple sweater. Yes, that’s it. He was undeniably striving for attention, which he definitely received. He enjoyed the gawking and shook his nalgas in enjoyment. Not the most pleasant scene.
After a quick dinner and beer, I headed over to another bar… that had a large number of beers on tap. The bar was an outdoor , quant place of moderate interest. I chatted with the bar tender and a fellow from Connecticut; the second person I’ve ever met from Connecticut. I had a couple beers and decided I should grab a cab and head back to the not so awesome airport to ensure I made it to Panama…apparently my Mother was worried I’d wander and get ‘drunk’ :P. Of course I arrived too early and had to consume the rest of my waiting time with a couple more beers…at the sorry, don’t’ understand the purpose of chairs bar. 1130… I’m on my way to Panama.
Highlight of the day-> Limos to the airport or totally NOT a bad idea! $115 for home pickup and drop off in SFO. I totally need this for any flights leaving prior to 12pm.
Panama
I arrived in Panama City around 2am, grabbed my bags, went through immigration and met Anson outside. They had a hotel room at the nearby Marriott. I went into the room, snuck a quick “howdy” to Sarah, but unfortunately wasn’t able to see or greet Catalina and Koda. Bed it was…off for adventures in the morning.
This day consisted mostly of driving, driving and, um, waiting around. Once we got out of the hotel room we were off to return the car which reeked of rotten milk and pickup a new car. Apparently Anson’s milk had spilled in the car a few days earlier and the car seeped out fumes of spoiled milk nastiness. Koda wasn’t feeling too hot so we went on a search to find Tylenol and a thermometer. Hanging out in the humid and hot Super 99 and El Rey parking lots… finally items were found and we were off to…. McDonalds? Yes, babies need food and they love ‘dippies’ (McDonalds’ French toast)…feed kids, adults get café con leche. Panama has great café and my first café in the country is from McDonalds J
New car picked up, lengthy transaction, of course. Old car picked up… another lengthy transaction….there’s a theme… Once we’re packed into the new car (Yaris- 3 adults, 2 car seats- 5 bags), we head to Casco Antiguo. Casco Antiguo is the ‘old Panama city’; a beautiful, small village off the water. We grab some food. My first meal in Costa Rica is a Mediterranean salad… J
We walk around the small village, take a few pics and walk through a small market. I picked up a some type of wind instrument for a souvenir. I’ve recently started picking up musical instruments during my travels. In the past I’ve collected knives/swords, sorees and masks; musical instruments are a new addition. After the brief village stroll, we begin our long trek to Boguete.
David
The trip was estimated at ~2.5 hrs, but ended up taking about 6 hrs. We drove in the rain on a sketchy road for a decent way. We decided to stay in David and drive up to Boguete in the morning since it was another ~45 min in the night and in the rain. We went to TGIF for dinner and Wifi (Wifi hot spots are an important part of our travels). Second meal in Panama? TGIF! J Eat some food, find a hotel, drive off to check-in to the hotel. Sarah had gone into book the room and only specified 2 adults and 2 kids, the hotel employee confirmed- 2 adults, 2 kids, so Larissa had to ‘disguise or hide’ herself. Getting in the hotel was fine as we went from the garage. However, one of the employees came up to the room to setup a crib… not a pack and play, but a full on crib. I hid in the bathroom for about 30 minutes while the guy put together the crib. Not sure if you’ve tried it recently, but hanging out in the bathroom for 30 minutes isn’t the best of times. Anson and I finished the evening with a Jack and Coke and a Tican Mojito (Rum, lime juice and sugar cane water). Upon walking through the lobby to the bar (I was ‘playing Sarah’ to ensure our cover wasn’t pulled), Anson saw the employee at the front desk watching porn on the large flat screen affixed in the lobby. Was it Costa Rican porn? No idea :P
Highlight of the day-> Sarah getting pulled over for speeding. We acted like we didn't know any Spanish and after about 25 min, the cop gave up. Anson (who knows and speaks the best out of all of us) said in what sounded like an American- LA guy's voice ' No ENTIEEENNDDDO' and 'Discopa, discopa, discopa....' Hilarious!
Day 3:
Yah for Panamanian breakfast! I had some type of breakfast bread, meatballs and an egg dish. Café con leche, claro, y muy bueno! We finished breakfast, packed up shop and headed out on our ~45 minute journey to Boquete… to rainy, cold Boquete.
Boquete
Boquete is a beautiful town nestled in the mountains. There are only a few blocks of the city, with a river running through it. We found a very cute apartment to stay in. The facility had a very nice restaurant, bar and outdoor fire places in an eating area and lounge area. The place was right on the river.
There are many activities to do in Boquete: rock climbing, river rafting, ziplining, rappelling, hiking…. Unfortunately it was raining so much that the clan was not able to enjoy any of these activities. Anson and I ran off to hop in some hot springs for a bit, but that was the highlight of the day.
The hot springs are called Caldera and consist of ‘puddles’ and a ‘pool’. We had to drive to the hot springs, but weren’t able to drive the entire way due to the rain and the limitations of our 2wd little Yaris. We hiked a bit in ~ 35 min, to the entry point for the puddles and pools. The pool was 7 km away. With the rain, Sarah being in the apt watching the babies and time, we decided to head to the puddles which were about a 15 min walk away. The scenery was amazing! Beautiful views of various creeks, running water, the river and land. So green and lush with a gorgeous hazy mountain back drop.
The puddles were located on a local’s farm. We were charged $2 to enjoy the hot spring. The farm had an interesting mix of animals: chickens, dogs, donkeys, peacocks, ducks and a monkey. The monkey (which had some weird growth hanging from his nalgas) was hanging out with some folks who were enjoying the hot spring. The monkey was crawling around the people, being nosey and curious. The monkey took and drank a cup of coffee from one of the guys. This was a first. Anson and I enjoyed the other ‘puddle’, which had lukewarm water.. .there were hot spots as well as cold spots. This may have been due to the rain or it was a lowsy hot spring?
Anson and I had put our passports and wallet in a bag and set it aside us while we were in the hot spring. As my back was turned, the monkey started to get into the bag. Fortunately, Anson saw and I was able to grab the bag in time. Really? Sarah and I would have been stuck in Costa Rica and Anson broke because we were robbed by a lipstick showing monkey.
We headed back and grabbed dinner at the restaurant. I had some delicious red bell pepper and basil soup, a recipe I’m going to have to re-create.
Highlight of the day-> The Vodka and Ice Tea at the end of the night
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