One Way United

Just kidding. I only wanted your attention. I love to travel and discover new lands and cultures. Already I have budding plans for future trips over the rest of this great Earth and all continents (that will all happen well in the future I can assure you). Traveling like this has been one of the grandest experiences of my life. I would definitely recommend that everyone at some point in their life should get out and explore the world around them at least a little bit. Despite the wonders this planet has to offer though, I know a good many people never really go anywhere. They might say things like “I can’t get time off work” or “I don’t have the cash” or any number of excuses, which may or may not be valid. But I think a lot of the time people don’t go anywhere because they’re afraid something bad might happen to them.

It is true: if you travel for any length of time eventually you are going to run into some misfortune. It may not be serious but it will be frustrating at the very least. We’ve had all sorts of things happen to us over the months. We got lost in a huge city. We had a cab driver rip us off. We’ve lost various belongings. We’ve gotten really sick in really inconvenient places. And there’s something about being a really long way from home that tends to magnify even the slightest of problems. But so far we’ve been very fortunate in that nothing incredibly terrible has happened…until recently.

Bocas del Toro was an awesome place. A bit crowded and touristy at time, but how can you turn down snorkeling in the Caribbean? We did and saw lots of cool stuff including a 1 meter long baracuda! After spending lots of time playing cards and chilling out we set out to say goodbye to Panama and make our way to Costa Rica. Taking a couple taxis, one of which had this guy zooming down these winding roads at around 70 mph that you should really only be doing 35 on. This is rather common of cab drivers down here but he also might have been showing off his new car since he’d only had it for four days. We crossed the border to Costa Rica and made it into Puerto Viejo.

Take every image you’ve ever had of the Caribbean and you’ve got this town. Beautiful beaches, open bars with sand floors, fantastic drinks and food; this place had it all. We were all set to just kick back and enjoy everything there was to offer out here. The restaurant we ate at had daquris 2 for $4 at happy hour. We asked the waitress when happy hour was and she replied “All day”. Tell me that’s not cool. So we ate and enjoyed a drink and played some Pinochle (yes, we know we’re odd). Then we headed out to the beach to catch some surf. We marveled at the beauty around us, and we found a nice semi-empty beach with some good waves. We got into our suits to head out wave jumping. The water was the absolute perfect temperature, comfortable the entire time even as the sun was setting. We rode waves, laughed, and got way too much salt in our mouths. And then…it started.

This next point I freely admit was all my fault as I was being a bit of a bonehead. While wave jumping at some point I got turned around and hit by a rogue wave I wasn’t ready for. I was drug under, remained there for several seconds, and in the chaos of it all the riptide pulled my glasses off (reason I hate wearing glasses #175). I grabbed frantically for them but the slipped just out of my fingers. Jordan and I searched for them in the surf, which is useless when the waves are pounding on you relentlessly. I knew it was a lost cause right away and we headed back to where our stuff was. In the end though, it turns out I got off easy. We arrived to fine some hooligans had made of with some of our stuff. Jordan lost his camera and Amanda lost a bag with her journal, glasses, sunglasses, her book Elantris (which she was only 100 pages away from finishing), and her camera as well. We searched and came up with nothing. We walked to the police station in the dark, defeated, me going very carefully as I am functionally blind with out my specs. The police were nice of course, but we all new the odds of anything coming out of this were slim to none. So we went back to the first bar to take advantage of all day happy hour. We decided to play some cards to unwind only to realize, the final insult, that both the regular cards and the pinochle deck were in Amanda’s stolen bag! I tell you we were pretty pathetic. Of coarse we were all aggravated to various degrees. I feel especially bad for Amanda who in her few short weeks here has had more regular stressful occurances then Jordan and I have seen in our first six months! She has been taking it very well I think and will enjoy the rest of her stay here I’m sure. We were all able to laugh and get on with life.

We caught the bus to San Jose, a city we’d told is not that great. It’s actually rather non-descript. Not bad really, but not anything to write about. We did get to finally see Pirates of the Caribbean, after a much anticipated wait. So now I sit here updating the site with a long post and pictures at the same time (note to future employers: I am a good multi-tasker) while Jordan and Amanda are out doing some white water rafting. Ordinarily I would have gone but my funds are rather diminished now and things in Costa Rica are pretty dang expensive. So we will leave tomorrow, right after I get my new glasses hopefully. Where we’ll go hasn’t really been decided yet. But even with all these troubles I still enjoy traveling. Learning to roll with the punches is essential if you’re going to do something like this and since we’re all physically ok you learn to appreciate that.

As always our best to all our loved ones at home. Be sure to check out the photo gallery as a bunch of new pics have gone up. Later!

Share on Facebook

Hey all! Well, we are now in the laid back paradise town of Boca del Toro.  It is unbelievable here; beautiful coral reefs, blue water, bare feet, and chill bars that have Christmas lights and play Jack Johnson.  I keep wondering how in the world I was able to end up here, its awesome!

Well, as Adam stated, Panama City was quite an adventure.  The flood was quite an adventure indeed; it was no exageration to say that the water went ankle deep.  I had a book on the floor and it actually floated to the other end of the room! Wouldn´t change a thing though, except for maybe the hotel room, that place was actually quite disgusting!  Anyway, we left Panama City for the 2nd largest city in Panama, David.  While Panama has 700,000 people, the second largest city only has 70,000; so we found it a nice change of pase to the craziness of the big city! On the way over, these border patrol (even though we weren´t crossing the border) stopped us and did an incredibly thorough drug search.  There was a dog that had to sniff out our bus, luggage, and carry-ons.  I was paranoid, what if somebody slipped something in my bag like in Brokedown Palace or something.  But, we were all clean (big sigh of relief).  And there was a nice old lady who made sure to tell us that they were checking for Drogas, as though we couldn´t figure it out when a giant German Shepard began sniffing all our belongings!

Once in David, we stayed in a nice hostel called the Purple House, and no joke, EVERYTHING was purple.  The walls, the clock, the sheets, the curtains, the nicknacks, the dishes, everything!  It was very relaxing, and I enjoyed a morning of coffee (not the instant kind!) and reading my book. 

Unfortanely, we could only spend one night in the Purple House before hopping on another bus to Bocas del Toro.  This bus ride was only about 4 hours and for the most part was absolutely beautiful.  I didn´t realize that Panama had so many highlands! We passed through mist covered mountains and got a little break from the intense heat and humidity from the lowlands.  Anyway, Bocas del Toro is a town on Isla Colon, one of the may islands in the archipelago.  After hotel shopping for a while, we stumbled on Hotel Brisas, a hotel that sits right on the water and has a huge deck with hammocks, chairs, and (to Jordan and Adams great pleasure), a giant water trampoline!  Since we arrived late, we just hung out for a while at a very chill bar drinking Sangria and beer (and playing pinochle of course), and then back to the hotel where Jordan and I stared out at all the boats in the night and relaxing in the gentle Caribbean breeze (am I making anyone jealous yet)? :O)

Today, we all rented kayaks for 4 hours and paddled around this island near Isla Colon.  It was the first time any of us have been REAL Ocean kayaking, meaning that you have to deal with currents and breaking waves.  We did fine though, although I am so feeling the burn in my arms (and when i say burn, i mean my muscles.  Although Jordan and Adam may have a different interpretation, I was the only one who decided to wear sunscreen!)  The highlight of the trip was this small deserted beach we found where we ended up just playing around in the water and looking at bright colored fishies! These beaches were gorgeous, I mean they were the whole deal, palm trees, coconuts, and all!

Well, thats all for now.  Off for some ice cream and perhaps more cards.  Tomorrow we are taking an all day tour that will take us by some dolphins and let us snorkel in some (hopefully) great reefs.  Love to all, and of course, more to follow!

Share on Facebook

Getting into Panama City was an adventure in itself. It was on a Sunday just as the sun was going down. We had no concept of where to go and luckily a couple of nice policemen showed us the way to a cheap hotel. On the way we passed loads of people banging drums and creating a ruckus in the street. We think our guides said it had something to do with their independence day, but when we looked in the guidebook apparently Panama has three independence days. History must be a fun class here. So we got to the hotel and it’s one of the dingiest ones I’ve ever seen in my life. The pictures will make you laugh. Still it was adequate and I was content just to have somewhere to stay with AC in that ridiculously humid city. We didn’t count on a monsoon happening though.

 I don’t know how serious of a storm it was for this area, but it was an adventure for us. The lightning was so close and so loud it was setting off people’s car alarms. So I’m laying awake in bed at 5 a.m. when I get a knock on my door. It was Jordan (he and Amanda were in a different room) and apparently the torential downpour had flooded their entire room! They claim they were akle deep in water at one point. The staff helped us move their stuff to a new room, sloshing through water all the while. It was chaotic at the time but we’ll be laughing about that one for years to come.

The next day (July 17th) was my 22nd birthday. We celebrated by setting off to see the engineering marvel that is the Panama Canal. This place is definitely impressive and we watched two ships go through the locks (albeit very slowly) and played pinochle, just so we could say we were one of the few people on the planet who had played pinochle at the Panama Canal. We also found it funny that, according to the informational video and museum there, that some man from Spain “discovered” the Pacific Ocean. How great for him.

After that we made our way to a mall, ate way too much at the local burger joint, and saw Superman Returns at the movies. We agreed that it merits an 8 out of 10 and is definitely worth a view. Today we’ll board a bus to the town of David, Panama from which we think we’ll go on to the Caribbean coast! That should be cool. Love to all.

Share on Facebook