Advertisement
Published: April 30th 2009
Edit Blog Post
QUEPOS and MANUEL ANTONIO
After we left Jacki in Jaco, we traveled farther down the coast to Quepos, Costa Rica. Our two favorite things about Costa Rica were the wildlife and the beaches. Quepos offered both of them with world class surfing and Manuel Antionio Park.
The road from downtown Quepos to Manuel Antionio is littered with small resorts built into the cliff. It is quite beautiful and had more of a family appeal than did Jaco. We stayed in the only lodge that offered direct beach access so we could watch the surf. The first day the water was calm and I felt confident that I would be able to handle the waves, but there was a storm off the coast that night and when I awoke for my lesson the waves were easily twice as big. My 17 year old Costa Rican instructor was totally stoked that the waves were huge. I wish I could say the same. After nearly drowning me in my first wave I made sure to tell him in spanish that I wanted to start with only the smaller sets. And then work my way up, of course. It only took 3 wipeouts before
I stood up and once that happened I did not go down again until I upgraded to the ´adult waves´, as my instructor put it. All in all I think i did quite well and even managed to impress Julie who would not enter the water because of the fierce surf.
We took a tour of Manuel Antonio Park. Our tour guide, was the son of the man who sold the land to the Costa Rican government. He grew up there and among other things he pointed out where his home once stood among the dense jungle. We saw 2 and 3 toed Sloths and a rare 5 toed sloth. We also saw monkeys, lizards, birds, killer bees and various other creatures.
BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA
We flew from Quepos (on the Pacific) to Bocas Del Toro ( in the Caribean) in 50 minutes on a 12 seater prop plane that took off an landed at airstrips that were called local airports but looked more like long driveways. In Bocas there is a futbol field at the end of the runway. Games don´t stop for planes to land. The plane reached a max altitude of 6,000 feet, 4000
ft lower than what we sky dived from last summer. Bocas was an interesting little fishing town. Totally noncommercial. It is so isolated that if a storm comes through, the whole town can be without water and/or fresh food for days. We checked into a little motel on the water and hired a local to take us out on his boat for the day. We watched dolphins, went snorkeling, and visited Red Frog Beach. Red Frog is famous for, well red frogs, but also its surf. The reef and many sand bars create incredible waves and even stronger rip tides. By the way, we have not seen one lifeguard on the whole trip. Anyway, Red Frog was the best beach I´ve ever seen. Six or seven waves were always breaking and often 3 of them would crest simultaneously. We ate lunch in a hut on the water. We had fresh caught fish and watched them prepare it from start to finish.
Panama City
We flew from Bocas to Panama City and were happy to see a McDonalds and every other fast food joint we have in the states. Speaking of food, the food on the trip has been delicious
when we stick to local dishes and terrible when we venture off for a native´s take on Italian or American cuisine. The typical dish in Costa Rica is called Casado and consists of rice and beans (everything has rice and beans), a choice of beef/chicken/fish, fried plantains, salad and sauteed vegies all on one plate, for between 5 and 10 dollars. Most days I ate it for lunch and dinner. Also, milkshakes and fresh fruit smoothies are very popular and for good reason. My only complaint thus far is that most of the food, no matter the establishment, is way over salted.
Panama City is at the tail end of a real estate boom bigger than Miami´s. As a result, it is loaded with new high-rise buildings. Because of the canal and our presence here for the last 100 years, Panama City offers everything that you could find in NY, from the retail stores to the supermarkets. We went to a steak house with Juan and Maria, our new Columbian friends that live in Panama and will be joining us in Durham this summer. We ate a NY Strip Steak that riveled any NY city steak house for $15.
We also sat VIP in the movies. I never heard of this before, but for $9 you can watch the movie on a Lazyboy reclining couch for two with a tv tray and waiter service. Pretty sweet!
Julie and I took a day trip to the Canal, the local zoo, Casco Viejo and Panama Viejo with the husband of Juan and Maria´s housekeeper as our giude. He spoke less english than I speak spanish so it made the day interesting. We leave in the morning for Isla Contadora, an island on the Pacific side of Panama.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.12s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0938s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Adam
non-member comment
Whos Jacki?
Looks like you guys are having an amazing time! We love the updates and Josh you are a great writer. I think we should pitch a show to the travel channel based on your adventures, ill think of a good name for it. Stay safe, have fun. Cant wait for the next update.