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Published: December 12th 2011
Last Day at Maximo
Us with Hannah, one of the amazing MN staffOur time in Costa Rica is now offically over and we wanted to take a minute to say thank you to all of you at home who have been following along on our adventures. We know many of our family and friends are reading our blog and it means a lot knowing that you are keeping up with us! We are just as curious about what is going on in Canada (or wherever you happen to be!) so if something interesting is happening in your life please send us a note... we miss you all very much! We hope you enjoy this very long post... we promise to start writing shorter ones!
Our last day in Costa Rica was definitely a sad one. We began to feel so comfortable and at home with the city, our host family, and our friends (both staff and other volunteers) at Maximo, that in some ways it feels as though our trip is only now beginning, as we have spent the past month at a home away from home. However as cliche as it may sound, all good things must come to an end, and though we were very sad to leave (and hope
Toucan
Up close and personal! very much to one day return), we are excited to embark on the next phase of our journey.
That said, we made the most of our last day in the country. We decided to go to La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which is essentially an exotic zoo. We had the chance to see many tropical animals up close and personal - a toucan sat on Liz's arm, we held hands with a spider monkey, and we saw a sloth up close while morpho butterflies (like the one in the photo) flitted about all around us (one even landed on Chris' head)! We saw an albino squirrel as well as jungle cats (not just jungle cats - jungle cats fighting!), Chris' jungle cat search was complete! The gardens themselves are beautiful and we saw several waterfalls surrounded by lush green vegetation.
Our ride home was interesting.. it was actually 2 hours each way, and on the drive home we are pretty sure our driver was rushing to get back in time to see the big soccer match - 2 local teams, Alajuela and Saprissa (the San Jose favourite) were playing in the last game of the season. As a result,
Morpho Butterfly
These mariposas are so beautiful! cars all around us were flying large flags in support of their favourite teams, honking, and driving like maniacs (specifically our driver, who decided to actually pass another car ON A SPEED BUMP - not fun for those of us at the back of the bus!). We were very happy to finally get home to our family to enjoy one last dinner together. After some chicken soup and fanta (yum) we packed everything and said our goodbyes before heading to the bus station.
Our bus left San Jose at 11 pm on December 4th and we arrived in Panama City at 4:30 pm on December 5th. To make a long story short (i.e. if you'd like to skip the next paragraph), we spent 4 hours at the border! For the long version, read on...
We arrived at the border at 4:30 am. This also happened to be when the border CLOSED (or the workers went on break - we're not sure), and did not reopen again until 6:00 am. At this point, our entire busload of people had to be processed and receive their exit stamps just to leave Costa Rica. This was only phase one of the
border crossing! Once we "left" Costa Rica, we had to walk about 200m to the Panama border.. and go through the process all over again. We waited what seemed like forever to gain entry into the country, after which we had to collect all of our bags from the bus and wait until the customs inspection room was free for our group. The light in the tunnel here was a group from the Salvation Army in Panama, who were returning after performing a concert in Costa Rica. They decided to break out their instruments and entertain us with some Christmas carols while we waited (see pic). After we enjoyed a few tunes the room became available and we piled in and put our bags on tables while the customs officers took attendance. After a brief (and thankfully, hassle-free) bag inspection we were back on the bus at 8:30 am, 4 hours after we had first stopped.
A few hours and a couple of Spanish-dubbed movies later, we arrived at the giant bus terminal slash mall in Panama City. A $5 cab ride brought us to Hostal Urraca, which proved to be an excellent choice for our lodging in the
Saying Goodbye to the Fam
Us with our Mama Tica, Marina, and brother Gerson city. This charming, friendly hostel is located right in the middle of all of the major sites we planned to visit, and featured a full kitchen so we could enjoy some home-cooked meals of our own choosing (thanks also to a huge grocery store just around the corner, which we visited every day of our stay 😊. The sausage and pepper pasta that we made was to die for! Wine is very cheap in Panama as well (we didn't pay more than $5 for a bottle 😉, so we were able to enjoy some vino with our pasta without breaking the bank.
For our first full day in Panama City, we decided to explore the area called "Casco Viejo" (or Casco Antiguo), which is the city that was built after the original Panama City was destroyed (see Panama Viejo, below). This area was somewhat abandoned when they started building the commercial centre that is Panama City today, but ongoing revitilization and reconstruction efforts are slowly turning the area into the latest up-and-coming neighbourhood in the city. We spent a couple of hours exploring this part of town, where it was very interesting to see the old and new colonial
Salvation Army
Christmas carols at the border style buildings (the renovations are staying true to the original style). Casco Viejo is on the waterfront and also offered amazing views of the high-rises of Panama City, which is known as the Miami of Central America for good reason. After enjoying a satisfying lunch (including freshly made fruit juice like we enjoyed in Costa Rica) at an organic eatery we continued walking the streets until we noticed that our surroundings started to appear more and more sketchy with each block. Finally a local store owner gave us a finger wag and pointed us in the opposite direction from where we were heading. At first I thought he was trying to discourage me from taking photos but Chris realized that this was our signal to get out of there!
On Wednesday we decided that a relaxing beach day was in order, so we took a taxi along the Amador Causeway to the Calypso dock, where we boarded a ferry to Isla Taboga, which is (apparently) the closest beach to Panama City. There is pretty much nothing to do on this island but lay on the beach, which is exactly what we had in mind. We rented a beach umbrella
Hostal Urraca
That's me in the hammock swing! and enjoyed the sun, which at 9:30 am felt like it was high noon! When it did reach noon, the rain came, which was probably good timing, otherwise we might have been badly burned! We took refuge in the close-by El Mirador restaurant, a little cantina with a view of the bay where beer was 75 cents and the waiter was eating an orange while he served us drinks (seriously - there was an orange seed on Chris' bottle of Balboa). Once the rain let up we explored the island a little bit and finding little of interest we headed back to the beach for some more sunning, swimming and relaxing before it was time to take the ferry back to the city. The ride home was cold but we enjoyed beautiful views of the sun setting over the bay and the city skyline coming to life.
On Thursday we decided to explore Panama Viejo, the ruins that remain of the original Panama City, which is located on the opposite side of town from Casco Viejo. Unfortunately because it was Mother's Day (National holiday in Panama), a large portion of the ruins were closed to visitors. We strolled through
Pasta & Wine
Sausage and pepper pasta - delish! the open section and took interest in the view of the shiny new city as the backdrop to the crumpled remains of the original site. As we walked along the path within the ruins we noticed again that we seemed to be heading away from the touristy area and into a not-so-good neighbourhood (as in Casco Viejo, this happens quickly!). Our suspicions were confirmed when again we were warned, this time by a local policeman who whistled to get our attention and then waved us over. He told us to turn back, as we were approaching an area where theft was common. It seems we have some guardian angels along side of us! After this we decided we had seen most of the ruins and it was time to head back into the city. We relaxed at the hostel until it was time to meet up with a friend of Chris' (whom he met through Pete) who lives in the city. He took us back to Casco Viejo where we enjoyed dinner at a charming Italian style restaurant (complete with patio chairs made out of wine barrels!) right on the water.
We saved the main attraction for our last
day in the country: the Panama Canal. This engineering marvel and 8th wonder of the world was one of the main reasons we wanted to see Panama, and we were not disappointed. We were blessed with a glorious sunny day and, after a morning shopping detour, we still had plenty of time to explore the small Panama canal museum as well as watch the larger freighters (one was coupled with two small sailboats - quite the sight!) pass through the Miraflores Locks before catching our late night flight to Lima. At first we were disappointed that we were not able to take a boat tour and ride in the locks ourselves (this tour ran only on Saturday, so we missed it by one day), but after seeing massive cargo ships with thousands of containers traverse the locks with little clearance and from only a few feet away, we were happy with our excursion.
And there you have it.. all in one blog we said adios to Costa Rica and hola Panama, and we are now in Peru... but we will save that for the next (hopefully shorter) post!
All our love,
Liz & Chris
p.s. As mentioned,
Isla Taboga
This reminded us of Capri, only a little less fancy! December 8th was Mother's Day in Panama... it is a national holiday that many people have off from work! Just wanted both of our moms to know that we were thinking of you on that special day. December 9th was a special day as well... hope you had an amazing birthday Greavy!
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Mum
non-member comment
Wow
Let me repeat, Wow! I'd say you are both really enjoying your journey. Can't let this one pass without saying thank you for the Mother's Day nod... those Central Americans sure have it right!!!! Love the pic of the two of you jumping on the beach. Nice effect! Can't wait to hear more... esp. after your Incan adventure. Keep well. Mum xo.