Panama and Costa Rica

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It feels like weeks since I last updated this (this is possibly because it has been weeks). I´m afraid I´ve been having far too much of a good time. Thought it was about time I rambled on some more about my adventures though, and I´ve finally got around to uploading some photos to go with my other entries so take a look if you feel so inclined.

I only ended up spending a couple of days in Granada before I decided I wanted to sit on buses all day again and so I set off for San Jose in Costa Rica. It took me 10 hours (3 buses and a wait at the border) to get there. When I arrived I obviously felt that I hadn´t had enough of buses because I decided I was going to take the 17 hour journey to Panama City that night. I was dreading it because I hate having to sleep on buses but it actually turned out to be a lot more bearable than I´d expected because by the time the bus set off at 11pm (way past my bed time) I was so tired that it only took me about 2 hours to get to sleep. We got to the border at 5am and then spent a shocking three hours getting through immigration. First we had to wait for the office to open on the Costa Rican side at 6am then wait for everyone to be let out of Costa Rica (this was done very slowly). Then in Panama we had to wait in the queue for immigration which also moved very slowly and quite a few people clearly hadn´t grasped the concept of queuing and then to top it all off every single person on the bus had to get their luggage out of the bus and go and have it inspected! Not exactly efficient... Anyway it was only another 7 hours from there to Panama City and we were looked after very well - they kept bringing us drinks and food as though we were on a plane.

In Panama City I took a taxi to a hostel in the Casco Viejo district which was once quite posh but is now crumbling into decay so it´s an interesting place, even if it´s the sort of area where they refill the water bottles with tap water and try to sell them to you. The taxi driver decided he´d take me to some completely different hostel and I didn´t realise until too late so I had a nice walk around the run down area with all my possessions looking completely lost. I ended up getting a room in a really interesting hotel which used to house the canal workers. It was fascinating - like stepping back in time. My room felt like a cross between a prison cell and a 1950s hospital ward. There was a great balcony though with a view of the Pacific. On my first night in Panama I decided to take a bus to a bookshop because I needed something else to read. I was hoping I´d be able to follow the progress of the bus on my map but then unfortunately the nighttime happened. The guy sitting beside me was chatting to me and he asked me where I was going. At first he acted as though he´d never heard of this place but later on he decided he knew where I was supposed to get off the bus. I actually thought he was a bit unhinged and was convinced he didn´t know where this place was but I got off where he told me to thinking I´d just give up and get in a taxi. I didn´t half feel stupid when it turned out the bookshop was exactly where he´d told me it would be! Getting a taxi back to the hotel turned out to be more of a hassle because the driver told me he knew where it was but obviously didn´t because he kept trying to drop me off at "cheaper" and "better" places and when we finally got to Casco Viejo we ended up driving round in circles until eventually I saw something I recognised and decided to get out and walk!

On my second day in Panama I decided to go and visit the Miraflores Locks to see the canal. The road was closed where the buses were meant to be so I found myself waiting at a nearby bus station looking lost. A man asked me where I wanted to go and just like the guy on the bus at first he acted as though he didn´t have a clue but then suddenly he decided he did know after all and pointed to a bus, told me to take it to the bus station, then go to the end of the bus station and get on a bus labeled "SACA". Once again I wasn´t convinced but was again proved wrong when I followed his instructions and ended up on a bus going to the locks! The Miraflores Locks were very impressive. Seeing the canal was wonderful and I got to see a huge ship going through the locks. The visitors centre there was excellent with a good video on the canal and a museum.

After seeing the canal I walked back to the highway and caught a bus heading further out of Panama City. I´d asked to be dropped off at the zoo and the driver let me off at a junction. I didn´t really have a clue where I was supposed to go but decided to follow the road leaving off the highway and fortunately discovered the zoo half an hour later! There wasn´t much there and I was treated to plenty of rain but there was a decent exhibition on harpy eagles and I got to see a presentation on them. The "jaguar world" was good too because there was an interactive path where you could pretend to stalk like a jaguar. I think it was designed for 5 year olds but that didn´t stop me having a go.

I spent a few more days in Panama City not really doing much but seeing the sights. I also went to a causeway near the city which was really peaceful and had great views of the city skyline. I´ve never seen rain like I have in Panama and it went on for ages. I was also in a storm with the loudest thunder I´ve ever heard - it made my ears hurt! One night in Panama City it was pouring with rain and I was waiting for a taxi to get back to my hotel. For some reason none of the taxis seemed to be stopping but a kind young woman about my age took pity on me and decided to offer me a lift. I know it´s not a good idea to hitchhike but I trusted her and she was insisting so I got in. I think she misheard where I wanted to go because we ended up at the bus station but at least I knew I get a taxi easily from there so I didn´t say anything. As we were nearing the bus station, I saw a bus getting closer and closer and I was sure it was about to stop any second... but it didn´t! The bus drove straight into us! Fortunately no one was hurt but that was the end of my lift. I felt really sorry for the driver because she was telling me that the insurance companies don´t usually pay up when a bus is involved. There was nothing I could do so I wished her luck and left to go and find a taxi but then realised that the accident had blocked the road so no taxis were coming through! I managed to get back to my hotel in the end though. On my last night in Panama City I met a guy who said he´d left his bag with his money/passport etc in his taxi and he needed some advice about getting to the American embassy. I ended up giving him $20 and I´m still not sure whether I was duped or not. I don´t think I was though and he didn´t actually ask for the money, I just gave it him because I love frittering away my money on randoms.

I took the 17 hour night bus back to San Jose which wasn´t fun but the bus was only half full so again it turned out to be quite bearable. A new record of three and a half hours was set at the border. This was due largely to the fact that we had to wait for the Panama immigration office to open and then, because Costa Rica is an hour behind, we had to wait another hour for the Costa Rica office to open! Utterly ridiculous if you ask me - you´d think they´d come to some sort of an arrangement about opening at the same time...? And then of course we had the business of getting our luggage off the bus for it to be inspected... At the border I was having a proper conversation with a guy in Spanish but by the time he started saying things I didn´t understand I felt too embarrassed to tell him I don´t speak much Spanish because I´d already been talking to him for ages. So then I spent about 10 minutes trying to nod and laugh and shake my head at what I hoped was the right times.

Back in San Jose it was raining and it didn´t take long for me to realise that I was going to have to get used to it. I´ve decided that this "rainy season" everyone goes on about isn´t just a myth. I found a nice hostel owned by a Swiss guy which had hot water! Bliss... I spent a couple of days in San Jose which is a nice enough city - more "American" than other Central American capitals I´ve been to. I visited the Jade Museum which was interesting and then walked to a park a few miles away from the centre. As soon as I got there it started pouring with rain. I think the highlight of San Jose was going to a Peruvian restaurant where I had a pisco sour (Peru´s signature cocktail)! That really brought back memories... I was going to have another one until I realised that I was actually going to having trouble standing just with the first - and that´s how much of a lightweight I´ve become.

I then took a bus south to Quepos which took 4 hours which felt quite short! Quepos wasn´t particularly special but it´s close to the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio which I´d heard so much about. Manuel Antonio was fantastic - it seemed like everywhere you looked there were more interesting creatures! The most exciting were the red crabs which at first I didn´t believe could exist so I thought they either must be birds or someone was having a laugh and had painted them! I also saw a howler monkey, some other types of monkeys, a sloth, some iguanas, racoons, a leaf insect, a bullfrog, a bright blue butterfly and some strange eel/snake like thing in the sea. There were some really nice trails going through the jungle with some great views of the ocean and a lovely beach with amazingly warm water. And it didn´t start raining until after I´d left the park!

I spent another night in Quepos and then went back to San Jose. I found a quality hotel right by the bus station. It was really noisy as you´d expect but had hot water and cable TV! The next morning I went to visit Volcan Poas which is three hours away from San Jose. At the volcano I couldn´t see a thing because the fog was so thick. It would have been a complete waste of time if I hadn´t met a really nice couple from New York, Rene and Denise. We walked round some of the trails together then went for a coffee because we were freezing cold and it was raining again and then we got the bus back to San Jose.

That evening I was just getting ready for bed when someone knocked on my door in the hostel. I opened it to find two guys standing there with some sort of form that one of them was waving at me. I immediately assumed they were with the hostel and needed me to fill in my passport details etc. but when I looked at the form it was something about being an American citizen so I then spent five minutes looking like a complete idiot trying to explain to them that I wasn´t American until it eventually dawned on me that they needed help with something and when I actually looked at the form I realised it was an application for American citizenship! It turned out that I was the only person in the hostel who could read this form and they needed it translating into Spanish. I pity anyone who has to rely on me to translate anything into Spanish for them. I couldn´t exactly say no though so I followed them down to the lobby feeling like a bit of a muppet in my Spongebob Squarepants pajamas. One of the men had told me he needed the form filling in for his son, which I assumed was the other younger guy but when I got to the lobby there was a woman there with a four day old child! He was absolutely adorable, I wanted to steal him. I did my best to help them with the form but to be honest it was so badly written that I had trouble understanding it myself. We exchanged email addresses anyway so they could let me know how it goes and fingers crossed little baby Juan will get his American passport!

I really liked the Costa Ricans in general and was impressed by their attitude and helpfulness. Quite often I saw men giving up their seats on buses etc. for women (including me) and I also saw a guy run after a taxi to give the woman inside the purse that she´d just dropped in the street. There was also a refreshing absence of hissing.

On Monday I flew from San Jose to Guatemala City. I nearly missed my plane because I was waiting at the wrong gate (again). At the airport in Guatemala I took a shuttle bus to Antigua which is a very picturesque city which is well-known for its Spanish schools and as a consequence it´s full of tourists! It is beautiful though as it has loads of character and surrounded by volcanoes. I found another hostel with hot water so I´m feeling really spoilt now! Yesterday I went to get some information about different Spanish schools and was given tours of some of them. I eventually settled on one where the lessons are held outside in the courtyard and the staff seemed really helpful. I signed up for 20 hours of private tuition with a guest house/homestay and three meals a day, all for $185. I´ve also been assured that the accomodation will have hot water!

I had my first 4 hours of lessons this morning. My teacher is really nice but her English isn´t as good as I´d have expected. I think that´s a good thing though because it means I have no option but to try to make myself understood to her in Spanish. It´s quite intense having 4 solid hours of private tuition but I think I learnt a few things today! The lessons are from 8am-midday and then in the afternoons there´s sometimes some activities organised by the school.

At lunchtime I was met by the woman who I´ll be spending my first two nights with (then apparently I´ll be spending the other five nights elsewhere but I´m not really sure what´s happening yet). She´s really nice and has been very welcoming. It´s amazing being able to stay in someone´s actual home and really see how they live. But it´s also quite embarrassing because of the fact that the meals are included so she has to cook for me. I´m not sure if I´m the only student staying with her - I think she mentioned that there might be someone else later.

I´ve been really enjoying myself lately and have definitely fallen back in love with Latin America. Could still do with a decent cup of tea though!

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Comments

[anonymous]

Go, Alice, Go! If you believe anything else that you are told by random men you might end up getting pregnant and having a gorgeous 4 day old baby yourself. mary andrew arlo martha xxx