Where am I?

My first stop in Panama: Bocas del Toro.  See map below.  Bocas is an island district off the NE coast of Panama.

I left Nuevo Arenal this weekend and took a shuttle to San Jose.  I spent the night in San Jose, then caught a very early flight to Bocas.  The town is small, so I walked from the tiny airport over to my hostel - Hosteluego.  It's a nice joint, which I think I need for my first big hostel experience.  Below are photos of the hostel, shared bath, my private room (worth the extra $), kitchen and common areas.  I probably won't post this many photos of subsequent hostels, but for now, I am a true first timer (and it's a really sweet place.... by way of hostels).

My new school is small, similar in size and number of students to my school in Costa Rica; however, the classrooms are all indoors here.  It takes some getting used to.  I kind of enjoyed the open air classrooms in CR, even when it was a million degrees.  You could learn, while still keeping an eye on everything going on at the school, stop class if anything interests was happening, wave to people on their way to the bathroom, etc.  Here, it's all business, all the time, in the classrooms :)

The 'big' town (and I use that term loosely) where I am staying, is the biggest town on the islands.  It's VERY different than anywhere I visited in CR.  The town is really dirty, kind of run down, and full of people that are here mostly to party. Costa Ricans keep their cities, towns, and land really clean, so the trash here is probably the biggest shocker for me.....it's all what you're used to, I suppose.  Anywho,  it's an interesting dynamic here, nonetheless, especially since the backpackers/vacationers/locals all mix together here more than I saw in CR.  It's a unique place, for sure. Below are some photos of the town.  There is a special kind of charm here though, I will at least say that- super laid back and easy going.

Right now, it's the super slow season in Bocas.  The hostel is quiet, the town is sleepy, and it's kind of hard to find tours that are running, since they don't have enough people to run them.  My plans to explore every afternoon take a little more finesse under these circumstances!

My first 2 days were rainy (boo!), class placement for school was a bit frustrating, and I was sad that the other students here aren't my friends from Tamarindo.  :(

Even though I got off to a rough start, today, the sun came out and I got to visit another island.  I took a water taxi with a couple people from school to Red Frog beach, and the 'how do I like Bocas' scale, is now tipping back towards 'like!'  The beach was amazing!  Best beach I have seen in a while.  Crystal clear, warm water, small waves, very few people around, etc.  We even needed to hike a bit from the boat dock to the beach, so we got to check out the jungle for a bit too.  Way cool place.  More fun times in Bocas to come.....hopefully!

Monteverde: Take 2

Susan and I ventured out to Monteverde for a quick overnight visit.  The roads, as per usual Costa Rican standards, suckola, so we thought it might be best to split the drive up into 2 days (it's about a 2.5 hour drive each way).  We headed out Tuesday afternoon, so we could get an early start on Wednesday.

Although I had been to Monteverde before, our major activity on this trip was much different than before. On this trip, we hit up the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. We got a private guide, Osbaldo, who took us around parts of the reserve for some animal, plant and bird watching.  HOLLA!  Bird watching- my new fave activity (at least for the last 72 hours).  Osbaldo LOVES his job, and his excitement had us all geeked out.  We asked a million questions, chased him through the reserve hunting for glimpses of certain birds, and we learned a ton of cool factoids about Costa Rican plant and wildlife.  The 3 of us were jiving so well, that our 2.5 hour tour lasted about 4 hours.

Throughout this entire trip (since I arrived n CR), I have learned all kinds of really really interesting things about nature, and I keep saying, 'nature is cool,' and the more I explore, the more true that statement is.  Nature is totally fascinating! I totally dig it!

Anyway, after we did some hiking and animal/plant/bird watching, we headed back to Nuevo Arenal. On the way back, we stopped at 'Viento Fresco Catarata'-  a private park where you can take a tough hour+ hike, but visit 4 different waterfalls, and even pop in one for a swim! We arrived late in the day, so we were the only ones there.  It was really nice to enjoy the trails and waterfalls without other people around-  our own private falls and swimming holes.  The roads might stink, but the scenery in Costa Rica is always worth the drive!

Nuevo Arenal

I left Tamarindo and headed to Nuevo Arenal.  Susan, my good friend's mom, is house sitting in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks, so I am visiting her for several days.  The planets certainly aligned, because our timing could not have worked out better.

The last few days have been fantastic, and this week is a great transition for me.  I am essentially going from 8 weeks of  routine and being in 1 spot, to several months of being on the move MUCH more often, so stopping in between to visit an old friend has been perfect. PLUS, Susan likes to explore, so we have been enjoying lots of stuff in  the area.

Casa de Susan has also been very relaxing - great views, a cool breeze, a nice pool, and a bird feeder-  yes, a bird feeder!  Sounds cheesy, but I am totally into the birding thing at the moment.  Just sitting on the patio, we have seen all kinds of intereting and colorful birds....birds are neato, in a cool nerdy way......well, at least the birds in Costa Rica.

On an unrelated note, the house has super hot water in the shower, there are fluffy bath towels, I can flush the toilet paper (a rare occurrence in CR), ceiling fans, AND  (drum role, please) a washer and dryer!!  I am in heaven!

We spent the first 2 days hanging out in La Fortuna, near the Arenal Volcano.  We visited natural hot springs, hiked to a giant waterfall where we got to go swimming, and also visited another area where we got to do some waterfall repelling (yet another activity where I somehow end up dropping off a platform, bridge or cliff).......Fun, as always.  I suppose I like dropping off of things (when it's not an accident, of course).

Glad I didn't leave CR without a visit to Arenal!

On The Move

After 8 weeks, lots of sweating, Nougi's banana pie, 2 dance lessons, 1 week of surf lessons, a number of Team Playas weekend trips, an occasional drink at Sharky's, Addy's Cuban sandwiches, morning jogs to Langosta, afternoons at the beach, 160+ hours of Spanish lessons, howler-monkey wake-up calls, beast-sounding iguanas on the roof, several afternoon naps on weekdays (woo hoo!), dusty streets, 1 trip to the doctor, 2 nights at the Tico rodeo, sunsets at the beach, AND most importantly, amazingly wonderful new friends......I am officially on the move. I am hanging in the Nuevo Arenal for a week until heading to Panama.

So long,Tamarindo!

Nicaragua Take Two

Holy moly!  Nicaragua re-do was fan-flipping-tastic!
Again, we had another ah-MAZING group of wicked awesome peeps on our trip.  Nine of us from school went this time; some new friends that just started at the school, and 4 of us that made the Nicaragua trip attempt 2 weeks ago.

We got to sleep in this time and leave a little later......4:30am.  Woo hoo!  We drove a couple hours to the border, hopped out and breezed through customs.  This time, the border crossing process was ridiculously smooth and fast (thank goodness).

Once in to Nicaragua, we drove another 1.5 hours to Apoyo Lagoon.  It's a crater lake that was created by volcanic activity a go-gillion years ago, and since then, it has filled with subterranean water and rain water.  Long story short, it's a lovely lake, that we got to view from a breezy hilltop, once we finally got out of the van in Nicaragua.

Afterwards, we headed to see the Masaya Volcano. After a quick stop at the main gate for our tour guide to sign some safety waivers for the group, we got some hard hats, and we headed up to the top of the volcano.  P.S. just in case boulders start to spew from the volcano, head underneath the bus. (Eeek! Yup, that's what we were told). Anywho, looking down into the volcano was pretty cool, although we couldn't see too far dow; there was a constant cloud of gas lingering over the hole.  AND said sulfur-y gas was stinky.

Then, off to do some shopping!  It's cooler than it sounds.  We went to a really cool outdoor market filled with rows and rows of cheap stuffs.  Cool stuff too (leather goods, paintings, hammocks, jewelry, tchotchkes, stuffed frogs , carved wood bowls, etc. etc.).  Vendor after vendor had the same stuff, but it was neat to cruise the merchandise.  We ate at the market too- GIANT kabobs.  Super yums! De-licious food.

Then, off to Granada, a city founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s.  We visited a church originally built in 1539!  We went up to the bell tower for some sweet views of the city.   After carefully making our way back down the super narrow/steep staircase, we went to a city park right next to the big (very yellow) cathedral in town.   After  cruising the park and opting out of the romantical horse and carriage ride (haha), we headed to the lake, Lake Granada.

The lake has over 350 small islands.  They are all somewhat clustered together, and we got to take a nice boat ride in and around some of the islands.  Some are small, with a couple of trees and shrubs, but others, have snazzy houses on them.  One island even had a couple monkeys on it.  Apparently, a man who had some annoying monkeys on his property, moved them out to a small island he owned in the lake.  A little weird, but the island has enough food for them, plenty of trees, and there is a lot of activity around to keep them occupied.  After our relaxing boat ride, we headed back to Costa Rica.

Another super swell, super fun day: great peeps, interesting activities, yummy food, new adventures.  Muy excelente!  :)

Bungee Video

Proof:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10103119045519654&set=vb.8346973&type=2&theater

Hopefully the link works!  HOLLA!