Cacomistles, Olingos, Kinkajous, oh my!

This is precisely why it is a good thing to update this blog more often: so many stories to tell! Our adventure out of Costa Rica into dryer Panama took us to a place called La Fortuna Forest Reserve, in the highlands of western Panama. We stayed at Panama´s only Eco Lodge which was nestled awesomely in the jungle, with a 15 minute hike to the road (yes, when it was built they hauled in all the building materials on their sweaty backs). We didn´t even need to leave the hostel to see wildlife- including hundreds of hummingbirds, a Capuchin (white-faced) monkey, Cacomistles (like little racoons), Olingos (just a bit bigger then cacomistles), and my favorite: a Kinkajou! Apparently the English translation for Kinkajou is a honey bear, so we met Winnie the Pooh! But he looked nothing like he does on TV. He is domestic, because some family had kept him as a baby and then didn´t really know how to take care of him, so the owners of the hostel took him in, built him a cage, and feed and play with him every night (he is nocturnal). I have a great video, I can´t wait to upload my photos but can´t do it yet. I played with him every night and wanted to bring him home, he´s adorable. Anyway, we didn´t just stay in the hostel, we went on a couple hikes into the jungle, like climbing a stairmaster on very steep for a few hours, tiring! But beautiful, we found a swimming hole at the river and saw big Blue Morpho butterflies. Maybe one of the highlights of the trip though was what we found in our room one night. There was a big spider high on one of the walls, so I went up to kill it, which I did successfully (we decided we didn´t want it running around while we were sleeping), and then upon turning around, I actually started laughing at the sight of this and told Nate not to look... there was a tarantula on his shoe! Lucky for us one of the staff is there researching spiders and has a love for tarantulas, so I ran to grab him and he was like a little boy on Christmas with his new pet. And somehow after all of that, we were able to sleep without any spider nightmares:) During our stay in the jungle we also won a fooseball tournament and learned to dance Lindy Hop, good times!

After 3 days in the jungle we hopped a bus to Panama City to go meet Daryl. We walked the city, toured the ruins of old Panama City, sat while Daryl sketched, ate lots of yummy food (el sabor del barrio- the flavor of the neighborhood- street food!), and of course went to see the Miraflores locks at the Panama Canal. We even caught a Patriots game at a local restaurant! But after a couple days we were ready to get on the road again, actually in the air, we flew to Bocas del Toro, one of my favorite places. Bocas is an archipelago of islands on the caribbean side of Panama very close to Costa Rica. The main town is basically one street of shops, hotels, bars and restaurants, and it stretches all along the water so every meal is taken on what feels like a dock with a great view. We lucked out with the weather, it´s been beautiful the last few days which means we have taken advantage of the sun! The first day we went to a beach on the next island, got eaten by sand fleas, and had dinner in a gazebo over the water nearby, the food was good but in the end it probably wasn´t worth all the bites. Poor Daryl looks diseased. The second day we went on an island-hopping tour, starting with going to see the dolphins in Dolphin Bay, then snorkeling and lunch over the water, on to Red Frog beach which has developed SO much since I was first there 7 years ago, and finally to Punta Hospital, some of the best snorkeling in the area. We managed not to get stung by any jellyfish, something I failed to do in the past. On the third day we went deep sea fishing! I was a little put off when the guide suggested I go sit on the beach while the boys fish, just two fishing poles, right? WRONG, 3 please, he didn´t know who he was talking to, but I quickly corrected him. We (well, Nate) ended up catching about 8 lbs worth of fish- a nice yellowfin tuna and a mackerel as well! I caught a grocery bag, was hilarious but pretty bummed about that one, Daryl came up with an empty hand. But in the end we all feasted that night on our fresh catch, one of the guys at the tour company cooked it up for us with some rice and vegetables, it was delicious! On the fourth day we took a bus to the other end of the island, a beach called Boca del Drago, this was my favorite beach so far, SO beautiful and peaceful, no sand fleas, warm water, and not overpopulated at all. It was a perfect way to spend our last day on the islands. That was yesterday, and today we are heading back to Costa Rica, to Puerto Viejo not far from here, a laid back little town on the Caribbean. Hopefully the weather will hold out, as it is a bit rainy today, and hopefully Costa Rica will have cleaned itself up a bit by now, we look forward to some beaching, biking, and then volcano-ing in the near future!

Hello Costa Rica, I mean Hello Hurricane Thomas

Apparently, and I say apparently because if I had known of this before hand there is a strong chance I wouldn't have even gotten on the plane, we came to Costa Rica in the middle of a national state of emergency, also known as a hurricane. Hurricane Thomas to be exact, which has really wreaked havoc on much of Costa Rica and the Caribbean (poor Haiti). We purposely did not make a plan for where we would go on the first day, but leave it up to bus times, etc. Well it's a good thing, because there were NO buses. The roads were closed because of many many many landslides, all over the country. There was one option for us, that was to go by taxi to the nearest beach, Jaco. The reason we could go by taxi and not bus is because there has been a new highway (yes, unbelievable, but believe it) built that was passable, but not by bus, only by car. We teamed up with 2 others who needed to get to Jaco, and in 2 hours we were there. This was great for two reasons: one, we didn't have to stay in San Jose for any length of time, and two, we met Floribel, a Colombian woman living in Jaco who offered us a place to sleep for the night, perfect! The road, I admit, was very sketchy and the rain heavy, but since it's after the fact and we made it safely I'm allowed to say that without my mom freaking out too much. I have some photos of some nasty landslides right over the road. We really had no idea what was going on around us, because upon arriving in Jaco, we learned of the damage Hurricane Thomas had done. Hundreds of people lost everything, including family members, I'm not sure what the death toll was, but all the news talked about for 3 days straight were the villages that were wiped out, roads that closed, communities that were completely isolated, and of the many people that died and are still missing. It was a somber mood, and the heavy rain didn't help at all.

Nate and I began to wonder if we would make it to Panama where Daryl will be flying in on the 13th. All the roads in every direction were closed from landslides or broken bridges. We decided not to dwell on it and to make the most of our time in Jaco where we were now "stuck" (darn). This was not a hard task. After spending the first night with our new friend Floribel, we moved to an apartment right on the river. Mind you, this river looked like it was straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was rushing harder than ever, carrying trees and debris with it to the ocean, which at high tide completely devoured the beach and there was no real distinction between ocean and river. It was actually a good time to be in Jaco, because since everyone was stuck, there were no tourists coming in or going out, so many things were cheaper, hence the apartment rather than a hostel. The back deck facing the river was like a wildlife sanctuary lookout. From there we saw red macaws, toucans, iguanas, lizards, and many different colored birds and butterflies, so awesome! I've never seen a toucan in flight before! When there was a break in the rain we went 4 wheeling, through a river and some sketchy roads, and up to a lookout point where we saw a white-faced monkey. When the sun came out, which it finally did, we went to the beach, even got a little sunburned, oops. We got massages, watched Sunday football, and enjoyed some really delicious Costa Rican food. I'm so proud of myself, I like gallo pinto now! Pinto is the typical breakfast of rice and beans and fried eggs, I never touched it when I lived here before. We were really happy with our non-planned vacation in Jaco, and this morning we were finally able to talk to someone who had answers about buses and roads! So after some deliberation, we have decided to go to Panama tomorrow quickly while the roads are reopened and before they might close again. In Panama the roads are fine, and we now know that we will be able to make it to the city by Saturday night. We were able to get a bus back to San Jose today where we are staying the night so we can get a bus out to Panama tomorrow. We're either going to David or Santiago, not sure yet, but at least we won't be stuck anywhere! And we won't have to fly, which would have been plan b.

On a lighter note, somehow I forget how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this country. It smells SO good, it's SO beautiful, the food is delicious, and I don't even need my iPod because the music on the radio is actually what I want to hear! I feel so at home here, today I actually asked Nate how he likes my country :) My Spanish is such a relief after struggling with German and French in Europe, and Nate is picking it up quickly too. Even in the rain I was smiling just because we are here. I am so excited to spend so much time in my favorite country, where traveling really began for me.

For now it's on to Panama! Hope that Costa Rica will be in better shape when we return in a week and a half or so...