Thursday, April 23, 2009

Craziness in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and Bocas Del Toro, Panama

From Panama City and Santa Catalina, Panama


If there is one thing I am certain of on May 5th, 2009, it is that I WILL miss my scheduled flight back home. My round the world ticket expires that day since I have one year to use up all the flight segments, but I am pretty sure I can scramble up enough cash to get a one way ticket back home if and when I am ready. I know you guys are all disappointed to hear I will not be back home for Cinco De Mayo, but the fact is, I am simply not ready to go home. I still have enough cash to float me for another month or so and if I pick up a bartending gig somewhere I can continue living my dream! (And, believe it or not, I still think I have a shot at winning Shakira's heart!)

I arrived into San Jose, Costa Rica in the evening of April 6th, and got a nice verbal reprimand from the immigration official about the lack of space to stamp on my passport. I went to the US Embassy the following day to add more visa pages-- and I could not help but smile on my way out that I filled up all my pages already.

I only spent one full day in San Jose, as there was not much to see. I decided to check out Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast for Semana Santa (Easter Weekend) on the recommendation of a few friends. On my way out of the hostel in San Jose, two girls from Sweden, Nina and Johanna, asked me where I was going and I told them Puerto Viejo. They said they were going that way too and asked me if I wanted to join them. Umm... sure!

We ended up staying at a place called Rockin J's, right on the beach outfitted with nothing but hammocks and tents. There were no tents available that day so Johanna, Nina and I took the few remaining hammocks left. I had never slept in a hammock overnight before, but I figured I'd give it a go. Besides, with enough beer and booze, I can sleep through anything! I had the worst hammock in the house, though, as it was literally in front of the main entrance to the 50+ other hammocks in the room. I knew right then and there I would need to get piss drunk to get through the night. And piss drunk did I get! Unfortunately, one of the casualties of that night was that my brand new camera that I bought after getting mugged in Ecuador (not one week earlier) got stolen! I was chattin it up with my friends and had my camera on the table right next to me. Not one minute later I noticed it was gone. Just. Like. That. I am convinced a rather stealthy flying mini midget was the culprit because there is no other possible explanation for its disappearance.

Throughout this trip, one of my goals was to learn how to surf once I got to Central America. After all, I got tired of telling people I was 33 years old, from Santa Monica, California who not only did not lunch with Angelina Jolie on a weekly basis, but also that I did not know how to surf. On my second day in Puerto Viejo, I rented a surfboard and happy to report I was able to get up on the board (albeit only for a heavenly 3.8 seconds) that same day! It was tiring as heck though, just trying to paddle out through all the whitewash and drinking/snorting all that saltwater.... but totally worth it. Plus, I think my sinuses have never felt better.

One of the things about Central and South America is that 99.99 percent of the toilets are not equipped to swallow up toilet paper. Water typically flushes at the rate of about 1 ounce per hour, if you are lucky. Keep this in mind as I am about to tell you something that will probably gross you out, but worth telling. So for those of you afraid or squeamish about poop stories, skip this paragraph...

It was early in the morning, and I had to hit the can but there was a lineup outside one of the bathrooms. I went to another bathroom and saw that one was completely backed up. I checked another one and there it was, the mother of all turds just sitting in the toilet there, trying so desperately to go to its proper home down under. However, the size of this thing simply prevented it from going down. It was without a doubt the biggest turd I have ever seen in my entire life and I wondered outloud what kind of person (or beastly animal?) could possibly squeeze that freakin machaca burrito out. Needless to say, I really had no time to delay anymore.... so, yes, I went ahead and did my business in the burrito toilet. The whole time I kept hoping that there would not be any backsplash or collateral damage, and luckily I escaped unscathed, though mentally traumatized. As I was getting ready to leave the stall, I thought to myself, with my luck, some hottie chick will be waiting right outside and will need to use my stall. Sure enough, fate did not disappoint. I warned her not to go in, and thankfully, she heeded my advice. Ok enough poop stories for now.

I met some very cool and interesting people in Puerto Viejo, including a Ashley, an Aussie who quit his job as a banker in Hong Kong. Like me, he is doing an around-the-world trip on pretty much the same itinerary as me, except in reverse. As I mentioned before, I had the worse hammock in the house, and when I checked in that day, I said to him, "Looks like you got the second worst hammock here..." He agreed, and I said, "We're going to have to get wasted tonight." And the rest, as they say, was history. Actually one night, we got completely smashed but it was raining like mad so most of us decided to hang out and crash out for the night. I got into my hammock, and was pretty much ready to pass out when I heard Ash yell out loud, "I can't sleep, the guy next to me keeps crashing into my hammock!" I took one look over at him and shouted back to him, "Dude, YOU are the one crashing into the guy!" I was just about ready to pass out again when I heard him mumble outloud, "I am heading into town, and I am going to get arrested!" Unfortunately, he did not succeed in the latter, nor did he succeed in doing anything really the following day. He ended up lying in his hammock all day. This is what he missed out on...
From Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and Bocas Del Toro, Panama


We also met up with a serious party wrecking crew aka Team Canada-- three awesome chicks from Ontario. Ashley had actually met them in Miami, and they somehow found their way to Rockin Js in Costa Rica as well. These three crazy girls reminded me of my old buddies back home, but the female version. Some really classic lines came from them, which I will detail later in my upcoming post, "Memorable Quotes from this Trip."

After a booze-fueled weekend, Nina, Johanna, Wannes and I decided to hop over to Bocas Del Toro. Eric, the chef from the Rockin Js hostel decided to join us as well. Not a bad travel buddy to have around!

Bocas del Toro, Panama was a short 3 hour bus ride from Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. We crossed the border at Sixaola, one of the most memorable and interesting border crossings I have ever come across. Basically, we got dropped off on the Costa Rican side of the border, and then we had to walk across this rickety old wooden bridge. If you weren't careful, you could easily step into a gaping hole and probably even fall through!

We spent about a week in Bocas, pretty much just partyin', surfin' and hangin' out..... although that should not be a surprise to anyone reading this. When my head clears up a little more, I will detail a few more stories... but for the time being, here are some pics that I uploaded from my friends' cameras.

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