This is a 2 weeks trip from San Jose Costa Rica to Panama City. So we began in one of the GAP hotels and head off to Puerto Viejo de Limon where Christopher Columbus landed on his fourth and last trip to this continent.
Puerto Viejo is a beautiful little town in southern Caribbean side of Costa Rica with a rasta look, beautiful beaches, and one of the most beautiful natural reserve of Costa Rica called Manzanillo.
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This little town attracts lots of surfers and back packers with local artisans and great restaurants on the main street (pretty much the only paved street in town). After a few days there, we head off towards Panama. The border crossing is a trip all by itself. |
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You get off the bus and check out of Costa Rica. Then you have to walk with your bags over a railed bridge where you see the water rushing under your feet and big trailer trucks following you slowly across the border. Once across the bridge, you wait in line to get your passport stamp into Panama.
Then it's a bus ride followed by a boat ride to get to Bocas del Toro. |
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Bocas del Toro is a set of islands on the northern Caribbean cost of Panama. Here the scenery is very different. From the main town on the island of Colon you have to either take a boat taxi or the bus to get to the beaches. But there are many activities right here in town to keep you busy for a few days. I am talking about catamaran trips to the dolphin bay or snorkeling or even better: scuba! You can get your PADI open water certificate here for less than US$200 at starfleet scuba. |
Something amazing that happened to us was while in Bocas, Kerrie, a pax on the tour while walking through the Bastimento island, found a baby sloth. She tired to find the mother but could not. So she brought it back to the hotel (which was a good move because it rained all night and the sloth would have probably died otherwise). So she named it Poquito who now lives at the Del Parque hotel. Maggie, the owner, has a natural reserve on one of the islands where other sloths live. So Poquito will go there as soon as she is a bit older and can take care of herself. |
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Sloths are very slow moving mammals that live in the trees of the central american rain forest and grow to be as big as a small dog more or less. There are two type of sloths: two and three tows. They live about 30 years. They move very slow because their diet is mostly made of leaves and so they need to conserve energy. They have 4 stomachs each processing slowly the food they eat and have bacteria that live in their stomach without which they could die of hunger, even if they still eat everyday. |
(pic on right of a fully grown sloth) In this way they only come down from their trees once a week to defecate. Even tho very slow and awkward on the ground, they are excellent swimmers. They have no smell whatsoever and are very gentle and happy animals. Also, apart from dolphins, sloths are the only animals that always seem to be smiling.. |
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But hey, we have more to come. So you head off south again with the boat and then a bus ride to Boquete. Boquete is the number 3 best retirement city in the world. It is called the switzerland of central America due to its beautiful all year spring like weather. Located close to the Baru volcano, Boquete is also one of the best producer of Coffee in the world. We are not talking quantity but quality. |
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Aside from the coffee and the amazing trekking choices you have here (be it the quetzal trail, the bajo mono, or the overnight volcano hike) you can also choose to go white water rafting on the level 4 Chiriqui Viejo river or rock climbing. |
You will get to climb a 20 meters (60 feet) 15 million years old volcanic wall with difficulty levels from 10.4 to 11.5. I got as far as 10.8 and by the end of the day I had no grip whatsoever. I am serious! I could not even knot my shoelaces or type on the computer or write. My forearms were gone for 3 days. But what an experience and I will be back on the wall as soon as I get back there. |
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So after a few days there, you are back on the road. This time it will be a 7 or so hours trip to El Valle de Anton. This is a little town in the mouth of the Anton volcano. Don't panic; it's been asleep for 38000 years. |
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Here you have mostly hikes. Apart from the zoo that's a shame or the 'rare golden frogs' that are in cages for your enjoyment, you do have some rare and strange square trunk trees and an 800 years old or so petroglyhs which represents basically a map of the area. One of my favorite activities here tho is the hike of the 'sleeping Indian Girl'. |
That's a hike to the side of the volcano which looks like a woman that is laying down on her back and looking away. After you pass the petroglyphs and couple of waterfalls through the rain forest, it becomes a level 4 climb where at the end you are almost rock climbing over volcanic rocks to the top of the crater. Once up there you actually realize that the 'Sleeping Indian Girl' is also the volcano which you just climbed. Couple of days there and we are back on the road to Panama City. |
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After checking out teh canal, lets head off to Casco Viejo. This is the old part of town where the french created while they were building the canals. So you have a few things to remind you of France. First the big obelisk topped by a rooster in the plaza Francia which is built over 5000 signatures of people resolved to finish the canal. Right beside that (seen in picture on the left) you have the old dungeons where prisoners had the water come up to their necks during high tides. Tree of those cells are today an art gallery and two other cells are a french restaurant, of course. |
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Here you will also find the presidential palace, the religious art museum, and the famous Bolivar square. Bolivar was the first man to dream of a United Central America. No need to say that the American and French and Colombians were not to let this happen in a country that controls the route between Atlantic and Pacific. |
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Once you visited that, it would be good to go see the Old Panama City located right north of the actual city. The Panama Viejo was destroyed by the famous caribbean pirate Henry Morgan, under the orders of the british crown, for which he became a SIR.
PS: Check out that tree that is growing through the chimney of this old ruined house. :-S |
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An other real cool thing to do when you are in the city is to go visit the Pararapuru native village of the Embara community. They are amazing people who still live in their native ways. |
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Panama
Journey (
