South/Cental America #15 - Costa Rica > Panama > Columbia

Photos: Costa Rica | Panama | Columbia

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1. La Fortuna
2. Monteverde
3. San Jose
4. Puerto Viejo
5. Isla Bastimento
6. Panama City
7. Colon
8. San Blas Islands
9. Cartagena
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Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Years.

I certainly have had a different year this year and I definately had a different Christmas and New Years but more of that in a little while. First and foremost a big congratulations to some of my best friends Glenn and Katie on their engagement. wish I was there to help celebrate.

Me, well another couple of countries have found their way into my passport and the legs keep on trudging along, 10 months or 300 days days have passed since I left my beloved shores of Sydney but I have hardly suffered.

After leaving school we crossed the border in Costa Rica and immediately felt the change of the people, economy and the influx of tourists, we took off for La Fortuna to glimpse one of the worlds most active volcanos, but only saw cloud. So we went to see a cloud forest near Monteverde, and only saw cloud, oh and rain. So no volcanos and no pristine forest, and after meeting an American girl Tanya it was not hard for her to convince us to go to the beach, 5 hours later we were sitting on the Pacific beaches of Costa Rica, long cresent baeches with palms supporting our hammocks and pina coladas watching sunset and I think we made the right move. Alberto was eager to talk to three Italian ladies we met and we all went horse riding through the jungle and finally along the beach at full pace with the sun setting on another day, loved it.

We then had to go and meet Cam (my brother) in San Jose, great to see him again and I am sure that we will be having some funny adventures over the next 5 weeks. We had one day in San Jose and managed to meet up with a local girl who in the space of 12 hours, bought us a coffee each, invited us around to dinner (we all cooked) and then took us out to some great clubs in San Jose...we came within a whisker of getting her to drive us the 5 hours to the next location, Puerto Viejo. San Jose I think has more Americans than most of the US, it was crazy how many of them have moved down there.

PV is a great town on the Carribean coast (yes we can not get enough of the beaches), great culture of the Garifuna people (rastas) and some great surf. The only problem is that the rain was bucking down and we had to wait it out....the three brothers (Alberto, Cameron and I) were joined by Ti from Sacremento and Marjolein from Holland so the waiting was not too bad. One of the best days in ages was spent cycling along the coast, we saw a lot of monkeys, some sloths (had been searching for them for ages) and went for a great body surf in some almost perfect waves.

Next up we took a bus, taxi, boat, boat combination to some amazing islands on the Carribean coast of Panama. Staying on a small island certainly has some advantages, no roads, beaches to only yourself and your buddies, invitations to multiple Christmas parties. Days on the beach after walking 15 minutes through the hills covred in lush forest with mud up too your shins and then appearing before a great break in the warm Carribean waters. Christmas Eve we went out to the bigger of the islands....and did not return until 4am.

So Christmas was a little shaky to begin with and then add in the island traditions and it was cornflakes a coffee and then the first of many rum and cokes thrown into our hands. The rest of the day was spent walking from house to house requesting food and trying to not accept more rum and cokes. It was a Christmas that was certainly different.

I got to celebrate 300 days on the road with a 10 hr bus ride across Panama (I hope that is the last big bus trip) and arrived in Panama City and immediately wished I was back on the islands. we asked around for some work through the canal, but none to be had so we visted the locks, really cool to see one of the modern wonders of the world as two super tankers passed through. Moved onto Colon, which is really a huge getto, one of the few places that I was worried walking down the streets during the day. We asked and asked again for a boat ride across to Columbia but ended up having to pay this crazy Swedish guy to take us over...

Well drama after drama unfolded on our little boat, changed plains, lost communication channels and well a great deal of fun. We finally set off and stayed the night in Portobella, arriving after a beautiful sunset and slept the night in a secluded bay. Woke early the next day and sailed for 25 hours straight, big waves and always into the wind made the going slow and somewhat upsetting to the stomach, Alberto turned a little green and slept most of the day. Yes folks this was New Years eve and at the stroke of midnight 2005 I was at the wheel of a 40´ boat sailing directly into the moonlight as my brother and great friend slept below, but it is a NY that I will never forget, very beautiful.

We arrived at the islands of San Blas and they are amazing, a chain of 360 islands scattered along the coast of Panama, some only big enough for two palm trees (prefect for the hammock). We sailed through to a safe caye (Holondaise), spent the day swimming, snorkling and collecting cocnuts. We planned on leaving the next morning but the winds had increase so we waited out the day by more snorkling and laying around in paradise...Hasse the captain refused to put the dingy in the water so we had to swim everwhere (remind you of anything Rob and Glenn). We waited another day and with the reports of continued winds of 60km/hr and 4 metre waves we gave up and fly back to Panama City and then within the hr we were on a plane bound for Columbia.

I never thought that this country would be so beautiful, so safe and the people so friendly. The place is great, I feel safer here that 80% of the other places I have been. The old town of Cartagena is amazing and we have been out and about checking out the sights and visiting the night spots to all hours of the morning. The women here are also challenging the Argentinians at the worlds most beautiful women competition...Cam has whiplash from walking down the street.

As they say in Costa Rica ¨Pura Vida¨ or The Pure Life, this is certainly summing up my time at the moment and I do not forget that I am exremely fortunate to have this chance in life.

Photos attached ::

Roland

& Los tres hermanos de pura vida - The three brothers of the pure life

South/Cental America #12 - Ecuador

Photos: Ecuador

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1. Mendoza
2. Quito
3. Otavalo
4. Cotapaxi
5. Galapogas Islands
6. Riobamba
7. Banos
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I hope that all is well around the globe.... 7 1/2 months now and counting.

Well the last couple of days in Mendoza were great, I had an amazing day up at Punta de Inca, a fresh snow fall contrasted great with the hot springs. A great view of Aconguaga - highest mtn outside of Nepal and plenty of snow fights with some other tourists I met.

Flew up to Quito...nice enough place but way too many gringos so I got out of there pretty quickly. I took off for La Esperanza to climb a volcano - Mt Imbarra 5000m. A long day climb and the last 1km verticle in thick cloud. I thought this was one of the hardest things I had done until 3 days later...

But before that I went to the Otavalo markets and resisted all temptation to buy a tonne of local shirts, hammocks, chess sets and even really nice leather jackets for $70. So I headed back to Quito where I joined up with my tour to climb Cotapaxi volcano - 6000m. Setting off at 1am for the climb, laden with crampons, ice pick, full cold weather gear and roped into a guide and a swiss guy we set out under a perfect stary night. Well the climb was straight up and continued to go on and on, every bend promised to be the last but yet continued on. As sun rose over the horizon we could see forever...shame that only lasted 10 minutes as the weather closed in and before we knew it we were faced with 10m visibility and 40 knot winds making it about -20. Well after being blown over on a thin ice bridge the guide asked if we wanted to continue...really stupid question as I was always going to give it everything. Anyway after 5 1/2 hours of climbing we reached the summitt, took two photos in the freezing cold and walked back down again. So after two climbs I have a heart as big as Phar Lap and quads bigger than Arnie and I am happy to say that I summitted my first two mountains, a tough but great experience.

24 hrs later I was on a boat just shy of the equator. Yes I finally made it to the Galapogas, a set of islands that I thought was only obtainable in my dreams. Islands so amazing that it really does excel any words or pictures that I can share with you, so excuse but I will try. The only way to truly see the islands is by boat, I joined Merak a 15m sailing boat with my buddy Ziggy, 3 German and 3 Irish ladies, tough I know. The boat was great, the guide very knowledgable and a nice guy, the cook Omar was simply amazing and the food the best I have had the whole trip and the two boats crew were also first rate. But the islands....stopping off and seeing birds flying within arm reach, baby seals sitting on the beach and nibbling your toes, sea lions swimming so close to you that they actually kissed my goggles, iguanas - the ugly things - are everywhere you have to watch that you do not step on them, penguins - yes I am still wondering why they are there - swim around you, sea turtles that you can hang on to for a ride, sharks, millions of fish, dolphins riding the bow wave, whales......the list is endless. Also on the islands you can pretty much stand over lists on endemic nesting birds that really do not care that you are there. They are all so interesting, the differences are amazing betweeen islands and also between sections of islands - 15 different tortise species, 9 different finches, boobies (a type of bird) one with blue feet that nests on the lands and one with red feet that nests in trees and sea birds that can not get wet. Go figure.

The actualy islands are all fomed from volcanic eruptions so extent cone after cone rise out of the water creating some fantastic scenery even without the animals.

I stayed out on the island with Ziggy for another couple of days and did some dives, easily some of the best I have ever done. Diving with hammerhead sharks, sting rays, eagle rays, schools of Barracudas ..... again very very cool. As I said I could go on all day, so if you want more info just ask and I will be happy to oblige. It is expensive but if you get the chance please do not hesitate to fly out to the islands, you will never forget it. It reallly is like living inside a 24hr Discovery Channel.

So that was number 4 out of 5 off the list..only Havana to come now.

I am now back on the mainland, after a quick stop in Guayaquil, I headed back to the mountains and have been on some very scenic bus rides and went on the Devil's Nose train ride were you get to sit on the top of the train and travel through the countryside and eventually down a couple of swtichbacks into a canyon. Everyone, and I mean every single one of the locals run out of their homes to wave as you go past, I think secretly the govt pays them 10c each to do this as part of the journey.

Next up off to Banos where upon arrival I met up with Mat and Phil that I met some days before and within 10 minutes of getting off the bus I was abseiling down 8 waterfalls, the final 3 where 75, 68, 71...a great days out getting very cold and wet but canyoning was fun. Spent the rest of the time finding a jungle trip that I convinced the other two to come on.

So leaving the next night we set off for the jungle..the amazon that is. Arriving at the last town in Ecuador we caught a 3hr bus ride to now where and then a motorized canoe another 3 hrs. Waking up the next morning to find ourselves on a beautiful lagoon. Over the next couple of days we tried to hunt down a anaconda (no luck), fished, saw monkeys, pink dolphins, plenty of birds, went for many swims...and one day paddled down river for 5 hrs, then up an impassable stream for 1 hr before hacking out a campsite for the night, really in the jungle this one. Plenty of mosquitos and other bugs but good fun.

I am now back in Quito and I have to say that I am quite sad to be leaving, My time here in South AMerica has been amazing, I would like to thank everyone that I met for making it such a wonderful experience. Highlights would take too long...for those that live here one day I promise to be back and I hope that we can all meet again soon.

Again photos are on the link below...also added some extra photos to the Mendoza lot.

I am soon meeting up with my good friends James from Sydney in Cancun on the 18th for the trip to Cuba and beyond.... I will be in touch.

Roland