New Pics!

Added pics from Ecuador, Panama & Costa Rica in the blogroll, so just click on the links to the right and enjoy!!!

 

Costa Rica & Quito, with a taste of Panama thrown in

Our last day in Costa Rica was really nice. We had to say goodbye to Adilia, the mom, who had been so warm and welcoming throughout our entire stay. The Latins really are quite hospitable- very loving. Adilia gave us each a big hug and kiss on the cheek, and gave Deirdre a little prayer to keep in her pocket (I didn´t get one since I´m Jewish). The story goes that some man had that prayer in his pocket and was shot, and the bullet ricocheted right off of the prayer. Hey- I´m not very religious, but I´ll take any protection anyone has to offer! We took our final bus ride into San Jose, checked into Costa Rica Backpackers, and walked into town to the main Boulevard to go on a shopping spree. I finally bought a new camera (a Canon SD1000- not nearly as good, and it was $75 more than it costs in the US, but it´s very light and small). We also bought some locks to lock our important stuff up in hostels. Dee gave up on her shampoo bar and bought some actual shampoo, while I´m still trucking along with the shampoo/soap in one combo. My hair isn´t too soft, but it works well enough. I´m clean at least!  Edgar met up with us at the hostel, and we treated ourselves to Papa John´s at the food mall. I know, it´s kind of cheating, but we were pretty sick of rice & beans and where else will we get Papa´s delish pizza & garlic sauce for the next 9 months?! So worth it. Then we went to the cinema and saw Resident Evil, with Spanish subtitles of course. It was the first Resident Evil flick I´d seen, so I was a bit confused, but whatever. The next morning, we took a taxi to the airport to go to Quito. Turns out, our flight was overbooked (not our fault) and we were rerouted through Panama. Besides a free 8 hour trip to Panama City, we also were rewarded with a $15 meal voucher and a $100 voucher for a flight on Taca Airlines. I think we will use this money to get down to Patagonia faster, since it´s like 50 hours on busses to get all the way down there from Santiago. We shall see though.

On our flight to Panama, we learned that the city center was about an hour away, and with not too much time before our flight to Quito, we didn´t want to risk going an hour there and back. The girl sitting next to us on the plane suggested going to the Los Pueblos mall instead. We hopped on a bus to get there, and found the buses are really crazy. They are jam packed with people (JAM PACKED!!) and they are old school buses painted with crazy murals. Very interesting rides, indeed. The mall turned out to be a giant shopping center and all the stores contained merchandise that looked like it was loaded out of the back of a truck or something- very ghetto. We did buy Panama flag bracelets for only $0.19 though! The most interesting thing we saw in Panama would have to be the mannequins in the store. They looked like they had been to Hollywood Blvd and all got giant implants!

Seriously HUGE!

We didn´t arrive to our hostel in Quito (Hostel Revolution) until midnight. Luckily, the place is immaculately clean and I love the hostel. It´s probably one of the reasons we have stayed in Quito for 3 days already. The next am, we got up at 6am (ugh!!) to go to Otovalo, which is a small city about 2 1/2 hours into the Northern Highlands from Quito, to go to the BIGGEST mercado (market) in all of South America! We stayed there for about 5 hours, just shopping around from stall to stall. At first we thought all the artisans made their own stuff, but after seeing the same sweater in about 200 different stalls, we figured they HAD to be factory produced. Oh well- it´s still neat stuff. Dee and I each purchased totally dorky alpaca sweaters with little alpacas running across in a stripe on the chest.

I am kind of obsessed with my sweater though, and it is definitely needed here. We are only a 20 minute drive away from the equator, yet it gets freezing at night! They also had a food market in Otovalo, with pig heads and bugs, and other gross items. I have yet to try any crazy foods, though I´m sure I´ll work up to it at some point. I met a kid who ate Guinea Pig in Peru! He had to pick it out (alive) and everything. Don´t know if I can eat something we keep as pets in America.

We met some Aussies at the hostel (Dave & Jason) who have been traveling for like 2 years or something crazy. They´re 28 and have been giving us lots of advice about SE Asia and other places we´ll be going. They´re off to Colombia today, so we´re hoping they don´t get kidnapped. I´m sure they´ll be fine- so many people travel around Colombia and absolutely love it. Too bad we won´t have a chance to check it out for ourselves. We also found this brekkie place where for $2 (no tax or tips) you get rice, avocado, tomato, a cheese sandwich, chicken, 2 eggs, coffee (which is actually just hot milk that you put instant coffee into) and delish juice! Quite the feast for the cost of a subway fare in Manhattan!

Yesterday we went up the TelefèriQo, to 4100m high (like over 12,000 ft) on a cable car to the top of the mountain here. We did a $10/hour horseback ride around the mountains, which was absolutely spectacular. It was my first encounter with such high altitude, and other than feeling a little wheezy when even trying to walk, I was fine. It made me a little less scared about doing the Inca Trail. It was freeeeeezing up there though, so my alpaca came in handy already!

Off to explore Quito now and try and figure out some plans for Turkey Day! Maybe the Embassy will have something exciting going on for expats and travelers from America. Galapagos on Friday!!! The countdown begins.

Til next time…

xoxox

 

Manuel Antonio

I had such an amazing day today at the Manuel Antonio National Park, and some free time on the internet, so figured I´d inundate you with more blogging. Got up early this morning, took a FREEZING cold shower, and caught the $0.25 bus from Quepos to Manuel Antonio about 7 km away.

It´s pretty, huh? We paid our entrance fee and wandered to the first beach we saw inside the park and stayed there for a few hours. There were only about 5 other people around and it was beautiful, so we just couldn´t leave. At one point, Dee and I were both in the ocean and we saw some of the other people swatting at something near their bags, so we got out of the water to check out the scene. By the time we got back to our stuff, there was a raccoon literally opening Dee´s backpack and it stole her goober (pb&j in one) sandwich that we made this morning for our lunch! After shooing it away, it came back for more and this time stole her apple. She was right up in it´s face trying to get it to go away, but it was just so bizarrely comfortable around humans and since we didn´t get our rabies vaccinations, definitely did not want to risk getting bit. After our raccoon adventure, we walked further into the park and found another beach with tons of white-faced monkeys running around. It was Dee´s first time seeing a monkey in the wild- very exciting first. There was also a mommy raccoon with two babies on this beach. We were curious and started following them and the mom stopped literally a foot away and started digging a really deep whole into the sand, pulled out a crab, and ate it whole! The babies didn´t get any though. It was like watching the Discovery channel. Crazy man.

Next we went on a few different hikes. The first one, we had hold onto a rope for dear life as we descended down the path, and then basically slide down the mud to get to this totally secluded beach. The climb back up was easier, luckily. The next hike led us to an incredible vista viewpoint, but unfortunately Dee´s camera had run out of batteries so no luck getting a pic from there. On the way back, we saw some squirrel monkeys, weird guinea pig/bunny animals, and a few iguanas or giant lizards of some type. As we were leaving, we watched the sunset over the Pacific and there was hardly anyone else in the park. Turns out, due to high tide, you basically have to SWIM to make it out of the park. There were about 4 little row boats parked there, but they were tied up with no one to row them to the other side, so we got back in our swimsuits and had to wade in hip deep water to dry (or semi-dry as it was raining) land. What an adventurous way to leave the park. Funny that they don´t warn you about that!

Quite the day!!!!!!!!!!

 

¡PURA VIDA!

After a 5 hour bus ride today from Sarchí, Costa Rica to San Jose to Quepos, I finally made it to an internet cafe (albeit a super slow one) to catch everyone up on the going ons of the past week, starting with the end of Mexico.

Going back to Merida, Lorena and Cecilia (Ceci) took us to the Cernotes, which are like giant underwater freezing water swimming holes in caves. After dawdling to get in the water for about 10 mins, I finally jumped in and manuevered my way around the bat poop for a refreshing swim. After the cernotes, which were about 2 1/2 hours from Merida, we drove home through a town called Izemal, where there was a pretty big fair in the center of town and we ate some dinner there, before driving home. The other main attraction I experienced in Merida was the Sunday family dinner at Lorena´s home. The dinner attendees included myself, Dee, Lorena, her older sisters Regina & Monica, Monica´s boyfriend, the mom, dad, and two of the dad´s sisters. It was definitely the biggest family dinner I´ve ever had, not including holidays or special occasions. All of the Latins that I have met thus far have been absolutely fascinated that I´m an only child and all tell me how I´ve missed out on having siblings. I have assured them that it´s not that uncommon in the US and I´m perfectly happy with my solo situation. Anyway, at the dinner, the dad commanded at the head of the table, starting with directing everyone to their seats, and we ate venison (sooo not my cup of tea), paella, totillas and frijoles, and then sat at the table for about 2 hours just chatting away, which is what the norm. The next morning, Lorena got up EARLY to drive us to the airport for our flight to Mexico City (or just Mexico, as the Mexico City residents say-seems a tad egocentric) and sweet Ceci came and met us at the airport to send us off. Seriously, how adorable! I miss them already.

From the Mexico airport, we took a $25 cab ride to Dee´s friend Sofia´s house, which is probably twice as big as Lorena´s. The maid made us ham & cheese quesadillas for brekkie and then Miguel, the chaffeur, (yes, seriously) drove us into the heart of Mexico. We only had about 6 hours to look around, so we just wandered and Dee pointed out the main sites, since this was probably her 6th time there. In the main square, we were greeted by at least a hundred naked men, all dancing up and down to the beat of drums, their fronts only covered (and just barely) by a headshot of either the president or someone in the Senate, and I am still unclear as to what they were protesting, but it had to do with the Senate not seeing to their needs. There were naked women too- they were the ones collecting donations from people on the street. Lovely. The other highlight of Mexico was this gigantic bakery. On the first floor, there were pastries from all different parts of the world for literally as far as the eye could see, and you just grab a tray and a pair of tongs and load up your tray with what you want. After hunting around for awhile, I settled on a chocolate croissant. YUM! The second floor was filled with gigantic cakes- including one cake that fed 1200 people!!! Around 5:30pm, Miguel & Sofia picked us up and we had dinner in a Boho part of town. Miguel then left the car with us, and the drive home with Sofia was an adventure in itself as she is a TERRIBLE driver and kept screaming puta (whore) every five seconds whenever we´d encounter another car. After an episode of Sex and the City, subtitled in Español of course, we went to bed and woke up four hours later at 4am for our 6:50am flight to San Jose, Costa Rica, where the motto is pura vida- the pure life. Adios Mexico!!

From the airport, we braved the public bus system (which is actually quite good here) and made our way to Hostel Bekuo, only to find they had overbooked us and had to put us up in a different hotel up the road, where we got a private room with private bathroom for only $16! Quite the steal, considering the rooms there normally cost $55 for what we got. We settled in and walked to the mall, where Dee´s friend Edgar met us. Dee came to Costa Rica for a month exchange program when she was 16, and stayed with Edgar´s family then, so it had been nine years since they last saw each other. Since it was pouring outside (it´s rainy season and rains everyday), we literally walked in circles around the mall for about two hours (stopping only to eat Quizno´s for lunch) and then took a bus to the center of San Jose, which is honestly pretty dull. The most exciting point was having a delish capaccino at the post office?! We went out that night with Edgar & his friend Tony (nicknamed by us Harry Potter due to his glasses) and drank a bottle of Imperial, the local brew. Ladies Night was going on in the back part of the bar, which is actually just a sectioned off area where girls ONLY (no boys allowed) can go and drink for free without a cover or anything. VERY bizarre, but as free is a backpackers best friend, Dee and I couldn´t resist. After learning some moves from some scantily clad young Ticas (Tico/Tica=Costa Rican), and starting to practice them with Tony (once boys were actually allowed in), my camera was STOLEN! I have no idea how it happened, which makes it all the more frustrating!! I was devastated from my first, and hopefully last, robbery, and needless to say did not enjoy the rest of the night.Mom & Dad are buying me a new one for Hanukkah though; thank you M&D! Luckily, I only lost my pictures from Mexico City (the naked people-ugh!!) and that day in San Jose, so it wasn´t that bad. I found some comfort in an adorable puppy outside of the bar, one of the MILLIONS of stray dogs running around all over. I want to move down here and rescue all of them, a la Molly Shannon in The Year of the Dog. Anyway, the next day, we took the bus to Edgar´s family house in Sarchì, which is a small town less than two hours away. The house is very simple, but welcoming as it seems is the Latin way, and Dee and I are sleeping in the mom Adilia´s room (with Jesus statues everywhere!) and she is sleeping in another bed. Very gracious! She cooked us rice and beans (casado) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, only adding a little something different each time- either chicken, tortillas, plantains, etc. Casado has definitely constituted the majority of my Costa Rican meals, so it´s a good thing I like it. It´s pretty much like the food they serve at that hole of a restaurant I love in SoHo, on the corner of Bway and Grand (or close to there). YUM. The day after we arrived in Sarchi, we took a 4 hour bus-ride to La Fortuna. Our Sarchi family is friends with a woman who owns a hostel there, so we stayed there, hoping that it would be clean and free. Unfortunately, neither was true and our night in La Fortuna cost $8 each for a completely cockroach infested, dirty, gross room. I refused to even go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, as there were around 20 gigantic ones crawling around. SICK!!!!!!!!!! Ew. Though it was raining in La Fortuna, we decided to pay for a tour to keep us busy for the rest of the afternoon & evening. First we went on a hike through the rainy rainforest, and spotted a 2 toed sloth, a few toucans, and some howler monkeys. The arenal volcano is the supposed highlight of La Fortuna, but since it was so rainy, we couldn´t see the lava that always is spouting from it. Arenal is the 3rd most active volcano in the world, so it was a shame we couldn´t see it in action. Next, we headed to the Baldi hot springs, which were thermal pools at this really fancy resort. We stayed there for nearly 3 hours, and the hot water/freezing cold weather outside did not agree with me and I got my first cold in a LONG time! I feel like I haven´t really been sick in forever, but luckily the cold only lasted 2 days, so whatevs.

Yesterday, we spent the majority of the day in Sarchí again, but then went to the family´s farm about 20 mins away, up in the mountains. It is a pretty large property and they have chickens, ducks, a kitty, a scaaaaaary German Shepherd, about 20 pigs, and a big coffee plantation. We watched the dad feed the pigs (they will be killed in December for New Year parties-so sad!!) and then drank some coffee straight from their plantation. It was pretty magical. In the evening, Edgar took us to the disco, which was actually a very small dive bar with about 6 other people there, though it was a Sunday night. His friend Daniel (pronounced like Danielle) came too, as Dee and Edgar were reuniting their fling and I needed someone to talk to! We played some pool, requested some songs from the dj (I needed to hear some familiar tunes since I am ipod-less- my battery needed replacing in LA), and then walked home in the scarily dark, but very safe, streets of Sarchi.

Today we were planning on going to Puerto Viejo on my friend Julie´s recommendation, but the streets were flooded to get there (stupid rain!!) so we chose Manuel Antonio as our backup destination. Quepos is the town right outside of Manuel Antonio, so we are staying here the night at a hostel and heading to Manuel in the early morning. Tonight is my first night back at a legit hostel since Australia, (woman at reception here is Australian too!) and I got that old rush of excitement from the hostels I loved so much in Oz. I feel like I´m finally back out on the road and it´s so thrilling. We rolled into town today not even knowing what was here or knowing if a room was avail, etc, but it´s all so easy and we are figuring things out with no problem. It helps tremendously that Dee is a Spanish goddess and speaks completely fluently. I´m certainly understanding more Spanish, but I haven´t been speaking it much since I don´t really need to.

Sorry for the long one! I´m going to try and keep them shorter and more interesting from now on. It will be easier once I can log on more often. There isn´t internet in Sarchi. Will also try and load some new pics soon- been sharing Dee´s camera until I can get a new one.

Miss you all.