Sunset

The past few days in Cartagena, Colombia have been a little slower-paced for us than the first few, now that we have the major tourist attractions out of the way. We switched apartments to Edificio Palmetto, which has a pool and an ocean view that has brought us some fabulous sunsets. We’ve also spent more time swimming, since the girls can’t seem to get enough of it. One day, I even got a massage at the spa one day, and Jen got a facial. Ahh vacation…

Emily’s Birthday

Emily in the ocean

Emily had her 7th birthday over the weekend, and we turned the day over to her to do whatever she wanted. We don’t have a lot of room in our luggage for large toys, which is fine, because what she wanted most was a new dress and swimming suit, which she picked quickly and looks really cute in. We also went to the beach for a few hours, which was quite crowded and hot, but the girls had a blast playing in the water. After the beach, we went back to our apartment and played Go-Fish, built card houses, played stuffed animals, and then had some chocolate cake at a nearby Italian restaurant. I guess the day was a success because afterward she said that she wishes every day could be her birthday. Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes – she really appreciated them.

Isla Rosario and Playa Blanca Tours

Playa Blanca

Whenever you ask which beach is the best in Cartagena, people almost always refer to Playa Blanca, which is on the Rosario islands, about an hour and a half boat ride from Cartagena. This is the tour many people try to sell you on the street. The pictures I’ve seen show a lovely Caribbean beach with blue-green waters and white sand – a true tropical paradise like many dream of. However, it also looks like the place is crawling with tourists, may have no facilities, and usually costs $20+/person to get there. So call us boring or lazy or cheap, but we didn’t go. Did we pass up the trip of a lifetime? I don’t think so. We’ve seen lots of pretty beaches in our lives already, and will surely visit others that are even more beautiful and secluded, with more time to spend there and enjoy than just a quick day trip. It probably would have been fun, but we just weren’t in the mood.

Yellow Fever and Free Vaccinations

So, we haven’t ventured much outside of Boca Grande and old town since we got here. But we did go to a medical clinic in Getsemaní for yellow fever vaccinations. We were told before we boarded the plane to Colombia that we wouldn’t be able to get back into Costa Rica without an international certificate stating that we’d been immunized for yellow fever, since we’re going to three countries that have infected areas (even though we won’t be visiting any of the infected parts of these countries). I tried to find a way out of this, since I hate vaccinations, and think they can sometimes do more harm than good. I often end up getting more sick from the vaccine than I would get from the actual disease, and I didn’t want to spend a week of my trip in bed or throwing up. Plus, the last shot I got must have hit a nerve in my arm because it was sore for two weeks and felt like it took months to fully recover. I do NOT like shots.

Anyway, it turns out we’d need the vaccine to get into Ecuador anyway, since we’d be coming from Peru. And it’s required to get into Brazil regardless of where you’ve been, and we’d like to go there before too long. So we decided to go ahead with it. Fortunately, Colombia offers yellow fever vaccines for free (yeah! Glad we didn’t pay several hundred dollars to get it done in the states last year!) No appointment necessary. We just walked into the clinic and had it done. Although we came late in the day and they only had one vaccine left, so Jen was our guinea pig (thanks for being brave Jen!). We came back early the next day to do the rest of us. It was the “best” shot I’ve ever had, too. Only stung for about 1 second, and absolutely no pain after that. Yay. The girls handled it as well as could be expected.

Crepes & Waffles

We also found a new favorite restaurant in Boca Grande, which we’ve been to four times now. It’s called Crepes & Waffles and has the most delectable menu for lunches, dinners, and desserts! Their website also shows a breakfast menu, but it must only be available at other locations. But I’m pleased to learn that they have locations in Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, Panama, and Brazil, so hopefully we’ll get to eat there again.

Tomorrow we head out for Lima, Peru!

Cartagena

It’s pretty in the daytime as well, although we are not staying in the old town, but in Boca Grande, which is the modern part of the city with the high-rise apartments and busy streets. The apartment we chose (Los Delfines) is okay, but we’ve found it to be very overpriced compared to other hotels we’ve seen here, and there’s a lot of noise at night from the roads, even though we’re 16 stories up. We’ll be moving to another place Monday, which we’ve already booked. If we were to do this again, we’d probably stay right in Old town – a much better atmosphere. There are some great hotels here that don’t really advertise on-line, but that you just have to come and see.

The main thing we haven’t liked about Cartagena is being constantly bombarded with people trying to sell us things as we walk along the street. “Hey Amigo!”, they say, as they hold out their rack of sunglasses, wooden pots, paintings, cigarettes, hats, or boat tour fliers. We find ourselves repeating “No, gracias!” about every 5 steps or so, and it gets really annoying, especially if they’re persistent, which is most of the time, so I often have to repeat myself or ignore them.

I’ve considered donning a sign that reads something like, “I don’t need any more stuff. My luggage consists of only one small backpack, and it’s already full. Please leave me alone.” But I think it would just be ignored anyway. I think when you have white skin, you just can’t help but look like a souvenir-hungry tourist in South America. Oh well.

As for the backpack, yes, we decided to pack very light for this trip. We each have one small backpack, and that’s it. No suitcases this time. We’ve really enjoyed traveling light so far. It sure makes airport checks and stairs very easy.

Here are some of the highlights of Cartagena so far.

• Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas.
  

  Tunnels in the fort

  This is more of a fort than a castle, built to keep out invaders such as pirates in the 1600′s. Complete with look-out towers and canons, they also have a maze of tunnels underneath, which you can explore to see the different traps they had to prevent intruders from overtaking it. I highly recommend hiring a tour guide, since there isn’t really anything to read or explain how things worked. Our guide was also great at keeping the kids interested through what otherwise might be boring for them. I think we paid about $15 for the guide. So far this has been the most interesting part of the city.

• Convento de la Popa. A former fort and now a museum with a lovely chapel and great views of the city. We also met a guy at the entrance who had a pet sloth which he let us hold (for about $1.75). The girls especially found the sloth much more interesting than the convent, but it’s one of the “must sees” in Cartagena.
• Gold Museum. In the historic center, there is a gold museum where they have lots of pre-colombian artifacts, including gold earrings, nose rings, animal figures, and other objects that have been found. It sounds like there is still a lot of gold found in the rivers in Colombia, as well as silver and emeralds. There are lots of jewelry stores here as well. The museum is free of charge, and we chose the optional guide for about $2.75.
• City Walls.
  

  Emily on a pirate ship

  You can actually walk up on the walls of the old city, which is great to do in the evening when it’s cooler, and is a nice place to watch the sunset from, which we did tonight. The sunset wasn’t spectacular today, but it was a peaceful evening (except for the guy who starting giving us a “tour” but which I cut short when the girls started getting tired and hungry, and when he wouldn’t give me a straight answer about cost.)

• Wandering around the city. We also enjoyed the cathedral, modern art museum, naval museum, and a horse carriage ride around the city. But most of all, we just enjoyed exploring it on our own. We had some fresh fruit juice (it’s so nice to have passion fruit again! They don’t offer that many places in Costa Rica), and rested in the park for a while. While there, Emily spotted a large iguana in a tree, along with several monkeys and squirrels. We had fun watching them. We also saw a cool pirate ship that we got to go on, and some interesting street dancers. There are plenty of nice restaurants in town in as well, but only one real ice cream shop that we could find called Alegría.

Tomorrow is Emily’s birthday and we’re leaving the itinerary up to her, but we think that part of it is going to include the beach, which she’s been asking us about ever since we got here. Happy 7th birthday, Emily!!

Watch the video below. Click the pictures to see a larger image.

Some are dangerous, like the cute little fuzzy caterpillar, where simply touching it can cause swelling, numbness, fever, and more. Or the cane toads that can shoot out poison strong enough to kill a dog (if it gets in the blood stream). Others are just cute like the squirrels and the hummingbirds. My favorite are the cool green lizards with blue tails, who got a little too carried away in their mating dance (see what I mean in the video below).

Click any picture below to see it larger.

Hiring a Personal Assistant

However, since September is less than two weeks away, this doesn’t give us a lot of time to plan the trip. And with how I tend to plan (ie. way too much web research), I knew I’d need some help. So I decided to hire an assistant. I chose not to go with a tour company because of the high costs, and because we want a fairly flexible itinerary, including some free volunteering and maybe even couchsurfing. So I went to my favorite outsourcing site, oDesk.com (affiliate link) and was able to find an awesome virtual assistant (Cindy) in Australia for just $5.56/hour.

This is the first time I’ve ever hired a personal assistant or outsourced personal tasks. In my business, I outsource programming, customer service, blogging, SEO, and more. And I love it! I couldn’t run my business without the help I receive every day from my team. But personal tasks? Isn’t that too…personal to outsource? Would I just be a control freak and end up doing the work all over again myself anyway? While I’m still not quite ready to have someone answer all my e-mail (when my family writes, I’d like to respond personally, for example), I thought it wouldn’t hurt to get someone to at least help with coordinating multi-country flights, and finding good accommodations and activities.

The Details of the Trip

Galapagos Tortoise

I posted my project on oDesk, including a detailed description of exactly what I wanted, including:

• Finding the cheapest flights and buses for a trip to Colombia, Ecuador (including the Galapagos islands), Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil
• The best accommodation in several categories (free/couchsurfing, hostel/B&B, mid-range hotel, and vacation rental)
• A list of activities and volunteer opportunities in each area with prices and details
• A list of average high and low temperatures in each area at that time of year, etc.

My entire project description was actually about 3 pages long, with a lot more detail about what I was looking for in each of these areas, including some tips on how to find cheap flights and what activities and accommodations to rule out. (I have learned to be very detailed when outsourcing in order to get the results I want.)

I had about 30 people apply for the job, some for as low as $2.22/hour, but Cindy impressed me the most with her prompt communication demonstrating that she truly understood what I wanted. It’s great working with a native English speaker who understands every nuance and comes from a similar cultural background. She finished putting together the initial flight itinerary the next day, and I quickly realized that I had overbooked us. We weren’t getting enough time in each location, and would probably feel rushed. Plus, the many flights across South America really drove the cost up – I wasn’t about to pay $14,000 in airfare! Buses are an alternative, but I didn’t realize how big South America is! It’s a 30-50+ hour bus ride in between most countries, often through winding mountain roads. I shudder to think how our 5 and 7-year old kids (not to mention their parents) would hold up on a journey like that. But it might be fun to try once; I hear the buses are quite nice.

In the end, we decided to cut out Chile, and save Colombia until the end of the trip, flying directly from there to Orlando through Jet Blue Buddy passes. We’ll get to spend more than a week in each country, sometimes 2, and hopefully have plenty of days “off” to just relax or catch up on work. This is really just long enough to give us a taste of these countries, but we can always come back if we fall in love with a place. Cindy did take longer than I expected on the project, but this is partly because I kept changing my mind about what I wanted. I think I’m going to have her continue helping me with other tasks, too, if she’s willing.

Update (Aug 19, 2010): Cindy just informed me that we need to apply for a visa to Brazil in advance in order to get in. Unfortunately, we don’t have to time to put all the documents together and wait for the consulate to prepare the visa before we leave on our trip, so we’re going to have to cut Brazil out of the itinerary. At least we hadn’t bought any plane tickets yet! We’ll be back to Brazil another time when we came spend longer there and actually learn a little Portuguese.

Update2: Okay, now we’re cutting out Argentina and Brazil to save on airfaire, and to give those two countries the time they deserve on a later trip. This will be a slower-paced trip now, just Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

More than a fun vacation

Children in Peru

We’re not planning out what we’re doing every hour, or even every day of this trip. For a lot of activities, I think we’ll wait until we get there and see what feels most appealing at the moment, after talking to the locals. But we have a good list of things to do in each place, and we’ll make sure we get to the major attractions like Machu Picchu and Iguazu Falls. We’re also really excited to volunteer for a week at a school in Peru, Aldea Yanapay!

I hope this will be a great adventure for our family, something more than just a “fun” vacation, although I’m sure it will be fun. I want to meet new people and make new friends, stand in awe of some the world’s natural and man-made wonders, experience new cultures, foods, and sounds, open my eyes to new ways of living and thinking, learn more about the history, language, and life of the people and countries I’m visiting, grow closer to my wife and kids, and hopefully make a positive difference in someone’s life along the way. It’s a tall order, but for some reason, I have no doubt this trip will meet every one of my expectations. And I like to think that I will be made better in the process, too. Oh! How I love to travel!

Jaco is the closest beach to us, about an hour and 45 minutes away, and we chose to spend a week there. Jaco has a bad reputation of being an ugly town. I’d also heard it wasn’t family friendly. But we had to see for ourselves, and I’m glad we did, because we absolutely loved it! The town’s got a great variety of restaurants, art galleries, and other shops. The beach is clean, warm, and beautiful (although a bit rocky at the south end). The weather was absolutely perfect, the sun was out most of the day except for a short afternoon or evening shower, and it wasn’t super hot like Manuel Antonio last February. It makes me think that the rainy season is really the best time to go to the beach in Costa Rica.

Accommodations

We stayed at a small condo complex called Club del Sol, within walking distance of the beach. We rented a nice 2-bedroom condo with lots of privacy and a full kitchen for about $135/night. They also had a nice pool, which the kids swam in every day. Emily is now doing great swimming across the pool all by herself, and Marie is getting more courageous as well. Jen and I swam a bit, too, but also used the time to catch up on work and e-mail.

Fun at the beach

One morning, we rented surfboards and boogie boards and went to the beach for some fun. Jen and I had a blast trying to get up on the waves. The boards were a little lighter than last time, so harder to balance on, but we did okay. Emily and Marie also enjoyed their first time boogie boarding. They didn’t venture very far from the shore, but had a good time nonetheless. There were a lot of rocks at this part of the beach, though, which slowed us down due to the pain in our feet.

Out on the town

We had some great food in Jaco, including sushi, pizza, and delicious Mexican food, which is hard to find in Costa Rica. We enjoyed the many shops and got the girls each a new dress (including Jen), and I got a new swimming suit because my other one was ripping. I also got a new pair of shorts because I actually found a size 28! It’s so hard to find my size anywhere, so I grabbed it while I had the chance.

We didn’t really do any excursions or tours (we’ve done most already), but we just enjoyed relaxing, being together, and “hanging out.” One night we watched “Home Alone” in Spanish, which was on TV. The kids loved that. We did take a drive to the nearby beaches of Esterillos and Heradura, just to see what they were like (my opinion: beautiful and not very developed). I also talked to a couple realtors to see what their opinions were on the value of investment properties in the area – turns out it’s probably not a good idea right now. There are some great bargains available, but it would be hard to make them turn a profit as a vacation rental.

Dinosaur Park

On our way back from Jaco, we stopped at the Megafauna park (about an hour north of Puntarenas) where  we took a nature walk dotted with life-size statues of dinosaurs and other pre-historic animals. It was pretty interesting to see the types of animals that used to exist, and also how big they were. The museum there was cool, too. In addition to all the bugs, butterflies, and bones displayed, we were also fascinated by the human brain in a jar, as well as the human heart, which our kids were disappointed to find out really wasn’t in the shape of a heart after all.

We’re really glad we could take this trip to Jaco, and would definitely go there again. Enjoy the pictures and videos below.

Surfing!

Neither of us had ever been surfing before, but we wanted to give it a try. We had a short lesson, some one-on-one instruction, and then a lot of practice. It was even more fun than I thought it would be! The waves were perfect for beginners like us, and I got up the second time I tried, and didn’t want to stop, even when the next class started coming in. This is something I’ll definitely have to do again. Jen liked it, too, but not quite as much as I did, I think. Unfortunately, we were both having too much fun to take any pictures. Oh well.

Nesting Sea Turtles

Sea Turtle

One night, we decided to take a tour to a beach where sea turtles often come to lay their eggs. It was late at night, rainy, and very dark, but our guide led us around with a group of about 7 until we saw a turtle coming up from the water. We followed her and watched the whole process of her digging the whole, laying her eggs, and covering them back up. The guide had a red flashlight for us to see highlights (he wouldn’t let us use our own flashlights on the turtle). It was pretty neat!

As the turtle was heading back to the ocean, we even got to touch her shell and her fins, which were very soft. Very few baby sea turtles will hatch and make it back to the ocean because of predators and other factors. But it’s neat to see all of this take place, and how such a beautiful animal carries on her species.

Hideaway Hotel

On this trip, we chose to stay at the Hideaway Hotel in Samara, which is within walking distance from both Samara and Carrillo beach. (We went surfing at Samara). We really enjoyed our time at Hideaway hotel and got to know the very nice owners, who recently built the hotel. They have comfortable and affordable rooms, and a great restaurant which even includes homemade ice cream and heavenly brownies!

Dinosaur Park

Dinosaur Park

On our way back home (it’s about a 4 hour drive from Playa Samara to Grecia), we stopped at the giant tyrranosaurus rex statue on the side of the road coming to Puntarenas, and found out that it’s actually the entrance to Megafauna Monteverde, a dinosaur park where they have statues of lots of extinct animals, as well as an interesting museum and butterfly house. We didn’t have time to see the park, but they did let us browse around the museum for a few minutes. We’ll have to take the kids back here some time! We also had lunch at their restaurant, which was good.

Our Friends

You may be wondering how we could leave our kids for 3 days and 2 nights in a foreign country. I think we’re lucky to have such great friends, the Bustillos family, who offered to watch our kids for us while we were gone. Emily and Marie really enjoyed having a sleepover with their friends, and it also gave them a good chance to practice their Spanish. :)

At the fun park

We’re so grateful to Maggie and Kincho for helping us out. It was a fantastic and very needed break away and a chance to celebrate our marriage. We’re so happy to have each other!

About a week after we got back, we went with the Bustillos family to a fun park (kind of like a mini-Disneyland). It was a pretty wet – and even cold – day, though, so we only stayed long enough to see what rides there were, and we’ll probably be back another day. So we decided to go see the latest Shrek movie instead, which we all enjoyed. Although the next day we found ourselves all sick in bed with a virus that lasted about a week. I guess that’s one reason it’s been so long since I’ve written on this blog. :) We’re happy to be feeling better now, too.

Pool at Hotel Bambito

After crossing the border from Costa Rica into Panama, we drove straight to Volcán, the town we enjoyed the most on our last visit to Panama, and also one of the closest to the Costa Rican border. We stayed the night in Hotel Bambito, the only place in town with a swimming pool. Our girls love to swim. Marie would do it all day if we let her. It was a really pretty indoor pool surrounded by glass windows so you still felt like you were outside. We were glad it was indoor because it was pretty cold outside – too cold for swimming anyway. They also had a hot tub, sauna, and ping pong table, all of which we enjoyed.

Meals with Friends

The next day, we met up with some friends for lunch and dinner. Both suggested the same restaurant, at Dos Rios hotel, so we ate there twice, and enjoyed the food both times. It was great to see our friends again, to catch up on what’s happened in the year and a half since we were last in Volcán.

Driving to Las Olas Resort

Jen at Las Olas

The next day, we thought we’d get a little closer to the border and go find a hotel by the beach somewhere. Our friends recommended Las Olas Resort, and gave us directions. But unfortunately, we missed the signs, and got very bad directions from several locals, which ended up taking us 1.5 hours in the wrong direction! We were all pretty frustrated at ourselves – well, Jen and I were. The girls somehow handled the extra 3 hours in the car with a very good attitude, just having fun playing together. When we got to the hotel, we found out it would be about $50 more per night than we thought because the prices on-line didn’t say it was an extra $20 per person for more than 2 in a room. I asked for a discount, it being the low season, but they wouldn’t budge. :(

Emily Learned to Swim!

Turtles at Las Olas

So, we went swimming that night, and also played a little at the beach and watched the sun set. The pools there were pretty shallow, which was great for the kids. In fact, because Emily could almost touch her toes in just about every part of the pool, she got brave enough to try swimming on her own from one end of the pool to the other, and did it! Our little girl has taught herself to swim! (Which is good because for some reason, she gets terrified whenever I try to teach her myself).

We had dinner at the resort and the girls enjoyed feeding the lettuce to the turtles in the pond and watching the parrots and macaws in the cage by the entrance.

Back to Costa Rica

The next day, we headed back to Costa Rica and immediately felt a little safer and noticed how much more green and dense the foliage was. We really like it here. :) We drove all the way to Dominical to find a hotel to stay at. Although we did stop at the beach just long enough for Marie to lose her shoe in the waves…

Pool at Hotel Ambiente

The hotel we planned on going to turned out to be be closed, so we drove around to several others, and ended up at one that was a little pricier than what we wanted (because we had to get 2 rooms instead of one, but they gave us a big discount). But it was so beautiful and we were ready to treat ourselves to a nice night after all that driving, so we took it. We stayed at Villa Ambiente, and it really was ambient (although we did have to drive through a river to get there). The architecture, furniture and decor were lovely, and the ocean view from the pool was spectacular!

We swam a little until it started to rain, then had dinner at a fun pizza restaurant in town, followed by some delicious ice cream at Ruby’s Homemade Ice Cream, owned by a sweet family from New York (Ruby is their baby). We enjoyed visiting with them, and they even showed Emily how to make waffle cones when she kept probing them for details.

To Buy a Hotel or Not to Buy

Courtyard at Villa Ambiente

Being a business man and having a mind that wants to know how things work, I enjoy talking to business owners to see how they run their operations. In addition to the ice cream shop owners, I also talked to the receptionist at Villa Ambiente (who was the only one there except the gardener) to see how things were run. I found out that it was owned by a man from Switzerland, and run by this woman and a gardener. The hotel is also for sale for 1.7 million dollars! Whew! Way out of my price range (for now), but it sure got me thinking about what it might be like to own a hotel, and how profitable a venture it might be.

In fact, I spent all week researching about buying commercial real estate in Costa Rica, how to run an effective hotel, and created a complex spreadsheet to help me analyze how profitable a hotel might be given many different variables. It’s been fun to learn about, even if I don’t end up purchasing a hotel. But I think it could certainly be a better place to diversify my savings than sticking money in stocks and mutual funds all in US dollars. At least with a hotel I’d have a little more control over the ROI. Something to think about.

Fresh Farming

Visiting the sheep

The next day we headed home, and on our way back stopped at a farm called Finca Ipe for some fresh cinnamon and honey. They even showed us the boxes where the bees make their honey and we got to stick our fingers in and taste the honey right out of the hive! Delicious! Fortunately, these were bees that didn’t sting. We got to see their other animals, too, like sheep, goats, rabbits, and chickens. The kids really loved it!

Overall, we had a great trip and it was fun to be together, see old friends, meet new people, and have new experiences together. For our next visa run, we are planning to visit our family back in Utah for a week or two, and then maybe take our kids to Disney World in Florida. We’ll probably be out of the country a bit longer for this next trip because September/October are the rainiest part of the rainy season here in Costa Rica, which I’ve heard are often just best to avoid altogether.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy the video and pictures below.

We’ve been asked a few times if we plan to become residents so we won’t have to go through this process every 90 days. The answer: probably not. The main reason is that if you’re a resident, you have to live in the country for a certain number of months each year in order to maintain residency. And while we love Costa Rica, we know that we’ll want to be moving on to other countries in the near future. So there’s little point in spending several thousand dollars and waiting several years to get residency status here, if we’re just planning on leaving. Now, on to the trip!

The Closed Highway

Our week began with a trip to a Registro Publico (Public Registry) office in Alajuela to get permission to take our car out of the country. This was a lot easier than last time for us, since we knew what to expect. It cost about $10, if I remember right, and required standing in two short lines. After that, we headed to Panama, on the new highway that should get us to the border in roughly 6 hours.

However, after passing by Atenas, we discovered that the highway had been closed. There was a barrier up to block the on-ramp and we couldn’t pass. I had read a week before that the highway had been closed due to some rocks that had fallen, but I figured it would have been cleaned up by now. I guess not.

As we were looking at the GPS trying to figure out what to do, a man shouted to us from a little cliff above and told us that if our car has 4-wheel drive, we should be able to drive on the freeway without any problem. I was a little hesitant because I didn’t want to get into any trouble crossing a barrier, but I also didn’t want to waste another hour backtracking and finding another route to Panama that would take us much longer to get there. (We’d for sure end up spending the night in Costa Rica somewhere instead). So, we decided to risk it and 4×4′d around the barrier to continue on the closed highway.

At first, all was great! We swerved around a few rocks, wondering why no one was cleaning them up, and then proceeded to drive at top speed with no other cars on the road! I have never seen the highway so empty! Eventually, we passed several more sets of rocks and places where the wall had collapsed. Workers with bulldozers were cleaning up the mess, and we drove right on by. No one seemed to even care we were there.

Eventually, as we approached the place where we needed to exit the freeway, we found that it was blocked off, and so was the nearest exit! There was no way around either barrier this time, even with 4-wheel drive. Then we spotted a traffic police truck on the other side of the road, and we began to worry. We saw one other truck driving on the other side of the road, who proceeded to take the exit (actually an onramp) just on the other side of the police truck. So we decided to try the same thing. We were relieved when he didn’t follow us, and we were able to get back on the highway – the part that wasn’t closed – to continue our journey. Being ignored by a policeman was the exact opposite experience that we had in Panama, which I’ll talk about later. (So I guess we paid for our crime one way or another.)

Crossing the Border

We were glad to arrive at the Panama border before dark, even after stopping for lunch at a nice buffet place near Jaco. But the border was an absolute madhouse! It seems like it’s intentionally made confusing so that you need to rely on unofficial people “helping” you around and taking you to various offices in order to receive a tip. There are no signs with directions telling you where to go for different things, so if it’s your first time through, you kind of need to trust them. But our “guide” kept asking to hold my passports and documents for me. No way, José (his name was actually Anthony) – I’ll hang onto these myself, thank you. After leading us through 5 or so different offices, in a seeming random order, we finally made it through the border.

On the way back to Costa Rica, however, we decided to ignore the unofficial people trying to help us, and found that we were able to make it through okay by just asking people behind the window where we were supposed to go next. This probably wouldn’t work too well if there were long lines, but there we no lines at all so we got through very quickly the second time.

Corrupt Police Officers

But just 5 minutes into our Panama journey, after being drained from long hours of driving and a crazy experience at the border, we passed by a little police booth without coming to a complete stop. Now, in Costa Rica, they have these all the time and they don’t care if you stop. I guess Panama is a bit different. We heard a whistle blown and had to backtrack. The officers took our passports and my license and looked at our other documents. And these aren’t your friendly officers in blue shirts, but gruff men in camo with heavy boots, bullet proof vest, and a belt full of weapons. After 10 minutes of intimidation, including a “threat” to call the traffic police over who could write us a $100 ticket (which is a lie – tickets are more like $20), he said he wouldn’t charge us anything, but if we wanted to pay them a little something, maybe $20 or so, for not causing us more trouble, it would be welcome. In other words, they wanted a bribe. I whipped out $15 or so (about all I had) and we were off.

This post is getting long, so I’m going to just share our final police experience in Panama, and save the rest of the trip (all much more positive) for another post. On the way back to the border (in almost the same place we were stopped before, but on the other side of the road), I was observing the speed limit very closely – 60km/hr – and Jen knew it, too. But at that moment I was flagged down again by a policeman – this time a traffic cop. I pulled over, yada yada, and he said I was going 83km/hr. No way. I argued with him about it and said that I know I was going 60. I’m pretty sure he just pulled us over because we looked like gringos and he thought he could get some easy money. (We hear this happens a lot in Panama). But I fought him on it, and maybe because he realized I wasn’t the easy target he thought I’d be, he let me go without writing me a ticket, nor did he get any bribe money (I only had $8 anyway). Yay for assertiveness!

I have lived in Costa Rica for 6 months and have never been pulled over. But in the 7 weeks I’ve spent in Panama this year and last, I’ve been pulled over 3 times! Needless to say, we were very relieved to finally be back in Costa Rica, where the traffic cops seem a little less corrupt (or maybe just less aggressive), and sometimes even friendly.

Since time was short, we packed it with a lot of fun activities, including a couple of our favorite spots here as well as some places we haven’t been to yet. We were blessed that the weather agreed with us perfectly and gave us lots of sun for the activities that needed sun. We did run into some crazy patches of fog, and a bit of rain on a couple afternoons. But we were usually on our way back home by that time so it didn’t interfere.

Our baby ducks

We had great food as well, eating gourmet breakfasts cooked by Jen who got up before 6 every day to make them. She made several Costa Rican dishes like gallo pinto and empanadas, and some others like pancakes (with strawberry syrup), blackberry crêpes, and omelets. Every other meal we ate out at restaurants with great prices and delicious food, including trips to the Grecia farmer’s market, ice cream shops, and Café Delicias for their cinnamon rolls. I especially recommend the pineapple batido at Tica Linda on the way to Monteverde.

The day before my family arrived, we also witnessed the arrival of six new baby ducks at our house! It’s so cute watching the little yellow and black troop follow their mother to the pond for a swim. I am sure we are going to enjoy watching these little guys.

So, here is a summary of all we did on the trip.

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge

On the boat in Rio Frio

The first day we went to Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge (or rather, a boat ride down the Rio Frio). On the way there we stopped at Zarcero to see the cool topiary, and at Muelles to see dozens of large iguanas sprawled out over the trees on both sides of the bridge. The boat ride was great, too. We saw cayman, turtles, two types of monkeys, and several different species of birds. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Grecia, though, which was about an hour longer than Google Maps said. But we didn’t mind so much because the drive was beautiful! Lots of green rolling hills, interesting trees, and fresh, warm air.

As a tip I got from Doin’ Costa Rica, we bargained down the boat price a lot. Some tour companies will charge $60/person for this tour. We ran into a boat driver who wanted $20/person, which for 9 people would have been $180. After some haggling and also telling him I know someone who rented a boat for $50 flat (regardless of how many people), he agreed to drop his price to $80/flat, and I agreed. I probably could have gone cheaper, but $8.88/person isn’t bad for a cool 2 hour boat ride.

Playa Manta (the beach!)

Playa Manta

The next day we went to Playa Manta, a secluded beach on the pacific coast that’s part of the Punta Leona hotel, that Denny from B&B Grecia told me about. It’s a beautiful beach in a little cove surrounded by green hills and trees. It also had a little freshwater stream running out to the ocean, which was great for rinsing off in afterward. The water wasn’t quite as warm as I remember it being in Manuel Antonio during the dry season (like a bath tub), but it was certainly comfortable enough to swim in, and we had a great time playing in the waves, as well as walking along the shore. We were basically the only people there, too, besides a couple local guys who went fishing out in a boat. On the way back from the beach we stopped at Tarcoles bridge to see the crocodiles. Fun stuff.

The Rest

Monteverde

The other two things we did I’ve already written about from previous visits. Check out my posts on Monteverde Cloud Forest and Poás Volcano and La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This time, however, we actually saw the howler monkeys at Monteverde (not just heard them like last time). They were also very close to us – almost within arms reach! And at La Paz, we didn’t get to hold a red-eyed tree frog (the lady there wouldn’t wake one up for us). But we did walk to the waterfalls, which were pretty spectacular. It was neat to be able to see the waterfalls not just from the bottom, but from the top and from behind as well. We also saw some interesting birds I hadn’t noticed before.

Sunday

After Sunday dinner

My family also came with us to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it, even with the language barrier. Just before sacrament meeting started, President Bustillos asked my dad to sing a solo during the meeting, so he quickly picked a hymn and we pulled something off (he sang and I played the piano). With some inspiration I’m sure, my dad actually ended up picking Pres. Bustillos favorite hymn, “O My Father” and sang it beautifully, of course. After church, I directed the choir in Spanish, which my dad also really seemed to enjoy, being a choral director himself. It was fun to have them there.

We all came back to our house after church for some lunch. The Bustillos Family and the missionaries joined us and we had a great feast of rice, beans, chicken with tomato sauce, two types of salads, papaya shakes, star fruit shakes, and fried plantains. Then we had a series of foosball matches, all of which were won by President Bustillos who seems practically unbeatable. I will get him one day…

Dinner at Galería

Another highlight of the trip is when my Dad and Robin took Jennifer and me out to dinner one night for our birthdays. We left the kids at home, so were able to have a nice talk with just the four of us. It was great! We were going to go to Complejo Los Arcos – a fancy restaurant by our house with beautiful views – but it was closed, so we headed to town to go to Galería, which was fantastic. My dad said it was the best Fillet Mignon he’d ever had. I would add it’s probably also the cheapest, even though the prices in Galería are more than double most Costa Rican restuarants (ie. $12 instead of $6/plate.) We all had some ice cream with the kids when we came back home.

We had such a great time with our family this week, and are so glad they could come visit us. It’s also interesting to me how relationships can seem to deepen so much more when you’re living and playing together for several days straight, than when you’re only seeing each other for a couple hours each month, which is what usually happened when we lived within 15 minutes of each other. I actually feel closer to my family now than I did when living close to them. Isn’t that interesting?

Enjoy the pictures and videos below.

If you haven’t heard of Expat Alley, it’s a great resource for those interested in living abroad, and includes many interviews from other expats as well. The author of the blog, Tom, is also the husband of Maya Frost who wrote the excellent book: The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Education, and Get a Truly International Education. If you’re interested in providing your kids a more global education, or if you just want to save some money on college, this is a great book to check out.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the interview, which posted today.

Click here to read the interview with Expat Alley.