Costa Rica

(my whole Costa Rica album is here on flickr)

After crossing the border from Panama, my first stop in Tico land was in Manuel Antonio. It's well-known for its wildlife reserves & its beaches, and even though it was quite touristy, I really enjoyed myself. The beach was calling me the first day, so I walked about 5km down the hill from the hostel to the beach. Five hours & a few chapters from my philosophy anthology later, I called it a day & got my playa fix for the week.

The hostel was super chill until about 9pm every night when the drunks got rowdy. It was fun watching the NBA finals & Gold Cup with them, but I really didn't feel like gettin hammered and meeting all these new people when I had a lot of transcribing to do. So, I was the guy with my laptop & headphones on in the corner, chuggin away at my work while the others chugged away at the cerveza.

The Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio was next. I was amazed to see, without the $30 guides that so many paid for, so many animals in one day: sloths, monkeys, toucans, lizards, spiders & jungle crabs. Some of the pics of the sloths & toucans didn't turn out, but I did the best I could. It was incredible to watch the sloths. The first one was hanging on a branch of a tree that was overlapping its leaves into another tree. His arms were about 2 feet long, but he needed this leaf that was 2.5 feet away. He must have swiped his arm 30 times in that extra slow-motion grab before he realized it was not possible. The monkeys were swinging & dancing around him as if he wasn't there. It was so cool, I just don't know how these creatures have survived so long... I guess they just have no predators.... well, except for this one.

I left Manuel Antonio in search of more jungles & the highlands, ending up in Santa Elena (very close to Monteverde) in the NW region of Costa Rica. There it was also quite touristy, but I ended up meeting a bunch of cool med students from UCF, a Canadian who goes to UBC, a UW graduate living in Seattle, and a German named Phillip who ended up rooming with me, all of which were a super good time. My main goal, though, was to visit the sloth sanctuary (which contains the "slothpital"), but the owner had recently died & the sloths had been transported across the country, so this is as close as I got.

That was super frustrating after the 8km walk there, but I did stop at a reptile center on the way better, un "serpentario", with all kinds of snakes (which constantly gave me chills down my spine), frogs, lizards & turtles!

I splurged on my $20/day budget and used my credit card (which I'm not counting against the budget, hehehe) for a ziplining adventure... and let me tell you, it was worth it!!! There were 14 zip lines, ranging from 60m to 552m, a tarzan swing where you swin out and up a good 200 feet, and then a superman zipline at the end where you are strapped face forward and, well, fly like superman!!! The superman was probably the best 45 seconds & 1km of my life... it's really hard to describe with words how cool it is to see the jungle from that crazy aerial angle. The only lame thing is that I broke my camera trying to strap it to the front of my chest and record a video. It was crushed by the pressure of the guys who caught me on the Tarzan swing with this rubber pad. Here's the only real video that turned out decent, tho:

I had a lot of time just walking in Costa Rica. The flora & fauna were like I've never seen before, so I think just driving by everything would have left me slightly disappointed; walking let me take everything in at the right pace.

It was a little frustrating speaking Spanish there. I can't remember how many times I would speak in Spanish, they would respond in English, then I in Spanish, then them in English; it was as if we were battling to see who can practice there non-native language. I received many compliments on my Spanish from Ticos & Americans, but apparently that doesn't matter when someone is trying to sell you something or "help" you (the quotations on help represent those people who approach you and try to help you with your bags, tell you how to get somewhere when you already know how to get there, open the door for you and ask about your life in hopes of money for talking with them, etc...). I have noticed almost all of them have the American /r/ instead of the trilled Spanish /r/, not only when they say Costa Rica or Bira (instead of "cerveza"), but also on some syllable-final /r/, as in hacerla or largo.

OK, Nicaragua awaits... (!!!!!)

Never neglect self-reflection.

"And remember, no matter where you go, there you are."

 -Confucious

So much of my life is spent assuming I am what I am and that's that. It's not fair that I look out so much when looking in is the only way to true satisfaction.

The only constant in my life is myself; consistent evaluation, reflection & construction of who, what & why I am are the only things that can bring me fulfillment.

I'm all about efficiency. Self-reflection is the only path to true metaphysical tranquility & maintaining one's core moral system. As far as maximizing life experiences & relationships with others, this is the most efficient thing a human being can do; I will.

Boquete: coffee, jungle, mountains & walks!

This little town was charming. Just reading the Wikipedia article got me super excited: 1300m high, population under 10,000, coffee capital of Panama, very isolated & opportunity to isolate oneself even more. The instant I got off the bus from David, this guy came up to me babbling 7 words a second. I honestly thought he was a cokehead.

made it to boquete... town's nestled in a rainforest, so cool! hostel owner must've drank about 10 cups of this coffee... total buggin out!! tweet

Nonetheless, he was a hell of a guy and I ended up staying at his hostel for &8.50/night. He also inspired me, as I never went 4 hours without a cup of café :-) The two full days was basically dedicated to two long walks, a 7km & a 20km, in which I passed by about 20 different coffee plantations some beautiful rivers.

The waterfall was pretty refreshing during the walk. One guy called me Moses because of my staff, lol... It was mostly for protection; honestly, who would mess with a pretty big guy (compared to the locals) with a huge bamboo rod?!?

I also had to stop in awe at the colors on the flowers. They were unreal amongst all the different shades of green. Got my macro on ;-)

I met a couple from Chicago who has been traveling for a year now. They move from town to town and look for apartments to rent for a month, carefully noting all the living expenses for the area. They're scoping out a permanent place to reside, or at least a 9 month abroad, 3 month in the states type of thing. Their blog is here; you will be amazed by the detail in the cost spreadsheets! They found an apartment in Boquete when I was there and I can't wait to hear how their month goes!

I also met a South African couple who had taught English for two years in Korea and were now using money they had saved from that to travel Latin America. They had a great vibe & walked most of the way on the longer hike with me. They learned Korean while teaching there, and now have 8 months in Latin America to learn Spanish. I was giving them a little (drunk) cheat sheet with verb conjugations and some simple phrases. It's hard to fit the most "important" things of a language on the front a back of one sheet, but I tried my best! I'll never forget those 6 packs of Balboa beer & joint under the bridge, talking about South African history & politics for a few hours. I would love to read something on that history, it just seems so chaotic & interesting! He summed it up sarcastically, saying "South Africa gave the world 3 things: trenches, barbed wired & concentration camps." Well you really tickled the world in the wrong spot with those ones, ey!?!?

Another guy at my hostel was from the UK, never specified exactly where, and had been traveling for the past 5 years. He described himself as a "bum" & had spent a year going through Africa, two years all over Asia, and was a year into his Latin American travels. Sounds like a sweet life for a bum if you ask me! His sense of traveling was really good, one could say he was "wise" in this respect, and would always talk about how the people made him feel in different regions. "I don't know, they just had a chip on their shoulder. They would look at me with an intention I didn't care for," I remember him saying. He was the only other person in my room, and as I left this morning he gave me some great advice, it just felt so right. I told him how I appreciate all his stories & experiences that he had shared, then he said, regarding the local culture, people & way of life. I'll never forget it:

Great advice from this world traveler (1yr africa, 2yrs asia, 1yr latin america), in his chill British accent: "Just jump in, no worries..." tweet

Boquete was a good start for me as far as rural Central America goes. I have changed my route and plan on skipping all of the capitals, except possibly San Salvador. Already seeing Panama City, the most impressed I think I could be with a city down here, I just realized that's not really what I'm here for. I'm excited for some raw geography & isolation!

Panama: the capital & the canal

(All of my pics are in my "Panama" set on flickr here)

My Central America journey began in Panama. The people here have been not quite as warm & embracing as the people I've meet from the Caribbean, but nonetheless are still friendly once you establish yourself. I had no idea how much of a blend of ethnicity I would find in Panama, as I see many who have predominately African, European, or Chinese heritage, along with the majority being part indigenous/European (Mestizos). My hostel, Luna's Castle, is the castle bunk up n get drunk type of place... it's located in the old part of the capital, Casco Viejo, which was sacked, burned & broken continuously by French, English & other pirates throughout the centuries. It's so cool because they are constantly remodeling the buildings right next to other buildings that are still crumbling. Old, new, and change is everywhere.








It's about two miles from the new downtown, where the buildings are comparable to those of New York or Chicago and one can't turn a corner without some American food chain in view.







The graffiti, especially in Casco Viejo, has been radical. The messages aren't as political as I saw in Perú, but more meaningless and really just fun-to-look-at art. Mike told me he couldn't keep up with how fast I was uploading pics (mostly graffiti), then I tweeted back

"dude i'm the japanese girl with the hello kitty purse, taking 15 pics a block... i can't keep up with myself!"

Seriously, there was so much stuff on the walls I couldn't take enough pictures, then went to the same place and can't believe I missed even MORE stuff!








I have been running and working out everyday, which is super hard bc I've become a complete fatass computer hookah social network dude. One day I was doing situps and pushups in the park and 7 little girls came up on me. They surrounded me and I was like "Umm, hola". They asked why I was working out, I said because I was fat and wanted to get in shape. It didn't really seem like they understood, as they were all under 10 years old. One of them came up to me with some of of tube in her hands, holding it like it was her dick (mind you, I am laying down in situp position). She starts to hit me in the face with it and says "Metame la pene", a way of saying "Suck my dick" I've never heard in Spanish... they all laughed foreeeeever and I was just sitting there, totally speechless but laughing, as well.

Also, I was in the creole food place (spaghetti, rice, beans, fried bananas, roasted chicken breast, coca-cola = $3.25) and this 8 year old kid would NOT leave me alone. His dad owned the restaurant, so he just runs around everyday and bothers whoever he wants. He asked me how to say at least 50 things in English (of which I felt stupid with 10 of them, e.g. maracuyá = passion fruit). Basically he was looking around the restaurant and would just tap me on the shoulder for the translation. He then asked me if I knew Justin Bieber (Yu-steen Bee-bear), and I was like "Nah, he's always with new chicks so I don't like to bother him". He then asked if China owned the US, and seeing all of the Chinese calendars and different signs around the store (his dad was speaking Chinese and, of course, he was of Chinese descent), I said "Totally, everything I'm wearing is from China. I need to learn Chinese!". He was a cute kid, but because I wanted to just read while eat, I thought of him as a little shit at the moment.

My $20/day budget is goin great. Haven't spent more than $5 on a meal, almost always consisting of that Caribbean style rice, beans, bananas and meat that I have come to love :-)




The Panama Canal is one of those things you gotta see, but it felt like the Grand Canyon to me: once you see it; it's just like "Wwwwelp, guess that's it! Let's go home." The information & history surrounding is much more interesting than actually being there, but When in Rome..... I watched a couple ships pass thru, one of random cargo and the other full of cars. I paid $5 instead of $8, missing out on the movie that explains the canal process, but (again) Mike gave me a link to this video about the canal which I'm sure is way better. During the video at 25:25, there is a sweet paper animation that shows how it works. Nonetheless, I went!

My next destination is Boquete, the coffee capital on Panama, population 5000, up in the mountains... the Central America I've been waiting for! The capital has been cool, but I'm ready for the raw stuff!!! Until then...

*On a linguistc note, the Spanish here has been fairly "regular". Most all Panamanians aspirate the syllable-final /s/, but everything else is pretty standard.