First day with our new blender. Yes Bo!
Sebastian and Nima New Years eve
Jake and Jeremy made a delicious feast
Another jam-packed ride
Nima and Marian in La Fortuna
Bo and Karen pumped to be traveling in The Van
Bo taking a cooler break
Incredible Costa Rican camping
The famous chocolate cake
A very European lunch in Monteverde
Marian a little cranky after a mud fight
Everybody is shocked that Marian is leaving
The beautiful Caribbean coast of Manzanilla
Jeremy caught a Poison Dart Frog
Catching waves on with our new dolphin
The funky little ferry towards Pavones
45lbs. of sweet sandia
Driving in Panama has proven to be quite confusing
The Great Panama Canal
Panama City
Yes, yes, we know! It has been well over a month without any word from our southbound expedition, but I can assure you that all is well, morale is high, and the van can still do 65 mph with a tailwind. In fact, we have finally arrived at a major milestone and the biggest obstacle of our journey…the time has come to bridge the Darien Gap! On the border between Panama and Colombia, this is the only break in the Panamerican highway from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, and has long had a history of drug smuggling and guerilla violence. Thus our next week here in Panama City will be spent working on the logistics of shipping the van to Cartagena, Colombia where we will resume the trip in South America. But that story will be for another time, so without any further delay, here comes the latest from our harrowing travels. Although it has been a month, the time has flown by with the abundance of visiting friends, surfing, deserted beach explorations, and off road driving. One country, two new brake pads, four friends, and five tires later, we have safely arrived in Panama where we will contemplate the passage of our sweet van into South America.
We left off in Jaco, Costa Rica, where our group of five (myself, Nima, Jake, Karin, and Anna) decided it was time to begin the journey southward towards the surfing mecca of Dominical. But first! The rarely visited, untapped beaches that lay in between. Our first stop was at Esterillos Este, where we passed three days enjoying the pumping surf, deserted beach, and the phosphorescent glow that accompanied our nightly swims in the ocean. Although it was extremely difficult to fit into our schedule, we managed to crunch in some reading, guitar playing, and even a few Swedish massages. However, since our time with the Swedes was growing short, we headed south to Manuel Antonio, where we would pass our final night with Anna and Karin. After some incredible morning body surfing, we said our goodbyes, promised to visit Sweden, and dropped Anna and Karin at the bus station. Now, for the first time in over three weeks there were less than five people in the van; with only three of us, we didn’t know what to do with all of the space! But, truth be told, things were looking down when our beautiful Swedish vanmates headed back to their homeland to pass the holidays with their families. Anna and Karin will be dearly missed! Luckily, the epic surf over the next few days would help to ease the pain.
At our next stop, Playa Matapalo, we had the luck of finding a completely deserted beach with hollow, overhead waves that gave us quite the workout (and beating) over the following few days. Our precious time was well spent surfing, playing guitar, and attempting to fish (with no luck!). We also kept a close eye on the two sloths lounging in the trees just above our campsite; one of them even mustered the engery to move to another tree at one point. After continuing south on a long, dirt road, we finally arrived in the sleepy surf town of Dominical. Here, due to the world class quality of the waves, we expected to find the water crowded with visiting SoCal gringos. However, our streak of luck continued, and we were fortunate enough to share the waves with only several other travelers and locals. Our best waves of the trip since El Salvador! Aside from surfing, Dominical also became the site of the now-famous chocolate cake eating incident. For some odd reason (maybe our college degrees?), Nima, Jake, and I decided that it would be a good idea to eat an entire, 12 piece chocolate cake for dinner between the three of us. Although Jake and I kept our eye on the price and finished our four pieces, Nima (we are forever disappointed) finished his fourth the next day for breakfast. I think we are still surfing off the calories from that fateful night. Although we would have liked to stay in Dominical for a bit longer, we were on a tight schedule to pick up Nima’s beautiful girlfriend, Marian, in San Jose on Christmas Eve.
Driving from Dominical to San Jose requires an initial ascent into the Chiriqui highlands, followed by a more drastic increase in altitude via the slow and winding Panamerican highway. After the extremely scenic and picturesque drive up into the mountains, we passed the night at the base of Cerro Chirripo, the second highest peak in Central America (3820 meters), which I climbed five years ago with my buddy Scott. Not much has changed since then, and the sleepy little village called San Gerardo de Rivas provided the perfect retreat from the coastal heat, and we even had to dig out our unused sleeping bags for the night! After some flyfishing in the crystal clear mountain stream (no dinner yet, but several bites!), we made the three-hour trek through the mountains and over Cerro de la Muerto (Peak of Death) to San Jose. While we waited for Marian’s plane to arrive, we caught a showing of the new James Bond movie at an extremely modern mall just outside of the city. However, it was quite disconcerting to look out from the deck of a brand new shopping center and see the vast expanse of ramshackle houses just on the other side of the highway. Then, despite several wrong turns in downtown San Jose after dark, we found our way to the airport with some time to spare before Marian’s on-time arrival.
Beautiful as ever, and bearing many gifts from the states, Marian settled into the van for her two week stay. With the latest Utah addition, our van crew was now four strong again, and we headed straight for the Nicoya Penninsula in the northwest portion of Costa Rica. Here, we would spend the next week driving on dirt roads and fording rivers while making our way towards Tamarindo for New Years. Joining us there would be Bo and Karen, our friends from Utah (currently attending Yale University), and our German buddies Klaus, Sebastian, and Mark, whom we spent time with in Honduras and Nicaragua. Little did we know, it took much longer than expected to reach our destination on the Nicoya, and we drove until 3 AM on Christmas Eve until our weariness forced us to sleep on private property at “playa bonita.” Here, we were promptly kicked out by the security guard bright and early Christmas day. So much for the Christmas spirit! However, as a very unexpected and way more than generous Christmas present, Marian brought us the ultimate accessory for the van. A brand new video I Pod, complete with a full library of music and movies! THANKS MARIAN! That morning, on the rocky dirt road, we blew out a tire, leaving us with no spare tire for the rest of our off road journey on the peninsula. Just some foreshadowing to the problems that would soon arise.
Then, we picked up two local hitchhikers who raved about their little surf town of Santa Teresa, so we decided to head there and check it out. Upon settling in, we once again found the perfect camping spot, which was situated right in front of an impressive rock outcropping and some great tidal pools. During low tide, Jake and I expertly caught two bright, tropical puffer fish, and took several great photos before releasing them into the sea. In Santa Teresa, we found only mediocre surf, and although we caught some good rides, it was slightly more crowded than we expected for a place so isolated by dirt roads. Over the years, Santa Teresa has earned a reputation as the perfect surf town, and a multitude of surf camps and expats moved in and never left. At some point early in our stay, Jake decided it would be a good idea to break one of my surfboards on a late takeoff into shallow water. Luckily enough, we had a local surfer repair the board for a reasonable price, and it is now back to new despite its ragged appearance after the many patches that it has received along the way. Marian also found the motivation to take out a surfboard, and she managed quite well for her first time in years. One day, we spent the entire afternoon helping a local try to get his stuck SUV (complete with mother and girlfriend) out of the sand before the tide came up. Despite the use of our tow rope and come along, the car was way too deep in the sand, and the fiasco ended with the help of some good old Caterpillar heavy machinery, which plucked out the wounded vehicle just minutes before high tide. More foreshadowing…
Moving on, our plan was to meet Bo and his “friend” Karen halfway up the peninsula in Samara the following evening. Thus, the next day was spent doing some extreme driving to get to the next secluded beach. Beginning with steep, rocky roads, our situation deteriorated when the path dead-ended onto a sandy beach. With no spare tire and lots of faith in the van, we proceeded via the beach (over finely packed sand) for the next several kilometers with no problems. Back on the “road, ” we made several deep river crossings with the assistance of our towrope and a friendly local with his burly Toyota truck. He was rewarded with an Alta sticker for his services. Finally, at sunset we arrived at a picturesque beach, where we planned to drive on the sand to find an even more secluded camping spot. However, despite the van’s incredible beach performance earlier in the day, she didn’t quite take to the softer sand, and we soon found ourselves hopelessly stuck with a rapidly incoming tide. Even after much shoveling and pushing, we only sank deeper and ended up high centered on the gas tank. Fortunately enough, a family of Costa Ricans was camping nearby and heard the commotion. With the mother, three kids, and the help of the biggest Costa Rican man I have ever seen, we soon had the van dug out and the sand lined with palm leaves for traction. Everything in place, we easily pushed the van out and drove her to safety before the tide had crept too close. Deciding against more nighttime exploration, we holed up next to our newfound Costa Rican friends for the night. After enjoying fun surf on small waves in the morning and a little bit of guitar, we drove out to meet Bo and Karen in Samara.
But our next day would not be without its adventures either. The first stop came when a young girl and her little brother flagged us down from the side of the road, standing by a steep ravine. Apparently, they had come around the turn too fast, and flipped their quad over the edge…and miraculously managed to jump off with just a few minor scratches before the drop. However, their 4-wheeler was upside down about 200 feet below us in a steep ravine, and they wanted us to help them pull it out without notifying the police. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the proper equipment or manpower to do so, so we waited until some better-equipped vehicles came by and had the situation under control. Then we had to double time to Samara to pick up Bo and Karen. But wait! More rivers to cross, and they were even deeper than the last. With no help this time, we managed to cross two more without a problem…or so we thought. About 20 minutes after the last river, the van began to lose power when we were climbing hills, and eventually she sputtered to a stop just shy of our destination. Short on time, we opened up the engine compartment and checked everything for signs of wetness, and although there was some moisture, nothing obvious jumped out. She started right up again, and although we still had some major losses of power on the uphills, we hobbled into Samara in time to find Bo and Karen at the bus stop.
On a long winter break from their graduate program at Yale, they would be joining us for three weeks of pure Costa Rica and Panama adventure. And they, too, came bearing gifts! Several good books, CD’s, and our new prized possession…a hand crank blender from REI! That’s right - now we can have an unlimited supply of milkshakes, smoothies, and mixed drinks on the road! And yes, it was immediately put to good use. With six of us packed in, we drove the crippled van to a nearby beach (through several more small streams) and parked it for the night. Investigating the problem in the morning, we found the culprit to be water in the gas tank! Long story short, we have a hole in the very top of our gas tank, and the river was deep enough to send water through the top and into our tank. Since the water sinks to the bottom, and the fuel flows out of the back of the tank, it completely explains why we only had issues climbing hills. So we unplugged the fuel hose, drained out all the water, and were on our way…and no problems since!
Onward towards Tamarindo (aka Tama-gringo) for New Years! But alas, our plans changed once we found the beautiful Playa Marbella, several hours north of our current position. With our party of six, we decided to stay here for New Years instead. Great, uncrowded surf and a long open beach left us plenty of time to read and play music when we weren’t in the water. The first night, Jake and I decided to go for a night surf under the almost full moon, and although the waves were small, the water was so clear that we could see our shadows on the sandy bottom six feet below us. An awesome experience! Then, on New Year’s Eve, we were surprised by the sudden appearance of none other than our German friends: Sebastian, Klaus, and Mark! With only a vague e-mail as to our whereabouts, they somehow managed to find us off a dirt road, on an isolated beach, without their own vehicle! We quickly caught up on each other’s travels, and they were part of our group again in no time. Glad to have them for the celebration, we made many a mixed drink using our new blender, and started off the New Year with a huge bonfire, a shot from the flare gun, and a midnight swim.
The next morning, with all nine of us packed into the van, we slowly crept up to Tamarindo, where we would spend the next two days surfing and relaxing. We even decided to splurge and split hotel rooms between the six of us for a much needed bed and shower. The next day, we found a relatively uncrowded wave, and surfed with Jake for the last time before he had to fly home. However, Tamarindo is even more tourist oriented than ever, and while our time there was fun, we decided to head up into the mountains of Monteverde before Jake left for Utah. Unfortunately, on the drive out, our luck with the tires ran out, and we completely blew out the back right with no spare! So Bo and I hitched a ride into town with a very friendly local who got us a discounted tire ($6) and drove us back to the van without accepting any payment. And we were back on the road in 30 minutes (although still without a spare, as we had purchased the last used tire at the shop).
The mountains of Costa Rica are incredibly lush and beautiful, and we were immediately relieved by the change in climate as we ascended into the rainforest. On our last night with Jake, we feasted at a nice pizza restaurant and wished him luck on his early morning bus ride back to San Jose to catch his flight. Since then, he has returned to the snowless mountains of Utah. Now, with only five of us, we headed up to the Monteverde Cloudforest reserve, took a morning jungle hike, and then began the mountainous, dirt road drive to Lake Arenal and Volcano Arenal. Here we planned to check out the volcano and soak in the hot springs before driving back to San Jose to drop off Marian at the airport. Since all of our driving is much more enjoyable with our new I Pod, we arrived at a camping spot overlooking the lake in no time, and set about making yet another delicious feast for dinner.
Unfortunately, in the morning our brakes began to make that telltale scraping noise indicating that our pads were completely worn out; thus, we were forced to head into La Fortuna to find a mechanic. Being an extremely small town, they didn’t have the Volkswagen parts that we needed, but luckily they were able to ship some up from the next town that same day. We also had the disc smoothed out to fix the rivets caused by our worn out brakes. So with brand new pads and a full tank of gas, we were off to the hot springs! Although the volcano was hidden by the clouds, we enjoyed a good soak in the pools before driving to San Jose the next morning. Another beautiful drive through the lush mountains, and we made it into town in time to explore the city a bit and find a hotel for Marian’s last night. Sadly, after two weeks of good times, Marian left us in the morning, and we were down to just four people in the van.
Hearing rumors of a ferry that runs from Costa Rica to South America, we drove to the Caribbean port of Limon to check out our options. However, we forgot that it was Sunday (our stressful lifestyle sometimes leaves us wondering what day it is), so we put our shipping plans on hold and drove down the coast. Past the surf town of Puerto Viejo (no waves), we arrived in Manzanillo at the very southern point of Costa Rica’s Caribbean territory. A quiet little “town” with two restaurants and one bar, it is the gateway to a virgin jungle that stretches all of the way to the Panamanian border at Punta Mona. After a great night’s sleep in our beachfront camping spot, we took to the jungle the next day in search of adventure. Although we lucked out with near perfect weather, the trails were still quite muddy, and it took some technical trail walking to navigate in our flip flops. During the hike we spotted an abundance of wildlife including sloths, monkeys, lizards, and a poison dart frog. At the end of the trail we rested on a deserted beach and managed to crack open a fresh coconut with the help of only a sharp rock and brute force. It wasn’t easy, but now that we have perfected this procedure, we are ready to challenge Tom Hanks in a castaway survival face-off. Although the surf of the Caribbean side is noticeable smaller than on the Pacific, that didn’t stop us from enjoying the bathtub warm ocean. In fact, quite the opposite. While in San Jose, Karen decided to make a generous donation to the trip in the form of an inflatable, pool-toy dolphin. Which makes quite an interesting surfboard. So we collectively spent the evening perfecting our rubber dolphin surfing technique, and we hope to bring our new form of wave riding deep into South America.
Eager to move on, we spent one more night in Manzanillo and headed back up to the port of Limon to investigate shipping options for the van. Despite its reputation as a dangerous and dirty port city, Limon is bustling with activity, and its crowded streets hold their own little charm. On the Caribbean side, we also noticed a much stronger African influence, and the vast majority of the locals were dark skinned, in complete contrast to the Pacific side. Stopping by the customs office as well as several shipping companies, we found that all of the boats that leave Puerto Limon also stop in Colon, Panama. This being the case, we figured that it would be much cheaper to just send the van from Panama.
Decision made, we pointed the van towards Pavones in extreme southwestern Costa Rica, and hit the road. A long stretch of driving put us in Pavones the next evening, although we did end up spending the night in an extremely scenic grocery store parking lot. About fifty kilometers before Pavones, the road turns to dirt and rock, and the driving becomes a little more interesting. At one point we crossed a wide river on a little ferry ($1) and then continued through the lush farmland towards the ocean. As luck would have it, about ten kilometers out we sprung yet another flat tire. Being smart college graduates (along with two Yale students), we failed to pick up a spare tire in San Jose, and we found ourselves with a flat tire, no spare, and in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Luckily, the tire was not blown out, and it could hold air for about five minutes or so. So we pumped it up with the bike pump, drove five minutes, pumped it up again, and repeated the process many times before we hobbled into the “mechanic shop” at Pavones. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the proper tire for us, but he patched up our flat (which he was convinced could blow again at any minute) and sold us a spare that would work in the event of an emergency. At this point we also noticed that our back tire was also about to blow out. Just fifty kilometers from the Panamanian border (where tires are apparently cheap), we decided that we would stay in Pavones for two days and then slowly drive to the border and hope for the best.
Pavones is a world famous surf break known for its long, left breaking waves, but we happened to stop by in the summer season, when the south-facing beach rarely picks up any swell. However, this also meant that we had the place completely to ourselves. Located on the bright blue Bay of Golfito where the jungle comes directly down to the beach, it was unanimously decided that this was the most beautiful place in Costa Rica that we have visited thus far. So two more days were spent surfing (we actually found some pretty good waves) and exploring the beach before heading towards the Panamanian border. In recent surfing news, Nima has finally gotten the hang of it, and is constantly catching better waves, and he has even taken to using my shortboard!
After a morning surf, we prayed for our tires to stay strong, and then set off on fifty kilometers of dirt road for the Panamanian border. Taking it super slow, we crossed bridge after bridge and trudged through dry Costa Rican farmland until we made it without event to Paso Canoas, the border town. Here, we promptly replaced two tires and got a spare, for a total of three new tires (actually, they were used but of good quality). And then we were in Panama! But we weren’t supposed to be, and we hadn’t crossed though customs yet… Somehow, we got on the wrong street and ended up on the Panamanian side of the border trying to get to Costa Rica...opposite of where we wanted to be. Luckily, we were able to turn around without any hassle and cross through in the proper direction. A relatively simple border, the entire process took us only about one hour, and we dealt with friendly customs agents and surprisingly little traffic. In Panama at last, our final country in Central America!
The first thing that we noticed was the excellent condition of the two lane highway (speed limit 65), the second was that things are finally cheap again! Gas down to $2.50 per gallon (almost $4.00 in Costa Rica), a good meal for $2.00, five cent phone calls to the US, and beer for 39 cents! So we spent the night in a grocery store parking lot in the town of David, and planned to head for Playa Venado, a famous surfing spot on the southernmost tip of Panama’s biggest peninsula. With our four new tires, the first portion of the drive passed without event. However, our luck was about to change. Within the next forty minutes, we were pulled over three times by the police for various ridiculous reasons (one included driving without a shirt on), and Nima and I found ourselves arguing our way out of three different violations. In each situation, it was obvious that the only reason we were pulled over was the American plates on the van. Although it was a pain to deal with, our negotiating skills proved worthy in the end, and we escaped without paying a dime. Unfortunately, this was the first time in the entire trip that we have dealt with any sort of “gringo discrimination” and hopefully it won’t be a recurring theme here in Panama. So far, the rest of our driving has passed without incident.
One interesting thing that we noticed was how incredibly dry and relatively flat it was in this part of Panama. In fact, much of the central and Pacific side resembled the dry mountains of Nevada, void of any vegetation. Although we could see the mountainous rainforest stretching towards the lush Caribbean coast in the northern distance, our route followed the dry and less scenic Panamerican Highway. After a long day of driving, we arrived at Playa Venado after dark, and quickly settled in to the little surf community that has been established there. The camp is located in front of a beautiful bay surrounded by dry, California-esque mountains with a small general store/restaurant that is surrounded by camping surfers. Arriving on a weekend and during a rare summertime swell, the place was quite crowded our first night, but empty by Monday. Here at Playa Venado, we surfed most of the day, explored the beach, and chatted the rest of our time away with a long winded South African and his Swedish girlfriend. They are halfway through their trip of driving from California to Panama and back, and, like us, they have had no major problems during their journey. Working on a yacht for half the year and traveling for the rest, it seems like they have found the perfect combination of work and play.
Moving on from Playa Venado, we drove to another beach for a brief night’s stay and then headed for Panama City! On the way, we passed by some rugged looking mountains that Nima and I plan to explore this week while waiting for our ship to leave for South America. The arrival into Panama City is quite impressive, and as we crossed the Bridge of the Americas over the Panama Canal, we were greeted with our first view of the city’s impressive skyline. Although the bridge, itself, is an impressive piece of architecture, the real treat was looking over this part of the canal at hundreds of yachts, cruise ships, and freighters making the crossing in their respective directions. We would soon head to the Miraflores locks, for an up close and personal look at how these huge ships pass through the canal every day. Once in the city, we found a cheap hotel for the four of us, and enjoyed the hot shower and rooftop swimming pool. And thus we passed two days of lounging and exploring Panama City.
Just yesterday, our last day with Bo and Karen, we headed to the Miraflores locks of the Panama canal to watch the ships being lowered towards the Pacific. Although it is a painstakingly slow process to watch, it is quite impressive to see one of the world’s greatest engineering in action, and well worth our $3 entrance fee. Then we drove out on the Amador causeway to a small island that overlooks Panama City, where we spent the last of our time with Bo and Karen watching the sunset and admiring the million dollar yachts moored in the harbor. And just like that, we bid farewell to our final visitors as they boarded the bus back to San Jose in order to catch their flight home. We wish them luck in the upcoming semester at Yale, and thanks again to all of those who came to visit and temporarily became a part of vwviaje!
And now for the task at hand: crossing from Panama to South America. After some internet research, we found ourselves in the air conditioned offices of Barwil Agencies overlooking the marina of Panama City. Here, we talked with a helpful, English speaking agent, Evelyn, who told us the basics of shipping our van. Right away, she informed us that it is much cheaper to ship and fly to Colombia than to go to Venezuela. So instead of driving a simple route through South America, we will most likely ship to Colombia, then drive to Venezuela and back through Colombia to continue the journey southbound. Basically, we have two shipping options. One is to send the van on a RORO (roll on, roll off) ship that spends 12 days in transit to arrive in Cartagena, Colombia, and the other is to purchase a container and ship it on a one-day journey to Cartagena. Unfortunately, neither option is cheap, and neither ship leaves until the very end of next week. The advantage to the RORO ship is that it is several hundred dollars cheaper, but it provides no security for our belongings inside the van and takes 12 days to transit to Colombia (some genius decided that it would go from Panama to Mexico, then to Colombia). As for the container option, it is considerably more expensive, but is completely secure and takes only one day to transit. Decisions…decisions. Also, our original plan was to try and hitch a ride with a sailboat over to Colombia, but apparently during this time of year it is extremely difficult to find someone headed that way. So it looks like our only option will be to fly from Panama City to Cartagena in order to meet the van upon its arrival. Basically, it is very frustrating because of the expense involved, and also the amount of time we will have to kill here in Panama while waiting for a ship. Oh well, that’s the price we pay for driving to South America, and I’m sure it will all be worth it upon our arrival in Colombia.
Well, it seems like just yesterday that we were lounging at Dan’s house in El Salvador, and now we find ourselves attempting to bridge the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia. Amazing to think that five months have already passed since our departure from Salt Lake City! OK, we wish the best of luck to everybody in the new year, and with a little luck, our next update will come from the next continent…in Colombia!
Pura Vida!
Jeremy