It was the 28th of August and time to speed up because we wanted to be in Nicaragua before the 6th of September in order to catch my Aunty Karen and her husband Lorne who were going to Canada for three weeks. The obvious alternative was to travel slow and see them when they got back but at this stage we simply didn't have the funds to take that long. So we spent the next seven days high tailing it to their house in Managua (Nicaragua) with a quick-fire itinerary through Panama and Costa Rica.
First stop was the famous Panama Canal where we spent the day at the Miraflores Locks, home to a huge viewing tower, museum and restaurant. We had a great day watching the ships pass through, learning about how the canal was made and the canal expansion project, it's defiantly a marvel of engineering. Late in the afternoon we continued on to Panama City where we parked up at the Balboa Yacht Club on the causeway. This is just outside of Panama City itself and for this reason many overlanders know about the area, we even saw a few foreign RV's there. Some looked like they had been there a long time with their awnings and chairs out while some Germans in a very colourful truck back camper had just arrived. In the end the Swiss also came to the yacht club so we had one final meal together but everyone was pretty tired.
In the 27 degree heat of the morning Will and I decided to go for a run down the causeway on the basis we could use the yacht clubs showers that other overlanders had posted you could use for free. But when we returned the club security guard decided to ignore us and clearly wasn't having a thing to do with letting us use the facilities so Will striped off in the street under the drink bottle and I did basically the same but in the toilets of the restaurant. Maybe overlanders have overused that freebee? Next we said a final goodbye to Michael, Martina and Killa then hit the road all the way to the surf town of Santa Cartalina 360km away. The town made you feel like it would be easy to stay a long time with many beach front hostels providing three meals a day and when complete with cheap surfboard hire why would you need to leave? Though while we were there there was hardly any surf and we aren't really surfies so after an ocean swim in the morning we were ready to press on. Next stop was Volcán Barú the guide book said it was the only place on earth that you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans at the same time though I later read you can also see them both in Costa Rica somewhere. In Panama the theory was that you started climbing the volcano at midnight to arrive at sun rise to give you the best chance of a clear view.
In the base town of Boquete we quickly found out a lot of things were closed because it was the low season but we spotted an ATV and Jeep business with two foreign looking guys outside. We stopped to get the low down on the volcano as we had read that you could drive most of the way up it. They said yes you could if you came in one of their trucks for… get this $150US EACH, or he said we could leave our truck safely with him and he could drop us off at the base of the track 10km away for…. $25 EACH ahahah a taxi for 10km is usually about $5 TOTAL. He finished by saying that there's no way we could get our truck past the huge rocks at the start of the track/rangers station and that if we left it on the road we would come back to nothing because of the "indians up there, they don't have a wheel wrench but it doesn't matter you still won't have tyres when you get back". He put the hibijibis up us a bit but we decided to take a look for ourselves; turns out the "huge rocks" were something only a hatch couldn't get over and the ranger station was empty. It was a peaceful spot so we decided to camp there for the night and see what happened. We took a walk up the track and decided we couldn't risk driving it and getting stuck with out our 4x4 working. That left walking up, but after reading about Corcovado National park in Costa Rica and the thick cloud around us we chose to give the climb a miss and continue for Costa Rica early in the morning. During our time at the volcano it felt perfectly safe and we met one couple who were leaving their car on the road for a 12am climb so the guys story about indians was as bullshit as his prices, come on we have spent nine months on the road we know what things should cost. Who are indians anyway I'm sure the locals don't call themselves that…
The next day was border crossing day so we were up at 5am and headed north. At the border things were a mess as usual, guys trying to help you for money, no signs or obvious order and as usual everyone thinking we are from Chile and yelling 'Chile' or 'Chileno' at us. It was really the same as any other border but a long way from the simple five minute crossings between southern Chile and Argentina; you get the photo copies, the insurance, some stamps, some more stamps, they hardly even look at your vehicle and then you go. Then it was back on the road for 140km to Puerto Jiménez the town that sits at the entrance to Corovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. Lucky we arrived early as getting a park ticket was no easy task. First we found the park office reserved a camp spot and a two day pass. But then we couldn't get the tickets ($48US total) until we had paid, but due to some bureaucratic anti corruption efforts we can't pay at the park office. Instead the lady circles five places we can pay on a hand drawn map. One place tells us the person with a bank account is out of town today so they can't do it, another says they can do it but the transaction cost is $20US! the next one says he has no money in his account to do it and finally the last place tells us they can do it for $5US. We're still not sure what they did possibly some sort of online transfer. Then once the park office had reopened after their extended lunch break we get our tickets and continued down the road to the park entrance.
In the base town of Boquete we quickly found out a lot of things were closed because it was the low season but we spotted an ATV and Jeep business with two foreign looking guys outside. We stopped to get the low down on the volcano as we had read that you could drive most of the way up it. They said yes you could if you came in one of their trucks for… get this $150US EACH, or he said we could leave our truck safely with him and he could drop us off at the base of the track 10km away for…. $25 EACH ahahah a taxi for 10km is usually about $5 TOTAL. He finished by saying that there's no way we could get our truck past the huge rocks at the start of the track/rangers station and that if we left it on the road we would come back to nothing because of the "indians up there, they don't have a wheel wrench but it doesn't matter you still won't have tyres when you get back". He put the hibijibis up us a bit but we decided to take a look for ourselves; turns out the "huge rocks" were something only a hatch couldn't get over and the ranger station was empty. It was a peaceful spot so we decided to camp there for the night and see what happened. We took a walk up the track and decided we couldn't risk driving it and getting stuck with out our 4x4 working. That left walking up, but after reading about Corcovado National park in Costa Rica and the thick cloud around us we chose to give the climb a miss and continue for Costa Rica early in the morning. During our time at the volcano it felt perfectly safe and we met one couple who were leaving their car on the road for a 12am climb so the guys story about indians was as bullshit as his prices, come on we have spent nine months on the road we know what things should cost. Who are indians anyway I'm sure the locals don't call themselves that…
The next day was border crossing day so we were up at 5am and headed north. At the border things were a mess as usual, guys trying to help you for money, no signs or obvious order and as usual everyone thinking we are from Chile and yelling 'Chile' or 'Chileno' at us. It was really the same as any other border but a long way from the simple five minute crossings between southern Chile and Argentina; you get the photo copies, the insurance, some stamps, some more stamps, they hardly even look at your vehicle and then you go. Then it was back on the road for 140km to Puerto Jiménez the town that sits at the entrance to Corovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. Lucky we arrived early as getting a park ticket was no easy task. First we found the park office reserved a camp spot and a two day pass. But then we couldn't get the tickets ($48US total) until we had paid, but due to some bureaucratic anti corruption efforts we can't pay at the park office. Instead the lady circles five places we can pay on a hand drawn map. One place tells us the person with a bank account is out of town today so they can't do it, another says they can do it but the transaction cost is $20US! the next one says he has no money in his account to do it and finally the last place tells us they can do it for $5US. We're still not sure what they did possibly some sort of online transfer. Then once the park office had reopened after their extended lunch break we get our tickets and continued down the road to the park entrance.
On the way I was delighted to spot some monkeys in the tress above the road after hearing about other overlanders who had randomly seen monkeys while driving. Five shallow river crossings and a torrential rain storm later we arrived at the end of the road in Carate where we would spend the night and set out on our hike in the morning. We found a place to car camp on the beach so we drove in and although we let the tyres down we promptly got stuck in the soft sand. We were able to move the Dodge back and forth a couple of meters but without 4x4 and the axel sinking lower and lower with each attempt we weren't going anywhere. Fortunately we had our trusty Maxtraks which worked flawlessly in the sand and combined with the help of two local boys we made it over the gravel lip back onto the road. Thankfully beach camp attempt number two worked out a lot firmer.
In the morning we packed our things and set out in bare feet along the beach, it was my first ever hike along the beach and it was delightful. We chose to take our time getting to Estación Sirena because we had a long way to drive the next day and would need to walk back a lot faster without too many stops. On the way there we definitely had our fill of animal encounters anyway. We saw three different Tamandua anteaters less then 10m away and countless groups of monkeys. Of the many Coati we saw, two large males followed us along the beach totally unconcerned. We also saw a squirrel, three snakes and hundreds of birds not to mention the thousands of hermit crabs that littered the beach and snacked on our avocado skins from lunch. The most memorable encounter though was following some fresh looking Taiper tracks in the sand that led us right to the big fella. Steadily munching away on some leaves he wasn't worried by us at all so we could get quite close. We also saw many large turtle tracks and nests but no turtles unfortunately. That afternoon Will and I arrived at the Sirena camp and learnt that we weren't able to use our gas cooker for dinner, only cold food was allowed but after seeing the look on our faces the friendly ranger offered to turn a blind eye while we cooked. We also learnt that we didn't need the tent fly as the campsite was actually a raised covered wooden platform. The only thing you needed was protection from the few bugs and your close neighbour snoring. We were up at 5am to get back to the car early and so was everyone else because of the early low tide making rivers easier to cross and the beaches larger. After keeping up a fast pace over the 16km return through several heavy rain storms we made it back to the Dodge grabbed some food and hoped in. Once the rain stopped we found a river to have a wash in local-style and then away we went due north. Not wanting to pay for accommodation we drove until it got dark then camped at a fuel station making it easy to get away again in the morning.
For our last day in Costa Rica we had been recommended the La Paz Waterfall gardens which were well worth the visit. We spent from 9am until 4:30pm there and even had the buffet lunch. It was our first buffet lunch on the trip and we must have looked like the hungriest people there after polishing off three servings each! The wildlife was also fantastic especially seeing the big cats just after feeding time. The day wasn't over yet though, we crammed in one last thing, a swim at the Tabacon Hot Springs. We arrived at 6pm for the start of the cheaper night pass and soon after were relaxing in the thermal waters. The luxurious pools were formed from a large thermal stream so although there were individual pools they were sand bottomed and shrouded by exotic tropical ferns and trees, joined by small waterfalls. The bathing areas were interconnected by paved paths that snaked there way through the jungle which gave you an experience just moving between the intimate pools. To top it all off there were several large hot waterfalls where if you were brave you could climb into gaps behind the strong flow.
For our last day in Costa Rica we had been recommended the La Paz Waterfall gardens which were well worth the visit. We spent from 9am until 4:30pm there and even had the buffet lunch. It was our first buffet lunch on the trip and we must have looked like the hungriest people there after polishing off three servings each! The wildlife was also fantastic especially seeing the big cats just after feeding time. The day wasn't over yet though, we crammed in one last thing, a swim at the Tabacon Hot Springs. We arrived at 6pm for the start of the cheaper night pass and soon after were relaxing in the thermal waters. The luxurious pools were formed from a large thermal stream so although there were individual pools they were sand bottomed and shrouded by exotic tropical ferns and trees, joined by small waterfalls. The bathing areas were interconnected by paved paths that snaked there way through the jungle which gave you an experience just moving between the intimate pools. To top it all off there were several large hot waterfalls where if you were brave you could climb into gaps behind the strong flow.
We spent the night in the carpark of the hot pools which was on a huge slope; needless to say we couldn't wait to get to my Aunties that afternoon. It was the 4th of September, we had 340km to drive and one border to cross before we would get a chance to relax in an actual physical house! We hit the border around lunch time and rushed between all the different offices located in crazy un-obvious places. Once we had left Costa Rica we had the fun of entering Nicaragua, again we brought insurance and then needed a guy to do a car inspection. Predictably there was one guy to check vehicles and he had just started inspecting a huge 50 seater bus. We melted in the sun waiting for him then went back to the office who again predictably told us we now needed a policemen's signature. There always seems to be extra papers and signatures to get just when you think your done.
Following the border we pressed on to Managua but just before we entered the city we got pulled over by some motorcycle police for apparently passing on a solid line. Will was adamant that he hadn't so accompanied one of the officers on the back of the bike down the road to show him his version of events. After they returned a few pictures were drawn and eventually they rightly let us go. By 4pm and after two years of talking about it we actually made it to my Aunties house. She wasn't home when we pulled up but before long she appeared in her Rav4. It was so crazy to see her here in Nica and there were hugs and smiles all round. That evening her husband Lorne came home and we all enjoyed catching up over dinner. Karen and Lorne were flying out to Canada on the wee hours of the 6th so we only had two nights and one day to hang out. But we had made it. Just.
Rochelle & Will
Rochelle & Will
PS: Since our initial planning and budgeting before leaving New Zealand it has progressively become more and more obvious that our estimated time for the journey was way out. It has not been that things have been more expensive than we expected but just the extension of time eating away at our funds both for the trip and back home. Oh and yes there has also been the breakdowns and maintenance on the Dodge that have easily doubled the figure we had anticipated. We had saved enough money to last us 8 months on the road. As I am writing this blog we have been traveling for 9 months and 5 days so moneys pretty much non-existent now and we will be racing through to the States where we will be stopping and working for at least a month or two. So if the blog updates get a little thin in the near future this is why.