The rest of Central America...
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2006
1
5
Trip End
Dec 15, 2006
Panama City,
Panama
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
ok Im naughty for letting the blogs slide, despite promising I wouldn`t..... things just started happing really fast and before I knew it I'd been through 4 or 5 countries.
So I'll attempt a brief overview of what I've done and where I've been since last blog....
Crossed the boarder into Guatemala, where I met an Aussie fella named Brad. Bussed with him to Quetzaltenango, also know by it's Mayan name Xela (pronounced Shayla). The bussing experience in Guatemala is true to its reputation, -absolutely jam packed.
Xela is a cool colonial city. Like a lot of the other Guatemalan cities, it's set in the highlands, with smoking volcanoes nearby. It was a refreshing change in temperature. Found an interesting hostel where the manager had recently left her job, so there wasn't really anyone to handle day to day affairs - like new customers arriving. It worked out quite well though, we sort of ran it ourselves.
Checked out the area for a couple of days and enrolled at a language school. Did a week of intensive Spanish which was great. Quite exhausting to begin with but has been very beneficial. The package included staying with a local family to maximise the immersion thing. I was quite lucky to get a nice family with a nice house, but from stories it can be a bit of a lottery.
After a week, bussed through torrential rain (with backpack on the roof) to San Pedro. A really chilled out sort of hippie community on the edge of a big crater lake surrounded by volcanoes.
g hot springs
This is a really cool place to visit. Really cheap and laid back with quality restaurants and bars. Plus a crew I'd met in Xela turned up, including Nic, a kiwi girl, Brad, and some others from the school I was at, to make for a fun few days. Did some more study here, but the schools were not up to the same level so didn't learn as much. Took advantage of the extra curricular activities they offered though and went kayaking, cliff jumping and exploring. Bussed south to Antiqua. Another nice colonial city. But feeling the need to find some waves again soon, I only stayed briefly. Managed to do a night time-hike up Pacaya, A live volcano and renowned tourist attraction, but well worth it. Was a unique and surreal experience. You get within a couple of metres of flowing lava! Not sure if you could do something like that in NZ?
Travelled for a day through to El Salvador and out to the coast at La Libertad. Salvador is quite a small country and not overly touristed. I think the majority of foreign visitors, definitely during the rainy season anyway, are surfers. The cities seemed quite developed with heaps of American fast food chains etc, but out of the cities was more primitive. La Libertad was actually kind of scary. A really airy concrete town with crack heads loitering the streets. The surf there wasn't so good so headed to a nearby spot called El Zonte, which was a lot nicer with friendlier locals. Was a couple of days before the swell picked up, but good when it did. Met a guy from Oregan, Trevor.
g my host family
He had a rental car and we managed to find some mint waves to ourselves a few miles away at km 59.Had heard of some good spots to the east, so missioned down to Las Flores (still in El Salvador). Almost decided not to give it a miss as was stuck in a remote place waiting for a bus as it was getting dark. But glad I continued on, as in the next 8 days or so I was to have the best surfing of my life. Stayed in a town close to Las Flores the first night where I met a group of Americans who had chartered a boat to Punta Mango (a reef further down the coast inaccessible by road) early the next morning. They invited me along, and had a great few hours session in near perfect, often barreling right hand reef break waves. In the avo I found some accomadation right on the beach front at Las Flores, which is a very consistent right hand rock point with a sandy bottom.
Mint as wave, and the swell was on for the week. Is actually possible to improve your surfing when can do it 3 times a day in perfect waves (as opposed to once a fortnight in crowded Lyall Bay). There were 3 other kiwis staying at the same shacks and 4 Americans. We would continually come in from a surf and be blown away by how good it was! It was relatively uncrowded too. The ride often being so long that the line up was always shuffled.
Spent about 8 or 9 days there, getting up at first light (about 5am) and crashing not long after dark and a few beers and a feed. Great times.
Feeling very fulfilled I decided it was time to do some travelling again.
g my room with family
Bussed to the El Salvador/Honduras boarder and while at the immigration window I met a group of 4 American guys who had driven down from Lake Tahoe in California (which is about 2weeks straight driving!) They had a couple of pick ups and told me I could throw stuff in the back and that they'd give me a ride across the bridge. We worked out we were going to the same place so they gave me a ride right through to Leon in Nicaragua. Stayed a couple of nights there and partied a bit with them. They were really fun guys and invited me to travel with them as far south as I wanted. This was a really sweet deal, and suited me perfectly. Was definitely a change in the style and pace of the travelling I'd done to that point. Their mission was to to drive to the canal and back (and throw hotdogs in it - some joke about smuggling 4 weaners into Panama!), surf, party and attend a friends wedding in Costa Rica on the way.Nicaragua, is noticibly the poorest country in Central America, with some quite sad scenes of poverty and people doing anything to flesh out a living. We tried to find a couple of surf spots in the north but were disappointed by 1 and discouraged by hostile locals at another.
So drove straight on through to Tamarindo in Costa Rica. Tamagringo is basically a tourist town flooded with Americans learning to surf. But despite the sweltering heat and dive of a hostel we stayed at, we had a fun time there. Basically partying for 3 days. We met a couple of cute Swedish girls there too, who the guys miraculously also found room for in their trucks.
g xela
They travelled with us for another days drive south to Nosora, where we surfed and had a cool night in a comfy surf camp/hostel. Then another day driving... Dropped the girls at a bus station on the way and we continued on to Dominical. Basically just stopped for the night then through to San Carlos in Panama. These fellas were really on a mission. It was exciting to be in Panama and a relief after the atrocious roads in Costa Rica.Finally we arrived in Panama city. This is a really cool place, and different to anywhere in Central America. Obviously prosperous due to the wealth generated by the canal. The city is a beautiful, modern and compact, but also very cheap to live in, with some stunningly attractive women!
Spent 4 or 5 nights here, checked out the nightlife, the canal and parts of the old city.
Said goodbye to the boys here as they headed back up north to get to their friends wedding in Costa. I reluctantly reverted to the common traveller mode and bussed for a day out to Santa Catalina, midway up the country on the Pacific coast.
Had 4 really nice days here in a comfortable and modern hostel and found some ok waves. One memorable surf was at a spot called Punta Roca (Rock Point) which is a 40minute trek over rocks to get to. Went with 2 other guys from the hostel. We had a secluded, short but clean and pitching left hand point to ourselves, with a beautiful rock and jungle back drop. My poor boards are getting a hammering. Wiped out here on the first wave and made a fair dent in my board with my knee. Both were still functionable though and managed till the tide got too high.
Got the board fixed by morning the next day, and bussed (for a whole day....again) to the city of David. One night there then out to Bocas del Toro on the Carribean. Is a really cool vibe here with loads of travellers milling about. Have bumped into heaps of people here who I've met through out the whole trip, including a couple from Wellington who were on the same plane over from NZ as me.
Starting an open water dive course tomorrow, -is so cheap here $155US for the whole deal. Too good to miss, then will start making my way back to Mexico city, before flying home on Dec 13.
Sorry this lacking a bit in detail, and for the scarcity of blogs, but will see a lot of u soon, for stories in person.
All the best, lots of love - Alex.
Comments
from home
thanks for the padding! Sounds so great! Good to talk to you too.( the phone needs charging). Take care, love Ma 'n Pa.
From Ruth
Alex you leave me breathless! I am so glad you are having such a wonderful adventure. Have really enjoyed your blog and look forward to catching up, only hope we can provide some decent weather by the time you get home!