It was a very long drive from Anton Valley west to Boquete, almost six hours. I was more than ready to get out of that car when I arrived. While Anton Valley was seemingly abandoned in its idealic setting in the mountains, Boquete, on the other hand is packed with people and all the traffic that goes with it. Not that’s its not a pleasant town, just a busy place. My hostel is pretty unique. They have the typical hotel…
From Uvita in Costa Rica I had a couple of big travel days. First, a long drive back to San Jose to turn in my rental car and to spend one night. The next morning I was on a plane to Panama City, then a quick Uber downtown where I rented another car and then braved the Panama City traffic west for about eighty miles until I reached Anton Valley high up in the mountains. It was a busy couple…
I left the beautiful mountains of Costa Rica down some really stunning and curvy mountain roads until I hit the Pacific coast and then made a hard left to the south. Before I reach my destination, though, let’s make a quick stop at the Crocodile Bridge. It’s a section of Highway 34 over the Río Tarcoles. My guide at the animal sanctuary, which I’ll visit later, said after the fact that the crocs hang out here because the locals used…
I arrived at my next stop, Monteverde, after my fun day of swimming and waterfall gazing at Llanos del Cortés in the late afternoon. Actually, I’m staying in the town of Santa Elena, though this whole area is referred to as Monteverde, after the nearby Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve. More on that later, but first, I stopped off at the local Ranario just down the street from my hotel. A ranario is kind of like a zoo, but for…
The drive from Grecia took me past some really amazing scenery and through lots of little towns around Volcán Poás where they apparently grow nothing but strawberries. There were big signs in the shape of strawberries everywhere and strawberry vendors all over the sides of the road. It was also still holy week, so there was quite a bit of traffic going through those towns and through every tourist attraction along the way. I did finally make it through to…
I left Ometepe in Nicaragua and spent one last hot and sweaty night in Granada. The next morning I was in a shuttle to the airport in Managua and then winging my way to the next country on my list, Costa Rica. I had to spend about six hours in the Panama City airport because my connection got delayed, but I finally made it to San Jose, rented a car, and then drove myself to nearby Grecia, where I’ll be…
My “easy” travel day from Granada to Isla Ometepe turned out to be quite the adventure. I found the bus easy enough, but since they don’t leave until full, I ended up waiting for an hour and a half. And by full, I mean we were stuffed in there like sardines. By now I’m already pretty sweaty and gross. The bus only goes to Rivas, so next I had to find a taxi to the San Jorge boat dock. I…
The bus ride from Atacó to Juayua is probably the easiest transport I’ve had. Between all the tourists here on the Ruta de las Flores and all the locals making their way around, there are chicken buses going back and forth all day long, and the ride was only about an hour. I found my awesome little hotel and checked right in. There’s only three rooms around this beautiful courtyard with an outdoor kitchen. My room was the furthest down…
I left Santa Ana to begin my trip through El Salvadors Ruta de las Flores, also known as the tourist track. This is supposedly the most beautiful part of El Salvador due to the unbelievable display of flowers that bloom all over the region during the summer. I’m missing the grand blooming, unfortunately, but it’s still a super beautiful area. My base for the first part is in Concepción de Atacó. The Ruta de las Flores is dotted with, primarily,…
My border crossing from Chetumal, Mexico, into the next country on my list, Belize, went pretty smooth, if not a little slowly. I took a bus full of tourists, just like me. First we exited the bus to get stamped out of Mexico. Normally you get charged a Mexican tourism tax with your airline tickets, which I did, but I read that the border guards try to scam tourists into paying it again when leaving. Me and the couple in…