Volcan Baru looking from Isla de Muertos (Island of the Dead) in Bahia de los Muertos (Bay of the Dead) on the Pacific Coast, looking up to 11,398′. Boquete is east and down the slope to the right of the peak just a couple or three miles.
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Slow traveling is actually a term people use when they move from place to place without any hurry.
Originally the reason for slow traveling was a way to live frugally for a couple of years. Later it was an idea with motion, gaining momentum, with nothing strong enough to slow or stop it. I remember waiting at the airport in Houston for our flight out of the country, physically tired, mentally sapped, and whether all preparations were complete or not, we were about to fly to Costa Rica.
I thought “What are we doing? What are we getting ourselves into?” Momentum won as we took the flight.
Or maybe it wasn’t momentum, perhaps my cousin, Ginger, said it more accurately “You are wanderers.”
The fears and doubts were just that. The learning curve has been pretty gentle. My Spanish is improving, a few more words here and there.
Now in our third country, I know that there are so many nice people from all over. Sure, there are the few to watch out for and places to avoid. That has been easy, as we meet other travelers who have been places we are heading toward.
The world is beautiful and I am glad we are on this journey.
First let me say, I am good at math. I’ve always liked math in all ways (ok, I never did Calculus but I liked the math I had). But money conversions and strong vs weak monetary systems seems to stifle me.
For example with Costa Rican Colones, I sometimes get confused: am I doubling or halving and moving the decimal point? One US dollar is a little over 500 colones so if you double the charge and move your decimal point you get a rough conversion. So if the bathroom charge is 150 colones, it is about 30 cents US money (150*2/10). I got the hang of it pretty well by the time we left.
Panama is great because it uses US money except they sometimes give you a one dollar coin called a Bolivar. I don’t get why they do one sometimes. The other day, my change was $4 and they gave me 3 one dollar bills and one Bolivar. Go figure! I think she had the bills so I don’t get it.
And you would think that the left over Costa Rican colones could be used in Panama. I only have about 7000 colones (7000*2/10=$14) but I guess I will have to go to a bank to get it converted. People act like I am giving them Monopoly money when I try to use it. LOL
In the US, I always resented paying to use a restroom. It’s not that I love it when we travel but I do have a better appreciation since I saw a sign that said that the money was used for maintaining the restroom. Another sign said that you were “renting” the restroom.
It isn’t expensive, just inconvenient sometimes to have change. It is usually $0.50 or less. I remember that the bus station at Turrialba is 150 colones which is about $0.26. (The cents sign in the image above indicates “Colones” the money unit in Costa Rica.)
Don’t forget to keep toilet paper with you when you travel since it is sometimes a rude surprise to not have any. One place I went in didn’t have any dispensers in the stall but then (after I finished my business, fortunately I was prepared), I saw the dispenser on the wall outside the stalls. That seemed a bit odd since it might lead to taking more than you might actually need…just in case!
In many of the places where you pay, the attendant gives you a premeasured amount of paper before you go in. Not wild about the idea of someone handling my paper before I do but again, it is often much more than I need so it is wasteful.
Banking: beware that you may run into ATMs/banks that DON’T accept cards with chips. If you are using an ATM you get an error that your transaction can’t be processed…not that the machine doesn’t accept cards with chips. We found this problem in Santa Elena Costa Rica although it probably isn’t an issue in larger cities.
If possible, you will want to use a company that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. USAA, and at least some Citbank and Bank of America cards do not charge this fee. USAA even rebates the ATM fee up to a certain limit each month. (You must have been in the military or a family member of someone who has been in the military to join…no checking account fees, free checks, etc. They are great to work with too!)
Oh and remember to let your bank/credit card company know that you will be traveling so that transactions are not denied as being potentially fraudulent. You can do this online with most banks/companies or via the phone. It is usually very easy to set up.
Shipping: remember the supplements that I had shipped to me in Costa Rica? Long story short, the Minister of Health must not know how to search online to get a list of ingredients because after I was told that I couldn’t find out anything for at least 30 days I went to their office (post 30 days) only to find a letter dated before the 30 days was up saying they needed to know the ingredients in the supplement. By then I didn’t have time to deal with it and thought I could have my package returned and at least I would get my $150 for the products credited back to me.
Today I found out that the package was destroyed at some point so the moral is, don’t have supplements of any kind shipped to Costa Rica…and probably not anywhere. Hopefully I can find things or friends can bring things to me if/when they visit. Come on now, we miss you. Think about a trip to visit us!
Dan with 2 rolling bags, 2 backpacks, 2 fanny packs, and a tote bag. That’s about all we usually have!Osprey Convertable Rolling Bag and Backpack (Photo courtesy of Osprey Packs)
I’ve had folks ask us how we can pack for such a long trip. We pack “light” which is a relative term. I have 2 pairs of long pants, one pair of capris, and one pair of shorts. I think Dan has only a couple of pairs of pants and one pair of shorts/bathing suit.
We each have a few shirts and underwear. Generally we run out of underwear and have to wash. We prefer not to wear them more than one day although our outer garments are often worn 2-4 days depending on if we get dirty or sweaty.
What takes up a lot of luggage space is supplements. I take a number of OTC items and two prescriptions. Dan takes a few supplements. It has been a challenge getting the supplements and I am running up against issues with the prescriptions that I hope to solve soon. So far I have enough of everything for the next few months.
We have one Sony digital camera with a couple of extra lenses and we each have a cell phone (number changes with each country) and a tablet, and we have one LG Gram laptop which is very lightweight. Even though it is brand new, the warranty is only valid in the US and it is getting hotter than I think it should. My advice if you buy electronics to travel to make sure you have an international warranty or know that you may have to pay repairs out of pocket AND repairs done at a non-authorized dealer may void your warranty. We are a little over half way through on a one year warranty so if I can find someone to look at it I will have it repaired and the warranty voided. Also be careful if you purchase an electronic from a store, the warranty may be limited to that store. We looked at getting a second laptop (we both want to work on this one at the same time) and talked with Dell about a laptop the PriceMart had. The warranty would only be covered at a PriceMart.
We carry about 7 items each time we travel: each of us has a rolling Osprey bag which fits in the overhead of a regular jet, a matching backpack that can be zipped onto the rolling bag, a fanny pack, and a tote for miscellaneous. We sometimes have something extra like this time we have a box of gluten free crackers, gluten free cereal, and a big jar of peanut butter in another bag.
(Bring several charging devices since you may have a problem finding where you packed them. We are thinking about getting a lightweight extension cord since there aren’t always enough plugs, or convenient plugs.)
All in all it isn’t too hard to pack and move from place to place. We can take the bus if we need to. This time we took a taxi because it was only an hour away and Dan is under the weather with allergies. Hopefully the higher altitude of Boquete Panama will help him.
We arrived in David Panama late yesterday afternoon so here are some initial impressions. Hot and humid, no surprise. In 2013, David (pronounced with the accent on the second syllable: da veed) was about 145,000 people. It is near the closest city to Costa Rica, at least from the route we took (about a 7 hour bus trip, including going through Customs but with 3 stops along the way). It is about 7 kilometers (4.25 miles) to where the bay/ocean start.
Our hosts are very congenial. Corrado and Sintia own the Hostal La Libertad which is on the edge of town. They have 4 rooms available for rent with a private bath for each room (and some have AC like ours does). She is from the Dominican Republic and he is from Italy. (They were introduced to each other when her sister needed a fourth person for an activity).
Don’t you love this picture of them in Genova (Genoa) Italy? She said she was very contented when it was taken. It reminds me of something from a movie from long ago, a guess because of her hair and the pose.
Tonight we are eating with them for dinner. Corado showed me some fresh lobster he got yesterday morning. I think he is the cook. We are paying for our dinner but fresh whole lobster for $15 per person, I’m in!
Which brings me to a brief comment on currency. Panama uses US dollars for their bills and it seems for their coins as well although they do have one Balboa coins that they use as well. One Balboa is equal to one US dollar. Prices are listed as “B” for Balboa. You can see the recent bimetalic Balboa here.
I learned to drive in New Jersey and thought I knew what aggressive driving was. No way!
We rented cars twice and within an hour of driving, I knew that Costa Ricans forget about their national saying “Pura Vida” when they get in their cars. “Pura Vida” refers to the relaxed, easy going lifestyle here.
Many don’t believe in the posted speeds
Once in their cars, many are in a hurry: speeding, tailgating and passing, AND the passing is done on curves, no-pass zones, in the fog…anywhere they think there is enough room to get by. The only plus is that often the vehicle being passed is going v…e…r…y slow.
Narrow BridgeOne Way Ahead
Oh, and many roads are narrow, with steep gutters, sharp curves, and lots of one lane bridges on country roads.
This one has been here for many decadesDepending on where you are, roads can be rough
Leave lots of time to get to your destination and let your travel days be very flexible days.
I’ve heard what I assumed was a chain saw a lot but realized recently that most of the time it is probably a weed whacker or weed eater. Lawnmowers are not used much at all in this country but weed eaters are used in their place.
Above is a picture of a man using a weed eater to cut the grass on a soccer field. We have only seen one lawnmower in the 4 months that we have been in Central America
Finca Soley is an interesting place. Isa and Milton rent the property which is about 22 hectares (just over 54 acres). Isa is from Germany and Milton grew up in a large family on a Nicaraguan horse farm. They have 2 young daughters (Basilia almost 4, Molly almost 3). There are currently 13 horses, 3 cats, 5 dogs, and assorted chickens and roosters.
The farm is on rented land about 20 minutes from the town of Turrialba. The area is very rural and anything that hasn’t been cleared on the farm is jungle.
Students of all ages come from all over the world, mainly Germany, to learn natural horsemanship…learning to care for and ride the horses in the most natural way using psychology and the physics of how bodies work. The students pay a weekly fee to live at the farm, work on the farm, and learn/ride the horses. The weekly fee includes all of their meals and access to the washing machine.
Each student has a “project” horse, one that they work with primarily and another project such as teaching English to the students in the local schools. I’m not sure what all of the options for the projects are. Students generally stay 1-6 months. There is a Spanish class available one afternoon a week which is included in the fee as well (they can pay for additional classes if they want).
The farm appears to run pretty smoothly. They have daily meetings to discuss what needs to be done, one or more students are in charge of cooking the food for a given period of time, and I’ve not seen any conflicts between anyone.
In our case we are renting a room in the bed and breakfast part where we have a private bedroom and bath. (Students are housed dormitory style in the lower level of the same building.) There are 6 rooms available for the B&B although we have been the only guests most of the time that we have been here (lucked into the slow time of the year). We get an awesome breakfast each morning included: usually scrambled eggs, fresh fruit (bananas fresh off the stalk, pineapple, mango, watermelon), gallo pinto (rice and beans), oven fried potatoes and squash, toast, muffins, fresh juice, milk, and coffee.
Generally I enjoy my time here although it is more humid and has more bugs (especially roaches and mosquitoes) than I would like. These things come with the territory since there is jungle around here.
We hear lots of birds every morning. As we started out on our walk this morning we saw about 6 green parrots flying over the trees. We also hear the geckos and frogs. Pictures of the farm and area:
Most of the handicapped parking spaces that I have seen in Costa Rica have a removable barrier in front of them. I don’t understand the rationale for this. In one place there was a security person and he would move it if someone drove up and qualified to use it. But other places I haven’t seen anyone around to provide that service so I’m not sure what a person does…
