Tropical beaches are easy to love

Bocas del Tora is a very popular tropical destination in Panama and it’s easily to see why. It’s very beautiful here, and the beaches and swimming is fantastic. While it is expensive here, but only compared to other places in Panama and Latin America. I’ll be in Bermuda in a couple of weeks and I’ll be able to compare the quality vs cost, but I suspect Bocas del Tora at this time of year will come out on top of that equation.

The only sad note is the coral is all dead so while snorkelling is nice, it’s nothing to what it must have been.

Bye bye Costa Rica, hello Panama

Today we leave Costa Rica and we are currently in a mini bus in Panama. 

Last night we went to a local restaurant of sorts and learned how to make some local Costa Rican meals. 

It’s been quite a full on journey, even with my 3 days rest in Costa Rica. Fortunately I have a week in Aruba booked in a couple of weeks — if that doesn’t give me enough rest I don’t know what will.

Washing on the road

Some hotels I stay at do offer washing at a reasonable rate. It’s not terribly expensive ($3-$8 a kilo), but they are overnight, so if you’re leaving the next day you can’t guarantee you’ll get them in time. There is also the constant worry something will go missing — made worse by the fact that you don’t have much, when you have two shirts and lose one, you’ve lost 50%.

But of course every room comes with a sink, and that’s usually good enough to keep some things clean enough to keep going for a few more days (merino socks and boxers are actually *cool* in the heat, and they wash and dry fast).

But how does one dry their stuff?

Exactly as you’d expect. Unless you have a hairdryer(!!) it’s the fastest way in a muggy environment. But I’d like to share what I use to hang the clothes. They are these near carribena type things.

They the blue part twists in any direction so they can be used to do things like hang clothes from fans!

Jungles are muggy

Bet you all didn’t know that jungles are muggy! Even when it’s only 23°C it’s still muggy! The weather forecast says it’s 23 with a feels like at 28, and I certainly believe it. In fact I’m sweating like it’s 35.

Decompressed and ready

I’m ready for my next tour, I start the Panama trip today. I’ve already met my new guide Rafa, he seems great, and I  meet the rest of the group in about an hour.

I really should share some of the photos from my last few days on the last trip, including rafting and canyoneering. I’ll do that in another post because even with wifi it’ll take a long time.

Rafting from La Fortuna to San Jose(ish)

River rafting was awesome. Instead of taking the Intrepid bus from La Fortuna to San Jose, we loaded our bags on that bus and then took a different bus to the rafting place. They then took us rafting on the river and a few hours later we had lunch and they dropped us off at our hotel in San Jose!

End of another tour

 Intrepid Central American journey from Guatemala to San Jose Costa Rica has now finished.

My final two days were canyoneering in La Fortuna and river rafting a class 3/4 on the way to San Jose. 

Photos and everything to come once I’ve had a chance to received, download, and upload them.

Tomorrow I go across town into another hotel while I decompress and wait for the San Jose to Panama tour.

Doing these sorts of tours, especially Intrepid ones, really are a great way of experiencing places. I’d never have gone to most of the places we’d visited. Sure I’d like to have spent more time in some of them, but I’d never have gone to them in the first place without the tour.

If someone is thinking of doing a tour like this, do a tour and give yourself some time afterwards to go back to places you wish you had more time for (or simply plan to return at a later date and do it yourself).