Discovering Lima

Hola de Lima!

After 3h30 of flight with Copa Airlines, we are now in Peru´s capital for a few days before flying tomorrow to Cusco. All the people we know who have been to Lima told us it was better to spend as little time as possible there..so we arrived with quite low expectations and we actually think that the city has a lot to offer:) We are staying in the Miraflores district in one of the Flying Dog Hostels. Miraflores is a newer and safer district of this 9 Millions inhabitants city.

Something pretty cool about Lima is this location: In the middle of the desert (according to the Lonely Planet it is the 2nd biggest desert city in the world) and on the border of the Pacific Ocean (many surfers down the cliffs of Miraflores). On the backside, Lima is suffering from earthquakes which have every so often partially destroyed the city since its creation in the 16th century.

We have so far visited some churches and museums in the Central Lima and tried one of the Peruvians specialities: Ceviche (not so far from the Japanese sushis as it consists of marinated raw fish).

We as well did an excursion to Pachacamac (what a cool name!!) which is an archeologic site where there are some ruins of temples dedicated to the god Pachacamac ¨the earth creator¨. There we saw our first Peruvian Lama and as well some Peruvian dogs: they look so weird as they have no hair expect on their head. These dogs were used in the past as healers as their body temperatures is higher than normal dogs..

We´ll soon share pictures but unfortunately we could not find a cybercafe which allow us to upload the pics on Picasa...

Mugging, bathing and sightseeing in Panama City

As we want to truly discover the heart of Panama City, we thought today it was time to try to be mugged...Yes we believe it is important to evaluate the safety of a city to have a clear idea of it : we are serious investigators!
So as we were trying to find the bus station for the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal which are located 13km away from the Capital, we got into a dodgy looking district (which is actually in front of the Justice court..how ironic is that?). After walking 30 meters in this street, a woman made us sign and told us something in spanish that we later interpreted as "Go away stupid foreigners, it s a dangerous place here". We then turned back to go to the main street (still looking for this secret bus station) when a guy jumped on me (=Amelie) and tried to rip off my bag! What a disgrace! My handbag is a cute little hand made bag with a colourful chicken on it that I bought in Bocas del Toro just a few days ago. I managed to hold on to it and it seems this surprised the robber as I finally managed to save my bag. Weirdly, my first feeling was not fear but anger. I screamed a majestic "F..k you!" to the guy, at this moment I realised that this guy could actually be more dangerous than me and we ran off. We don t quite know what Peter was doing during this time:placing bets in his head on the outcome of the bag fight? Well after this 30 seconds rush of adrenaline, I was actually quite shocked...I have now recovered from this unfortunate incident so it is now time to talk about bit more about this cool city.

Next to Panama City, there are a few islands and we went to visit one of them: Isla Taboga. This island is the sunday get-away of the Panamian city inhabitants. The boat was full of local families: we don t see that many tourists here. The island is really pretty and after being in the past the home sweet home of some English pirates, it became at the beginning of the 20th century the quarantinee zone for canal workers. By the way, Paul Gauguin, the painter was there in the sanatorium so I was not the 1st French on this island.

In case you are wondering, we finally managed to get a bus (actually 2) to the Miraflores Lock.
The Canal of Panama has 3 sets of locks and those one are the one on the Pacific ocean's side. Next to them there is as well a visitor centers where we could learn more about the history and the technology of the Canal. A few interesting facts:
-this gigantic project was first started by a French company (same than the one of the Suez Canal) which failed mainly because of the Malaria and Yellow fever that killed more than 22000 workers.
- It was inaugurated in 19174 and was operated until 1999 by the USA
- In 2006, there was a referundum in Panama on the future of the Canal: the population agreeded masively in enlarging the Canal which allow more traffic and bigger ships to cross the 2 oceans.
- The smallest toll was paid in the 1920's by a swimmer for 0.36$ (80km)
- The largest toll was paid 3 weeks ago: 375 000$

From Bocas to Panama City

We left the island world of Bocas behind us, but before we met up with two guys from our turtle time to go out. We followed the recommendations for a local place, which turned out to be a jackpot. We arrived in a big harbour hall with almost no lights, maybe ten people scattered around the walls, a small bar and one customer sleeping at it. Unmistakeable signs of a good place. We ordered cuba libres (they produce rum in Panama too after all) and paid 0.75 USD each (0.50 EUR) now we were convinced that it was a good spot, but as we didn't want to start kissing each other violently, like the other ten people we thought we move on to a more busy place.
Next day we were going on a bike tour, which seemed like a really good idea until we realized, that the road is not shady at all and noon is a hot time, but we recovered on the water facing veranda of our hostel. The airport had a suprise as well. Local newspaper Bocas Breeze had a nice article on the mayor of Bocas, mentioning as one of the controversies, that he let a "Survivor type" reality show being shot in a natural reserve (he says that the contract was made with the previous mayor). So the next time you see stuff like that on TV don't forget that the next McDonalds is only a 10 min boatride away, and they could get to the next restaurant on foot.




We took the plane to Panama city, which was promising wonderful views of the country, but unfortunately it rained all the time and i didn't get my free nachos because of the shaky ride (Amelie, one row in front of me did but she only gave me 6 Nachos out of her bag which was not a fair sharing). When we arrived we decided that we are not going to fall into the hand of piratery and won't pay more than 4 USD for our taxi ride to the hostel. It was not a big success. We were firm and skillfully negotiated the price from 5 to 6 USD.
Taxi drivers in Panama are just better than us. Nobody has a meter and nobody is scared to let a ride pass (a ride where we would pay double). At the airport after turning the first guy's offer for 5 down, we were waiting for the next taxi, which arrived 30 min later (in the meantime there were only very few people left) and took us for 6.
During the day were were trying to get a ride to the local Phoenix park. We were assured by locals that the fare should be 1.25 USD. We were thinking, that as we are tourists and don't speak Spanish, we take 3 USD. We had 3 taxi drivers turning down this price. I am not sure why this happens. Obviously there are more trips being asked for than taxis, then as well the drivers don't seem to operate for maximizing their own profits, but rather for maximizing the taxi driver communities' profits - a well working cartel? - I don't know.
Anyways busses are way cooler. Drivers decorate them to perfection, i guess like in India. My favourites are massive looking and sounding sport mufflers and countless spirits of ecstasy on the hood. Any trip costs 25c, but sady they dont go everywhere. So we will have to fight with taxi drivers in the next days.
Otherwise Panama city looks really amazing. The skyline can compete with Shanghai and the old town looks quite fascinating with ghost houses. (The city has been relocated twice. Once because of the pirate, who after destroying the city gave his name to a spicy rum, and once because the people didn't like the old spot any more.) So far we are still soaking up the amosphere, so we will have more details on everything later.

-some more pictures coming here-

Sun bathing stories from Bocas del Toro-Panama

After 3 weeks in Costa Rica, we headed south to the Panamean border to our first stop in Panama: The archipelago of Bocas del Toro. Crossing the border between Costa Rica and Panama in the dusty little town of Sixaola (50km from Puerto Viejo, 90min by public bus) was quite an adventure. The border is located on a rusty bridge where it seems easy to fall down from, if you check the pics below you´ll see what we are talking about. On the other side of the border, a pretty agressive bloke was waiting for tourists to charge them a higher taxi rate and of course as we were not too awake at 8 am, we could not say no and went with his taxi to the city of Changinola where we had to take a boat to the main Island of Bocas: Isla Coloñ. All in all, it took us 4h to reach Bocas and cost us 20$ each (which is 8$ less than the touristy shuttle mowhahaha).
The city of Coloñ is quite touristic (many american tourists) and most of the businesses and shops are tourists oriented. It´s of course a beautiful place with many green islands (full of jungle or mangroves) floating on an emerald water (emerald if sunny). There are not too many beaches and to reach them it´s necessary to take water taxi: pretty cool but not that cheap. We took a boat tour yesterday (with 2 Americans) with which we could discover more the area: we spotted a dolphin and enjoyed snorkeling around the Zapatillas Island. It was really amazing and we felt closer to Nemo and SpongeBob´s world.
Today we took a boat to go to an other island to go to the beach:the Red Frog Beach. It´s a beautiful beach (fine golden sand, emerald water, funky waves and surronded by the jungle) but this all area is subject of controversies as it got bought by an investment company which will transform it in the classic gigantic tourist complex. Despite Bocas del Toro is the main touristic destination of Panama, there are not yet any big hotels or big complex..so well it´s definetly time to visit it before it looses its charms but we would like this place a bit better if there would be less mosquitoes..I feel that my nights and legs don t belong to me anymore:(

Racoon stories from the Caribbean coast..

I always believe that every cool stories should involve a racoon and I always wanted to say in a sentence "and there a racoon...". Today my dream came true as while we were strolling around the National Cahuita parc, a racoon came out of the blue and jumped in front of us. It was not shy as we managed to take a few pics of him as you can see below. We could spot many animals over the 9kms of sandy trail.


We are now ending our trip in Costa Rica after spending 3 days in the South East of the country in what they call the Jamaica of Costa Rica. To explore the area which is on the Carribean coast, we have based ourselves in a nice cabina in Puerto Viejo de Talamaqua which is a very laid back town, very colourful and with only has one concrete road(all these others are dirt roads). This little paradise is very touristy and full of expatriates which own a small business here: cabinas, vegan restaurant, cyber coffees, bike rentals. There we could enjoy the pristine sea, the waves and of course we got our first sun burns (and still more mosquitoes bites).
Pura Vida as they say in Costa Rica! Before our bus tomorrow morning at 6:30 am for Panama, we need to enjoy some last cocktails.

Arenal Volcano

Just after our return to San Jose we were booked for a full day tour to the Arenal Volcano, which is the most active one in Costa Rica. Mario our driver picked us up in a minivan, and then we rounded up the other tourists Mr. Klaus and two America ladies (gandma with granddaughter), which already took an eternity in the Friday rush hour in San Jose.
On our way we made a stop in Sarchi (you can see all the tours if you enlarge the map on the right), which is famous for the biggest decorated oxcart in the world. Slightly far streched, but it was nice to have a break from Marios driving and the church was pretty too. Later we stopped for lunch as well, where we could try to make pictures about colibris drinking from artificial flowers. On the way we were entertained by stories about Costa Rican agriculture and everyday life. Maybe more to that later.
Finally we arrived in La Fortuna, and got to see the volcano, which does look impressive. Mario assured us that it is not dangerous, although very active and that it does not really spit lava, as we might have thought from the pictures on the brochures, but hot stones, which glow in the night. Also he said, that we would be very lucky to see the cone in its entirety, because it is always surrounded by clouds. And so it was, but as said we we were not too sad about it.
In La Fortuna we finally got to see the touristy Costa Rica, which we have been missing in San Jose and Bataan. The area's speciality besides the volcano are hot springs. Mario took us to a brand new and very luxurious spa complex, were we could enjoy masses of different pools amidts colonial style buildings and an amazing natural setting. There was barely anybody apart from us.
Of course we had to try the in-pool-bar even though it was raining and of course i managed to order the most girly cocktail of all (i dont know cocktails...). Although we kept an eye on Arenal, we didn't manage to see the top all day.
After the dinner we went closer to the volcano to try to see some firespitting. So we waited in the dark with all other tourists and then after 30 minutes we actually saw something. It was like as if somebody would have thrown two red bicycle lights off the top, then it was cloudy and dark again. We somehow missed the great eureka moment, but we tried anyways...
On the way back we were trying to sleep and Mario tried to keep us awake with constantly changing the pressure on the accelerator, which made the little Hunday bus with disel engine go like a kangoroo. All in all it was a nice trip, but if we would not have been keen on getting the jungle smell out of our skin in the hot springs, it would have been a little boring.

Top Jungle Experiences

The loudest in the jungle: When you think that breaking waves on the shore are louder than city traffic, then you will be amazed how loud tropical rain on plastic/corrugated iron can be. By far louder than howler monkeys

The most disgusting jungle story: Water is coming from a well, and is stored in a container in the trees for pressure (eco-power shower). Shorly before our arrival people started to fall ill with stomach problems. Turns out a snake and the frog died in the water container. (it was never confirmed if they were fighting before)

The coolest jungle outfit: Take wellies, because you need "safety" when using your chainsaw. Take shorts, but obviously no T-shirt. Take a cowboy hat - instantly doubles your coolness factor everywhere. Get the biggest machete you can find and tie it on your waist. If neccessary you cound round things up with a goldtooth. (sorry no pictures, the camera could not take it)

Our turtle weeks

We are now back to San Jose-or what we like to call civilisation- after 2 weeks spent volunteering at La Tortuga Feliz project. This project is located on the Carabean cost of Costa Rica 50km north from Puerto Limon in a pretty remote area. To get to the project, we had to take a bus (2h from San Jose to Bataan), then a car for 35 mins and finally 35 mins of motor boat on a river in the middle of the jungle. Amazing view on the Jungle, it was breath taking. We didn t spot any caimans though. Well that´s ok as we´ve seen all in all in the last 2 weeks many ugly creatures: Giant spiders aka radioactive ones, toads, mosquitoes, cochroaches, sandflies, crabes from all colours and sizes..but nice one too: Green turtles, funky birds, Gekos... The project is located near the beach surronded by a small Costa Rican community.



La Tortuga Feliz project-managed by a Welsh 43 years old man- aims to protect sea turtles that come and lay their eggs on the Costa Rican beaches. At the project depending on the season, you can find 3 species of sea turtles: the Hawksbill, the Green Turtle and the leatherback turtle.



At the project we were around 15 volonteers (German, American, Dutch and one Irish)sharing all the same core job with a very different schedule: saving turtles and maitining the project.


Saving the turtles was definitely the most exciting and gratifing activity. One of the task was the night patrols: 4h walk or 12 kms in the sand in the dark (no flashlight allowed)with a local. The goal of these patrols (running from 8 pm to 3 am) is to find turtles and their nest before poachers find them. Despite it´s forbidden to kill turtles in Costa Rica, we could see many poachers. There´s a no confrontation rule with them:if they find a turtle or a nest, we just have to walk away and we can´t interfere. In the community surronding the project, the turtles play an important role as it seemed to us that half of the men work for la Tortuga Feliz and half of them are poachers. Most of our guides were poaches before the project started 5 years ago. As we were there at the end of the nesting season, I saw one turtle in 20h of patrols and Peter none in 12h.
The 2nd activity involving the turtles was garding the hatchery where they were around 40 nests. At night, 2 volonteers were checking the nests every 15 mins in case it would hatch. The last night shift is from 2 am to 6 am (which is a very challenging time!). In case a nest hatches, the babies turtles have to be measured and then realesed in a safe place on the beach..It´s thrilling to see them crawling to the sea..Who would have known that baby turtles are pretty fast! If everything goes fine for them, they should come back in 20 years to lay eggs on the same beach.
Unfortunatelly 1 baby out of a 1000 makes it to the maturity stage, this rate is higher at the project as their first minutes are really super safe.
Three days after a nest hatches, we do an exhumation to find any remaining alive babies and we take the dead ones and egg shells for autopsy. Digging a nest can be great (many baby turtles at the day light) and gross at the same time (Imagine old eggs smell and add to it some maggots...).



Mainting the project was less fun and consisted of raking (better not to do it in flip flops as you can find many ugly crawling creatures under the leaves), cleaning the bathrooms, washing the dishes, preparing the meals and garding an empty school building.

We were doing 1 or 2 shifts of 4h a day..what was very special is that you could work at any hour of the day (or of the night).
During our free time, we could enjoy the beach when it was sunny (beautiful but dangerous because of riptides and bull sharks), the hamocks and we attented for $80 a very gramar focused and intense Spanish course. We didn´t know that we would learn some much in 8 classes. It was useful to communicate with the guides during the patrols.

We defintely enjoyed our 2 weeks there despite it was challenging at times: no electricity (the night falls around 5.30 pm), no hot shower, same food everyday, many mosquitoes bites, many sandflies bite, the heat and the humidity (Peter´s wallet got moldy). It was a great way to start our 3 months journey.. Here we are thougher, closer to nature, more spiritual, tanned...yeah yeah all of that.

Now we´re back in San Jose in a slighty better hotel ($33 a night but there are hot showers! and internet) and we´re enjoying music, coke, ice creams and walking in clean clothes.