Glimpses of Panama City

We've had to drive to Panama City quite a few times, mostly when buying our car. The traffic there is crazy, I'm so happy Chuck is doing all the driving. Here are some pictures of the city that the locals just call Panama. (It was a little confusing at first.) Here are pictures of the skyscrapers by the ocean (no ocean pics tho...)

Our attorney's office was in one of these buildings, and we were in awe, having to first introduce our business to the front desk to get a "ticket" to go in through the gates (like subways). Then we had to take the elevator up to the particular floor. Believe it or not, we needed assistance to figure it out. Apparently you pressed the button to call for the elevator by choosing the floor you wanted to go to. The number it then showed on the display was the number of the elevator you had to go to, and not the floor number...

This house (above) I thought had a pretty look: there were flowers hanging from the balconies and a cute rooftop garden also. 

And of course there is a nice-looking church in town too. (you can click the pictures to make them bigger)

These are pictures from the old town Casco Viejo.

And here, just one example of the traffic in Panama. This is actually a 2-lane road: 1 lane each direction. Our car is in the middle lane, the only official lane.

Move to Panama

What a trip... We love our Kaleb dearly, but next time... it's going to be a kennel and an airplane for him. We're not driving across borders ever again! Just saying.

Our driver came to pick us up at 5:45 AM. AM?!?!! I like my morning sleep, so this wasn't all happy turn of events. However, we had the alarm go off at 5'ish, so we were prepared. Grudgingly so. We had packed most of the stuff in the car the night before, so it was a quick lift-off, saying bye to our dear friend Carlos, who got up just to say Adios to us. Our driver, Miguel, didn't speak much English, so this was an intensive Spanish class for us.

It took us about an hour to reach Peñas Blancas, the border crossing to Costa Rica. We parked out car, and went to the passport control. Luckily the lines weren't too long, since we were there so early in the morning, just as the border opened. I had to pay about $20 for one day's overstay, but we already knew that, altho.. it was more expensive than the original $5 we thought I'd have to pay. Still cheaper than flying out of the country to keep the date. After getting through the passport control, we went to the Agriculture-side of the area, and got Kaleb's paperwork stamped and cleared. Then back into the car, and driving to Costa Rica.

We stopped at what you might call a no-mans's land to switch cars. Apparently you can't (or it's very difficult) to take a Nicaraguan car across the border, so we changed and packed to a car with Costa Rican plates, and off we went to the Costa Rican side of passport control. When going to CR, you'd need proof that you had a ticket out of there too. So you wouldn't want to stay and enjoy their tropical paradise without paying taxes to them. We thought our driver would've gotten us to the Ticabus booth to buy us return bus tickets, but he had expected us to do it ourselves, before entering the passport queue. Well, thanks to my quick thinking .. ahem.. we had our Panama address on Kaleb's vaccination papers, and that was enough to convince the official that we were actually going to leave the country. Phew!

Another trip with Kaleb to the Agriculture-portion of the area, this time he was seen by a vet there. He checked and stamped Kaleb's papers, and then gave me a lecture about how to travel with Kaleb in CR, not to upset their fragile eco-system with a foreign dog or something. Didn't get much of it, since it was in Spanish, but I kept nodding like I understood. The driver of the Costa Rican car was bff's with Kaleb from the start. He was so nice, making sure Kaleb had a nice drink before we continued our trip.

Miguel, who is actually a Costa Rican, I think, and just lives in Nicaragua, wanted to take another route to the border, one that would take us along the coast. The beaches there were indeed beautiful, but I had read some traveler complaining before about Nicaragua not having as lush flowering trees and bushes as CR has. I didn't see any of that in CR. It was pretty much the same green as Nicaragua, I would even venture to say there were more flowering trees and things in Nicaragua, than what we saw in CR. There are probably more maintained green areas in the tourist spots, since CR is a richer country than Nicaragua. But at least Nica has the Trees of Life! (slightly sarcastically)

After a few stops for potty breaks and food, we arrived at the Paso Canoas border crossing at around 4 pm. The area is also a tax-free zone, which means a lot of stores are selling their wears there and it can get really crowded. So no wonder we missed the Costa Rican side of border control. Oopsie. We had to walk back there, get our passports stamped and then go back to the Panamanian passport check. The passport controls are somewhere in this area:

Finally at the Panama passport control. Of course they were asking us when we get out, and what do we have as proof of that. Still don't quite know how we got out of that, mostly, I'm sure, by Miguel's invaluable assistance. Until it was time to have Kaleb admitted. Across the border that is. Apparently the vet in this border crossing only works from Mon-Fri.. in any case, not the weekends. We had a choice of leaving Kaleb there, and coming back on Monday when the vet was there, or stay there until Monday. So much for that.

After getting that situated, they wanted to see all of our luggage, and we had to carry it to the customs office. Chuck actually dropped his computer and associated equipment there a couple of times. Not a good start. Finally they let us continue towards the border, where we were stopped once more by a police/army patrol, questioned about our motives and having the dog with us. Eventually we were allowed to cross the border through a decontamination shower for the car.

It was getting late by now, and we would rather find a place to sleep overnight, than to drive all through the night, so we decided to drive to Santiago, some 4 hours from the border, just to be a little closer to our final destination. It was already dark, so I didn't get many memorable pictures of entering our new home country, but what was memorable tho, was all the police/military stops and inspections we went through on our way to Santiago. I think we were stopped 2 or 3 times before reaching the destination, every time our paperwork and luggage being checked. Miguel told me that one of the officers had even asked for a "donation" to let us pass, but Miguel told him he had already paid enough at the border, and wasn't going to pay a cent more! So, so happy we had Miguel with us!!

Apparently the fact that we had Costa Rican plates in the car made us a special target for these little rough-ups with the law. Officially the want to crack down the drug trafficking, but I think it's just to scare the tourists and maybe get some donations (or protection money) while they're at it. At that point, I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in such a police state.

In any case, we got to Santiago eventually, with no arrests, and checked into a motel that seemed to me might have hourly rates too... Unfortunately a nicer hotel along the way was already fully booked. At $36/night, no wonder why they were booked. This motel had only one room available, with 3-beds. Well, it all went well, altho when Miguel, even tho tired from a long drive didn't return to the room until the wee hours, Kaleb decided to "welcome" him back.. loudly.

Nicaragua Mia

Now that we are starting our life in a new country, it's time to look back to the country we left behind. The reasons why we left were varied, but mostly to do with the government, and the political situation we think might be ahead. We felt that the current government and those in power are going to a direction we don't want to be a part of. Hopefully, things don't come to a pass that's going to make my Nicaragua suffer.

It was also very important for Chuck's work that we changed to a country with more stability in electric and internet grids, and less restrictions on internet use.

My Nicaragua, with your crazy traffic

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Local wild- and not-so-wild life.

The beautiful beaches

The relaxed beach life.

Kaleb's garden of a bathroom

and especially his Best Friend Forever Marvin

We'll miss all of Blanca's and Marvin's delicious, local cuisine.

And most of all, we're going to miss our friends; thank you for coming to our little farewell party, and we'll see you again! And last but certainly not least, our precious Nicaraguan family: Carlos, Blanca, Marvin and Valeska. Thank you for having us a s a part of your family, seeing to our needs and helping us whenever we needed it. You will always be in our hearts, and  we will meet again. 

In the words of our friend Carlos, this is not a Goodbye, this is a See You Later.

Shopping in Masatepe

Here are some pictures of a trip I took with Bonnie to buy some patio furniture from the local artisans. On the road to Managua there are a lot of areas specialized in their particular handicraft. The small villages are called Pueblos Blancos; White Villages, and each village has their own specialization. This day we went to Masatepe to look for new patio furniture for Bonnie.

Here are some pictures of the furniture. This shop was on the village square, some sort of a guild for furniture makers. Most of the other shops were much smaller, and along the road.

So this is the local, handmade furniture, cheaper than what you would have to pay in the USA, but not "dirt cheap" as it might have been in the days past. There were a lot of woodworker shops, with handmade wooden rockers, dining sets etc. also. 

This was a local candy-stand. I couldn't resists and grabbed one of these delights. Unfortunately, I forgot it into Bonnie's truck, and by the time either of us got to it, it was already too late and all the sugary goodness was beyond consumption. So I can't tell you what they taste like :(

Bonnie also needed some new plants for her garden, and lucky for us, we didn't have to go all the way to Caterina, the nursery village, but there were a lot of roadside stands for plants in Masatepe also. 

So this is the stash that we finally started heading home with:

Nica Beaches - Playa Ostional

Next on our journey to find our own piece of paradise was Playa Ostional. It is to the south of SJDS, close to the Costa Rican border. For that reason, before we even got to the property, we were stopped by a soldier at a military outpost maybe a kilometer away still from the border. He was very angry with our landlord, for failing to stop at the imaginary line you weren't supposed to cross... (There was some sort of a painted pole on the side of the road that should've told him to stop...)

Anyway, we finally got to continue the trip. Here you can see the coast of Costa Rica on the other side of the bay. Foreigners aren't allowed to buy land too close to the border, therefore one side of the beach was out of limits for us.

The only piece of land available there, was a parcel some 200 meters from the beach. There was a straight road to the beach, so nothing could be built on it, to obstruct the view or access, but it still wasn't ON the beach. The price was good tho, for being so close to the beach in this area: 30,000,00 USD for almost 1.7 acres.

It was late in the evening, and it was cloudy, as you can see.

Life on the Beach

Like many of you already know, we are looking for a lot by a beach to open a hotel on. The other day, some friends took us with them to show us some beaches to the North of San Juan del Sur to see if there was anything suitable for us out there.

Our first stop was Playa Jiquelite, where an international surfing competition for under 18-year -olds is held every year.

(by Bonnie Hayman)

The waves were a little too high for our taste, so after a little snack by a beach side bar, we moved on.

We heard from the locals, that Playa Brito was worth checking out. A yet undiscovered gem. I remembered hearing about it before, but couldn't quite place it. The trip through the jungle on a bumpy and at places knee-high muddy road was interesting, to say the least. No wonder the beach isn't more popular... This was the scene that greeted us upon our arrival:

(by Bonnie Hayman)

Our friend Bonnie was excited about the ruggedness of the beach, whereas I was ready to move on. We asked the locals living in their tin houses without electricity, what was the name of the beach. They said "Boca di Brito", Mouth of Brito. We didn't quite understand it then, but later found out that it is the area Brito River flows back into the ocean..

We waddled through the little stream, and finally arrived to this:

The beach was exactly what we'd been looking for! After a hot drive, the waves were destined to call our names and we all dipped into the warm water. Bonnie told us an interesting fact about the waters. She said that during the rainy season, the water is really warm, whereas come dry season, it gets colder. 

After our little bathing session, I wanted to walk down the beach (a looong beach) and see what was on the other side. We found a cool "Bat cave", which would fill with water during high tide. As would most of the beach.

After we came home, we told our landlord about out trip, and finally found out why I had heard of the beach before. They are planning to build the rival to Panama Canal, through this beautiful, unspoiled, perfect beach! 

New Life for School Buses

As this article describes, when old, yellow school buses are replaced in the US, they don't go to the junkyard, but retire to the tropics!

School Buses

Here are some more pictures of the buses in action here at home. They are called Chicken Buses, probably because the locals use them, if need be, for carrying their chickens to the market. They usually paint the buses in all sorts of colors and sometimes whimsical ways.

Sometimes they keep the same colors, and even the old "Stop" sign.

And some of the buses are the usual kind, but packed to the brim. And if there's a lot of luggage on the roof, there are sometimes handlers that travel on top of the buses. Just don't leave anything of value in the roof luggage, that is if you want to see them again.