Week 16, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
19/9
Rose at 5.45, showered, packed and on the road to Costa Rica. Drive to the border went quick, leaving Nicaragua too, getting our stamps for CR too, just the truckpapers. Well, that took a long time again, so...
16.00 finally on the road to Monteverde. Long drive to go, ending up in a possible wildcamp... Laterz...
Well, the camp was a nice hotel, where i upgraded for the first time. Putting up my tent in a puddle was too much to ask and for just 12,50 US $, i could share a very nice room, so i did.
Showered, had a nice meal and slept like a baby.
20/9
Rose at 5.00, good breakfast, packed and on the road to Monteverde, where im writing this now.
Oh yeah, this little guy was on our doorstep this morning... Say hello to John Spin...
The road was steep, but the truck made it easily... great views again ... look...
Waiting to check in in our hostel....
Ate chinese food at 22, then it started pooring again. For more than an hour.
Did some shopping afterwards, since breakfast at our hostel costs US $6,- (yes the dutch are stingy).
When it became dry Luts, Richad and I booked for the skywalk. A walk through the rain forest, over bridges and so..
On our way to there .... gues what.. it started to poor again... but still we did it...look ....
No fun to be honest.
At 16.20 back at the hostel, put some dry clothes on and updating blog now. About to find a bar i guess... Laterz...
Did not go to a bar, but stayed in the little bar in the hostel. Drank one drink and then i decided to sleep for 10 hours or so, in an attempt to prevent this cold, that i feel coming up (bit feverish, sore throat, bit grumpy, shivering). And so i did.
21/9
Feel quit a bit better. Rose at 6.45, showered, packed and took my stuff to the truck. Took Luts to the coffee shop (not a dutch coffee shop) to have an "apfelstrudel" and a cafe latte.
PS: since my blog is shared by quit a few people (almost 6000 hits now, and some of them are friends of friends of friends of...) i realize that i must be more carefull when it comes to use "strong language". Friends of mine got worried messages, suggesting that we (= the group) are a bunch of psychopaths, that crash each others skulls on a daily basis. Well, we have had issues and there wil be issues, but all in all the trip is still very enjoyable. After all, we do see the world. It just has been made hard for a few of us by some unpleasant behaviour of some others. Lets not spend more words on it. So please stop worrying ... we will survive and we wil go on having fun and a beautifull experience.
At 8.20 we had a group meeting. We wil have to be in Panama city earlier (due to police inspectons and an earlier shiping of the truck). For me not such a problem, since there seems to be lots to do up there. There's alternatives for the beachlovers who want to spend extra days in San Antonio, on the coast of CR. Ok, on the road now... Laterz...
The drive was lovely. Great scenery again...
Arrived at our hostel, round 15.00. Everybody had to reorganize their stuff and make as much space as possible in the truck. Finally!! After that a truck clean. Now sipping my welcome cocktail at the bar of the hostel... Laterz...
It started to rain when we went out for pizza. Lots of it... rain that is, not pizza.
So, after dinner a last drink in the hostels bar, finishing the leftovers of the truck (some beers from Alaska were still there). Wanted to do a long night again, coz my cold still lasts. It frooze in the room. Somebody left the aircon on, at 16 degrees. We opened the door to let some warmth in. So far for acting environment friendly huh? Had to sleep on one of those top beds. Hate that. Dangerous too.
22/9
Woke up at 6.00. Not because i wanted to, but Richard started to sort out his luguage. He's a nice bloke, but he needs a fresh brain every now and then.
Anyway, showered, went down to update blog. Sitting in the garden of the hostel now...
Laterz.
At 9.30 Luts, Lauretta and I went to (one of the many) hot springs. Fantastic day ... here are some pictures ...
<Laurettas pool pics here>
There was a (kind of) zoo too. Look ...
At lunch i had the best spaghetiti seafood ever. Expensive but worth it.
Round 15.00 h we took a cab back to the hostel. I napped for an hour, since i really got a cold. Its all coming loose now... blowing nose, sneezing, bit of a fever... rotten aircon!
Anyway, round 18.00 went to the bar to finish off some leftover beers from the truck. Luts, Lauretta, Norm, Karim and Richard joined me soon.
Updating blog now... while we have the so manieth (is that english?) down poor... look ...
Going to spend the last 30 minutes on the balcony of our room, watching the rain... then hopefully a curing sleep...
23/9
Not much curing. Coughed and sneezed and blew my nose all night. Sorry room mates. Anyway, rose at 6.00, packed, ate a small (leftover) pancake (thx Annette), and on the road for a long day of driving. Slept a lot on the truck, and spend most of the day controling my cold. Nice scenery, but did not have much attention for it. Good soup as lunch.
Round 18.00 found this oasis of rest and peace, affordable priced, place whe we spend the night. Village is called Neily. Sharing rooms with Norm and Karim. Nice meal in the restaurant accross the street, good group feeling (!!!), shower and now fringe and a 10 hour sleep, to get rid of this horrible cold. Wish me luck...
24/9
Well, the sleep did not help much, but the ibuprofen, i took (in stead of breakfast) did. No more caughing or blowing noses. Thank God, coz it was horrible. Ok, rose at 6, packed and a long drive ahead again.
Arrived at the border too early, so.. a little wait and then all went smooth ... crossed the border into Panama in less than an hour...
During the morning my cold went away. Yeeee!
Lunch at KFC ... including one silly picture...
Rest of the drive went smooth (with our daily down poor). Arrived at the last stop over at the Villa Fortaleza, in this great nice, cosy, hostel...
Laterz...
Ate some leftovers from Bob and Linda, had a nice chat with Ken, and hit the sack at 21.30 or so. Slept good, cold is almost gone.
25/9
Rose at 7.00 (i thought, but panama is one our ahead of CR, so 8.00). Dry bread for breakfast. On the road at 9, short drive to Panama city. What an entrance. Looks like NYC. Skyscrapers, big harbour ... and of course the canal.
Parked the truck, took an Uber (kind of taxi, we dont have in Holland (unfortunately)) to the hostel, where we arrived at 11.00 or so. Went for a starbucks with Annette, Kerry, Ken and Russ, then back to the hostel. Installed myself in the dorm. Did the media, ate a bite, then checked out this little part of the center of this huge city. Found a multi centro mall, where i bought new swiming trucks (i tore the previous ones on the slide in the hot springs of La Fortuna). Napped for an hour. In the garden of the hostel now. A beer and a blogupdate. Will prepare the publishing of week 16 now... Laterz...
Wifi went down, but he atmosphere in the hostel is so nice... some scandinavians pooling, 60-ies and 70-ies music, quite, piece and harmony (oh yeah ... no groupmembers ... that helps a bit too ... sorry guys). Oh well, publishing week 16 will be tomorrow then.
See you all next week.
Rose at 5.45, showered, packed and on the road to Costa Rica. Drive to the border went quick, leaving Nicaragua too, getting our stamps for CR too, just the truckpapers. Well, that took a long time again, so...
16.00 finally on the road to Monteverde. Long drive to go, ending up in a possible wildcamp... Laterz...
Well, the camp was a nice hotel, where i upgraded for the first time. Putting up my tent in a puddle was too much to ask and for just 12,50 US $, i could share a very nice room, so i did.
Showered, had a nice meal and slept like a baby.
20/9
Rose at 5.00, good breakfast, packed and on the road to Monteverde, where im writing this now.
Oh yeah, this little guy was on our doorstep this morning... Say hello to John Spin...
The road was steep, but the truck made it easily... great views again ... look...
Waiting to check in in our hostel....
Ate chinese food at 22, then it started pooring again. For more than an hour.
Did some shopping afterwards, since breakfast at our hostel costs US $6,- (yes the dutch are stingy).
When it became dry Luts, Richad and I booked for the skywalk. A walk through the rain forest, over bridges and so..
On our way to there .... gues what.. it started to poor again... but still we did it...look ....
No fun to be honest.
At 16.20 back at the hostel, put some dry clothes on and updating blog now. About to find a bar i guess... Laterz...
Did not go to a bar, but stayed in the little bar in the hostel. Drank one drink and then i decided to sleep for 10 hours or so, in an attempt to prevent this cold, that i feel coming up (bit feverish, sore throat, bit grumpy, shivering). And so i did.
21/9
Feel quit a bit better. Rose at 6.45, showered, packed and took my stuff to the truck. Took Luts to the coffee shop (not a dutch coffee shop) to have an "apfelstrudel" and a cafe latte.
PS: since my blog is shared by quit a few people (almost 6000 hits now, and some of them are friends of friends of friends of...) i realize that i must be more carefull when it comes to use "strong language". Friends of mine got worried messages, suggesting that we (= the group) are a bunch of psychopaths, that crash each others skulls on a daily basis. Well, we have had issues and there wil be issues, but all in all the trip is still very enjoyable. After all, we do see the world. It just has been made hard for a few of us by some unpleasant behaviour of some others. Lets not spend more words on it. So please stop worrying ... we will survive and we wil go on having fun and a beautifull experience.
At 8.20 we had a group meeting. We wil have to be in Panama city earlier (due to police inspectons and an earlier shiping of the truck). For me not such a problem, since there seems to be lots to do up there. There's alternatives for the beachlovers who want to spend extra days in San Antonio, on the coast of CR. Ok, on the road now... Laterz...
The drive was lovely. Great scenery again...
Arrived at our hostel, round 15.00. Everybody had to reorganize their stuff and make as much space as possible in the truck. Finally!! After that a truck clean. Now sipping my welcome cocktail at the bar of the hostel... Laterz...
It started to rain when we went out for pizza. Lots of it... rain that is, not pizza.
So, after dinner a last drink in the hostels bar, finishing the leftovers of the truck (some beers from Alaska were still there). Wanted to do a long night again, coz my cold still lasts. It frooze in the room. Somebody left the aircon on, at 16 degrees. We opened the door to let some warmth in. So far for acting environment friendly huh? Had to sleep on one of those top beds. Hate that. Dangerous too.
22/9
Woke up at 6.00. Not because i wanted to, but Richard started to sort out his luguage. He's a nice bloke, but he needs a fresh brain every now and then.
Anyway, showered, went down to update blog. Sitting in the garden of the hostel now...
Laterz.
At 9.30 Luts, Lauretta and I went to (one of the many) hot springs. Fantastic day ... here are some pictures ...
<Laurettas pool pics here>
There was a (kind of) zoo too. Look ...
At lunch i had the best spaghetiti seafood ever. Expensive but worth it.
Round 15.00 h we took a cab back to the hostel. I napped for an hour, since i really got a cold. Its all coming loose now... blowing nose, sneezing, bit of a fever... rotten aircon!
Anyway, round 18.00 went to the bar to finish off some leftover beers from the truck. Luts, Lauretta, Norm, Karim and Richard joined me soon.
Updating blog now... while we have the so manieth (is that english?) down poor... look ...
Going to spend the last 30 minutes on the balcony of our room, watching the rain... then hopefully a curing sleep...
23/9
Not much curing. Coughed and sneezed and blew my nose all night. Sorry room mates. Anyway, rose at 6.00, packed, ate a small (leftover) pancake (thx Annette), and on the road for a long day of driving. Slept a lot on the truck, and spend most of the day controling my cold. Nice scenery, but did not have much attention for it. Good soup as lunch.
Round 18.00 found this oasis of rest and peace, affordable priced, place whe we spend the night. Village is called Neily. Sharing rooms with Norm and Karim. Nice meal in the restaurant accross the street, good group feeling (!!!), shower and now fringe and a 10 hour sleep, to get rid of this horrible cold. Wish me luck...
24/9
Well, the sleep did not help much, but the ibuprofen, i took (in stead of breakfast) did. No more caughing or blowing noses. Thank God, coz it was horrible. Ok, rose at 6, packed and a long drive ahead again.
Arrived at the border too early, so.. a little wait and then all went smooth ... crossed the border into Panama in less than an hour...
During the morning my cold went away. Yeeee!
Lunch at KFC ... including one silly picture...
Rest of the drive went smooth (with our daily down poor). Arrived at the last stop over at the Villa Fortaleza, in this great nice, cosy, hostel...
Laterz...
Ate some leftovers from Bob and Linda, had a nice chat with Ken, and hit the sack at 21.30 or so. Slept good, cold is almost gone.
25/9
Rose at 7.00 (i thought, but panama is one our ahead of CR, so 8.00). Dry bread for breakfast. On the road at 9, short drive to Panama city. What an entrance. Looks like NYC. Skyscrapers, big harbour ... and of course the canal.
Parked the truck, took an Uber (kind of taxi, we dont have in Holland (unfortunately)) to the hostel, where we arrived at 11.00 or so. Went for a starbucks with Annette, Kerry, Ken and Russ, then back to the hostel. Installed myself in the dorm. Did the media, ate a bite, then checked out this little part of the center of this huge city. Found a multi centro mall, where i bought new swiming trucks (i tore the previous ones on the slide in the hot springs of La Fortuna). Napped for an hour. In the garden of the hostel now. A beer and a blogupdate. Will prepare the publishing of week 16 now... Laterz...
Wifi went down, but he atmosphere in the hostel is so nice... some scandinavians pooling, 60-ies and 70-ies music, quite, piece and harmony (oh yeah ... no groupmembers ... that helps a bit too ... sorry guys). Oh well, publishing week 16 will be tomorrow then.
See you all next week.
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