Bocas Del Toro is the shit.
Not to mention i was blessed to have friends from the states who wanted to come and meet me. Scott also met up for this trip too. There were 8 of us in a room which included a huge balcony overlooking the water, a fridge for us to stock our beer, and our own bathroom.
8 dudes in a room is a stinky ass room. Not to mention there was a water situation which limited our ability to flush the toilet, unless of course we filled up a metal bucket with sea water to aid in our sanitary managment. which was not the best alternative since we were not sure if the toilet water from the hostel was going into the ocean below us and we were just filling the bucket up with what we were flushing down. Gross right?
I actually decided it may be better to flush the toilet with disgusting 8 gallon jug of TANG we baught, but that resulted in a nuclear looking pot of orange brown toxic spooge which would most likely take 8 billion yrs to decay. (sorry for the imagery, but it was noteworthy)
Bocas has a water shortage issue so the water is only on for two hours a day between 7-8 am/pm
Becuase of the bucket situation you could tell when anyone in the whole hostel needed to flush their shit becuase they went to the deck to fill their bucket. I must say, the expressions on the girls' faces when they came to the deck to fill their buckets were priceless.
Water situation aside, bocas was a ton of fun. There are young people everywhere and it seems every night is either 80's night or lady's night. Plus, beers cost 60 cents. Paradise!
The surf swell was not that big which was perfect for me. We found a boat captain, Willy, to take us out everyday. He'd drop us off at a remote beach 30 min away, we'd paddle out of the boat to the surf, then he'd come back to get us 3 hrs later. Really cool experience. Plus i caught the best waves of my life on this trip. I've been improving.
One night we decided to play wizard staff. For those who don't know, Wizard staff is a geniously simple game that involves beer and tape. In short, you drink a can of beer and you duck tape your next beer to the top of your empty can. Eventually, you start to form a wizard staff made of your beer cans. If you drink enough to create a staff as tall as you are, you win. it was a tone of drunken fun and i incuded some pics for your viewing pleasure. oh, we made hats too.
The food situation was pretty good. It is super cheap and filling. for $3-$4 you can get a huge plate of food at one of the local cafateria style restaraunts. Or you can just do what i did and eat dim sum from off a rack at the local hardware store and for dessert, go straight for the carribean burger truck that makes sloppy joe type burgers consisting of the most delicious mystery meat ever.
It was a very successful trip. Oh, and did i mention we partied with the ex hells angel president Rodney Gee. He's a scary lookin fucker who likes to slam $1500 cash on the bar in panama. A good way to attract negative attention quickly. We did not stick around him long.
So all of the guys left yesterday and i said goodbye to governor this morning. Thus ends our adventures together as we both embark on our solo journeys. It has been an amazing ride so far and we both realize, in retrospect, what a no brainer decision it was to leave and venture out into the world. Tryuly priceless.
Originally i planned to take a boat from panama city to colombia, but i changed my mind. The boat will take a while and it costs the same as a flight. I figured i'd rather spend the 5 days in colombia than manning the helm of a boat while the captain is in a passed out drunken slumber. This has been a common story of this boat ride.
So i booked a flight and then decided i'd sell my surf board. I Surfed yesterday morning for one last session, then slapped a 4 sale sign on it and walked with it around town trying to slang it to whoever. I tried everything and everyone and no bites. My throat was dry so i figured i'd have myself a brew. I walked into this bar i know and ended up selling it to the bar tender for $100. which is only $50 less than what i baught it for. Now i am traveling a bit lighter and it feels nice. I don't have to worry about swinging it around the wrong way and hitting some random guy in the balls, or myself for that matter. AND, some guy in bocas will be cruizing around with a surfboard with a big ass profile of my face on the bottom. That makes me smile.
Now i am sitting in the airport in panama city waiting for my flight to bogota in 6 hrs. I got 20 or so days left on this section and i am doing it all solo into uncharted waters. I am really excited and will make the best of every minute of it.
Some reflections at this point: Since i made my decision to come back home i have found myself thinking more and more of what i am going to do when i get there. All the things that pass through my mind are enjoyable, and make me happy, but at the same time i still have 20 days left here. By making future plans and by having something to look forward to, I have to work harder to try and appreciate the present moment. When i had no where i needed to be and nowhere i needed to go, i was just where i was at that moment and that was ok.
Now i have to be somewhere at a certain time and that it is influencing my thoughts and actions as opposed to doing things on a whim because that is the way i am feeling at a particular moment.
I am not saying it is bad for me to have plans, but i noticed the difference in my outlook after they were made. Like i said, I have 20 more days and i plan to work harder at appreciating the present without letting the looming future hinder my ability to enjoy where i am.
That being said, i am really looking forward to seeing freinds and family again.
enjoy the slide show.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Solo treck
I left nicaragua on the 6th on my own.
Traveling solo has been unreal. Being able to do what ever i whant when ever i want however i want has been a very empowering feeling. I highly recommend it.
I got to playa Samora and checked into a $10 a night hostel right on the beach. I love this town. I met some of the local costa rican guys who work at the hostel and hung out with them all week long. It happend to be a religous holiday that weekend for easter and they had a ban on booze across the country. But these guys had all the inside hookups so it didn't matter
I even got to play on their soccor team. I was the only gringo at the game and i scored the first goal for my team. I felt realy cool. Then on my last night i stayed up partying all night long and caught a 6am bus to panama. Needless to say i went out with a bang.
Then last night i got to bocas del toro panama and went out to a local bar full of indian guys. I made friends with them and a few of us took this guy's boat to some random town 30 min away. We go in the bar and there is a guy literally passed out on the floor right in front of the bar and nobody thinks it is weird. we leave to back to the town i am staying in and the engine breaks down.
Then it starts to rain. Fucking poor actually.
so here i am, with two native panamanians who speak 0 english, in the middle of the ocean, 2 in the morning, drifting. 2 hrs later we drift to an island and wake up some random guy with a boat and he has to tow us to my new friend's house in his village. we get there 30 min later and he gives me some dry clothes to borrow. Dry womans jeans to be exact. So i put them on and fall asleep on his futon which has 0 cushions. I woke up to little kids running around looking at me strange. But i made freinds with his family and they were very warm to me. People live very poor out here but are so giving. it was an amazing experience.
I had to take a pis real bad so i went to their bathroom. it is outside and consists of a few posts, a tarp rapped around to form a circle and a large bucket of water. I didn't know where i was supposed to go.
I try to hold it, but it is too hard. A little embarrased i asked this kid where the hell my piss was supposed to go. 5 min later we figured out what echother were saying and he just told me to piss in the river.
The engine was still broken so i hitched a ride back to bocas with some fisherman.
It was a mentally exhausting night, but the entire experience was not something i could have baught anywhere. And i made some new friends out of it.
Today some friends get here from the states and we will be looking for good surf.
Oh and last but not least, I have booked a return ticket home from quito ecuador. I get back on may 13th to san francisco. will hang there for a week, then go to colorado for a week for a wedding, then to NYC to hang out with family and go to my mom's grave site. the 31st marks the 1 yr anniversary of her death.
Then i come back to the bay area till june 30th and leave for peru with my brother.
So this is a message for all my friends and familly who i may see when i return to the states.
I NEED PLACES TO STAY! YOUR COUCH, YOUR FLOOR, YOUR REFRIGERATOR. IT DOES NOT MATTER.
so if i show up unannounced expecting to be put up, don't say i didn't warn you. And i am probably going to eat all of your food too. and drink all of your beer.
Traveling solo has been unreal. Being able to do what ever i whant when ever i want however i want has been a very empowering feeling. I highly recommend it.
I got to playa Samora and checked into a $10 a night hostel right on the beach. I love this town. I met some of the local costa rican guys who work at the hostel and hung out with them all week long. It happend to be a religous holiday that weekend for easter and they had a ban on booze across the country. But these guys had all the inside hookups so it didn't matter
I even got to play on their soccor team. I was the only gringo at the game and i scored the first goal for my team. I felt realy cool. Then on my last night i stayed up partying all night long and caught a 6am bus to panama. Needless to say i went out with a bang.
Then last night i got to bocas del toro panama and went out to a local bar full of indian guys. I made friends with them and a few of us took this guy's boat to some random town 30 min away. We go in the bar and there is a guy literally passed out on the floor right in front of the bar and nobody thinks it is weird. we leave to back to the town i am staying in and the engine breaks down.
Then it starts to rain. Fucking poor actually.
so here i am, with two native panamanians who speak 0 english, in the middle of the ocean, 2 in the morning, drifting. 2 hrs later we drift to an island and wake up some random guy with a boat and he has to tow us to my new friend's house in his village. we get there 30 min later and he gives me some dry clothes to borrow. Dry womans jeans to be exact. So i put them on and fall asleep on his futon which has 0 cushions. I woke up to little kids running around looking at me strange. But i made freinds with his family and they were very warm to me. People live very poor out here but are so giving. it was an amazing experience.
I had to take a pis real bad so i went to their bathroom. it is outside and consists of a few posts, a tarp rapped around to form a circle and a large bucket of water. I didn't know where i was supposed to go.
I try to hold it, but it is too hard. A little embarrased i asked this kid where the hell my piss was supposed to go. 5 min later we figured out what echother were saying and he just told me to piss in the river.
The engine was still broken so i hitched a ride back to bocas with some fisherman.
It was a mentally exhausting night, but the entire experience was not something i could have baught anywhere. And i made some new friends out of it.
Today some friends get here from the states and we will be looking for good surf.
Oh and last but not least, I have booked a return ticket home from quito ecuador. I get back on may 13th to san francisco. will hang there for a week, then go to colorado for a week for a wedding, then to NYC to hang out with family and go to my mom's grave site. the 31st marks the 1 yr anniversary of her death.
Then i come back to the bay area till june 30th and leave for peru with my brother.
So this is a message for all my friends and familly who i may see when i return to the states.
I NEED PLACES TO STAY! YOUR COUCH, YOUR FLOOR, YOUR REFRIGERATOR. IT DOES NOT MATTER.
so if i show up unannounced expecting to be put up, don't say i didn't warn you. And i am probably going to eat all of your food too. and drink all of your beer.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
5 weeks in san juan del sur
ahhhh.... life is really relaxing. It has been hard to update the blog when every day has basically been the same. No i am not bored at all. i am really embracing the slow paced monotony. I know i will have plenty of time in my future to be running around.
Literally, i wake up, read for an hour or so. brush my teath, hop in the pool, make breakfast (it is probably like 9 am at this point) maybe read a little more or do some drawing, decide when we are gonna surf, hang out for a few hours by the pool, make lunch, go surf, come back, maybe drink a few beers, go to bed, then do it again.
that being said, there have been some interesting occurances.
We have been following the local baseball team and going to the games out here. Nicaraguan baseball games are legit. Everyone is smoking, drinking, and loudly talking shit about the pitcher's ex girfriend who is now sleeping with a member of the other team. There are the local drunks who attend every game and there is actually a job description for the guy who has to ussher these drunks back into the stands when they inevitably stumble onto the feild.
The ticket price is 50 cents, there are $1 beers, and a full plate of food is $2.50. Plus most weekends there is a double header so you make a day of it.
We also went to Omatepe island which is (apparently) the largest volcanic lake island in the world. We rode Scott's dirtbike on the ferry and i rented my own bike while i was there. We were like the show Chips as we motored all aorund the island. Really cool place to visit. Natual mineral springs to relax by, very friendly people, amazing views of the volcanos as you are surrounded by a huge lake.
An interesting anecdote of this trip was when we got a little lost on the moto's and tried to get back to the main road. We ended up crashing our way through a jagged rocky dry river bed until we hit an almost impossible section to get through. This riverbed happens to be a highway for locals who walk to and from work so they were laughing at us the whole way as we stumbled through. I tried to make it up this section and wrecked the bike a little. Nothing major, but slightly noticable to the trained eye. But after dusting my self off, The locals helped me push the bike up the rocky slope and we were on our way.
The next day i return the bike (including the cracked plastic light cover which i peiced on there attempting to hide the damage) and the lady said it was all good. We got on the ferry and i incurred no extra charges. phewww!
Until i got to the other side of the lake.
As we near the dock on the other side, i notice a ton of cops and a few military personel. Huh? they can't be waiting for me. it was just a dirt bike. I get off the ferry and they immidiatly start talking to a few people asking them their name. Then asking them if they know a michael. Oh Shit! They finally get to me and i admit my name . I little nervouse, i manage to figure out what the hell is going on. I guess i put $100 of damage on the bike and they wante me to get into a taxi with them to the atm to pay them. All thsi for $100. I suppose Nicaraguan police are pretty bored. So i comply and go to the atm with them, making sure Scott follows me on the dirtbike so they don'e haul me off to no-mans-land. Small price to pay to avoid Nica jail. exciting times.
Oh yeah, I also got pretty creative with facial hair again. this time i sculped the pencil thin mustach with a mole beard. Which means that i shaved everything exept for a pencil thin mustache and a small clump of hair that exentuates a small mole on my face. It was so hidious that Scott got uncomfortable looking at me. which says a lot for him.
Now i am getting ready to leave nicaragua. I depart on the 6th on my own and am meandering back through costa rica to meet friends in panama who are in search of good waves. It will be nice to see more friends from home. Scott is meeting up for this trip too. After that i plan to do a solo trek farther down south into colombia and ecuador. Looking forward to the experiences ahead and to see what it feels like traveling by myself.
here are some pics. two slide shows this time since i did not have time to combine the albums.
Literally, i wake up, read for an hour or so. brush my teath, hop in the pool, make breakfast (it is probably like 9 am at this point) maybe read a little more or do some drawing, decide when we are gonna surf, hang out for a few hours by the pool, make lunch, go surf, come back, maybe drink a few beers, go to bed, then do it again.
that being said, there have been some interesting occurances.
We have been following the local baseball team and going to the games out here. Nicaraguan baseball games are legit. Everyone is smoking, drinking, and loudly talking shit about the pitcher's ex girfriend who is now sleeping with a member of the other team. There are the local drunks who attend every game and there is actually a job description for the guy who has to ussher these drunks back into the stands when they inevitably stumble onto the feild.
The ticket price is 50 cents, there are $1 beers, and a full plate of food is $2.50. Plus most weekends there is a double header so you make a day of it.
We also went to Omatepe island which is (apparently) the largest volcanic lake island in the world. We rode Scott's dirtbike on the ferry and i rented my own bike while i was there. We were like the show Chips as we motored all aorund the island. Really cool place to visit. Natual mineral springs to relax by, very friendly people, amazing views of the volcanos as you are surrounded by a huge lake.
An interesting anecdote of this trip was when we got a little lost on the moto's and tried to get back to the main road. We ended up crashing our way through a jagged rocky dry river bed until we hit an almost impossible section to get through. This riverbed happens to be a highway for locals who walk to and from work so they were laughing at us the whole way as we stumbled through. I tried to make it up this section and wrecked the bike a little. Nothing major, but slightly noticable to the trained eye. But after dusting my self off, The locals helped me push the bike up the rocky slope and we were on our way.
The next day i return the bike (including the cracked plastic light cover which i peiced on there attempting to hide the damage) and the lady said it was all good. We got on the ferry and i incurred no extra charges. phewww!
Until i got to the other side of the lake.
As we near the dock on the other side, i notice a ton of cops and a few military personel. Huh? they can't be waiting for me. it was just a dirt bike. I get off the ferry and they immidiatly start talking to a few people asking them their name. Then asking them if they know a michael. Oh Shit! They finally get to me and i admit my name . I little nervouse, i manage to figure out what the hell is going on. I guess i put $100 of damage on the bike and they wante me to get into a taxi with them to the atm to pay them. All thsi for $100. I suppose Nicaraguan police are pretty bored. So i comply and go to the atm with them, making sure Scott follows me on the dirtbike so they don'e haul me off to no-mans-land. Small price to pay to avoid Nica jail. exciting times.
Oh yeah, I also got pretty creative with facial hair again. this time i sculped the pencil thin mustach with a mole beard. Which means that i shaved everything exept for a pencil thin mustache and a small clump of hair that exentuates a small mole on my face. It was so hidious that Scott got uncomfortable looking at me. which says a lot for him.
Now i am getting ready to leave nicaragua. I depart on the 6th on my own and am meandering back through costa rica to meet friends in panama who are in search of good waves. It will be nice to see more friends from home. Scott is meeting up for this trip too. After that i plan to do a solo trek farther down south into colombia and ecuador. Looking forward to the experiences ahead and to see what it feels like traveling by myself.
here are some pics. two slide shows this time since i did not have time to combine the albums.
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