Fresh off an awesome 5 days sailing from Colombia through the magical San Blas islands the Mavrix caught a plane and landed in Panama City, a new day, a new country, same old slow ass customs officials, oh well. Our plan was to hit Central America like a red headed step child, hard and fast. We needed to be in Miami for our flight to Bangkok Thailand by the 7th of October and had roughly 6 countries in the way, plus we had an appointment with the US Embassy in San Jose Costa Rica in 2 days because we needed a Visa just for going through the bloody airport (bloody paranoid Americans). This all meant that our time would be short but we would make the most of it.
Panama City is the only nice capital in all of Central America, the rest are dirty, dangerous and chaotic places while Panama City manages to look pretty at times and even have some semblance of
order. Walking in the streets we found ourselves wishing we had bigger bags so we could buy the $1 denim jeans we saw everywhere, we also gawked at the brightly coloured and feverishly designed local buses ¨Diablos Rojos¨who were only out sparkled by the brightly dressed traditional women walking amongst the city´s highrises as if this was all perfectly normal, its kind of like seeing a Zulu in full traditional gear walking shopping in Sandton. We also managed to make our way out to one of the worlds great engineering marvels, the Atlantic to Pacific connecting, Panama Canal. What can you really say about the canal other than its big, impressive and the ships miss either side of the canal by less than a Blue Bulls fan´s ¨Boep¨, thats one impressive parking job!
The next day we caught an overnight bus into San Jose - Costa Rica with just an afternoon to spare before our ïnterview¨with the annoying American Embassy . This meant filling out a bunch of forms including one that asked ¨Are you intending to enter the USA to carry out any terrorist activities, engage in sexual acts with a minor or any other criminal activity?¨...... we said ¨no¨. Our day at the embassy started at 7h00 and ended after 15h00, it was a thrilling time of que standing, staring at the ceiling, finger tapping and some stealthy nose picking. All this fun eventually cost us $145 each but we now have the right to enter the ¨Great¨ USA and walk from one side of Miami airport to the other where we can catch a plane out of there. We could have used that money to buy a 145 pairs of jeans...
We decided to get out of Costa Rica pretty quickly, we had had enough of America and Costa Rica is practically a colony of the US. The street signs are in English instead of Spanish and there are more malls and fast food chains than sesame seeds on a Mac Muffin. So next thing we tripped up to Nicaragua in search of some fun and a more authentic Latin American experience. We didnt find it at our first stop, the small surfing town of San Juan del Sur which is more an American and Aussie surf hangout than anything else plus a freak wave stole the Vixens favourite Buenos Aires bought top and swallowed it into the surf. Bummer Dude.
Isla de Ometepe was just a short hop away from there, its an island in the middle of the HUGE Lake Nicaragua that sports 2 giant volcanoes, fresh water sharks (gulp) and lush green rice fields. The place is a beauty and a marvel but being out of season meant it was also super boring and the Mavrix dont do super boring! So off we travelled again in search of the good life.
Granada was a bit more like it! This beautiful colonial town proved a great place to meet other travellers and just absorb some atmostphere. Beautiful multicoloured buildings and ncie weather had us walking the streets just for fun for half the day. The hostel we stayed at also had enormous and cheap food which we hungrily scoffed down with smiles and sticky fingers. One of our 3 nights here we entered into a small poker tournament just for shits and giggles and managed to get our bums handed to us in a paper bag by the local card sharks. It was good fun though and a laugh if only for the profesionals at the table.
Panama City is the only nice capital in all of Central America, the rest are dirty, dangerous and chaotic places while Panama City manages to look pretty at times and even have some semblance of
order. Walking in the streets we found ourselves wishing we had bigger bags so we could buy the $1 denim jeans we saw everywhere, we also gawked at the brightly coloured and feverishly designed local buses ¨Diablos Rojos¨who were only out sparkled by the brightly dressed traditional women walking amongst the city´s highrises as if this was all perfectly normal, its kind of like seeing a Zulu in full traditional gear walking shopping in Sandton. We also managed to make our way out to one of the worlds great engineering marvels, the Atlantic to Pacific connecting, Panama Canal. What can you really say about the canal other than its big, impressive and the ships miss either side of the canal by less than a Blue Bulls fan´s ¨Boep¨, thats one impressive parking job!The next day we caught an overnight bus into San Jose - Costa Rica with just an afternoon to spare before our ïnterview¨with the annoying American Embassy . This meant filling out a bunch of forms including one that asked ¨Are you intending to enter the USA to carry out any terrorist activities, engage in sexual acts with a minor or any other criminal activity?¨...... we said ¨no¨. Our day at the embassy started at 7h00 and ended after 15h00, it was a thrilling time of que standing, staring at the ceiling, finger tapping and some stealthy nose picking. All this fun eventually cost us $145 each but we now have the right to enter the ¨Great¨ USA and walk from one side of Miami airport to the other where we can catch a plane out of there. We could have used that money to buy a 145 pairs of jeans...
We decided to get out of Costa Rica pretty quickly, we had had enough of America and Costa Rica is practically a colony of the US. The street signs are in English instead of Spanish and there are more malls and fast food chains than sesame seeds on a Mac Muffin. So next thing we tripped up to Nicaragua in search of some fun and a more authentic Latin American experience. We didnt find it at our first stop, the small surfing town of San Juan del Sur which is more an American and Aussie surf hangout than anything else plus a freak wave stole the Vixens favourite Buenos Aires bought top and swallowed it into the surf. Bummer Dude.
Isla de Ometepe was just a short hop away from there, its an island in the middle of the HUGE Lake Nicaragua that sports 2 giant volcanoes, fresh water sharks (gulp) and lush green rice fields. The place is a beauty and a marvel but being out of season meant it was also super boring and the Mavrix dont do super boring! So off we travelled again in search of the good life.
Granada was a bit more like it! This beautiful colonial town proved a great place to meet other travellers and just absorb some atmostphere. Beautiful multicoloured buildings and ncie weather had us walking the streets just for fun for half the day. The hostel we stayed at also had enormous and cheap food which we hungrily scoffed down with smiles and sticky fingers. One of our 3 nights here we entered into a small poker tournament just for shits and giggles and managed to get our bums handed to us in a paper bag by the local card sharks. It was good fun though and a laugh if only for the profesionals at the table.
Our next decision was made by a flip of a coin over a beer, do we go to the Corn Islands? A little slice of the Caribean just off the almost uninhabited Nicaraguan coastline? No-one we had met had actually been there mainly because its a real mission to get there unless you fly which is obviously expensive. But heads it was and we decided to just do it even if it was the hard way...
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