Damn nature, you’re beautiful.
My name is Joe Harrington; I’m travelling through Central and South America for the next eight months, here’s what happened on week eight.
Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica (continued)
Myself and Sean (Alaska) visited the nearby Jaguar Rescue Centre (€20) to see some of the exotic animals they were looking after there.
It’s an amazing place, they take in injured and unwell animals and help them recover before releasing them back into the wild.
One of the first animals the centre ever rescued was a jaguar, that’s why it’s called the Jaguar Rescue Centre but there isn’t one there right now. So now you know.
The tour was fantastic, we saw three types of monkeys, alligators, ant-eaters, snakes, an ocelot, exotic frogs, pelicans and sloths.
Not just any type of sloth though, baby sloths. LOOK AT THEM! LOOK AT THEIR LITTLE FACES!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFrvdz9mHbX
The rainy season and the torrential rain that it brings meant we spent most of the evening in the hostel but it was our last night in Costa Rica so myself, Sean, Lotten and the German twins Nini and Caren went for dinner in a place called Chile Rojo. It’s expensive with average food.
After dinner, myself and Sean went to the town’s ATM and we bumped into a rasta man offering us a sip of his rum-filled coconut. He said it was great for erections (!) and for emphasis he made that clinched-fist, strong arm gesture into our faces.
The weird thing was that he kept insisting that I drink it, me, specifically me, as if I had some sort of erectile disfunction, I was confused. Like Pelé, I don’t have that problem, swear, but I drank it anyway. It was just rum and coconut water, he was crazy.
We strolled back to the hostel and I was chatting to some cool people from Scotland and Australia around midnight when the German twins Nini and Caren arrived and something was up.
Nini slipped off her flip-flop walking home in the rain, fell over and slashed the top of her foot on a rock. Me, the twins and their friend Sandra rushed to a clinic where Nini got five stitches. A pretty nasty cut.
The doctor was a guy called Marcos and he told us some horror stories about people coming into him missing limbs so Nini’s cut was not a big deal for him.
Here’s the after pic at 2am.
The stitches and treatment cost €300 so make sure you get travel insurance before you go because you might need it at some point.
The following morning was sad because I had to say goodbye to Sean and Lotten who I’d been travelling with for the previous three/four weeks. They are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
Accommodation: Rocking J’s. I slept in a tent with a mattress for €8 per night.
It’s right on the beach, the beds are good, bikes for €5, it has a brilliant kitchen.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFpZL9JGHYQ
Food: La Esquina Boruca has amazing pizza slices. Reggae Chill was okay.
Drink: Mango’s, Lazy Mon, Hostel.
Highlight: Being a few feet away from baby sloths, it warmed my heart.
Lowlight: The rain. The place is incredible but the rain put a dampner on things. Puntastic.
Next stop: Bocas Del Toro, Panama
Adina (Sweden) and I jumped on a bus to the Costa Rica-Panama border which I was dreading because they are notoriously sticky about onward travel there.
I showed them my boat ticket from Panama City to Colombia and was assertive. It’s important to not take any shit because they’ll screw you if they get a chance.
After a five minute deliberation between a few of the guys behind the counter they gave me the stamp and I was in, it went smoother than I thought it would tbh.
BONUS BABY SLOTH ALERT!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFrvn2pGHbx
The shuttles to Almirante, which is the town you need to get to for the boat to Bocas, are right beside immigration. The guys running them say it costs €10 but we haggled them down to €7 so try that if you’re there.
We arrived in Bocas and found a brilliant hostel called Calipso so we set our bags down, had a siesta and then visited our friends Daniel (English), Suz (Holland) and Linda (Fiji) in their hostel.
The following day we rented bikes and explored Bocas. A tough enough cycle through the jungle brought us to La Gruta, a famous bat cave in the area.
I was expecting to see, I don’t know, a few dozen bats, but when we got into the cave there were thousands. They were flying so close to our faces that we could feel the air from their flapping wings.
I sat on a rock just under them and the surface was kind of soft and extremely comfortable. I settled myself in for five minutes listening to the surrounding sounds. It turns out that the shit from thousands of bats creates a cushion-like feeling on rocks. Lovely.
It was an unreal experience though.
Here’s a topless photo of me, my cool shorts and the bats hanging from the top of the cave.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFxQMXomHZE
On the way back from the cave we visited local beaches including Playa Bluff which is one of the most dangerous beaches in the area, only professional surfers and lifeguards are allowed in the water. The waves were crazy.
The next morning myself, Sandra and Adina booked a day trip with Tour Adventures. The €30 fee included a visit to Dolphin Bay, Sloth Island, Starfish Island, Cayo Zapatilla and snorkelling.
The tour was great but the weather turned halfway through and we were stranded on a dock for 90 minutes because of a tropical storm. It was a bit annoying but a cool experience.
When the weather sorted itself out, we went to Cayo Zapatilla. The place is amazing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFzjjG5GHco
The boat journey home was rough in patches and a bit annoying because I was stuck beside two douchebag Americans. They drank a bottle of scotch and kept reminding everyone that they were surgeons.
To give you an idea of how bad they were, think of the most obnoxious person you’ve ever met and multiply that by the Crazy Frog song from a few years ago. Yeah, that bad.
They complained to the local guide about the weather that there were only two sloths visible when we went to Sloth Island and wanted to go immediately. I told them that it wasn’t a zoo and to stop being rude. They didn’t take that well.
We went back to base to drop the bags and I walked to the dock beside the fire station to watch the sunset. It was stunning. I was never really into sunsets before but I love them now.
The following day I hopped on a boat to the famous Red Frog Beach on the island of Basimento.
I was the only passenger which was cool because it was just me in the Caribbean sea heading to a beautiful beach for the day. I loved that feeling so much, it’s the feeling I thought travelling would give me.
I’d heard a few mixed reviews about the beach but I thought it was special.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BF2Rf_BGHcz
It was clean, quite and the water was perfect. I read my book (Friday Night Lights), drank some coconuts, had lunch and lay in the sun for the day. Not bad for a Wednesday.
I searched the nearby jungle for the famous Red Frogs, which are poisonous, but I couldn’t find any which was disappointing, They are expected to be extinct in the next few years so there aren’t many left.
A local man took me back to Bocas in his boat for €5 and the journey was perfect. The sun was setting on the calm, clear blue water and the only sound was the hum of the engine. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so relaxed.
A fantastic day in Bocas Del Toro. I visited Red Frog Beach on the tiny island of Basimento 😍🏝⛵️ #Panama #Travel pic.twitter.com/nggZgPRvLo
— Joe Harrington (@ImJoeHarrington) May 25, 2016
We had a big session last night to celebrate our last night in Bocas. It involved lots of local rum, smoking with locals and ended with this Kerryman giving them the Irish goodbye because I was a bit too tired and emotional.
I’m heading south to Panama City later on a night bus which takes 10 hours. I’ll explore the city for two days and then sail to the San Blas Islands on Sunday.
Accommodation: Calipso Hostel. A six bed dorm cost €10 per night which is cheap for Bocas.
The staff were so helpful, the room had AC and it’s right in the middle of town.
Food: Capitan Caribe for burgers. The street food is great, a meat skewer for €1.50.
Drink: Iguana, Selina’s hostel.
Highlight: Snorkelling for the first time. Why the hell have I waited 30 years to do it?
Lowlight: The rain during our day trip to all the islands, it was a shame.
If you’ve any tips, advice or questions, let me know on Twitter at@ImJoeHarrington or Instagram/ImJoeHarrington.
Talk to you next week.
Read more:
Diary #2 – Miami, Guatemala City, Antigua
Diary #3 – Antigua, Lake Atitlan
Diary #4 – El Salvador
Diary #5 – El Salvador, Leon, Nicaragua
Diary #6 – Volcano boarding, Laguna De Apoyo, Granada
Diary #7 – The volcanos of Ometepe and Sunday Funday in San Juan
Diary #8 – Monteverde and Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFzj2sWGHdd
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