Be cool man, be cool! So says the Rasta boat dude while he kicks the 5 passengers off his ferry boat onto an already full ferry boat as he could not be bothered to take us from Bocas to the Panamian mainland. Of course Forrest gets the hump and gives him lip, me and my first world thinking.... Needless to say Rasta dude 1, Forrest 0.
At least we got to the mainland safely to start the overland journey from Panama up to San Jose in Costa Rica. It was very sad to see the amazing mangroves along the Panamian coast completely clogged with tons of garbage, rubbish of every type strewn everywhere in the water, on the sand, alongside the road, pretty much everywhere. It is such a beautiful area but marred by humans total disdain for the environment! I wish they would take pride in their country but I can't see that happening.
Cross the border into Costa Rica, poster child for Latin American conservation and wildlife preservation and it is as if you are on a different continent. Hardly any litter along the roads, grass verges actually mown in places, some of the houses even have garbage containers above ground in a sort of wire cage to prevent dogs from pilfering. What a difference to see people who seem to care about how and where they live. It almost restored my faith in humanity, almost. The border crossing was so simple, passport dude stamps you out, pay $4 exit tax, another passport dude stamps you in, job done, hello Costa Rica!
The lunch stop place was very chilled, a jungle type lodge on the edge of a deserted beach in Puerto Viejo in the far south of Costa Rica.
The sign pretty much says it all, be cool man, be cool.
So, let me tell you about travellers cheques . For those amongst us who travelled in the 80's and 90's I'm sure you will have come across them. Good old Amex T/C's, safer than cash, simple and easy to use, can be exchanged almost anywhere. Forrest decides that as Central America is a hotbed of crime, theft, pick-pocketing etc, some T/C's are a very good idea and can be used to fund the Costa Rica and Honduras part of the trip. Well, let me tell you, not the best idea. Only 1 banking group, ScotiaBank will change a travellers cheque. With a the help of my ever patient wife and the Amex call center we narrow down the potential branches to 2 in San Jose here in Costa Rica. I get the helpful hotel dude to phone the first branch for me. Lo and beholed they don't change them but wait, yes the second branch will change them. So now we have 1 branch of 1 bank in the whole of Costa Rica that will change the cheques for me.
Being the cheap bugger that I am, I decide to walk the 3 miles to the branch, no taxi is ever gonna rip me off, even if it is pouring with rain. I do question my own sanity some times! So after trudging through the rain for 45 minutes I find myself at the VIP branch of this bank, so far so good. I go through security, airport style, leaving a damp trail of muddy footprints on their lovely clean floor, clothes sopping wet, water dripping off me. No raincoat, no umbrella, moron... I ask the friendly lady in my best broken Spanish where I go to change my precious cargo of cheques. She takes one look at the bedraggled gringo in front of her and says "Cashier" in Spanish. Off I go to join the queue.
The dude calls me over and I present him with the cheques. Talk about confusion, they have clearly never seen these things before. He holds them up, stares at them, shakes them. I thought he was going to taste them at one stage. Perplexed he calls his supervisor over. She goes through the same routine, can't figure out what these things are, off she goes. Methuselahs Costa Rican cousin Pedro ambles out with her to assist. Yes he knows what these things are, yes he knows what to do and yes he will help these youngsters get them processed. Oh he remembers the good old days when Amex T/C's were the currency of choice, now it's just ATM cards, where is the world going to? After 45 minutes I'm the proud owner of a fresh batch of cash, sorted!
Just a quick note about San Jose. The surrounds are gorgeous, hills, forests and volcanos. It's a bit like Kathmandu, in a valley or a bowl surrounded by mountains etc. The city itself has no redeeming factors and is just a concrete sprawl full of people. There are no real sites apart from a couple of museums which in themselves are really good and enough for 1 day. Beyond that there is no reason to linger so with that in mind I head off to the Monteverde cloud forest to look for for sloths, monkeys and whatever else decides to come to the party. A couple of shots of San Jose taken while dodging the incredible amount of rain that falls here. It really is the rainy season, they were not kidding.
Hasta Luego
At least we got to the mainland safely to start the overland journey from Panama up to San Jose in Costa Rica. It was very sad to see the amazing mangroves along the Panamian coast completely clogged with tons of garbage, rubbish of every type strewn everywhere in the water, on the sand, alongside the road, pretty much everywhere. It is such a beautiful area but marred by humans total disdain for the environment! I wish they would take pride in their country but I can't see that happening.
Cross the border into Costa Rica, poster child for Latin American conservation and wildlife preservation and it is as if you are on a different continent. Hardly any litter along the roads, grass verges actually mown in places, some of the houses even have garbage containers above ground in a sort of wire cage to prevent dogs from pilfering. What a difference to see people who seem to care about how and where they live. It almost restored my faith in humanity, almost. The border crossing was so simple, passport dude stamps you out, pay $4 exit tax, another passport dude stamps you in, job done, hello Costa Rica!
The lunch stop place was very chilled, a jungle type lodge on the edge of a deserted beach in Puerto Viejo in the far south of Costa Rica.
So, let me tell you about travellers cheques . For those amongst us who travelled in the 80's and 90's I'm sure you will have come across them. Good old Amex T/C's, safer than cash, simple and easy to use, can be exchanged almost anywhere. Forrest decides that as Central America is a hotbed of crime, theft, pick-pocketing etc, some T/C's are a very good idea and can be used to fund the Costa Rica and Honduras part of the trip. Well, let me tell you, not the best idea. Only 1 banking group, ScotiaBank will change a travellers cheque. With a the help of my ever patient wife and the Amex call center we narrow down the potential branches to 2 in San Jose here in Costa Rica. I get the helpful hotel dude to phone the first branch for me. Lo and beholed they don't change them but wait, yes the second branch will change them. So now we have 1 branch of 1 bank in the whole of Costa Rica that will change the cheques for me.
Being the cheap bugger that I am, I decide to walk the 3 miles to the branch, no taxi is ever gonna rip me off, even if it is pouring with rain. I do question my own sanity some times! So after trudging through the rain for 45 minutes I find myself at the VIP branch of this bank, so far so good. I go through security, airport style, leaving a damp trail of muddy footprints on their lovely clean floor, clothes sopping wet, water dripping off me. No raincoat, no umbrella, moron... I ask the friendly lady in my best broken Spanish where I go to change my precious cargo of cheques. She takes one look at the bedraggled gringo in front of her and says "Cashier" in Spanish. Off I go to join the queue.
The dude calls me over and I present him with the cheques. Talk about confusion, they have clearly never seen these things before. He holds them up, stares at them, shakes them. I thought he was going to taste them at one stage. Perplexed he calls his supervisor over. She goes through the same routine, can't figure out what these things are, off she goes. Methuselahs Costa Rican cousin Pedro ambles out with her to assist. Yes he knows what these things are, yes he knows what to do and yes he will help these youngsters get them processed. Oh he remembers the good old days when Amex T/C's were the currency of choice, now it's just ATM cards, where is the world going to? After 45 minutes I'm the proud owner of a fresh batch of cash, sorted!
Just a quick note about San Jose. The surrounds are gorgeous, hills, forests and volcanos. It's a bit like Kathmandu, in a valley or a bowl surrounded by mountains etc. The city itself has no redeeming factors and is just a concrete sprawl full of people. There are no real sites apart from a couple of museums which in themselves are really good and enough for 1 day. Beyond that there is no reason to linger so with that in mind I head off to the Monteverde cloud forest to look for for sloths, monkeys and whatever else decides to come to the party. A couple of shots of San Jose taken while dodging the incredible amount of rain that falls here. It really is the rainy season, they were not kidding.
Hasta Luego
Perhaps next time you'll listen and take your waterproof:) Glad you're having a good time. Your patient wife:)
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