Antigua, Guatemala

Very similar town to Oaxaca in Mexico, which I really like. Colourful colonial buildings, ruggedly paved roads and surrounded by mountains and an active volcano. Good food and some interesting bars and cafes. Plenty of Yanks (and Canadians) living here....retirees living the good life.

The conical volcano at the edge of town was active and apparently erupted either the day before or after I was there. I couldn't get a straight answer as to when exactly. Anyway, it was smoking very regularly which is always cool to see.

I didn't climb the volcano as it was too cold and again I didn't have the appropriate clothing. All I did was wander around town, searching for good restaurants, lounging in cafes and bars and people watching in the square. Locals are so friendly, including the Canadians whom have retired here. Will keep this report brief as I really can not remember too much about what I did here, perhaps because it was next to nothing.

Cafe/Bar No Se - A dimly lit bar with a mix of clientèle with a small Mezcal bar that you enter through an old refrigerator door. It is here you can drink four beers and pay an extra 10 Quetzales and receive a t-shirt or singlet.

Cafe Sky - Great roof top bar with damn fine views. On the pricer side.

Restaurante La Cuevita de Urquizu - Certainly not the cheapest place in town. More fine dining local food buffet style. You have a selection of at least 20 different meats and vegetables and salads for around Q80. 

Old washing facilities still used from time to time

So awesome!

Street performer

The commencement of one month of Semana Santa celebrations...

 

 

The buffet restaurant with numerous bowls of deliciousness

Tamarind flavoured mezcal, served with mineral water

View of town square from the public offices....just walk up the staircase leading off the footpath

Sun, Surf and Drug Lords.....Samara, Costa Rica

Thought I'd walked into Gringo Stonerville when I first stepped foot into the hostel. This is a town weird Americans come to escape whatever was overwhelming them. The number of times I walked down the street or beach and got stared at by a middle-to-old aged greying American with a 'what the hell are you doing here' look on their face were incredible. I'd stare back at them and wonder if they were just drooling geriatrics unknowingly participating in a social experiment. That said, there were some normal people there as well, in amongst the red-necks and bikies, all completely harmless mind you.

Once you turned a blind eye to this aspect of Samara, well Costa Rica in general, it is a great place to just hang out. The lazy, hot, humid, sun-drenched days just rolled by. I was fortunate enough t be allocated the worst bed in the hotel, which one employee discretely mentioned 'we shouldn't even be renting that one out'. Hmmm. The morning aches and pains weren't the result of forgotten events the night before but the bed boards crushing my body during the night. I think that has happened before?

I'll point out upfront that Samara is probably not the place you want to visit at this minute. The truck driving past the hostel emitting a fine mist signalled the number of dengue fever cases had reached an uncomfortable level. I almost bathed in 25% DEET from then onwards.

Samara is a bit of a surf destination, but certainly not for experienced surfers. An unfortunate event occurred in November last year. A major earthquake raised the outer reef by around one metre savaging the well that came into the beach. Waves now only exist at high tide and even then they are only just suitable for beginners (excluding first-timers). On a number of days they were non-existent. Rather limiting if you want to learn. Other beaches (30 min walk away) were ok but are less friendly to the beginner. Alternatively you can get shuttles to destinations an hour or so away. I only managed to get out on the one occasion, mainly due to a combination of tiredness, an ailment of unknown origins and other distractions. The beach had a lot of broken coral on it, presumably washed in post earthquake. The only positive is that the beach is now considerably wider, almost 20-30 metres wider! 

The sand is volcanic so has  slightly dark colour to it which makes the otherwise clear water seem tainted. There are hundreds of pelicans lining the fringe of the beach, plummeting optimistically into the water, feeding on the numerous fish skimming the surface. They weren't perturbed by humans, crashing into the water only metres from you. 

One of the brilliant things about staying at Las Mariposas Hostel was that everything seemed to come to you. You could plonk your arse in a hammock mid morning and someone selling empanadas, or pastries, or quiches, or pipas, or fruit, would drop by the hostel and hand it to you in the hammock. No need to get up. I liked this but I still forced myself to get up and go to the beach.....I know, heart-breaking.

When I think about it, Samara wasn't exactly a place I partook in many activities. I suppose I have done many of them before. One new activity I tried was getting beaten by a drug dealer at pool. I let him win of course. The resident drug lord offered a gracious welcome to his town and extended an invitation to call upon him if I needed anything....anything. I opted not to.

It was friggin hot in Samara. Overnight temps dropped to mid 20s (high humidity) and rose to mid 30s quickly. The midday sun was intense, suffocating and unbelievable. The concoction of sunscreen, humidity, repellent and salt air clung to everything. It was great. Free pool tables at Bar Olas, a free table tennis table at Rancho de la Playa were the scene of an Ashes series. Lost at pool, won at table tennis. Tika pool rules by the way are absurd. I wont even begin to explain some of the idiotic rules they have adopted.

Samara was really lacking some decent places to grab a snack. I ate at a very good Soda at least four times (behind the mini-mart in the centre of town), an extremely expensive but very tasty vegetarian place, a woeful pizza joint (Pizza Paraiso) and Bar Rancho. A guy close to the beach, on the main road, sells some quality meat sticks for $2 in the early evening, sometimes.

Playa Buena Vista

Yeah that's right....I crossed it

Felipe

Samara beach

The Poker Tournament.....Chris (in red)

Fire dancing at Bar Lo Q

Surfing in Bocas del Toro, Panama

It is hard to know where to begin to start describing Bocas del Toro. Perhaps the fact that most people who arrive stay much longer than they had anticipated and even then depart reluctantly, as if they are leaving behind a small of themselves, says enough about the place. I saw this on many occasions and experienced it myself.

Bocas is by no means the most idyllic place you can imagine. Bocas Town is rather shabby looking, the local village behind the hostel on the island I stayed on was representative of third world living conditions and the amount of rubbish that has accumulated in various pockets is astounding. Nevertheless, it is still an amazing place to spend a lot of time. And so many people do. There is something about living on a small island and catching water-taxis everywhere....to the bar, supermarket, beach, surf break....it was just awesome.

A significant proportion of people visit Bocas to surf, or a least learn like me. There are typically waves for beginner to intermediate surfer unless the swell is completely non-existent. When there is a massive swell, one break, Silverback, rears its ugly head. It needs 20+ feet for it to be surfable and has at times had Red Bull surfers come down for filming and spat them out cowering after sending them through the reef blender. I opted for a different break.

I stayed at Gran Kahuna Hostel which had a fabulous location on Isla Carenero which is a 2 minute taxi from the main island. We were lucky to get a hostel with sufficient room for all of us given it was Carnival weekend in Bocas Town. The hostel has so much potential to be a brilliant place to stay, not to say it isn't good but some things caused some frustration at times, not the least that we didn't have running water for almost four days, ran out of beer (unforgivable) and staff were difficult to find at times. But it had some cozy communal areas, a guitar, a restaurant, surfboards for hire, a private pier and it was right on the water in a quiet area. I planned to stay for a week....that turned into 12 days. 

It was a rather crazy first week and that was probably the fault of the amiable Chileans who were staying in the hostel and drank heavily EVERY night.

Despite being there for so long, I didn't see or do half the things I could or probably should have:

* Mono Loco Surf School - A good surf school located on the main island. I had three lessons there with Mauri. We had to wait a few days until there was adequate swell to earn on. The school uses Black Rock break to teach on, walking distance from the hostel but requires a decent paddle out over shallow reef to get there - a bit too far for a beginner. It is a reef break that affords a long ride, both left and right. The reef is usually deep enough that you don't touch it but at low tide you can if you ride it all the way to the end on a long board. Our instructor Missy was great. Amazingly enthusiastic. Great job though. I was so knackered after each lesson. So much paddling. Be careful paddling in/out - make sure you know where to go otherwise you'll end up over the very shallow reef between the beach and the break trying not to cut your hands.

* Wizard Beach - A popular surf spot about 15-20 mins boat ride away. Went there one day when there was little swell and it was rather messy. I didn't surf but took a few photos of the others. A bit further along is Red Frog beach which is supposedly smaller but really nice (and yes, it has red frogs there).

* The fishmonger on our island - There is a house at the back of the island that sells fish, prawns and lobster (mostly frozen but freshly frozen!). Ask around about it - there is a plank leading up to the house. Walk around the side to the rear where the freezers are. There is a lovely senora who will serve you. Once I found out about this place I was back there almost every other day buying lobster. I hadn't cooked any meals in a long time so it was great to be back in the kitchen eating well. The lobster ranged from USD6-13/pound for the tails depending on the size. Go for the smaller ones as it is much more economical as the shells don't weigh much at all. You can also buy bags of lobster meat (legs, claws etc) and an amazingly cheap price. We had a few communal lobster dinners that cost USD5-6/head. Bargain.

* Barco Hundido - Very good local bar (also Tropical Bird restaurant during the day) set over the water that plays Caribe music. Not so many tourists there and some complain about the locals getting preferential treatment at the bar. Drinks are exceptionally strong.

* Aqua Lounge - This place is unbelievably also a hostel. It is insane. Music blares until 3am almost every night and the dorm rooms are right next to the dance floor / bar. Ridiculous. You can hear the music clearly in our hostel which is a 5 minute walk away. That said, it is quite a cool place (not so much for the music though). It is also built over the water and has three holes in the decking that you can jump into and have a swim (all hours of the day and night). The dangerous addition is the three swings that drunken people violently swing back and forth on before letting go and plunging (hopefully) into the water. Not everyone quite gets it right. Ouch. If you drink enough tequila before heading there you will see tequila frogs instead of the very large crabs which have a huge pincer.

* Iguana Bar - On the main island. Also partially set over the water so you can get a water-taxi straight into the waterfront lounge area. This place didn't grab me. The music wasn't to my liking and the DJ kept incessantly playing a mash-up of all the popular songs you can think of but only playing around 60 seconds from each. Annoying.

* Bibi's Restaurant - A few minutes walk towards Black Rock from the hostel. A nice place to start the day with breakfast and supposedly dishes out some of the better seafood in town. It wasn't too bad but not quite in the league of my garlic butter lobster or lobster spaghetti. Perfect location though. Be careful talking to any Canadian girls there, especially Sally from retail, Alex (or was it Alexa?) and the girl who retired on her scratchie winnings (unheard of!).

* Carnival in Bocas - Music playing almost 24 hours a day kind of sums up the four days that were Carnival. We ventured in one night but didn't really like it too much so didn't bother going in again. There wasn't too much to the parade - it is after all a relatively small town. It was eerily quiet heading into town the first day after the festival. Much more pleasant.

* Book Bar - Never made it here disappointingly. A small cafe/bar (with books) and a table tennis table - there is a resident female table tennis shark so watch out!

* Casa Animal - The closest thing to a traditional club in Bocas. I didn't like it one bit. Others did.

* Salsa lesson on the pier - Came back from my surf lesson and on the pier Elisa and Anja were having a salsa lesson with a local guy....so I joined in to even the numbers up. He was of course more focused on assisting the girls, as you would be.

* Another place I never made it to was Bluff Beach on the main island. Hire a bike and ride the 45 minutes or so out there for great sunsets and well, a nice beach.

Bocas del Toro is not the cheapest place (for your typical backpacker) to stay but can be affordable with a little forethought. Food is the major expense so self-cater as much as possible. There are however some affordable eateries serving decent menu del dias.

Another tip (from a local) is that many of the tours that will be offered are rather shit, especially the snorkelling and dolphin-watching ones. They typically take you to rubbish locations or go at the wrong time of day to see the most wild-life. We got shafted on one. If snorkelling, pay the extra and go to the furthest snorkelling location (can't remember the name) as it is the best by far.

Met some great people here and got to spend a lot more time with the Germans. Happy days....until they all left.

        

Wizard Beach

A water-taxi

Sinah not looking overly confident

Alec

Sinah looking more competent on the horse

Mauri....surfing

The Swiss Miss not happy with the surf

Lazy afternoons on the private pier

A cafe....

Aqua Lounge....the scene of a few drunken nights

Lobster dinner....only USD21 worth of tails!

Black Rock reef break where I did my surf lessons

A nice pier

Some of the guys from Gran Kahuna hostel heading out to the point break

A shame this is an illegal construction

Breakfast at Bibi's....picture perfect