La Fotuna / Christmas Vacation

Well I just got back from taking a month long vacation touring Costa Rica. During my month break from teaching I got to see alot of the country and my first stop was La Fortuna the closest town to Volcano Arenal.

My parents came down on Chrismas day and their vacation started off with an excellent dinner at Hotel Grano Orro. It was really nice eating dinner with my family on Christmas and the highlight of our stay together.

After spending Christmas day in San Jose. We went to La Fortuna for the week to check out Arenal Volcano. While in La Fortuna it rained almost the entire week and the volcano was constantly covered with clouds. We never got to see the volcano or the lava flow, however we did get to do alot of tours around La Fortuna. The first two days we did a Canopy tour and white water rafting on the Rio Toro. The next two days we stopped at a butterfly conservatory, walked along hanging bridges and saw a ton of waterfalls. My little sister and I went on a four hour hike up to Cerro Chato a lagoon made from an inactive volcano crater. After the mile uphill walk in the torrental downpours Erin and I decided we needed to go swimming in the old volcano crater to make it a worthy story. At about 4000 feet and 60 degree tempature Erin and I took a dip in the frigid waters of the old volcano crater. It was really cool and kind of spooky swimming in the old crater surronded by clouds and jungle. When gettiing into the water I half expected to see the lochness monster or some other huge fish in the calm and quite lagoon.

On top of all the touristy things we also enjoyed a ton of arguing, driving, and complaining. After being stuck in the car with my family on average of 4 hours a day we all started to get on each others nerves and were ready to get back doing our own thing. On New Year's Eve my parents headed back to Chicago while me and my sisters where preparing for our next trip to Montezuma.

Bocas Del Toro

Getting into Bocas around 5 oclock we went out to dinner and crashed after the long trip. At the restaraunt we tried a couple of the local beers. Suprisingly Panama has about 6 or 7 different beers brewed in the country. At 75 cents a beer we had to try them all. I liked them all so much more than the Imperial's we drink in Costa Rica.

On our second day in Bocas we sighned up for a tour of the islands. It was an all day trip that included snorkeling with visits to Red Frog Beach, and Dolphin Bay. Our first stop on the tour was Dolphin Bay, it was pretty cool seeing the Dolphins play in the wake of our boats, however Allie was really upset we did'nt bring the camera. After the ride to Dolphin Bay we went snorkeling at a reef that really did'nt have many fish or coral to see. After snorkeling we went to Red Frog Beach. An awesome beach with green water and awesome waves. After two hours on Red Frog beach we headed to Hospital Point for more snorkeling.

After the tour we went back to Bocas and went to look for a surfboard for Saturday. After talking to some locals they recomended the local beach 2o minutes away from our hotel. To get to the beach you walk down the street cut through a path in a graveyard and you were at the beach. However after getting to the beach we realized the waves were way to small for much of anything. And the beach wasnt very nice.

We headed back into town and talked to a water taxi driver that recommended Playa Wizard. Supposedly a secluded beach with excellent waves. Out water taxi dropped us off at a dock and informed us of a path directly in front of the dock we could take to the beach.

The trail started off as a paved sidewalk between houses, after about 100 yards however the path lead straight up to a house's porch. As we were walking up the house we were greeted by the owner who assured us we were on the rigth path and we could cut through his porch to follow the path to the beach.







As soon as we passed the house the path turned into a muddy horse trail through the jungle. The trail climbed up and down bluffs with standing water and horse turds.
After about 20 minutes of climbing we heard the waves near the end of the trail we were standing on a bluff overlooking Playa Wizard. Even though Allie might disagree walking barefoot through the mud, standing water and hores turds was worth the desolate 2 kilometer beach with perfect waves.

Changuinola to Bocas

After a 20 minute drive from the border to Changuinola we hopped on a water taxi for Island of Colon. The main island of Bocas Del Toro archipalago.
After a 50 minute boat ride through estuaries and bays we reached Island of Colon. Our first night their we spent at hostel Mondo Taitu. With 50cent drinks and a bar in the hostel. This is a great place if you dont care where you sleep and want to get drunk. It was a cheap place at $18 a room but we decided to try somewhere else for the rest of our time.
The rest of our nights we stayed at a nicer hotel. The Hotel Las Brissas had a deck overlooking the ocean and other islands.

A water taxi in Bocas.

Border Crossing

After a 6 hour bus ride from San Jose we arrived at Sixaola Costa Rica's border town and last stop on our bus. We had to cross this bridge and find a ride to Chingola the town with Bocas Del Toro boat launch.
The crossing was painless it took about 30 minutes to fill out the declaration forms, and buy $5 Panama tourist tickets. After crossing this rickety bridge with missing and loose boards. We were in Panama.


After we got to the other side of the bridge into Panama a semitruck was just starting to cross the bridge.
Me in front of the Rio Sixola bridge.