Taking risks

Megan:
Jon and I have been traveling through Panama for about a week and a half now and have been quite impressed by the variety of climate, landscape and culture. Boquete, a small town in the western state of Chiriquí, has made it on our list of trip highlights. This mountain town remains refreshingly cool during the day, has an impressive restaurant and coffee scene, and offers numerous lush hiking trails that are easy to navigate independently. We took advantage of this opportunity to do a few hikes on our own, crossing over rivers, back country roads, farmland and dense jungle. Our last day of hiking was along the Quetzal Trail, named after the infamous quetzal bird, which connects Boquete to the nearby town of Cerro Punta. We were amazed by the beauty that we saw along the way - misty low-lying clouds, brilliant green fields, a rainbow, and the crystal clear water of the Río Caldera. After hiking for 15km, we arrived in the sleepy town of Cerro Punta where we spent the night before embarking on what ended up being a very full day of travel to Panama City.

This capital city has been a great cultural outlet for both Jon and I. We spent yesterday afternoon at Casa Cor which is an annual architecture and interior design expo showcasing 50 rooms designed by different professionals throughout the country. We have also been enjoying art galleries, historic plazas and many eclectic restaurants. And of course, no trip to this city is complete without stopping by the Panama Canal. What an impressive operation to witness. We were both captivated by the scale of the ships passing through the Miraflores Locks and the detail that must be maintained for everything to run smoothly. We were also pleasantly surprised by the well designed museum filled with explanations, models and photos.

In just a few days, we will bidding farewell to Central America and getting rid of another bulky tour book. We are departing by sailboat for the San Blas Islands off the northern coast of Panama where we will enjoy our last chance to snorkel in the Caribbean, and our final destination will be Caragena, Columbia. Although not originally in our itinerary, we decided to add Columbia to the trip after talking to traveler upon traveler who have recently passed through there and told us not to miss it. We've heard that the cities, the culture, and the people have an unspoiled friendliness, and a welcoming quality that is very unlike anywhere else in Latin America.

This has been a decision Jon and I have thought long and hard about since as US citizens we are told that Columbia is a risky country to be visiting. As we have been sharing this change in plans with family and friends, I have noticed how vulnerable I am to the influence of other people´s opinions. When someone questions this decision, it is easy for me to move into a place of self doubt. Jon and I have both become increasingly aware on this trip how easy it is to operate from a place of fear. It's been interesting to travel alongside people from Europe, Canada, Australia and the rest of the world who have come here without our American sense of paranoia about what might hurt us. They tend to take more risks when it comes to eating, talking to locals, exploring a new area and because of this, they often attract richer experiences. We have come to depend on using common sense and trusting our gut when a situation doesn't feel quite right, but we have also found that if we become too obsessed with what might hurt us, we do not remain open to really experience the places we are visiting.

Still, for the moment, I find myself feeling torn between my intuition and fear. This trip is teaching us both how to take risks; it's teaching us to trust ourselves, and I think our experience will be richer because of it.

What is culture anyway

Jonathan:
Another country down. We've made our way across the border to the city of David in western Panama. After crossing what was undoubtedly the most poorly organized border facility we've seen, we arrived here yesterday feeling a little perplexed by the fact that we fled Costa Rica so suddenly.

Our departure was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, not based on much except that we both felt like leaving. We had originally planned to spend close to a month exploring the vastly diverse natural beauty that has made Costa Rica such a choice destination for so many travelers over the years. Instead, for some reason, after spending just over a week between two different cities we decided it was time to move on.

Costa Rica struck us both as a bit of an anomaly in Central America. Through numerous conversations in neighboring countries, we had been led to expect a sad cultural sell-out of a country where any traces of their rich native history had either been mowed over by steamrollers bearing the Ritz Carlton logo, or turned into a commercial spectacle of roadside "authenticity." It's true that the hoards of camera-toting tourists pouring off of buses in search gift shops, post cards and photo-ops have left their mark-- prices were the highest we had seen on our trip so far, and it was truly difficult to find someone who didn't respond to our Spanish questions in English-- but to be honest, we found it kind of refreshing. The amenities and infrastructure afforded by the millions of tourist dollars pouring in have made Costa Rica... well, comfortable. Taxi's say "taxi" on them, roads are maintained by uniformed workers, and instead of fending off desperate street vendors and beggars as we walked down the street, we were overhearing conversations about dating, movies and friends.

There may not be much left in terms of ties to rich traditions, but surrounded on all sides by nations that have ripped themselves apart with internal conflict and corruption, Costa Ricans have defined themselves by their ability to embrace the New. Throughout their history they've had an ability to roll with the punches, adapt, and redefine themselves. It seems to have left them with a richly cosmopolitan country full of comfort and opportunity, with enough spare time to focus on their families, their schools, and art. I'm not entirely sure what culture is, or what it means when someone tells you a place doesn't have it, but Costa Rica is definitely not lacking.

All that said, I can't really tell you why Megan and I were so ready to leave-- chalk it up to intuition I guess. It wasn't the right time for us to be there. As decided as we were that it was time to go, we are both left with a nagging feeling that we didn't give the country a chance to grow on us. I guess whatever opportunity there might be for us to find a connection with this place will have to wait until next time.

Despite being brief, our time in Costa Rica did provide us with a few important reminders of things we like to do back home which have been sorely lacking from our trip:

During our time in La Fortuna, between the overpriced tours and miscellaneous adventures to nearby volcanoes and waterfalls, we managed to find some time to cook ourselves a few meals in our hostel's shared kitchen. A favorite activity of ours back home, we had not realized how much we missed cooking together until we were doing it again. After doing what we could with the few spices which had been left behind by other travelers, we were both almost giddy as we enjoyed the complex flavors and simple pleasures of our own home cooking. Needless to say, kitchen facilities have moved to the top of the list of what we now look for in a hotel.

A highlight of our time in San Jose was attending the opening reception for a new painting exhibit at the contemporary art and design museum. Megan stumbled into an invitation through a conversation with one of the organizers, and we were both thrilled to go. The exhibit was fabulous, and we both really enjoyed spending an evening surrounded by San Jose's creative elite. It was a pleasant reminder that, despite our dirty backpacks and weathered shoes, the art shows, gallery openings, and performances we so enjoy in our "real" lives are not necessarily things we need to go without.

29 and counting

Megan:
After spending time in two of Nicaragua's more impressive cities, we found our way into some more remote lake regions of the southern part of the country. The first of these was the peaceful Laguna Apoyo just outside of Granada. The crystal clear water and floating dock were great for swimming and kayaking during the day and even better for swimming and stargazing at night.

From there we crossed the largest lake in Central America, Lago Nicaragua, to arrive at the twin volcano island of Ometepe. The larger of the two, Volcán Concepción, is still active, and Volcán Maderas has a misty crater lake nestled at the top. Our first full day on the island, we decided to tackle the rough and muddy 4,000ft hike up to the summit of Maderas. Surrounded by howler and white-faced monkeys, we passed through abundant cloud forests that kept our focus on the rich wildlife of the jungle.

After resting our legs for a few days, we decided it was time to make our way into Costa Rica. A rigorous day of traveling and border crossing would not seem like a very exciting way to spend my 29th birthday, but I now have a stamp from my birthday in my passport.

I woke up at 4:15am to the sound of Jon wishing me a happy birthday. We caught the first ferry of the day back to the mainland, and as we looked out over the peaceful water, we were able to catch our first glimpse of the peak of Volcán Concepción which had been enveloped in clouds all three days prior. We were met at the ferry dock by an accommodating taxi driver who drove us all the way to the border, conveniently eliminating two buses we thought we were going to have to take. We passed through immigration early enough to avoid the long lines that we had heard horror stories about, and got our first good currency exchange rate of the trip. We then discovered that there was in fact a direct bus from the border to our final destination of the day, eliminating another three buses we were expecting to take. The only catch...it didn't leave till 2pm, so we had six hours to kill at the little diner at the border. Jon took this opportunity to buy me a birthday present...a deck of Costa Rica playing cards (since I lost our previous deck last week).

After hanging out there long enough to outlast two shifts of waitresses, we took off on the five hour bus ride through Costa Rica. And it was beautiful...lush landscape, unfamiliar flowers and a little bit of rain to cool things down. As I stared out the bus window, I was amazed how happy I felt on my birthday this year. This was one of the least glamorous days we've had in four months, but that didn't seem to matter. Yesterday had a flow and ease to it and turned out to be quite a wonderful day.

We arrived in the small town of La Fortuna last night with enough time to go out to a very nice dinner. Jon somehow managed to inform the restaurant that it was my birthday, so our waiter brought out a dessert - complete with a candle, 'Feliz Cumpleaños' written in chocolate sauce on the plate, and the whole restaurant singing happy birthday.

...not a bad way to begin my 29th year. We'll see what the rest of the year brings.