me and my travellin' buddy jerome

steph and jerome in san jose, costa rica

the urban spectrum

from old historic roots to modern gleaming highrises, there still exists poverty in the midst of this beautiful city. much of the in between spanning old and new panama are slums; this is just a sample of what i can see from our hostel.

Globalization at its finest!

We visited the Panama Canal yesterday, which unto itself is pretty cool as a world masterpiece in engineering projects. We saw a large ship go through the process of being lifted through the 3 Miraflores Locks on the Pacific Ocean side of the Canal. The ships each go through a series of lock systems and lakes in between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. The canal which was constructed between 1904-1914 by the US govt was finally relinquished to Panama control in 1999. The construction displaced hundreds of small communities along its path known as the Corte Culebra or Snake's Cut, and of the some 75,000 men working on the construction roughly 25,000 died of yellow fever and malaria which were unknown illnesses at the time. Much of this was a result of lack of proper sanitation, clinics, and poor living conditions for the workers. To raise morale among the workers, President Roosevelt visited the Canal construction in 1910 and in doing so became the first president to leave the United States during a term of office. He offered US citizens who completed 2 years of continuous service on the canal a special medal of recognition which became known as the Roosevelt Medallion. In all, crossing the Panama Canal is a 10 hour journey which can cost up to $80,000 per ship depending on the weight. The cheapest crossing of the canal was by a man in 1927 who swam through the canal and was charged 36 cents. He was weighed just as any other vessel passing through the system. On average, there are 20-25 boats that pass through the Canal every 24 hours and the daily earnings range from $3-5 million. It was a really fascinating day...

Casco Viejo, Panama City

Oooooh, I am in love...the old town of Panama City is wonderful! After an exhausting 10 hour overnight bus ride in which I did not sleep a wink, we arrived in Panama City this morning at 5:30 am. Exhausted, we threw our bags down at the hostel, and headed out for the day. I was a little bummed out to miss most of the middle terrain of this beautiful and very diverse country by travelling at night, but was glad to be back in a city! As much as I love the Caribbean, some of these backpacker types are driving me nuts. They call themselves "nomads", hang out only with other gringo tourists, drink a lot of beer, spending the following days hungover in their hostels, and never actually "experience any of the culture" that they claim to be here looking for...and they think the unbathed look is uber-cool...Jerome and I decided we are not very good backpackers! But we are okay with that :)

So other than the annoying tourists, its beautiful here; there has been a significant investment in restoring the historic core, and we've been walking the old cobble streets, photographing the beautiful architecture, and hanging out with Simon Bolivar in the colonial plazas...He who thinks Panama should be voted the world capital! This original town center reminds me a lot of the North End in Boston, but just beyond the shiny new paint, there is poverty, projects and dilapidated buildings, and then when you divert your eyes across the bay it is an image of what I imagine a young Shanghai looked like 5 years ago...office and condominium towers going up faster than they can be rented...its quite a stark comparison to the old village.

This morning we visited the Panama Canal History Museum to prep ourselves for the tour of the locks tomorrow, and the Emerald Museum which had a dangerously expensive "Museum Shop." I keep thinking how much my mom and dad would love it here...its certainly tourist friendly but with a ton of interesting world history! During our afternoon break we found the best ice cream shop in town to relax, but most of the day we wandered, talked with some locals in the park, learned about the womens traditional clothing, and tried to stay clear of the "chatcke" shops...Jerome is embaressed by my delight with gift shops!!! Our best deal has been in the supermarkets here - Asians have monopolized the market and managed to maintain the best prices, so we have frequented the Asian markets for water and snacks...the irony!

Looking forward to a good night's rest and the Panama Canal tomorrow! Adios amigos...

Islas Zapatillas

Whoa, we have been in Panama for just 2 short days, spending the dollars again, and enjoying the Caribbean side of life in Central America. We spent our first night in the main town of Bocas del Toro. Bocas is a set of about 64 small islands on the caribbean coast of Panama, very close to the border of Costa Rica. Most of its islands, are swampy or tree like structures which make the majority of the land uninhabitable. We met up with two other peace corps friends here in the main town on Wednesday night, and then made our way out to one of the more remote islands to spend some tranquil time on the beach yesterday. About 10 of us, including some other backpackers from England and Spain, and our two Panamanian guides took about an hour boat ride to the Isla Zapatilla Izquierda (left of the two foot islands) where we had the day to ourselves on this small island. The walk around the whole island took about 30-40 minutes, in which we swam in the Caribbean, dodged sand crabs, jellyfish, barracudas, and the guys say they saw an octopus (I´ll wait to see photos). We talk with the marine biologist who is stationed on the island, working on marine turtle conservation. This is one of the main spots in the Caribbean where turtles come to lay their eggs. We are in the height of the season and though we didn´t see any turtles...we were fast asleep when they came upon shore...we did see some of the thousands of eggs laid on the island which will hatch within the next month. Each turtle lais between 120 and 180 eggs, and the turtles always come back to the same island where they were born to lay their future eggs. We had a relaxing afternoon and then set up camp for the night. Aside from the 10 of us, the only other person on the island was the marine biologist! We roasted turkey hot dogs over the campfire, ate potato chips, and fell asleep when the sun fell. It was a really calm night, sleeping on the beach, just the sound of the waves in our ears, the stars above, and the sand crabs at our feet. We were back on the main island today around 9 am and off to explore other beaches. . . we travel to Panama City in the next few days.

ahhh, beautiful costa rica...

its lush and green and giving me allergies. if its not one problem its another. from my skin infection to my sneezing and nose blowing, i´m quite a mess. jerome and i decided our friends erin and raul would be very bored with us...we usually have early dinner, i take my ¨meds¨ while jerome has a few beers to make him sleep and then we are in the room for the night by about 8 30pm. erin and raul would be very disappointed in us, but we´re old people now, approaching the 30s and just can´t take too much excitement. so, we enjoy our days and get a good night´s rest. we seem like an old couple... todays activity - overpriced thermal baths. actually they were very nice, and probably reasonably priced, we are just really cheap! i guess peace corps made us that way. we opted for the ¨minimalist elegance¨over the ¨mix between ceaser´s palace and epcot center¨and i think we were both happy we did. the naturally hot baths which are warmed by the heat from the nearby volcano were quite enjoyable, and formed waterfalls into rock pools with misting showers and nice places to sit. we had the place to ourselves, minus a few tourists who must have just paid to come through and take photos of the place. we did our best to give them a few $$$ shots.

tonight we had jerome´s favorite...pizza for dinner... and plotted out our next few days. are meeting up with some other friends in panama after a stop at the beach with one of jerome´s friends from Honduras. jerome and i like to think about all of our friends who are back home and working while we are relaxing in waterfalls and thermal baths. really, we love you all, but are quite happy to be here, instead of in the ¨struggle¨... we are enjoying all the beauty of life and starting to plan out how to re-enter a world we are so scared of...

goodnight!

rainy days...

if there is one thing you should know it is that when visiting london, or costa rica...you should always carry an umbrella. unfortunately mine died before leaving honduras. so we are sitting in an internet cafe waiting out the rain and lightning and thunder, which is all fine when the internet continues to operate...but not so good when the power goes out too...which is what happened!

its been quite rainy since we got to La Fortuna yesterday. We spent the afternoon laying around in hammocks on the porch and managed to find all the over priced tourist traps in this not so impressive town. its been overrun by ex-pats and we are trying to navigate around them.

spent the morning hiking 5 km each way to a beautiful waterfall. loads of tourists cruising by us in taxis, rental cars, and horses as we made the hike all uphill to the Catarata Fortuna. It was worth the walk because we had the whole place to ourselves for awhile. the waterfall was beautiful and the large pool at its base a very chilly swim, but we managed to find some sunny rocks to warm up on, only to get stuck in the rain again on our way back to town.

tonight we finally found a good cheap restaurant where the locals eat. trying to keep the budget in check. we also bought fruits to have for breakfast in the hostel!

days here are relaxing and slow. early to bed early to rise. i am trying not to compare these travels to my time in honduras, though it is constantly on my mind. i miss my dog and my family and my home in la paz. am picking up subtle difference between the cities, the language, and the personality of costa rica vs honduras and it makes me miss my places and my friends. have been in touch with a few of my close honduran friends, but know it will be a long time before seeing them again and at times find myself wishing i was there...

Another day, Another Colon

The Colon, not to be confused with the body part, is the monetary unit in Costa Rica (500 Colones = $1.00) ...a little education never hurt us, but even I had a good laugh re-reading this title...

Ahhh, today started off a bit frustrating...I am fighting a skin infection which happens to be mal-ubicado (poorly located) on my face!!! Woke up swollen and puffy and trying to determine whether to see a doctor on my 2nd day of vacation in Costa Rica. For this reason Jerome and I started off the day resting. He worked on his resume. I read a little and talked to the women who run the quaker hostel where we are staying. Quakers in Costa Rica?...yes, indeed, and we are staying at the hostel attached to their Peace Center and Friends Meeting House. Not sure the pacifists like that Jerome and I are sharing a room, but of course, they would never say anything! Just kidding...there are some very nice people and they serve great coffee with breakfast!

We spent the afternoon perusing museums...we thought we were going to the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, but ended up at the Cultural History Museum of Cost Rica, which was nice, minus the highschool students at our heels. I got some great shots of butterflies in the ¨Jardin Secreto¨(Secret Garden) and then we did eventually make it to the Museum of Art and Design located in an old renovated liquor factory. There was an excellent photo exhibition and we are going to go back tonight for a series of short films...ahhh, the culture I never got in Honduras! Its refreshing to be in a slightly more modern city that cares about public spaces, design, and city planning. I will post a link to photos as soon as they are up and available. Adios!

day 1: san jose, costa rica

i arrived this afternoon in costa riquiiiisssssima...flew from washington thru ft lauderdale, and almost missed my flight while chatting with mom and dad and my friend sarah from the airport pay phone. the phone malfunctioned and gave me back about $10 in quarters from the original 3 quarters i started with, so i kept feeding the phone for my conversation. luckily, i arrived at the gate just in time and they hadn´t given my seat away! i got to costa rica around 11:30, found a cab, and met my friend jerome at the hostel where i found him waiting for me!!!

we spent the afternoon exploring...there are some nice pedestrian streets downtown san jose with restaurants and shops and a ¨plaza de arte.¨ we meandered through parks and markets and sat and stared at a beautiful church which the guidbeook described as boring and uninteresting. we tried to get into museums that were closed for independence day today :( and then after some rest in the central park walked up to the beautiful public cemetery which was a field of white monuments and sculptures.

we closed off the day with local fare of chinese food!!! off to bed to rest up for tomorrow, when we set off across costa rica...

"Created first in mind and will, created next in activity;

The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.

The paths to it are not found but made,

and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination."
-John Schaar

I am off on my next adventure...trekking south from costa riquisssiiiiima to peru over the next few months. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers throughout my travels and be checking my blog to see what I am up to from day to day...

Looks like we made it....

The last of the volunteers from the muncipal development project group...here we are with our project manager, Dra. Alejandrina Carrasco: