The beach – Part 3

 

We have already warned you that we would post yet another "beach"-episode. If you have had enough of our beach stories (admittedly, they can get repetitive in that they mostly involve sand, sea, sun, and hop-based beverages), you might be relieved to hear that this will be our last beach post for quite some time to come.

Previously, we shared some of our experiences at the beaches of Southern Brazil, as well as on the Panamanian paradise-like San Blas islands. This­­­­­ time around, we would like to tell you a bit about our time at the other parts of the Caribbean & Pacific coasts in Panama & Costa Rica, as well as some of the stuff we did when travelling in between coasts.
 

Again, starting in a chronological order: as Central-to-Northern Europeans, it's in our genes to have problems coping with sustained average temperatures over 28°C. Therefore, following our stay in San Blas, we decided to escape the heat by heading to the central Panamanian highlands and cloud forests. We stayed at a truly remote mountain hostel in between the towns of David and Bocas del Toro, which can only be reached by foot. In fact, the hostel is so remote that the water and electricity supply regularly shuts down. Nevertheless, we enjoyed wearing pullovers for a change. The rest of the time, we went hiking, and tried to avoid the snakes when going to the toilet (Judith almost stumbled onto one at night, and Lene saw a very poisonous (i.e. deadly) specimen crossing our hiking track (snakes that is, not toilets)). 

 

Having had cooled down, we again headed for the beach, this time to the Caribbean archipelago of Bocas del Toro. Bocas features a marine national park, but in recent years, a Mallorca Ballermann/ Torremolinos/ Spring Break-like backpacker party tourism apparently has caught on strongly. We didn't get to see a lot of the latter though, since we moved on to a more tranquil island (being almost 30 and all). Once more, we were lucky to stay at a really cool hostel, where you could see the seawater below when looking through the cracks in the wooden floor.

After Bocas, we crossed the border into Costa Rica, continuing to stay at the Caribbean coast. The Panamanian and the Costa Rican Caribbean coastal towns have a very cool atmosphere to them – people are very laid back, and you can find reggae, rastafaris, and cool surfer dudes* everywhere. Instead of Spanish, most locals there speak a Jamaican-style English, which almost sounds Creole (basically we didn't understand a word they were saying, but I'm sure they were nice things).


 


Eventually, it was time to say goodbye not only to the Caribbean, but also to Judith's sister Lene, who was to fly back to Germany. Lene had been the best travel buddy imaginable for the past two months – Lene, you rock!

Having loved the Costa Rican East Coast, Judith & I wanted to give the West Coast (i.e. the Pacific side) a chance, too. We first took the bus to Dominical, a surfer town consisting of a dirt road, empty surf shops, empty restaurants, and empty hostels – somehow, we got the odd feeling it could be low season. The most memorable moment of our stay in Dominical was the little earthquake we got to witness - 5.0 on the Richter scale, with the epicenter being a mere 50 km away.

After several days, we continued on to the town and national park of Manuel Antonio (it's not a guy, I swear, it's a place). The town of Manuel Antonio has seen a huge amount of construction of hotels in recent years, and is very much dominated by (US-American & European) foreigners who bought up most of the land. Compared to our experiences in South America earlier, the national park itself seemed a bit 'kindergarten', but we did see a lot of monkeys and enjoyed the nice beaches.











The route back to San José was beautiful. We got to see a lot of the amazingly green and lush mountain ranges, riding on buses which reached an average speed of 25 km/h (I'm being serious) on the long and winding roads.

Overall, Costa Rica is a very nice place to visit. The country is relatively safe by Central American standards, and the landscapes and coastlines are fabulous. Unfortunately, we're not the first ones to notice that. Tourism is highly developed here and prices reflect that. If you want, you can have 4-5 star accommodation and point-to-point air-conditioned transport, not speaking a word of Spanish during all of your stay. It's still possible to see a more original version of the country off the beaten track, though. The Ticos (Costa Ricans) we met were all friendly and very much appreciated us speaking Spanish (some of them even made fun of our Castellano-accents - how dare they?), which enabled us to find out a lot more about their history and culture than we would have otherwise.

Now, we are sitting in our hostel in San José, playing pool, and waiting for our flight tomorrow. Where to? Vegas, baby!!! And as far as you are concerned, Latin America: you have been very kind to us, thank you. We will miss you.

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*Btw, I'm thinking of letting my hair grow long for the duration of this trip to look like one of 'em cool surfers. Comments & suggestions are highly appreciated (for the sake of this highly important discussion, the comment function is now open to non-registered users, too)

The food - Part 1

We only have a couple of days left in Latin America (and it's raining cats and dogs outside) – so we thought this would be a good opportunity to summarise some of the food experiences we have had.

Of course, Latin American cuisine is as valid a term as European cuisine would be. Apologies to all South & Central American chefs & food stall owners for this classic case of over-simplification – we are aware it's a snapshot only. 


Let's start with the good stuff, the proteins. Typical protein sources of course vary by country and region.  

I'm sure it doesn't shock you that in Argentina, where there is plenty of space and lots of grass for cows, barbecued beef typically is the main source of protein. In fact, Atkins Diet has been further developed there to include beef only. No other proteins. No carbs at all. And salad... well, that's for rabbits, as our friend Esteban put it elegantly. Being the nerd that I am, I even checked the stats. Argentines indeed are the world's leading beef eaters – 64.6 kg per capita annually (2009 figures, source: USDA). Even my trying hard couldn't push the EU-27 figure above 16.9 kg. In China, the average is only 4.3 kg p.a. (what a market potential!). When you taste the beef in Argentina, you understand why.


The 'gaucho' region in Southern Brazil has a similarly carnivorous diet. I already mentioned the amazing all-the-beef-you-can-eat churrascarias in an earlier post. Unless you change the flag or sign on your table to 'I'm about to explode', you will get served more and more meat. Unlike in Argentina, though, there are side dishes and salads. Ha-ha, rabbits.

In the Amazon, local fish clearly is the protein source numero uno. In many parts, even chicken (which until now I had thought could be 'produced' anywhere really) has to be imported. Maybe it's because the snakes would eat them all.

In Colombia outside the Amazon, protein sources are more balanced and include - besides the standard chicken - pork, beef, and fish. In Panama & Costa Rica, chicken seems to be more dominant again, with seafood more common at the coast (surprise, surprise).


Moving on to the energy source of the poor, carbohydrates.

Probably the one thing that most Latin American cuisines have in common is their main carb source: rice & beans. Arroz con frijoles. Also called pinto. Argentina again is an outlier, since a steak there typically would not be accompanied by rice & beans, but by more meat.

In Brazil & Colombia in particular, there are some carbs which are not common in the Western world. Roots like manioc or yucca are very popular, and can be eaten in large chunky bits or processed as a flour. Corn, on the other hand, was less prominent than we had anticipated.

Our personal favourite carb source in Latin American food, however, is banana. There are 2 (Colombians apparently even differentiate 3) main types of bananas. Bananas (in LA Spanish) are the type of bananas known in Europe & the USA, you know, Boris Becker's favourite Wimbledon break snack. Plátanos (cooking bananas) are different, and are typically served fried, cooked, or barbecued, which makes them taste even sweeter. Sweet.  

It is striking that a classic meal in most Latin American countries would comprise not only one carb source (like e.g. rice) but rather two or more (like rice with beans and french fries and fried bananas with some chicken). Not exactly a light cuisine. As an example, try this traditional Colombian dish (also note the size of that dish in comparison to my finger): lots of rice & beans, fried bananas, a manioc pastry... along with some sausages, fried eggs, chicken, and avocado. Nevertheless, a lovely eat. 

 

A summary of Latin American food would not be complete without a quick detour through fruit-town. We have thoroughly enjoyed trying many of the different types of fruit available. Of course, you get the same fruit you would get in a supermarket in Europe, but for our purposes here, let's focus on the stuff you don't get back home. We tried to keep a record of the different fruit we ate, but we gave up after a while. In the Amazon in particular, the variety is amazing. Açai for example is a red-brownish berry, which tastes a bit like Japanese sweet beans. It's a high-energy fruit and usually comes in a smoothie with oatmeal, which is why Brazilian athletes love it. Tucuma is a fruit that can be found in the Amazon. When you peel off the green skin, you can eat the orange part inside. It tastes a little bitter, slightly resembling walnuts. We believe people eat it not because of its shitty taste but because of the other effects it has on your body. Fruta de Conde looks like an artichoke from the outside and slimey like a passion fruit inside - it also tastes like a sweet version of passion fruit. Guanabana is yet another local speciality. It's sweet milky flavour makes it a favourite fruit for smoothies. Lulo also is a great basis for smoothies or juices... 
 

Overall, we ate (and drank) a lot more fruit (smoothies), but my intellectual capabilities didn't suffice to remember the names. Sorry.



There are many other local specialities and peculiarities that we haven't covered so far. In Argentina, we tried barbecued thyroid (Schilddrüse), which turned out to be quite good. As little snacks, we often had tamales (e.g. corn & chicken wrapped in leaves), empanadas, banana chips, chicken skewers, and the like. We also ate Ceviche, our long-time favourite from Peru & Chile. Ceviche is a fish dish, where the fish is prepared in a cold lemon sauce rather than being heated up. We saved eating fried ants (in Colombia) and fried pig-feet (in Panama) for next time.


Generally, we tried as much local food as possible, including eating at the many food stalls with dubious credentials for hygiene. Almost surprisingly, our bodies have coped quite well with the challenge. Let's keep it that way. Until next time. Buen provecho.

The beach – Part 2

 
I feel bad for bashing a country like Panama (see the previous post). It's not their fault some Panamanians would rather pick-pocket foreigners than work. I'm sure they had a tough childhood.

Anyway, to counterbalance the negative image portrayed until now, you should have a look at the following few pictures.

The San Blas islands are located on the Caribbean coast of Panama. San Blas really looks like a tropical paradise: small islands with white & sandy beaches, crystal-clear to turquoise water, and nothing but coconut trees. Tourism there has increased strongly over the past few years, but given the beauty of the islands, it's still at acceptable levels. If you want, you can have an island to yourself for some $30-40.

 

The region around the islands is governed autonomously by the Kuna Yala tribe, who long struggled to gain quasi-independence from the central government. While the Kuna men nowadays dress in Western style clothing, Kuna women still wear their traditional dress with lots of bracelets & ornaments. Since we didn't want to add to the human zoo, we didn't take any pictures of them. In case you're interested, google them, there's plenty of pics online. The Kuna work ethic is special, too. It's not exactly Calvinist, if you know what I mean.

We spent 3 days on a small island with one Kuna family, 4 huts, 220 coconut trees, many cockroaches & no fresh water. Essentially, we did nothing but sunbathing, swimming, sleeping, reading, eating, and drinking. Kind of Kuna, really.
 
Ya volvemos con “The beach – Part 3”. Gracias por su visita.

The Canal

 
Panama – most people would immediately think of the Panama Canal and not much else. But this country at the heart of the Americas has a lot more to offer: beautiful islands, beaches, natural reserves, unspoiled highlands, and unfortunately, f***ing thieves.    

Panama City,  located next to the Pacific entry of the Panama Canal, thrives on international trade and real estate speculation (at least this is what I thought when I saw the dozens of residential skyscrapers being built at the moment). 


Unfortunately, our impression of Panama City was negatively affected by the fact that Lene & I got pick-pocketed and Judith's pants were stolen when drying outside (who steals used pants for f***'s sake?). Me getting pick-pocketed was a true classic: my wallet with 60$ got stolen on a crowded chicken bus, even though I had covered my pockets for all but 15 seconds when I tried to squeeze through the people to exit. I noticed immediately and we were even able to stop the bus, but the guys had left already. Lene's phone was stolen out of her backpack, too, but we cannot exactly tell where this happened. Little f****ers.

Adding to this, we all agreed that the average Panamanian seems to be far less friendly (not only towards foreigners, but also towards fellow countrymen) than, let's say, the average Colombian. For example, Panamanians just smile a lot less. Service mentality is quasi non-existent – even worse than back home in Germany or in France. Mmmmh, sometimes it just feels good to over-simplify & stereotype.

Anyway, not all is bad. The Canal itself is quite impressive. After the French had failed to complete its construction in the late 19th century (their workers/slaves all died of tropical diseases), the Americans succeeded some 20 years later. The USA retained control of the Canal until 1997, when it was formally handed over to the Republic of Panama. Today, the Canal is too small to handle the larger ships around, which is why the Panamanians decided to build a new set of locks & a new canal. This still won't be enough to cater for the super-tankers, but it's a start.

For a more positive image of Panama, please also see our next post “The beach – Part 2” on the tropical paradise islands of San Blas.

The Colombian capital

 
Where were we? It's been a while since we uploaded our last post - the Amazon. Since then, we have had many more interesting experiences, both good and bad. But let's start in a chronological order.
 

After our time at the Amazonian edge of civilisation, we very much looked forward to our visit to Bogotá, the Colombian capital. Due to the special combination of an altitude of 2,600 – 2,800m and its location close to the equator, Bogotá features a pleasant, gringo-friendly climate. Most parts of the city are relatively modern. Allegedly, the city only had some 300,000 inhabitants until the 1930s. That number has exploded to a whopping 8-10 million today. In your face, cities of Europe. Malheuresement, the rapid growth of the population has not been matched by its public transport capabilities, resulting in a messy traffic situation. One of the measures introduced to tackle this is that every car in town can only drive on certain days of the week (e.g. your car wouldn't be allowed into town on any Friday & Saturday). Interesting. 


The greatest thing about our stay in Bogotá was that we were able to meet up with our local friends and hence got an inside view of the city. Lene, Judith & I stayed with our Colombian friend Bruno, whom we know from his Frankfurt days. Bruno's family has a lovely apartment in the leafy & safe Northern neighbourhoods of  town. Being in such a nice place after our recent, more basic trips, felt like having a fillet steak after weeks of veggies only. While his sister spoiled us with delicious Colombian home-cooked meals, Bruno excelled at showing us around the different parts of town. Judith's German friend Johanna (they studied together in Freiburg & Salamanca), who now lives & works in Bogotá and apparently speaks like a proper ”cachaca” (that´s what the Bogotá locals are called), also was with us and added to the fun. On the very last day, we met Andrés & Bibi (Andrés & I studied together in London) for a delicious breakfast.  

15 years ago, what would have been the odds of people like Judith & me knowing that many people in Bogotá? Here's to globalisation! Prost!

Looking back, Colombia has come as a hugely pleasant surprise to us. Not only that there are tons of things to do and see in this country, but due to the admittedly bad reputation for violent crime, a lot of the sights have not been spoilt by mass tourism (yet). Also, we found Colombians to be very, very friendly & helpful. If we had known this in advance, we would definitely have allocated more time of our tour to Colombia. Anyway, at least we have a reason to come back...

The Amazon - Part 2 of 2

This is the second part of our little Amazon post. If you haven't done so, I'd recommed you read the first part first before reading this. 

Have you read the first part? Good. Let's continue, then. In the afternoon, we went to an indigenous village where we were to spend the night as well. Tourists are still a rare sight there, which is probably why the locals were very friendly towards us.

  

 

Our accomodation was rather basic - we slept in the house of our guide (well, it's really a single room with a roof but no walls), sharing with himself, his wife, his kids, and his parents. We went to bed at around six, as it got dark and there is no electric lighting. Next door, a shaman was singing to help an old man to recover from his sickness. We slept on the floor and in hammocks covered by mosquito nets. A truly great experience.

The next morning, our two indigenous guides took us gringos for a proper hike into the rainforest. We had to wear rubber boots, mainly to protect us against snakebites. It is hard to describe the wealth of knowledge the indigenous have about the forest - they know every plant, every sound, and every animal. Since it is so hard to describe, let's not get into this.

Around midday, we set up our basic campsite in the middle of the forest using machetes to clear the ground. Afterwards, we went fishing. Judith turned out to be quite the pro, catching 8 (albeit small) fish, which we later ate in the classic tamales style (steamed over the open fire wrapped in leaves).



Due to the different layers of vegetation blocking the light, it got dark quite early, which is why we went to bed at 5pm. Even though 5 of us shared a tent designed for 3 people, we were very happy to escape the incredible number of mosquitoes. In addition, there are several nocturnal animals which are quite aggressive (poisonous snakes which attack from up to 7 meters away for example), so you shouldn't walk at night. Around midnight, it started to rain rather strongly, but our makeshift accomodation performed well.



The next morning, we tried to get moving as quickly as possible to escape the trizillions of mosquitoes. Those little f****s bite through your clothes, and don't really care about your insect repellent. We estimated each one of us to have gotten bitten around 80-100 times.


Back in the village, we spent the remainder of the time with the locals. In the afternoon, we took the boat back to Leticia, looking forward to our cold shower in the hostel and a night in a proper bed.

The next stop of our trip would be quite different to the very basic Amazon - Bogotá, the cosmopolitan Colombian capital.   

The Amazon - Part 1 of 2

When we started planning our trip last year, it became clear quite early on that visiting the Amazon was something we both had on the top of our wish list. 

Rather than writing endless paragraphs about how great the Amazon is, here is a list of some key facts about its river system and vast rainforests. This is well worth a read, as it might come in handy when you next discuss Amazon trivia with your friends & colleagues:

• The Amazon baisin covers some 7 million km² (that’s almost 20 times the size of Germany for crying out loud) and 9 countries (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and the 3 Guyanas)
• As such, it is by far the world’s largest ecosystem and the green lung of this planet, offsetting significant portions of the carbon emissions of all those 25-year-old jet-set business consultants and easyjet-weekend-away-in-Prague-ers*
• The Amazon region boasts by far the largest biodiversity on this planet, with 10% of all living species being represented. According to Wiki, it is home to some 2.5 million insect species (!!), and at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals (including pink freshwater dolphins), 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region
• The river Amazon is really a river system, made up of the main rivers Solimoes & Rio Negro, many smaller rivers, and ~2,000 islands
• At its max, the main river is 2 km’s wide and 100 meters deep 
• While probably not the longest single river (even though Brazilian scientists like to claim that it even beats the Nile), it is by far the world’s largest river in terms of water flow, with some 300,000 m³ reaching the Amazon estuary at the Atlantic every second. That is more than the next ten largest rivers combined, and represents 20% of the world's total freshwater flow into the oceans. 
• Today, some 20 million people live on the Amazon river(s), with Manaus (~2 million inhabitants) being the largest city

If you want more info on the Amazon, I’m confident you’re capable of doing the Wiki-work yourself. For further reading, there’s also a great online store with many books on the topic - www.amazon.com (it's a bad joke, I know, but I just had to write it. It's also funny 'cause it's true).



Anyway, back to our story. When we landed in Manaus, the Brazilian capital of the Amazon, we were greeted by some 35° C (it’s winter, that’s why it’s so cold) and some 96-98% humidity (now that‘s what I call tropical). Manaus is a fun place. Being a free trade zone, most of the city resembles a giant marketplace, with cheap clothes, Havaianas flip-flops, and great fruit juices unknown to the Western world. 

 

After two days, we hopped onto our speedboat to the border towns of Tabatinga (Brazil) & Leticia (Colombia). We had long discussed if sleeping in a hammock on one of the traditional boats would have made more sense, but given our need to travel upstream and our time constraints, 5-8 days on a slow boat just wasn’t feasible. Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed our two-day speedboat ride - with one exception. At 4 am in the first night, our boat tried to stop at a floating gas station (like the one in the pic). However, something went wrong with the gears. Rather than putting the engines in reverse (to slow down the boat), the boat sped up like crazy. We first rammed the gas station, and after a sharp turn headed straight for the river bank, where we crashed into a mud wall. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and we were able to continue our voyage after the dirt had been cleared off the boat.

 
In Leticia, we first relaxed a couple of days in a nice hostel to get used to the heat, the impressive rain showers & the mosquitoes. We also prepared for our upcoming trip to the jungle by buying heaps of insect repellent & long sleeve shirts. At the time, we didn't expect that this 3-day trip into the jungle would turn out to be one of our most impressive travel experiences ever. 

Day 1 of the trip was a bit more mainstream than the following days. We went on a boat and travelled several hours upstream. Among others, we saw pink dolphins (this has nothing to do with my drinking habits), the world's largest leaves & many, many birds.
 





 



We also stopped at the Ilsa de los Micos, the Monkey Island, where more than 5,000 of these banana-loving mammals live.

 













There seems to be a limit on the number of pics I can upload per post, therefore I will spit this into two. The juicy stuff is about to come in the second part,so be prepared.


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*) If you do fun trips like that, why not offset your carbon footprint with a reliable organisation like www.atmosfair.de? It hurts your wallet, but that’s just fair. We are offsetting our round-the-world-ticket (and that really hurts, believe you me)