Panama

It was hard to leave Shaun and Lariana but I headed south to Panama. I took a bus to a Manzillo from San Jose. It was the furthest south a bus went at the time I was leaving. It turned out to be a very small town. The grocery store was about the size of my hotel room. Fortunately I arrived at the right time. There was a stage set up on the beach and a band playing. It was a good small town time.

The next day, I felt a little sick but headed for the boarder. I must have just missed Chad, Paul, Liz and Katrina in the town I switched buses in. It would have been nice see them again and say goodbye. I was planning on hanging out with them for a couple of days but I have to move towards Caracas as I have little more than two weeks left.

The boarder crossing was a little strange. There was no security to mention and I could have easily smuggled a nuclear bomb. You have to watch these types of boarders because it's easy to miss getting the passport stamped. In this case the entry to Panama was one of the smallest buildings around. I had to ask the police where to go because they sure weren't going to tell me otherwise. They had flies to swat.

I was still feeling ill so I got a hotel and decided to go to Panama City the next morning. I knew that I would be back to Costa Rica so I can see the rest of Panama some other time. I bought a ticket for $22 on a first class buss and missed it the next morning. I don't know if you've ever looked at Central America on a map but one wouldn't think that there is more than one time zone. Panama is an hour ahead.

Anyway, I chicken bussed it for about 5 hours then took a nice bus for another 7. I checked into the hotel Shaun told me. It's expensive at $25 a nigh, far more than I have paid before, but Panama City would seem to be the place to live a little. There is a swimming pool on the roof with a fantastic view of the city. Tomorrow, I will look into how to get to Columbia - either boat or air. I have to see the canal too.

Back to San Jose

After a couple of weeks in San Juan del Sur, it was time to go back to Costa Rica. My last day of surfing went really well. After changing my stance from regular to goofy, I really progressed. I was regularly catching waves and standing up on the board. I realize that if I put my mind to it, I could be a good surfer. I'm still a long way from doing anything impressive though.

We left paradise to pick up another Banff character, Paul Snow in Liberia and headed down to San Jose. Man does Paul stand out down here. He's taller than me and has shaggy blond hair. If he doesn't get it cut soon, he will look like cousin It. He managed to break a stage that was set up in a parking lot by jumping on it his first night.

We went down to San Jose to see Shaun and Lauriana. It was a nice surprise that Warren was there as well making it a total of 6 cab drivers from Banff. We sure have a good time together. There are a lot of sharp tongues slinging insults and counter insults. Two of the guys are taller than me so we really stand out despite all the cracked out freaks in this town. The only other white people here are rich old Americans shopping for love. There are many beautiful prostitutes here and some pretty classy joints for them to hang out in. I bet a lot of them have the same story. They went for the guy with the gold chains and slick attitude, got treated like shit and just gave up. It's not like other countries around here where there is more desperation. Costa Rica is the land of opportunity and these girls could use their looks to get a decent job. I only sound like I know what I'm talking about but we did spend some time watching a bizarre scene rich old men and hot young women. It is one of those things that is so different from home.

Paridisio

San Juan Del Sur really is el gusto. It is beautiful, safe, peaceful and the people are really nice. I love every day here. It was nice to get out on a boat to fish and see the coastline. We went in a simple fishing boat for $30 an hour split 6 ways. We caught a couple of fish and saw a gigantic turtle. Katrina cooked the fish and it was the best damn meal I´ve had down here. After that, we swam in the full moon and I learned to body surf. One time I rode the wave right up onto the beach and it hurt but it was a great ride.

Yesterday we went surfing again. It sure is hard especially when you try to learn in the biggest waves. I think that things will go pretty easy when we try a beach that is a little more mellow. Just getting out in the huge rolling waves is a real challenge. I´m note in very good shape from all the hours of cab driving this summer but each day I feel myself get stronger. It really is inspiring to see the local Nicos rip up the waves. I´ve seen some real talent.

Leon to San Juan Del Sur

I did find that $100 that I thought I had lost. The bad news is that I was pickpocket in an ALN campaign rally. Nat and I were on our way to a bar and rather than go an extra block, we decided to walk through a campaign rally. It was a surreal scene. The street was so smokey that you couldn´t see all the way aacrossit. There was a guy dancing with a box on his head that was all wired up with fireworks. They would shoot off in random directions right into the crowd. I was doing my best to avoid being hit and not ffocusingenough on my pockets. I´m out $250 and a bank card.

The depresion wore off the next day and we headed for San Juan Del Sur. We had to pass through Managua which really is hell. Our bus driver dropped us off and followed us out to a taxi to make sure we didn´t get robbed. When we got out of the taxi at the terminal, three guys hurried us along to our bus telling us it was dangerous along the way.

Shortly after leaving town, the traffic slowed down for an accident with scores of police. We later found out that a truck had crashed launching bananas all over the hiwhighwayd revealing the 135kg of cocaine that was hidden uder them.

San Juan Del Sur is a tranquil beach town. Things are more expensive here and I´m not racist, but there are maybe too many white people. Fortunately ran into Katrina and Liz and Chad will meet us here in a few days.

Yesterday was my first day of surfing and I did better than I would have expected. I caught a few waves but I am in terrible shape and tired quickly. The beach we surfed really was a sight. There was a area to catch small waves and there were some that were at least 25 ft high where the pros really ripped it up. A couple of day´s rest and I will be back at it.

Tomorrow, we will go fishing. I´m pretty excited about that. Things are easy going here. I haven´t ran into one scetchy person and even if there was someone bad here, there is a lot of security with shotguns around. The nicest thing about this town is that only two guys have male touched me to death. Ever since Shaun told me about being triple male touched, I´m a little touchey about being touched.

Matagalpa to Leon

Nat and I inadvertantly joined the Sandinista campaign during our last night in Mataglpa. We were playing pool with some guys who offered us a ride back to our hotel. It turns out it was a truck with the black and red Sandinista flag all over it and we were the only ones in the back.

I awoke early the next mornig to the sounds of speaches being blasted from trucks, the Sadinista campaing song, "Give Peace a chance" and people yelling from the back of pickup trucks parading downtown. As we left Matagalpathe next mornig, the bus inched slowely through a large crowd of Sandinistas who were gathered to great their leader, Daniel Ortega who is likely to be the next president. He must be ok because CNN doesn't like him and already called him a dictator, not even waiting for the election to be over. Although campaigners are of all ages, the vast majoritty seem to be in their late teens or early 20's.

After we got through the crowd, we started to pass about 100 trucks full of campaigners on their way to the rally. I'd guess about 2000 people were travelling to the rally, but there were so many trucks that it was hard to guess. Many of the trucks were simalar to old grain trucks you see in Alberta at harvest time. Each was completely full of people with more hanging off the sides. It seemed pretty dangerous. The hiway was lined with supporters who came from their mud huts to show support. There was one brave soul who was on the side of the road with a Liberal flag holdiong up his index finger. We saw a truck slow down for him and there was yelling both ways. There did seem to be a little respect for the brave soul though.

Leon is a city of about 1 million and a university town. It is very hot here, and I do see the odd whitey. We saw the first airplane in the sky that we have seen in Nicaragua. It was a crop duster flying low towards us while we were at a swimming pool. Nat said,"It looks like it's going to bomb us."
Right after that, it did. It was dropping political leaflets about every 30 seconds over the city. This morning I heard it make about 5 passes overhead. Just when I think the campaigns are by far the biggest I have witnessed, they get crazier. I don't feel that there will be any violence though. The pols definately show the Sandinistas in the lead by enough to rule by law. If for some reason they don't then there could be a cival war.

Tomorrow, we are going to San Juan Del Sur. We have been told that it is a good place to learn how to surf.