Landing in Panama City on Sunday 14 December morning is hot and humid. Colourfull bus is quite packed and one hour from the airport to town is an experience of its own. We need a cup of coffee while making sense of Lonely Planet because it appears some referenced places do not exist. Around 2pm we are lucky enough to find a hostel dormitory after an hour walking in scorching heat. Our backpacks seem to be heavier then ever. Iva is not very happy to share the room with other four people but that´s tough life girl! Grapefruit juice with cubano rum is very refreshing in this still hot and humid evening. Famous attraction Panama Canal easily reached by public bus is on our agenda next day and what a piece of engineering! Watching large ships going through locks is an impressive sight for anyone. Ships are rised or lowered by at least 20m in two sequential locks depending if they come from Pacific or Atlantic ocean. We learn that water levels in locks are controlled only by valves without using any pumps. Simple and effective. Three hours at observatory deck is enough so we walk back to bus station. On the way few crocks showed up in river but these are only small cousins of their australian relatives and I do not think they will eat us. The rest of the afternoon we spend on Internet writing story about Cuba. Good news at the hostel - we can have private room for two following nights. Toboga island is just 28km off shore and next morning we take ferry to explore its apparently beautifull beaches. Well, they would be much prettier if locals did not use them for dumping rubish. Dissappointing and sad sight. We eat tasty fried fish for lunch if that can be seen as any compensation for filthy beaches. Our next destination Bocas Del Toro islands are too far by the road so we decide to fly tomorrow instead. After one hour in air we land in small and still non-touristy tropical village Bocas Del Toro. With its Jamaican flavour I thing for next few days we are going to enjoy it here. Although frequent recent storms caused some damage to islands the laid back atmosphere here is quite likeable and infectious. Plenty of backpackers in hostels and bars will garantee late nights and indeed the first evening we share few drinks with czech couple Denisa and Honza from Prague. We explore the opposite side of island next morning on bumpy bus-ride where we can see some of the weather damage done to this amazingly beautifull carabian coast. We cannot get enough of palms lined up beaches so next morning we take a boat day-trip around islands involving snorkling, walk through red frog jungle (yes, these are small red frogs highly poisonus used on darts to kill - we are lucky to see one on the way) and delicious fried fish for lunch in straw huts built over green-blue crystal clear water. Just another paradise with fresh and cheap seafood. It could be nice to stay here few more days (weeks?) but we have to go and tonight we finilise islands in night-bar disco and tequila with our new czech friends.
It is Saturday 20 December and getting to Costa Rica involves a 45min fast boat followed by bus to unpleasant looking border with rubish everywhere and the border bridge near collapsing. Some 15min later we have passports stapmed and by 3pm we arrive to coastal village Puerto Vjacho with few unusual black sand beaches. Life here is pretty Jamaican with not much to do other then to indulge in sun, sand, seafood and coctails. Next day we hire bikes to explore coast some 12km out of town visiting white sand beaches lined up with jungle. While having a beach lunch under cocos palms I noticed slight movement in trees and guess what! We have visitors from wild - over ten howling monkies hop from branch to branch just above our heads probably expecting to share some of our fruit. No, find your own! We are very lucky to see our close relatives within meters. As Christmas is getting closer we would like to settle for a few days somewhere further on the coast and next place is Montezuma which we do not know anything about but sounds good because 2-3 backpackers recommended it. After a super hot night in Puntarena (aircond from a room opposite to us was blowing hot air directly over our beds so outside 26C rose to 31C inside) we catch ferry at 7am to arrive to Montezuma just before lunch. Settling quickly we start to soak up relaxing mood (hey, what´s new?) with many friendly locals and backpackers. Too hot and humid for push bikes so this time we search on foot and spend much time on surounding beaches. Well, after all it is Christmas and we should not do any hard work, right? Juicy lobster with a bottle of savignon blanc for Christmas Eve dinner cannot be beaten, except we miss our children and we feel little sad. Leaving Montezuma on 25 December was not that smart idea despite assurances from travel people simply because no transport worked as supposed to and getting to bus stop at 5am was complete waste of time. Maybe not, as small white faced monkey provides early morning entertainment climbing fence and eating banana retreived from the ground. Very cute! Finaly bus arrives two hours later at 7am and from here we will travel for the whole day by nine different types of transport to our final destination Isla De Omotepe in Nicaragua (minibus-bus-ferry-bus-bus-taxi-bus-taxi-ferry).
Only two ferries go to the island today (remember it is Christmas Day) and we just missed the first one at 2:30pm which means we have to wait at St Jorge till 5:45 for the second boat. Fresh water Lake Nicaragua is quite choppy and while waiting we watch locals having fun on dark sand beach next to wharf. To be honest we are not tempted to jump in - the amount of plastic rubish being rolled by waves in and out is quite revolting. Widely spread littering is real problem in whole latin america continent and they do not even realise it. Ferry lands almost two hours later in small island port Moyagalpa after very choppy ride. Hostel Finca Magdalena is located on the other side if the island and it would take two more hours on the road to get there. And guess what? No buses tonight! Hmm, it is too late now and we stay tonight at Moyagalpa, there is another day tomorrow. Ex coffee farm Finca Magdalena lies at foot of the smaller vulcan Maderas with views of its larger brother Concepcion from verandah. After rough bus ride there is a little catch - last 1km walking uphill at noon is exhaustive with tepms around 30C and humidity pretty high but it was worth every breath. Million dollars views, good meals, friendly staff and affordable prices make this place very special for any backpacker and no surprise the hostel is packed. Even before checking in our room we make new friends meeting Michael from Florida and Myshka from Montreal. Over next two days, appart from the dining table we share few bottles of smooth 7 años aged rum. Not enthusiastic to climb the vulcano in rain and muddy terrain we opt for a hike around parts of island through banana plantations where few authentic locals give us many smiles. Bunch of friendly kids run down from their house to meet gringoes but unfortunately this time we have no caramelos to give. Afternoon we hitch-hike a flat-loader truck as there is no reliable bus in sight and the return trip we jump like a yo-yo on the back of the truck. Tomorrow we need to catch one and only bus at 4:45am so tonight we need to go sleep earlier but with so many cheerfull backpackers this option fades away as evening progresses. Walking 1km downhill to a bus stop at 4 am in pitch dark jungle is something! We can hear our own breathing and small hand held torch helps us not to trip over rocks and roots. After 20 minutes we are down exhausted probably more from tension and fear then from physical movement. Few village hombres still drunk from last night fiesta are trying to initiate friendship with us but we are not at ease. One tries to explain wrongness of USA and Russian involvement in Nicaragua making gestures of shooting. He is too close to me and I can smell his bear breath. This situation is not comfortable, no one else is here, it is just us and them and the bus is already one hour late. At last the sun is coming out and more locals appear on street. Bus arrives around 7am (supposed to at 4:45am!) and the drunks disappeared into village. Glad to be on the bus but somewhat upset because we did not have to get up that early. Today we make it to Pochomil which is a beach resort for middle class Nicraguans on the Pacific Coast. It is Sunday 28 December and many locals enjoy christmas break here munching on delicious and cheap seefood. So do we tonight having fried fish on the beach while sun goes down with its colorfull show. The romantic night is only spoiled by a rooster running free in hotel grounds making his kykyrikee right in front of our window at 4am. This is the second early morning - hate roosters! Sunny morning starts with breakfast in a beach restaurant followed by a dip in ocean before we board chicken bus back to Managua. Our next bus Managua-Tela (Honduras) leaves at 3:30am from a bus station which is only six blocks away from our hostel. We are strongly advised by locals not to walk this easrly hours but to take taxi instead for safety reasons. As opposed to previous early morning buses this time we depart spot on and by mid morning we cross border from Nicaragua to Honduras without any hickups. Changing to another bus in capitol of Honduras in mid afternoon it is still another 6 hours before we arrive to Tela at 8pm. This has been a long day but we made it in time to enjoy celibracion of end of the year tomorrow. Town does not look impressive at the first sight but longer we stroll through streets we start to discover special vibe of this relaxed costal spot. Afternoon on beach is once again refreshing in this tropic weather and the only task we have today is to find a party place. Considering Tela is not top touristy destination it looks like we are going to join locals in one of many rather dodgy bars but luckily we find a restaurant run by Canadian couple hosting a New Year Eve party tonight. With great meals and drinks we have a lot of fun dancing till 4am with only one break at midnight when we watch fireworks from the best observing spot - this place was built on 50m (the only) hill in town. After less then 4 hours sleep and still not fully recovered we take a day boat trip to Punto Sal, some 45 min ride from the coast. Amazing scenery here was proclaimed as National Park and we are blown away with its beauty. As jungle grows right to the beach monkies come to observe us from the safety of canopy and we are not sure who is more excited. Snorkeling over reef and swimming through caves in crystal clear water is just priceless. Only two indegenous families are allowed to live here and we are fortunate to be invited for lunch - fish with fried banana and coconut milk rice. Mnam, very delicious and rejuvenating after last night. Lack of sleep takes over and we need a little nap when we get back before we are able to spend few hours on internet. Today is 2nd January and we are going to another day trip, this time with jeep to see Garifuna people in their village and kayaking throuh mangroves. Many birds and few aligators on this tranquil river provide exciting sight and we also taste jungle fruit and fresh coconut snapped from palms by our guide. Afternoon we learn about Garifuna people´s African origin and their cuisine - coconut bread is tastefull. When we arrive back to hotel my so liked pocket knife is gone from the bedroom. Not happy!!! Next morning 3rd Jan we pack up bags and leave Tela for Quatemala. Late afternoon it is clear we will not make it by the daylight so we decide to stay in small village Coriento just before the border. Taxi driver suggests quite nice and clean sigle level hotel with private backyard. Everything seems perfect so we check in by 6pm and walk few hundred meters to one and only very simple restaurant. Being charged double for beer does not spoil our spirit, locals learned how to squeeze travelers. When we return to our room an hour later I discover our camera was gone from my day pack I left on the bed. We cannot beleive it!!! Complaints to manager did not go too far as nobody in village speaks a single word in English and our spanish is way to simple for such a situation. We strongly suspect young female maide with her boyfriend which went missing after our grim discovery. We are devastated because we lost all our pictures from Central America which were to be burnt on disks in about ten days. This is the third time when hotel staff is strongly suspected from stealing our stuff. We were prepared for this sort of mishaps on the street and therefore we took all precautions but not inside locked hotel rooms. Hmm, we need to re-think that and we need to make much more frequent pics backup. Our antipathy for this place is magnified by having another sleepless night caused by three howling and barking dogs behind our room and more roosters. Gee, we hate roosters! The only photo we have from this trip is the one we emailed to our friends as Christmas greeting.
