Posts Tagged With: beach

Flying roaches, black sand beaches, and SLOTHS all in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Posted on June 27, 2014 by valarieivester

As we leave Bocas behind us we made our way to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. With its lush rainforest and vast variety of animals running about we were ready for a bit of a change in our journey….but first, The Border Crossing.

The border crossing from Panama to Costa Rica was one of the more interesting crossings so far. First….I was seated next to THE WORST COUPLE EVER!! I mean it! I sneaked video footage of this ridiculous couple but I won’t subject you to their trashy, drunk, profane filled antics but know that in a shuttle bus of 8 people. ..all 6 of them felt sorry for me having to be seated next to them while Jorgie giggled behind me at my SUPERHERO like restraint from going off on them both. It took all I had not to go all HALF MEXICAN/HALF KOREAN on em! “JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL! ” Now, imagine that, then when you feel like the bus stops to deliver your brief moment of freedom from these crazies to cross the border, you see it….THE DEATH BRIDGE BORDER CROSSING. This had to be the shakiest, gap filled bridge ever! The busdriver said he would meet us at the other end of the bridge (in Costa Rica), he had all our bags, sometimes I guess you just have to move on faith. “Please busdriver, don’t make me judi chop you for stealing my things.” Turns out…no judi chops were needed….#THANKUJESUS

We arrived out our hostel room to find it upgraded to the main room with a beautiful patio! WINNING!

So here’s the thing…
Costa Rica has these gigantic flying cockroaches. Here’s our meeting one and our plot to kill him. Sorry bug….we can’t share a room. We obviously aren’t trained bug killers;)

The black sand beaches create a coastline like we haven’t seen yet!

If you travel further down the beaches no longer have the black sand but still provide a serene atmosphere.

WE ARE MOBILE!
We decided to rent some bikes and ride up the coast to take in more of what Costa Rica had to offer on our way to visit the Jaguar Rescue Sanctuary
Note: No jaguars @ The Jaguar Sanctuary but dont miss this opportunity to play with howler monkeys and sloths!!

After being a walking backpacker this long, having a bike felt a little like owning a car for the 1st time!;) FREEEEEEDOOOOOM! (In my best Braveheart voice) 😉

The coastal ride provides plenty of stops at different beaches and surfers are always present and ready to hit the next big wave.
Do yourself a favor…GET A BIKE AND TAKE THIS RIDE;)

The Jaguar Rescue Sanctuary awaits us….

This little guy just walked right up to Jorgie for some lovin!;)

TUCAN SAM

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS PLACE! Cameras weren’t allowed in but we got to go inside and play with the monkeys!! I was a little nervous but the baby monkeys just swing and hang from you and everything! So worth it!!

And now ladies and gentlemen….it’s the Slowest Animal On Earth….
The Sloooooooooth;)
This little guy just PASSED OUT as soon as he climbed down the tree! What a lazy butt!! Lol

And this one just stayed hanging asleep! Ha!

Now that we are returning to town, a drink at our favorite spot, MADRE TIERRA was a perfect way to watch the sun set on the beach. Their drinks are strong and their bartender is the coolest!

Sit upstairs on the balcony. …It’s great!

Lazy days in Puerto Viejo……where everything is PURA VIDA😉
Until next time Costa Rica……

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: backpacker, backpacking, beach, beaches, bikes, black sand beach, border crossing, budget travel, bugs, Central America, Costa Rica, deet, freakout, jaguar sanctuary, Puerto Viejo, pura vida, roach, see the world, sloths, tucans | 5 Comments

So… it finally happened… Bed. Bugs. (*Blank stare) Meltdown Numero Dos!

Posted on June 15, 2014 by valarieivester

We made it to Panama!!! (As I jump from the sailboat to the ground kissing it..oh wait…it still feels like I’m swaying. ..ugh)
Now that we have completed our tour of South America we were excited to start Central America off in Panama City, Panama!

We decided to stay in the Casco Viejo part of Panama. The history and architecture was beautiful! Colorful buildings, colonial style Presidential Palaces, and GORGEOUS views of downtown Panama City….what more can anyone ask for?

Our view of downtown Panama City from outside the front door of our hostel!

If you find yourself in Panama City do not miss The Armador Causeway. It is a stretch of land (sorta like a boardwalk) that is about 6-7 miles both ways surrounded by water and here you will find locals running, walking, and riding all sorts of bikes. On one side you will have the most stunning view of downtown Panama City and on the other is the south entrance to the Panama Canal!

If you get a chance….rent one of these…they are AWESOME; )

If you don’t know, Jorgie’s emblem for his travels and his website (www.jrifter.com Check his site out if you haven’t! ) is the jrifter on the yellow crossing sign. Panama City has so many funny jrifters….this one here: BIG BOOTY JRIFTER; )

I WORK OUT JRIFTER 😉

THE “DO YOU EVEN LIFT?” JRIFTER ! LOL

Panama City was good to us but now we are heading north to BOCAS DEL TORO!!!!

We thought we’d run into them along this trip….we even prepared for them by buying a really expensive 100% silk bedliner cause we read they hate them…but to no avail….there you were. You NASTY LITTLE THINGS. BED BUGS. Now we noticed them as soon as the sun set, but after a very frenzied, tazmanian devil like gathering of our stuff, we were moved to another room where I TORE UP the room and bed looking for other little critters only to find this room crawling with geckos….BEFORE you let it slip from your mouth…I KNOOOOW “Geckos are our friends, they eat the bugs!” (in Jorgie’s annoying voice) 😉 I’m truly not that scared of them but I think after the bed bug incedent I wasn’t having these little geckos. Here’s the freakout…ENJOY:

Bocas del Toro is an archipelago ( group of islands ) so you have to take a small…I repeat…SMALL boat (THANK YOU JESUS!) to get there.

Bocas is known for it brightly decorated building afloat the island.

Keep your eyes open for hummingbirds! They are fast little things but they are EVERYWHERE here!

Hand shaven RASPA!?! I’M IN! Let me get my money out; )

Small bus ride can take you to another part of the island called Boca del Drago. HIGHLY RECOMMEND! The beaches here are gorgeous!

Looks fake right!?

Hop on a lancha for a 5 minute ride to STARFISH BEACH where there are no longer many starfish on the beach (if you swim just a little further out you will see them…but don’t pick them up out of the water because it kills them and they are trying to preserve them!) This place makes you feel isolated from the rest of the world….with Piña Coladas ofcourse! 😉

Local fisherman regularly pull their catches on shore to sale to the foodstands.

What in the world is the torquios one?!?

If you wanna little taste of “home” while on Bocas, visit TACO SURF! This restaurant/surf school is great! Their tacos were a welcome treat to these two TEXANS that were just about to throw the towel in on traveling if we couldn’t find a decent taco! 😉

The owner Justine and her husband run a cool place with a very chill vibe! For the budget traverler that’s wanting “not so budget tasting tacos” get your butt here! Thanks Justine….your place saved our trip!;)
Check them out on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/bocas.tacosurf

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Armador Causeway, backpacker, beach, bed bugs, Boca del Drago, Bocas del Toro, Casco Viejo, Central America, dream, geckos, ocean, Panama, Panama City, sand, starfish, Starfish Beach, taco surf, tacos, travel | 1 Comment

Scuba diving & The BEST beach I’ve seen so far

Posted on May 7, 2014 by valarieivester

So we decided to get the full animal experience and become a
fish for a day;) This would be both of our first time to scuba dive and snorkel so we were excited!

We boarded this magnificent sailboat that would take us to North Seymore for our day of scuba and snorkeling.

I have no idea why, maybe it’s our faces, but we were chosen to be the first to scuba dive. (Whatever that is…I wish it would stop. I needed a moment to panic) But it was time to suit up. Squeeeeeeezing my body into this wetsuit was a task but eventually my ass cooperated and got in there;)

Scuba diving was sorta scary. Resisting the urge to breathe out of your nose was extremely difficult. It goes against everything I’d ever trained myself to do while running…not being a mouth breather in this scenario completely worked against me. Honestly, I had several sheer moments of panic. I mean, we did have an extensive WHOLE 15 minutes of training where we were supposed to learn hand signals that were imperative to my life but that all went to hell when I was underwater. Lol! On the second try to descend, I got nervous and wanted to go back up and gave the OKAY signal, rapidly started pointing up (that’s not even a signal he taught us) then for some reason gave him the SHARK signal (he’s super confused now) said “To hell with this!” and started flailing my body upwards. Once my head was above water the instructor comes up and looks at me soooo confused and was like “What was that!!!??? Why aren’t you doing the signs? I won’t understand you if you don’t do the signs!” Is he serious? He’s lucky I even tried to do ANY signs at all before I bailed! Not my finest moment I must admit, but I seriously was scared. Lol! It took me several attempts, but finally I just let go, and forced myself to continue on and when I did..

It was A Okay;)
I saw sharks, soooooo many fishes, and some super long fish that I can’t remember the name of. Wifi sucks here so I can’t upload to my YouTube channel to post the video so I’ll post to my Facebook instead. To see Scuba Diving Val check out my FB page at http://www.facebook.com/valarieivester.com

What was not okay was me not taking dramamine…. Meet SEA SICK VAL just moments after a rather embarrassing violent vomiting fit.
TAKE THE PILLS! Geeez.

NOOOOW…. on to (in my opinion) the prettiest beach we’ve seen so far. Tortuga Bay Beach😉 Be prepared….its a 30 minute walk to the beach and an additional 15 minute walk to the lagoon but it’s completely worth it.

We have gotten to visit many beaches but this one had immaculately white soft sand, turquoise crystal clear water, very little people, no vendors trying to sell you refreshments or whatever bracelet they made that day, all you could hear was the water rolling up on shore and beating against the rocks. It was so serene.

Tortuga Bay Selfie;)

Daaaaaaaaaaang;)

Our walk to the lagoon was great. Even though its super hot in the Galapagos, once you get here, the breeze coming off the ocean is so cool and smells of salt.

Once again we run into these gigantic land lizards!!

TONS of them…just keep walking….they won’t bother you;)

And the lagoon;) This shallow secluded part of the beach was refreshing and filled with little fishes! We were sitting half in the water and a tintorera (harmless small sharks native to this area) just swam right by us!!!! In shallow water!!! So cool!

As we walked back we soaked up as much sun as we could (as if either of us need it…we are getting super dark!)

Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz Island is definitely high on my list for beach bummy days and #1 beach so far on my list.

And finally…..the most of any travelers budget is devoted to where you will be staying. We opted to save some real money by staying with a family in their home that they are converting to a hostel. This might of been the biggest saver for us in the Galapagos.

Meet Jimmy (we found his place on Airbnb) and his sweet family. Getting to stay in their home was a real treat! They treated us like family and even invited us to dine with the family at dinner cooked by Auxillidora. I would highly recommend Casa de Hospedaje and Jimmy for your visit to the Galapagos. Thank you Santiago family!!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: beach, budget travel, Galapagos Islands, homestay, lagoon, North Seymore, relax, sailing, sand, Santa Cruz Island, scared, scuba diving, sharks, snorkeling, south America, tintorera, Tortuga Bay, travel | Leave a comment

Lima, Peru & Mancora Beach

Posted on May 5, 2014 by valarieivester

We stayed over night in Lima on our way to Mancora Beach in tge Miraflores area. Highly recommended staying here! Beautiful and full of life.

Visit Parque de Amor with it’s colorfully decorated tiles surrounding the park. This beautiful park is home of many professions of love written in tile for the world to see.

Our over night visit was fun but on to Mancora!

MANCORA, PERU

When you arrive the only way to get around are these tuk tuk taxis that are pretty much 3 wheeled golf carts!

Jorgie is loving them!!!

We were thrilled with Kimbas Bungalows!!! What a break from the normal backpackers hostel but still within the budget!!! Highly recommend….its gorgeous;)

We immediately hit the beach for sun and relaxation!!

There’s nothing quite like posing for a selfie and then finding a tongue about to find its way to your face!! Jorgie almost got thrown into the water;)

Making our way to the pier….

Uuuummmm…..so I see all the boats…..but where are the fishermen?

Bring on the drinks!!

All in all….this picture pretty much sums up Mancora. This place is made for lazy days, cold drinks, and little clothing;)
We have spent the most time in Peru…..but Ecuador is a mear 8 hour bus ride up the road….it’s time to add more miles to these shoes;)