Pura Vida

Whereas the earlier parts of my trip have focused more on cities and ruins, my time in Central America, particularly Costa Rica, has been mostly about nature. Costa Rica has an amazing level of biodiversity, and since there's not much else to do besides check it out, I have been "forced" to slather on the ol' mosquito repellent and, like, go outside or whatever.

And it has not been a let-down at all. Costa Rica is a highly developed country, in comparison to other places in Central America, and tourism--particuarly nature tourism, and the often-misused term describing its cousin, "ecotourism"--is priority number one for these people. Obviously they can't guarantee that you will go into a forest and see a ton of animals, or that if you go to hike up a volcano it won't be pouring rain on top of you, but the sights here are so amazing they barely need to worry about that.

My Belgian friend Joris, who was my roommate my first year at Stanford, is here with me and persuaded me that it was a good idea to rent a car (he is a management consultant and he's paid to make things more efficient, which I guess goes for this part of the trip as well). Despite my initial misgivings (would Che Guevara ever use Avis?), I went along with it, and I'm glad I did. We have been able to cover a lot more ground, and go at our own pace. And Costa Rica is a safe and easy place to drive, so it's no big deal.

For me, a major highlight of the trip was the area around Monteverde, in the northwestern part of the country. Monteverde was initially a settlement of Mennonites from North America who went to Costa Rica because they were against the war in Korea and didn't want to fight. Costa Rica, by the way, is a very consciously anti-war country. It doesn't have an army, and people can't carry guns. The President (Oscar Arias) is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for brokering peace within El Salvador (I think). Very cool. Monteverde has the double distinction of being at the forefront both of Costa Rican pacifism and environmental protection.

The town of Monteverde is right next to a big nature reserve and "cloud forest." We first did what's called a "canopy tour," where you harness up and then fly over the forest on a zipline. It was awesome, a total adrenaline rush. At several points we were 90 m above the forest, and the lines were up to 700 m long. The best part was the end of it, where you do what they called a "Tarzan Swing," grabbing onto a rope (with a harness on and stuff) and then jumping off a 20-foot cliff. I was sure I was going to die. The picture here is of Joris; the picture of me doing it is on his camera.

We took a night hike there as well, but there weren't that many animals because it was "too windy." The poor guide was a little frustrated, and spent too long showing us moths, sleeping birds and tarantulas cowering in their holes. It was kind of disappointing, but we totally made up for it the next day. We went to the reserve for a 2-hour guided hike, which turned out to be one of the highlights of my entire trip so far. Our guide, a guy named Carlos, was very knowledgeable about the area, and his enthusiasm about nature was infectious, particularly on that day. This was apparently a red-letter day for the Monteverde Reserve, because we saw so many animals that Carlos was practically jumping up and down with his bird-watching telescope device. We saw three (!) quetzals (pictured here, taken with my camera), which are endangered species--amazing green and red birds native to Central America. We also saw bellbirds, which are also endangered. We saw a family of howler monkeys running through the trees RIGHT above us. We saw tarantulas, millipedes, larvae of different things, walking sticks, an agouti (a type of rodent), several turkeys (not like the kind we eat at Thanksgiving, but they were still big) and a ton of different kinds of butterflies. Apparently it's super hard to see quetzals, so we were really lucky.

Our guide in Monteverde, as well as the other guides and hotel administrators that we have had contact with along the way, have been highly professional and incredibly knowledgeable people. Aside from knowing English impressively well and being able to articulately explain the intricacies of the ecosystems of Costa Rica, they have been unfailingly friendly and nice. Most have gone out of their way to make our trip a pleasant experience. They make travelling in this country almost disconcertingly easy (I need to remember that I can't get used to that!). Costa Rica is a great place to go for people who don't necessarily know Spanish but want to go to an interesting, far off destination. It's safe, accessible and easy to travel here (I think I have seen more gringos than Costa Ricans, actually...that might have annoyed me if I hadn't just come from Colombia). It's refreshing for me to see my compatriots enjoying Latin America en masse. Costa Ricans like to say "pura vida" ("pure life") all the time--they use that to say "cool," or "ok," or "no problem." It really works.

From Monteverde we drove to La Fortuna, which is a town at the foot of Arenal, one of the world's five most active volcanoes. It spews lava all the time, and it's really spectacular at night. Apparently Arenal supplies 45% of Costa Rica's energy. We also spent some time at some hot springs nearby. I had been to hot springs in Chile, but this is Costa Rica, where tourist attractions are more like destinations. So these hot springs had a restaurant, swim-up bars, massage areas, 9 pools with different temperatures, and saunas.

Oh, and on the way from Monteverde to Arenal we went to Viento Fresco, with four waterfalls. And we swam under one of them. It was great.

Now we are back in San José, because we are flying to Guatemala tomorrow morning. San José is impressive for how unimpessive it is. There are very few buildings higher than 3 or 4 stories, at least in the center--I'm assuming due to earthquakes. But it's a very agreeable town (it totally feels like a town, like Temuco or something), and doesn't have the unpleasantness of the "zona rosa" with gringo bars jumbled up next to slums. There are plenty of nice, unpretentious places where ticos (that's what Costa Ricans call themselves, probably because it's annoying to say "yo soy costarricense") and gringos mingle and where it's sometimes even hard to distinguish between the two. Which is a nice change. I hear Guatemala's a little different though.

A Man, a Plan, a Canal...

Couldn't get that palindrome out of my head today. It's kind of catchy though, in my case...

After almost two weeks in Colombia, it's almost as if I am experiencing reverse culture shock in Panama. In its non-third world sections, it's practically like the 51st state. They sell Spicy Nacho Doritos at the grocery stores (haven't found Ranch yet, but I'm not giving up hope), our hostel serves pancake breakfasts, and taxis quote you their prices in English. Oh, and in dollars, since Panama uses the US Dollar as its currency. The hostel is clearly not used to dealing with Americans that are a little less clueless about how to move around in Latin American cities, and I was surprised with their genuine concern when I asked the lady at the reception desk about taking a taxi to the canal zone and not asking it to wait for us there (and sort of taking a chance as to whether we could get back via taxi...even though you can take busses as well): she said that the hostel couldn't take "responsibility" for us if we did such a thing. It almost made me laugh: since when has a hostel in Latin America even used the word "responsibility" in my presence, particularly in regard to my own well-being? Luckily I can handle the "foreign" and "unknown" aspects of Panama without needing my hand to be held throughout.

As for the canal itself, it was truly impressive. We went to the Miraflores Locks, which is the section of the canal closest to the capital. We went through the museum there, which went over the origins of the canal, the thousands of people who died during its construction (mostly of tropical diseases, which were later eliminated), the massive and innovative machines that dug out the canal, the nationalist uprising in the 60s during which Panamanians began to claim the canal for themselves (it was controlled by the US after it was built), its handover in 1999 to the Panamanian government, and furture plans to expand it. There were exhibits of the gnarly insects from the surrounding jungles as well, and the techniques used to guide vessels through the narrow canal (trains on tracks on each side of the "Panamax" ship tug it along, leaving just inches between the ship and the sides of the canal). And, the trade routes the canal serves: South America's west coast (Chile is the canal's 4th-largest user...holler) to Europe, the US's west coast to its east coast, the American east coast to Asia, and even South America's west coast to its east coast, among others. With globalization, traffic through the canal can only grow. And now that it's owned by Panama, the revenues from the vessels can go in benefit of the Panamanian people (in theory).

Panama has also offered us a ton of interesting people-watching opportunities, because its population (at least in the capital) is so diverse. From the herd of Americans who seem to live here (because most of them were talking on their cell phones), to the Chinese people who own the laundromat where I washed my clothes, to rico y famoso blond Panamanians, to people of African and mestizo descent, it seems to be quite a melting pot. And that's very interesting.

We went to a music festival this evening in the city's Casco Viejo, the colonial section. It was a lot like Cartagena's old city, but ten times more dilapidated. Restoration efforts seem to be gathering steam, though. Hopefully the inevitable gentrification can take place in such a way as to not push the poor residents of the casco out.

Panama City is a modern metropolis with a skyline that's way out of proportion to its size: with just 700,000 residents, it has a ton of highrises with representations of banks from all over North America, Europe and Latin America. Panama proudly announces itself as a "tax haven," which I think might be a bit of a euphemism (at least sometimes) for money laundering and tax shelters. The term is best in Spanish: a "tax paradise." Works for me.

Locombia se despide

Para que no se preocupen, después de leer el último posteo, que me haya integrado a las FARC, les aviso que me he ido de Colombia a Panamá, y me encuentro sano y salvo de cuerpo y mente. Pasé mucho más tiempo en Colombia de lo previsto, porque lo encontré absolutamente encantador. A diferencia de otros países en Latinoamérica, no están chatos con la cantidad de gringos desfilando por todos sus sitios turísticos. O sea que si eres un extranjero, todavía te tratan súper bien, te preguntan muchas cosas, y te hacen sentirte un poco menos extranjero. Aparte que los colombianos son tan amables y cálidos por naturaleza.

Algo de sentimientos encontrados: después de todo, me he ido definitivamente de Sudamérica.

En Colombia, me fui después de Popayán y San Agustín a Armenia, en el mero corazón del eje cafetero colombiano, donde me quedé en una finca cafetera y visité el Parque Nacional del Café. De ahí a Bogotá, donde me encontré con mi amigo Liam, que tal vez algunos conocerán porque me vino a visitar en Chile. Fuimos al museo de oro de Bogotá--ciudad que se parece bastante a Santiago, por clima, elevación, cultura y gente, con la excepción de que el TransMilenio funciona y el Transantiago está ahí no más--y al museo de Botero. Pero pasamos repoco ahí antes de seguir a Cartagena, donde sí pasamos bastante tiempo.

Evidencia del funcionamiento del TransMilenio:


Cartagena es un paraíso. En su casco antiguo, es una ciudad colonial, muy bien restaurada--un poco como La Habana. Y un poco más allá por la costa encuentras un banco de condominios rascacielos para colombianos millonarios y/o narcos. Y de ahí llegas a las casas del Presidente Uribe, de García Márquez y de Shakira. Cuando nos cansamos de recorrer las calles coloniales y los museos, nos mandamos a cambiar a Playa Blanca, una hora afuera de la ciudad en lancha, donde las aguas eran turquesas, cálidas y cristalinas y aún no hay mucho desarrollo turístico (aunque parece que esto está a punto de cambiar, pues nos dijeron que ya se va a construir un gran resort). Ahí dormimos en hamacas y cubiertos por redes para protegernos de los mosquitos (aunque igual me picaron ene), y durante los días comíamos pescado y nadábamos, e hicimos esnorkel. Me sentía como Jacques Cousteau--nunca había hecho ese tipo de buceo y quedé maravillado con este ecosistema bajo el agua que nunca se ve así como así.

Y pasamos un día en el Parque Nacional Tayrona, más hacia Santa Marta, donde todo es mucho más agreste y hay muy pocas playas donde se puede nadar, por las corrientes peligrosas. Pero igual era muy lindo. Me hubiera encantado colgar una hamaca ahí mismo y dormir al son de las olas, pero no había tiempo.

Así que ayer, después de tres chequeos de nuestro equipaje de mano, una inspección completa del equipaje despachado (tuvimos que sacar todo lo que había adentro para que se aseguraran de que no llevábamos drogas), dos chequeos de detectores de metales, y el pago de algunos impuestos (y la devolución de otros--no me pregunten por qué), volamos desde Cartagena a Ciudad de Panama, en un avión de turbohélice.

Guest Post II de la web MSGG

[This is from one of my old coworkers back at the Presi's Palace in Stgo...]

Informe N° 002, del Ministerio de Seguridad del Estado de la Página Web, Departamento del Código HTML, Unidad Copy Paste.

Antecedentes: Estado de avance y falta de satélite para la búsqueda del ciudadano norteameraucano*: Carl [redacted]

Nombre de Pila en Chile: "Cafiche(r)", "Gringo".

Siendo junio 15 del año en curso, con un frío de los mil demonios posterior a un frente de mal tiempo, se informa lo siguiente:

1º Que luego de pasar meses con déficit de lluvias, lo que en realidad preocupaba a las autoridades en relación a una nueva crisis energética, se comunica que el país cuenta con un superávit del 2% de lluvias......... 15 damnificados, dos pasos bajo nivel anegados, y 6 tapas de alcantarilla extraviadas, las que se presumen se encuentran en el fondo marino frente a las costas de Valparaíso.

2º Que aunque no existan nuevas lluvias en lo que resta del año, y se tema por una crisis energética, la Institución se encuentra en absoluta tranquilidad debido a que los últimos estudios indican:

Que las reservas de vino tinto, ron, pisco y cerveza alcanzan sin inconvenientes hasta el Bicentenario de la República. Posterior a este magno evento se declarará al país bajo "alerta máxima" y "estado de sitio".

3º Que debido a un error involuntario (extravío de la Resolución Nº 35376711, que reglamenta la compra de huincha aisladora), se informa que no se sellaron lo cables del satélite chileno Fasat Alfa encargado de buscar al ciudadano norteameraucano Carl Fischer y de coordinar el sistema GPS del Plan de Transporte "Transantiago". Este hecho provocó la caída del satélite sobre un bus troncal, lo que ha generado retrasos de hasta dos horas..... en los 5 últimos meses.

Finalmente, la institución informa que se encuentra en buen estado sorteando con hidalguía las diferentes tareas, a pesar de las inclemencias del tiempo, y la nula contratación (hasta la fecha) de un traductor norteameraucano(*) a la altura de Fischer.

Esperamos que el Sr. Fischer se encuentre en buen estado, tanto físico, como sicológico y a la vez etílico.

Se adjunta la última foto satelital enviada desde el fax de Fasat Alfa.



(*) Norteameraucano: Gringo nacido en USA, que se vino a Chile y habla Mapuche.

PD: Con fecha 19 de junio, se procederá a la construcción de un nuevo satélite con el fin de seguir la búsqueda del mencionado ciudadano.

Se aceptan sus donaciones en el teléfono 56 2 600 200 SATELITE o en la página web: www.unsateliteparachile.cl

Tropical Paradise

If you've been following this blog regularly, you know by now that I am loving Colombia. I wasn't planning on staying this long, and I should be close to Panama City by now on a sailboat, but instead I've decided to just fly to Panama tomorrow (making this my last full day in Colombia, which is mega sad) to take full advantage of this place. My friend Liam is here, which I might have mentioned before, and we decided that exploring more of "Locombia" would be a lot cooler than just sitting on a boat looking out at the water.

We spent a lot of time in Cartagena de Indias, which is right on the Caribbean. It's been spared most of the problems that have plagued this country over the years, since it's kind of on the margins of the country and away from the biggest cocaine plants (from what I understand). Cartagena is very "Pirates of the Caribbean." It's the city that pretty much every pirate movie takes place in. You take a lot of interesting colonial architecture, balconies with a ton of vines, a little cracked paint, and women of African descent walking around with big trays of mangos and passion fruits balanced on their heads, and you're ready for Red Beard to jump out from behind the next building any second. Meanwhile, there are a ton of 6-foot-tall Colombian supermodels everywhere, on vacation I guess, and lots of opportunities to drink ice cold beers while sitting in hammocks. In short: paradise. Plus it's totally safe--much safer than other parts of the country. If you ever have the opportunity to come to Cartagena, you should.

We also took a side trip to Totumo Volcano, which is more like a 10-foot-tall pile of warm mud that bubbles up from the ground. Supposedly it has healing properties. Liam actually dunked his head under the surface of the mud to see just how curative it was. For a second there I wasn't sure if I'd ever see him again, but we survived. So did my watch, by the way. Takes a lickin'...

From Cartagena we took a boat about 1 hour east to Boru, which is the first of an archipelago called the Rosario Islands. We stayed at a place called Playa Blanca, which was just the textbook white sand beach with warm, crystalline turquoise waters. Nothing like eating a salad of fruits like maracuyá, mango, guanabana, pineapple while overlooking the ocean (my stomach didn't even flinch...I am invincible to South American bacteria). We also took a snorkeling tour through the coral reefs of the Rosario Islands, and I wish I could have taken pictures of what I saw under the water. I had never gone snorkeling before, so it was like a revelation to me. I felt like Jacques Cousteau...or at least like Steve Zissou. There were fish that literally glowed in purples, oranges and blues that were really striking.

Last night we went further up the Caribbean coast to the city of Santa Marta, and today we went to Tayrona National Park, a huge protected area with wild beaches and some untouched jungle a bit further inland. We hiked through the park, past leaf-carrying ants, Audrey II-like flowers and tarantulas (Liam said they were crabs, but they looked like tarantulas to me), to a gorgeous beach. If we'd had an extra day on our hands we could have hung up hammocks nearby and fallen asleep to the crashing waves, but unfortunately we had to return to Santa Marta (a trip that included an interesting, and as-yet unexplained, encounter with the cops, who stopped our bus and used a knife to cut a hole in the upholstery of the roof of the bus...luckily they didn't seem to find anything) so that we could get back to Cartagena tomorrow morning and fly to Panama tomorrow afternoon. Where we will meet up with my Stanford friend Joris, who will be flying in from Brussels tomorrow evening.

The Last Andean City-in-a-Bowl

I have to say that Bogotá was a lot like Santiago, and thus, a decidedly lackluster tourist destination. Sorry. I'm sure it would be a great place to live, as was Santiago. But in terms of sights and general spectacularness, not so much. Of course, it had some tough acts to follow (see below), so maybe I was a bit biased. But the best part of Colombia is the Colombians. And in cities, Colombians become guarded and a bit rude. And they jack up the prices on the places they go and eat.

It did have several cool attractions though, including the madness that was the restuarant Andrés Carne de Res, and the Gold Museum, with amazing artifacts on display. Pictures to come.

And even though I didn't go to Medellín, I did go to the Museum of Fernando Botero's paintings. I will post some up soon.

I am now in Cartagena, and I will write more soon, but right now the stifling heat is killing my ability to do anything other than sit in a hammock and drink beer.

So, chau. I have a Club Colombia calling my name.

Coffee and Sugar

Let me leave all self-righteousness aside for a sec and just talk about how much admiration I have for the Colombian people. Colombia is a beautiful, dynamic country, with amazingly nice people and lots of possibilities. Its only problem is that like 30-40% of its territory is a no-man's land where guerrilla fighters and paramilitary groups battle over cocaine profits. That's, like, the only problem. And this ugliness doesn't really make it to the other 70% of the country.

The other thing is that the leaders of the different factions of Colombia's civil war all totally know each other and deal with each other on an everyday basis. They make deals, they dialogue. It's not like they're surprising each other with dastardly surprise terrorist attacks at every turn. Not at all.

In general, this is a gorgeous country, and I urge everyone (don't laugh) to give it a chance. It's gorgeous. I've had an awesome time so far, and not one single problem. I've visited San Agustín, one of the most important archaeological sites in the Americas (pictured left), which was amazing. For example.

Now I am in the coffee zone, outside of Armenia, where I am staying at a traditional finca, or coffee plantation. It's so great. They wait on me hand and foot (they'd better, it's mega-expensive) and are so nice. The owner of the finca took me around teh town of Armenia today. I also visited the Coffee Amusement Park today, which included coffee roller coasters and a field of different kinds of coffee. I also learned about the process of picking, peeling, drying, toasting, packing and exporting coffee. Fun AND educational. Which describes the entire country of Colombia, in a nutshell.