Panama City in Carnaval

Panama City! We were looking forward to being in a big city, we hadn't been in one like this for about 4 months. There's actually a metro in this city, which you can take for 35 cents! We were here for about a week to experience Carnaval and the city in all it's glory. 

To be honest we were a little disappointed in Carnaval. We had read that Panama was a pretty good place to celebrate Carnaval if you can't make it to Brazil. Turns out the best place in Panama to celebrate Carnaval is in the smaller towns, not Panama City. Small towns sell out pretty quick though so we just had to accept we were in Panama City and try to make the best of it, even though people were constantly saying how much better Carnaval is in Brazil and Italy. 

We still had some fun, but as usual the lesson is manage your expectations!

Panama City had the most Pimped out Chicken Buses we'd seen. Look at that lift. 

They had also gotten creative with the skyscrapers. 

So Carnaval in Panama City is held on one of the main streets, causing some traffic issues. It helps most of the locals leave town. Carnaval went from Friday evening to Tuesday night so we wondered up and down this street a lot. Tuesday is the big day but generally every day was about the same. A typical walk through Carnaval would include eating some street meat, drinking a beer, being hit by water guns and maybe catching a parade. If you are ever in Panama City for Carnaval I would suggest just going for Tuesday. It maybe also didn't help that this year they started charging for things they hadn't before angering many locals.

You have to go past security to get into Carnaval. You're separated into boys and girls to be frisked. The first night we entered I had my bobby pin taken off me. A BOBBY PIN! I could do more damage with the meat on a stick they sell inside! As Carnaval went on though we realised we got special privilege for being obviously a tourist. For some reason we got to skip the queues and the frisking, this was awesome when we got to skip maybe an hour wait on Tuesday. The only time being super white paid off.

The high light of Carnaval was probably playing with some of the local kids, sliding down hills on cardboard and dishing out payback for being attached with canned foam.

Foam Party in the middle of the day

We weren't even in the official Carnaval area here but these kids were filling plastic bags up with water. One of them attacked me twice by punching me in the butt with a bag of water. 

On Sunday there was a parade featuring more traditional dress

The Parade on Tuesday was more what I'd been picturing. It went around and around alllllll night. 

There were some pretty interesting costumes.

 

The Queen of Carnaval

It wasn't all Carnaval though. 

Casco  Viejo - an interesting mix of old and new

 Being Touristy

Tasty Ceviche and other Awesome Panamanian Snacks. Shared between 4 people this is still the most expensive meal we've had on this trip so far. 

 Of course we also visited the canal! We watched two big ships make their way through the locks and watched a video that smelled slightly of propaganda. When you stop and think how long ago they built the canal (with steam shovels) it's pretty impressive. It's also interesting seeing the force behind Panama City.

You maybe can't see but Gladstone made it one this map!

Thanks Central America, it's been a blast. See you soon South America!

An Escape to the Mountains - Welcome to Panama

We made it to Panama and crossing the border was as confusing as ever. You have to pay an exit tax of $8 when leaving Costa Rica but we couldn't figure out where to pay it for a while. Certainly not where you hand in your departure form, no, that would make too much sense. After some confusion and disbelief we finally accepted that the "office" you had to pay your departure tax at was actually this van! It's literally two young people sitting in a van with laptops and a printer. 

After the confusing border run we headed straight for Boquete, a chilled mountain town, hoping to escape the heat for a while. While it could still warm up during the day a jumper was normally necessary during the night, always a nice change.

At some point in some magazine Boquete was nominated a top retirement destination and is now filled with expat retirees. This was a constant source of entertainment from the expat market where you can buy German Sausage in a carpark and the stereotypical American accents greeting each other on the corner.

We didn't end up doing a whole lot during our 5 night stay in the hopes of saving some money after an expensive Corcovado trip and an upcoming expensive sailing trip. We mostly wondered around, enjoyed the fresh air and good food at a local bakery.

Our one "activity" was to visit some hot springs. We do love hot springs. These were the least developed ones we'd been to yet, giving them their own charm.  After the bus drops you off it's a 45 minute walk in the hot sun by which time you aren't really in the mood for some hot springs. Luckily though there's also a freezing river near-by to refresh yourself in.

The hot springs are pretty much just on someone's farm and you have to pay them $2 to hang around. These people had heated little rivers running through their properties, making for probably some of the most spoiled ducks in the world and a beautiful spot.

The heated water also ran into the side of the river, almost the perfect temperature. 

These guys were just strolling around

One of the pools. As nice as it was we couldn't stay in for long for fear of fainting. 

The trip wouldn't be complete without a goat up a tree

What's Your Favourite Logo

I thought a fun little challenge to set myself would be to design a logo for the blog. I came up with four final options but couldn't pick one. Since people seem to actually read this blog I thought it might be fun to get you to vote for your favourite to become the new official Pork and Apple logo!

Please bear in mind that I have limited resources and arguably skills.

The Options are:

A. Apple eats Pig

B. Badass Pig

C. Happy Pig with Red Apple

D. Happy Pig with Green Apple

You can vote over there to the right. Voting closes 1st March.

Thanks for actually reading this!

Manuel Antonio and Parque Nacional Corcovado

I loved all of it so be prepared for a very photo heavy post!

Manuel Antonio

We had two days just chilling at the beach at Manual Antonio and enjoying the coastal view from our hostel. I’d spent a stupid amount on new togs in San Jose (I was sick of looking for them so I finally just bought a pair) and I was keen to try them out. They did the job. The time here was short but enjoyed. The avocados were good.

I bought a sarong!

Corcovado

Corcovado National Park was named by National Geographic as one of the most biologically diverse places on earth. Every time we mentioned to a Costa Rican that we would be finishing our trip with Corcovado their eyes would light up and they would be really excited for us.

It was a bit of a trip to get there and so far has been our most expensive activity but it was amazing. We had 1.5 days of hiking through the park looking for animals and enjoying the beautiful beaches and flora. By the end of it I think I was in one of my top 5 stinkiest moments – it was hot and humid in there.

A big thanks goes to our guide Luis who showed us around, kept us safe and used his detective skills to find us when we didn’t show up to the meeting point at 5:30am due to a failed alarm. Always set two alarms!

Instead of going through the photos chronologically I’m just going to put them in somewhat sensical groups. 

The Animals

The Birds

Before we'd even made it to the park our driver took us to see this Common Potoo (in cryptic pose). Can you see the baby? I couldn't see it until I looked closely at the photos afterwards. I thought it was pregnant! This was a pretty awesome start to the trip. 

                                          

Scarlet Macaw along the beach

Common Black Hawk

Female Black-throated Trogon - In the same family as a Quetzal, this is as close as we've come to seeing one so far.

The Monkeys

The park was full of monkeys and the best thing about monkeys is they travel in groups so you'll always see a bunch of them.  The first family we came across were these White-throated Capuchin Monkeys. They came so close to us, like they were curious. Then in a split second they started freaking out and getting angry so we quickly moved along. My current theory is that they saw us smiling and they thought us bearing our teeth was threatening.

From this....

.... to this!

A family of spider monkeys with a curious baby

Squirrel Monkey. Corcovado was the first time we got to see Squirrel Monkeys and they were adorable!

Costa Rica had four different types of monkeys. The only one not pictured here is the Howler Monkey, but don't worry, we saw and heard plenty of them here. 

The Bats

These are the only pair of bats we saw in Corcovado. I think they're Common Tent-making bats, but I'm not totally sure. They flew away just after this photo, I think I maybe got too close. Sorry to the older couple who were also looking at them, I hope you'd taken some good photos!

Other Mammals

We's seen a few coati before now but we'd never seen them is such huge groups before. At one point we were walking along the track and a group of about 20 or so ran across it right in front of us. We also discovered they like to hang out in trees, saw a whole family spread out in the branches of a few trees. 

When we first started seeing coatis around we could never remember their real name so we just called them nose bears. In Guatemala a German guy told us that he didn't know what they were called in English but the literal translation from German was Nose Bear. 

While we were waiting for the boat another group told us they'd seen an anteater just 100 m down the track. We quickly dashed off trying to find it. On the way we met another guide who told us they'd just seen it but it had been moving around so we probably wouldn't find it. I don't know how but I actually spotted it! We got a few minutes of good anteater action. In Puerto Viejo de Talamanca at the Jaguar Rescue Center we had been told we'd be pretty lucky to see one in the wild since they're always up trees. We felt privileged to be able to watch it stick it's head into a termites nest. 

The Crabs

For some reason in one spot we found a lot of these dead Mangrove Crabs. A few were covered in other crabs - crab cannibalism. 

I have never seen so many hermit crabs in my life! There were hoards of them. Sometimes it seemed like the ground was moving, with a slight rattle. I was also witness to many a crab orgy throughout the park, usually involving coconut. Turns out crabs are crazy about coconut. 

The Tapir

Our main goal for Corcovado was to see a tapir. Check! They are one of the craziest animals I've ever seen, it was amazing watching this young male emerge from the forest, have a dip in the river, walk along the beach, have a nap and then a snack, all as if we weren't there. Tapirs are endangered so it made the whole experience feel even more special. 

The Creepy Crawlies

On one of the paths someone had made a mark to warn hikers about the presence of a dangerous snake, the Fer-de-lance, in the area. We walked past that path a few times over the two days, each time stopping to have a look but never being successful until another group were there at the same time and their guy spotted it! Apparently they don't move much. Their awesome camouflage skills make them even more dangerous as people often don't even know they're there. 

I think this might be some kind of spider, although I can only count 5 legs. Either way, I thought it looked pretty cool. 

On the way back from finding the anteater we followed another group of people off track to find a mumma caiman and her babies. The babies were so tiny it would have been so easy to miss therm. 

The Park

The park itself is pretty amazing, a mix of beaches and jungle. Although the beaches look amazing you can't swim there because of dangerous currents and sharks, so you have to be content to just look, even though it's so hot!

Where the jungle meets the sea

Whale Bones Near the Beach

To get to the rangers station we had to walk at least an hour on the beach. While it looks amazing it was the hardest part of the whole trek. Alex had to fashion an impromptu hat. 

A break at the end of the beach stint. 

Rangers Station - after 20km of walking we were pretty happy to make it here. This is where we spent the night, in a dorm we shared with a mouse and many mosquitoes. 

Luis took us to the beach to watch sunset. (Alex was playing with settings on the camera hence our funny colour. The sun may have had something to do with it too though)

The forest was filled with stunning old trees and brightly coloured flowers. 

Some of those trees were as dangerous as the animals. 

Going "Home"

We'd had our bags flown into the rangers station and were told to wait in the boat area for the boat that was going to take us up to Drake's Bay where we had accommodation for the night. Turned out waiting for the boat meant waiting for the tide to come in. At some point someone must have realised this was going to take too long as they assembled a group of all the different boat drivers and pushed the various boats out until they hit the incoming tide. 

During our ride to Drakes Bay we even got to see a few dolphins skipping about. Drakes Bay was small but nice. Upon arrival to our accommodation we inquired about taking a bus out in the morning as we'd been told there were buses we could catch. We were informed that there was one local guy who owned a bus and sometimes he left at 4am, sometimes he didn't and it wasn't safe. So rather than risk an unsafe bus that maybe left at 4am going I don't know where we opted for the boat out option instead. And so started our journey to Panama. 

Contrary to popular backpacker belief we've both really enjoyed Costa Rica. We'd been told that you can do everything you can do in Costa Rica in Nicaragua but for half the price. I find this to be a bit of an insult to both countries. They both have their own things going on and feel very different from each other. I've never been anywhere so full of wildlife as Corcovado (excluding zoos). 

A lot of photos didn’t turn out so well so some of the animals we saw that weren’t pictured here are: a squirrel, an agouti (a big rodent), families of peccaries (wild boars), Toucans, Curassows (like turkeys), a great egret, vultures, humming birds, pigeons, some kind of forest chicken, Jesus Christ lizards, some kind of lizard fighting a grasshopper, a bunch of other lizards and leaf cutter ants. 

Pura Vida