Once they finally got to some warm weather, we spent the day
relaxing at our pool with some beverages, catching up on everything we’ve
missed over the past few months. It was
great to have everyone back together! We
toured around the city and just enjoyed everyone’s company.
We headed out to the Gatun Locks the next day, located on the Caribbean side near Colon. There’s a section with a draw bridge which allows you to drive across the canal, right in front of the lock holding all the water. Very cool! We watched some ships pass through and, even though Bill could have stayed there and watched for days, the rest of us were ready for the beach. We drove about 30 more minutes to the local Caribbean beach we like, Playa La Angosta. Since it was a weekday, the beach was empty and quiet, making it a very relaxing experience. The Woods got a taste of some true Panamanian food when we stopped for lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall place in the town of Portobelo. Pretty much the only option was fried fish and rice, so at least it was easy to order.
We were also able to spend a day at a Pacific side beach as
well, Playa Santa Clara. We relaxed in
the hammocks, played some card games, and watched some fisherman bring in
crates full of the day’s catch!
Koi was able to do a time share swap and rented a big room
at the Gamboa Resort. After spending a few nights in the city, we
moved to the rainforest. It is a
beautiful resort, surrounded by mountains and rivers. It has restaurants and pools, everything you
can ask for! Koi, Daniel, and Roxc were able to take a hike in the jungle,
while Bill, Matt, and Alex went back to the canal to watch more ships. Meanwhile, I napped by the pool.
For our last day in Panama, we were able to enjoy watching
the Seahawks win the NFC Championship!
Earlier in the day, everyone went to the fish market to get lobsters for
dinner, and had a snack of fresh ceviche.
All dressed in our Hawks gear, we all hunkered down on the couch and
cheered our team on. It was super fun
for Alex and I to be around fellow Hawk fans again J.
Sunday morning, Alex, Bill, Koi, and I left early for the
airport to head to Costa Rica. MD&R
left later that night on the bus. Koi
was able to use her time share swap again and snagged an awesome townhouse in
San Jose for the week. Alex and I were
only able to join them until Wednesday because I had to go back to work L.
The first day in CR, the four of use rented a car and drove about
an hour and a half to a beach town called Jaco.
It was amazing! So amazing that Alex
and I ended up going back a couple more times that week! It’s a pretty well-developed surfer town,
with shops, bars, restaurants, and condo buildings. It had a long, clean beach and you could look
back and see the mountains in the other direction. We had lunch and swam, and then headed back
to SJ.
Monday was Alex’s birthday!
Big 2-8! The clan had discounted tour packages for the week, but we did
not, since we were leaving early. So
Bill and Koi began their tour on Monday, and Alex and I headed back toward Jaco
beach. We wanted to find a waterfall to
hike to, but didn’t want to be surrounded by tourists the whole time. As we entered the beach area, there was a
river that was covered with huge crocodiles.
We sat and watched them for a while, amazed by their size and
quantity. We assumed they hung out there
all the time because so many people feed them.
Smart little suckers. We
continued driving along the road and there were commercial signs for hikes and
adventure tours everywhere. We then saw
a hand-made, chicken scratch sign that just said, “Waterfall. You can swim,”
with an arrow directing us to the left.
We decided to follow that sign, and it took us up along this long windy
road for a while. We finally reached it,
and although skeptical, we went for it.
It was very well-manicured trail, but physically pretty difficult as
well. We hiked about an hour in and
found the waterfall. Alex thought he was
going to stand under it, until he realized how powerful that sucker was. There were some swimming holes, so we took a
dip and had a snack. We did not see even
one person on that trail! We had it all
to ourselves. Super awesome. We hiked back out and checked out the town
some more, then headed back to SJ to meet up with everyone for a birthday
dinner. DM&R were pretty exhausted
from their 17 hour bus ride (ugh! Poor guys!), but they powered through to
celebrate with Alex.
The Clan continued with their tours the next day, so Alex
and I went and checked out some volcanos.
We went up to Volcan Poas, which is a huge crater with a lake in
it. You have to go super early in order
to beat the late morning clouds that roll in.
Unfortunately, we didn’t make it before that, and man was it cold! And wet! We hadn’t felt that cold from natural weather
since we left Seattle. It also didn’t help
that we showed up with shorts and t-shirts.
Oops. We walked around a bit, drove
around in the mountains, and then bought some fresh strawberries and cheese
from a stand on the side of the road.
The Clan wouldn’t be back until late (they had an awesome day exploring
Volcan Arenal), so, again, we went back to Jaco. We love that place! We swam and then grabbed dinner at an amazing
sushi restaurant called Tsunami Sushi.
Sooo delicious!
Our last day with the Clan was spent lounging by the pool at our place. We enjoyed our visit with the Wood Clan so much! As always, it was hard to say goodbye. They continued their adventure the rest of the week exploring tons of volcanos and beaches around San Jose. I went back to work the next day, and our 4-week adventure was over L. Koi and Roxc took tons of pictures and Koi created two awesome slideshows that capture each country. Check them out: Panama Slideshow Costa Rica Slideshow
Thank you so much,
you guys, for coming to see us!
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