Costa Rica 2018

For dinner, I ate lobster with red sauce, afro-Carribean style

The islands main water source

The guide here is on top of meditation rock. He claims he is a descendant to Captain Henry Morgan. Thus his name, Otis Henry. He says he lived up on this mountain for several years practicing 'white magic' and studying the medicinal herbs of the area. He says you can get Jamaican radio from up on top.

He is part owner in the two room hotel I am staying. He told me about the walk and I joined him and the guide.

busy rolling one of several joints in his way up and down the mountain

The breeze was refreshing

View of the airport and the worlds third largest reef

This species makes its way to the ocean several times a year where the island closes the roads down for the migration

The guide I had was versed in the medicinal plants along the way

The first day on Providencia is walking to the top of the island.

The entire back area use to be cut off by the Reef until the jack hammer showed up. There are many animals that live in the rocks especially the black iguanas.

The place is very shady.

The place I stayed in San Andres is called The Rock House. The owner guy used a jack hammer to carve off the old reef which now consist of this wall. The cistern on top collects all the rain water that falls into a cistern underneath the property.  So when one of those tropical showers come through, they pump that water up to service all 13 units of people who may come through! They even have a hose that goes from my AC into a 50gallon barrel, using the water to wash the car etc.

San Andres is breath takingly beautiful!

This is actually right next to the landing strip.

Of course, I walked toward this as others seemed to keep their distance.

A fight had broken out and the police became involved. Gun shots were fired. Someone's motor bike was set on fire, only to explode. It was nuts!

A sweet coconut rice with shrimp and plantains mixed in. Then on top, a salad of sorts, consisting in fried onion, lettuce, fresh mango chunks. It all worked very well together.

Milk was added, along with Mango and lettuce. It actually was delicious! Banana chips complimented the ceviche, typical of Central America.

I could look over the side from my chair and see fish swimming in the water!

These guys were fishing with a simple line next to the restaurant. Turns out that wasnt allowed by the manager.

This restaurant was exceptional. I got there as soon as they opened at noon.

After some thought, I decided that Cartagenas energetic city life was a little much. So I have bought a ticket to the amazing San Andres Island, with the intention to go on to Provincia Isla which is even more remote!

Beautiful Terrace

While I ended up laying out $27 for this meal, it was worth the culinary experience. Coconut milk is a wonderful addition when added to anything!

I was walking along the wall and noticed up ahead some young gringo hipster looking guy with a beard, posing for pictures with several excited looking Colombians. I found it kind of strange as I never come across  Colombians excited to have their photo with me! As I drew closer, the gringo looked familiar. At the moment I began to recognize him, some Colombians were yelling to me "Hey, my friend!" I looked behind me when he said that, not playing along. But when I recognized the gringo as Seth Rogen, I realized I was in the wrong place. In the pic enclosed, there is the filming area for some period piece around the Spanish American war.

The day was absolutely beautiful!

Getting off the plane in Cartagena, the first thing I noticed was the thickness of the humidity. Next was the underlying wiff of sewage. Old town Cartagena wasn't noticable. But around the airport and where I stayed seemed pervasive. And where I stayed was no where like the enclosed photo. It was in some barrio near Old Town.

This picture captures my experience of Cartagena. The little bit of the wall embodies the history. Yet the massive development behind embodies how much tourism simply overwhelms everything else. There are also the cruise ships not seen in the photo. As Cartagena is pretty hot with humidity, I was busy enjoying the breeze from up on the wall. I could see a vendor keep referring to white tourists that would pass by in German. I asked him why everyone seemed to be German. He pulled out an official looking list of all the cruise ships scheduled to come in and where they are from. Smart guy!

This hotel is next to the famous wall of the city. I had lunch in here upon the recommendation of a Colombian woman: specifically "cazerol mariscos". It was amazing! The rice was cooked with sweet coconut milk, as was the fish stew.

I decided after three days in Pasto that 2550meters altitude was a bit too much for me. So I reluctantly changed my plans thinking it was wise to address the altitude sickness. Basically, I would wake up nauseated, feel lethargic and spacey throughout the day, and have a mild headache. Yeah, I am disappointed I gave up on my plan to explore northern Ecuador. But health is really a non starter. Luckily, I got on the only plane leaving Pasto that day as high winds canceled flights all day! The Andes are massive with mountain peaks at different elevations creating wind conditions like cross currents hitting you from multiple directions.

After a frightening drive to the airport packed into a collectivo taxi, I flew from Medellin to Bogota to Pasto today. The flight is cheap compared to flying into Ecuador. I saved a 15hr bus ride doing so. In the next several days I will go to Ibara then Cotocochi visiting expats there. Given the towns are at 8000ft and the nearby ridges you drive over are 3-4000 ft higher, the Andes are high elevation country! The airport near Pasco is situated on what appears to be a carved off mountain top. It was quite an approach flying in an Airbus wondering where the pilot would find a flat enough area to put a jet down.  Pasco has a massive volcano nearby.

Hard to get the perspective

Thick corn cakes or tortillas

After looking at the weather back home, i decided to head south to Medellin as Todd headed north back to work. I have a friend there I had hoped to see. As he is up in Boston working, I am staying at his house.

We ate at a tremendous fish place in Alajuela. The pic is of the Sea Bass sandwich.

We had the room where the green curtains are. The bathroom was up the steps to the left.