FELIZ 2011

Obrigada a todos por lerem nosso blog especialmente aos nossos 17 seguidores de 2010..eeehhhhhh   :)

Feliz 2011!!!!

HAPPY 2011

Thanks everyone for reading our blog and we especially want to thank our 17 followers in 2010 ehhhhhh

HAPPY 2011!!!!!!!!!

PANAMA E EMBARCACAO DO INFERNO :P PARTE 1

Finalmente recebemos mais noticias de Debora e Patrick.

O cruzamento de fronteiras hoje em dia trata-se de uma atividade quase corriqueira, por isso passaremos direto a David, a cidade onde descansaram sua primeira noite em Panama.

Assim que chegaram a David procuraram um lugar para ficar. Dentre hoteis, moteis, hospedarias, ruas e estacionamentos, decidiram ficar num estacionamento coberto e gratuito de um mini-shopping na estrada principal que corta a cidade.Estacionaram, ajeitaram a cama na parte traseira do carro e foram assistir um filme no cinema, programinha com direito a pipoca e tudo.

No dia seguinte levantaram cedo e foram a uma cidadezinha romantica nas montanhas chamada Boquete. Cerca dali havia aguas termais que custou US$ 2.00 por pessoa.  O proprietario e um senhor muito simples e simpatico que cria animais, incluindo cavalos dancarinos que ele mesmo treina, para entreter visitantes que pagam um pouco mais. Pat teve a sorte grande de ver o famoso macaco louco que vive ali.

Hot Springs Near Boquete

Depois do banho termal seguiram a Almirante, de onde partem taxis maritimos (US$ 4.00) ate Bocas de Toro e ilhas vizinhas. Chegaram a Almirante ao cair da noite e decidiram ficar em um hotel ja que a cidade nao pareceu tao amigavel a ponto de que dormissem no carro. De manhazinha foram a Bocas de Toro onde caminharam pela ilha e pagaram US$ 20.00 para fazer uma tour com guias locais. O passeio incluiu snorkeling, visita a golfinhos e a ilha Bastimentos.  No dia seguinte deixaram o hotel e alcancaram a cidade Santiago para passar a noite.

Dolphins

Coral Caye, Bocas del Toro tour

Isla Bastimentos

Segundo Pat, a marca geografica que mais se aproxima ser a metade do caminho entre os pontos de partida e chegada da viagem, ou seja,  o ponto mediano entre San Diego nos E.U.A. e Sao Paulo no Brasil, e Pedasi. Por essa razao foram visitar a area. As praias nao estavam com aparencia muito boa, mas deve-se levar em consideracao o tempo chuvoso que tinha feito nos dias anteriores. A melhor praia na opiniao de ambos foi Distiladeros, porque era arenosa e tinha ondas grandes para surfar.

1/2 way between birthplaces San Diego & Sao Paulo

La Chorrera foi o proximo ponto de descanso. Ja uma cidade grande, demorou um tempo ate que o casal encontrasse um lugar tranquilo para dormir no carro. Conseguiram achar um bairro residencial que pareceu ser bom e la ficaram. 

De La Chorrera o caminho ate a cidade de Panama era curto e la chegaram as 8 da manha. O plano era ter o dia todo para pesquisar precos de transporte maritimo para o carro desde Colon ate Cartagena, na Colombia, o que foi cumprido vigorosamente. Optaram pela empresa ROZO & CO porque era a mais economica e tinha data de partida naquela mesma semana. Dividir o compartimento com outro carro reduziria o custo em cerca de US$ 400.00, por isso organizaram-se para poder fazer os tramites com outro casal (Lacey e Luiz) que estava fazendo uma viagem parecida.

Colon (cidade portuaria da qual os carros seriam transportados ate Colombia) estava inundada devido as chuvas cabulosas da semana. Isso gerou transito, e o pior de tudo: a queda do sistema computadorizado dos escritorios da aduana. O sistema voltou a operar cerca das 15:00 h. De la teriam que ir ao porto onde outros processos de aduana e embarque dos carros seriam feitos. Chegaram la as 15:25h onde esperaram o representante da companhia de corretores de aduana de Mario Patino que haviam contratado fazer seu trabalho. Quando ele regressou com a documentacao pronta, foram ao setor de inspecao geral dos veiculos Depois dessa inspecao, com cachorro, fotos, etc, a unica coisa a fazer era carregar os carros no compartimento. Porem, o representante da aduana de Mario Patino tinha esquecido de solicitar passes para que Pat e Luiz pudessem dirigir seus carros dentro do setor de embarque e coloca-los pessoalmente no compartimento.

O escritorio que entregava os passes ja estava fechado ha pelo menos 30 minutos o que quase causou panico geral. Depois de relutancia em desistir por parte de Luiz e Debora, uma funcionaria ligou para o setor de passes para verificar se havia alguma possibilidade  dos motoristas ainda consegui-los. Tudo foi solucionado gracas a generosidade dos funcionarios do porto que foram muito compreensivos e trabalharam quase 2 horas extras para ajudar os viajantes.

Carros carregados e trancados no compartimento, so restava voltar a cidade Panama para tomar o voo ate Cartagena.

Tempo de festas resulta em aumento de preco para tudo, por isso tiveram que pagar mais que o dobro da passagem aerea comparando a outras epocas do ano.

BOAS FESTAS!

Obs.: Para mais informacoes interessantes sobre a embarcacao do carro de Panama ate Colombia (somente em ingles :S) verifiquem a pagina da rede http://lostworldexpedition.com/Updates/
http://lostworldexpedition.com/Updates/

DICAS

- Nao comece a escrever um blog. So fotos ja esta bom.

 
 

- Se puder, evite fazer tramites como enviar carros por barco ou viajar de aviao perto de feriados porque tudo fecha, fica lotado e/ou mais caro.

DESCABELOS

- Enchentes.

- Preco de passagem aerea mais que duas vezes mais do que o previsto.

PANAMA & SHIPPING FROM HELL PART 1

We finally have some news from Debora and Patrick.

Nowadays crossing borders has become a common activity, therefore we will skip it and go straight to David, the city where they rested their first night in Panama.

As they got to David they searched for a place to stay. Amongst hotels, motels, hostels, streets and parking lots, they decided to stay in a covered and free parking lot at a plaza located by the main highway that crosses the city. They parked, fixed the bed in the back of the car and went to watch "Dinner with Idiots" in the movie theater, which included popcorn and all.

The following day they got up early and went to a romantic small town in the mountains called Boquete. Nearby there were hot springs that cost US$ 2.00 per person. The owner is a very kind man that raises animals, including dancing horses that he trains to entertain visitors willing to pay a little extra. Pat was fortunate to see the famous crazy monkey that lives there.

After the hot springs they went to Almirante from where water taxis (US$ 4.00) leave to Bocas de Toro and neighboring islands. They arrived to Almirante at dusk and decided to stay at a hotel since the town didn't seem very friendly for car sleeping. Early they left to Bocas del Toro where they walked around and paid US$ 20.00 to take a tour with local guides. It included snorkeling, dolphin sightseeing and a visit to Bastimentos island. The next morning they left the hotel and reached the city of Santiago to stay the night.

According to Pat, the geographic point that comes closest to being the mid point between the beginning and end of the trip, thus, the mid point between San Diego USA and Sao Paulo Brazil is Pedasi. For that reason they paid the area a visit. The beaches weren't looking so good, but the rainy weather that had persisted through the previous days must be taken into consideration. The best beach in their opinion was Distiladeros because it was sandy and had big waves for surfing.

Next rest stop was La Chorrera. Because it was a big city it took them a while to find a nice place to sleep in the car. They managed to find a good looking residencial area and stayed there.

From La Chorrera it was a short ride to Panama city where they arrived at 8 a.m.. The plan was to have all day to search prices for car shipment from Colon to Cartagena, Colombia, which was vigorously accomplished. They chose ROZO & CO to ship the car because they were the cheapest and had departures that same week. Sharing a container with another car would reduce about US$ 400.00 of the costs, so they got organized to be able to make the procedures with another couple (Lacey and Luiz) that was doing a similar trip.

Colon (the port town from which the cars would be transported to Colombia) was flooded due to that crazy rainy week. It caused traffic, and worst of all the failure of the customs computer system. It started working around 3 p.m.. From there they would have to go to the port where more customs procedures and loading of the car would be done. They arrived there by 3:25 p.m. where the travelers waited for the Mario Patinho Corretaje de Aduana representative they had hired to do his job. When he came back with the paperwork ready, they left to the vehicle inspection department. After the inspection with dogs, photos, etc, the only thing to do was to load the cars into the container. However, the Mario Patino Corretaje de Aduana representative had forgotten to require passes in order for Pat and Luiz to drive their cars inside the shipping and loading section and personally load the cars into the container.

The office that delivered the passes had already been closed for at least 30 minutes which almost cause general panic. After Debora and Luiz's reluctancy to give up, an employee called the pass office to verify if there was any possibility that the drivers could still get passes. Everything was solved thanks to the generosity of the port employees who were very understanding and worked almost 2 extra hours to help the travelers.

Cars loaded and locked in the container, all that was left was to go back to Panama City to fly to Cartagena.

The holidays result in raising price for everything so they had to pay more than twice as much for an air ticket compared to other times of the year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

P.S.1: for more entertaining details on our Panama/Colombia car shipping experience check out Lacey and Luiz's webpage http://lostworldexpedition.com/Updates/

P.S.2: the editor was somewhat drunk so this posting may not be so good

TRICKS

- Don't start writing a blog, pictures are enough.

- Avoid transactions like shipping cars or flying near holidays because everything closes, gets crowded and/or more expensive.

TROUBLES

- Floods

- Flight tickets over twice as expensive as foreseen.

COSTA RICA

With no corruption or obnoxious "tramitantes" at the border, things went smoothly despite the large number of office windows they had to visit in order to complete the paperwork to exit Nicaragua and enter Costa Rica.

The first stop on the list was the area called Rincon de La Vieja where they arrived at dusk and luckily found the Rio Negro hot springs with ease. There they bathed on Thanksgiving evening and went to camp in the car at the park's parking lot afterwards.

RIO NEGRO HOT SPRINGS

At sunlight they cooked breakfast, and after a 20 minute walk from the parking lot they got to Oropendola waterfall, a natural shower above a clear blue water pool. Not bad to start the day.

OROPENDOLA

From there they tried to see La Cangreja waterfall, but the entrance fee to the park was US$ 10.00 so they didn't go. They hung out all day visiting private land attractions such as the red pond, Vitoria and Las Chorreras waterfalls, and after dusk went back to Rio Negro hot springs, which are great, before camping again.

LAS CHORRERAS

RED POND

DONKEY LOVE

On the contrary to their precarious journey to Nicaragua's pacific coastline, Costa Rica's costal access was found in excellent condition, so they got to Papagayo Peninsula with no problems. After passing a security gate for the Four Seasons Hotel chain, they went to the visitants beaches. You can drive or take the free bus that leaves every 5 minutes.

LOTS OF MONKEYS NEAR THE BEACH

PLAYA EL VIRADOR

The day was reserved for the coast so from there they stopped quickly on Hermosa, Del Coco, Ocotal and Flamingo beaches. Flamingo is a wealthy town, filled with mansions and fancy hotels, it also looks very safe so they decided to camp there. Despite its appearance, they were awakened by cops and warned of the dangers of the place. Debora believes they were just curious and maybe even planning on opening the car for some goods, but were surprised by the sleeping couple inside.

NEAR PLAYA FLAMINGO

PUPPY ISLAND AT TAMARINDO

They went to Tamarindo beach in the morning from where they left the coast towards Lake Arenal, which they reached in the afternoon. Pat had already been to that area with his family so he knew there was easy access to free hot springs somewhere. It is near Tabacon resort where there is a hot water river flowing abundantly.

FREE HOT SPRINGS

They weren't able to see Arenal Volcano completely because the first day its peak was covered by clouds, and the following day it was virtually gone due to rainy weather. It was okay though, since the volcano had been sleeping for 25 days and the wait for its activity was supposedly a month away.

They continued on a scenic route where they saw many waterfalls and cloud forests, drove through San Jose where they only got lost for nearly 10 minutes, and continued to San Isidro de El General where they slept at a hostel.

ROADSIDE SCENERY

The next day started with a wait of about 1 hour of traffic with no apparent reason on the road to Platanillo. As soon as traffic moved they reached a dirt road that would take them to a waterfall considered by many to be the most beautiful in Costa Rica.

They arrived in Quepos and Manuel Antonio late afternoon and stayed at a "private" hostel for no one was there, for US$ 10.00 each. Manuel Antonio is a very touristy town and has a relaxing atmosphere.

Debora and Pat didn't enter Manuel Antonio Park or spend much time there because they are always on the move, but they highly recommend the visit.

Panama coming up soon!

TRICKS

- Void driving on dirt roads for long if they start to look bad.  Rain can fall any time and the situation could go from bad to worst in a slight of hand.

- Poach attractions, many of them have been seen for free due to lack of shame.

TROUBLES

- Lots of rain.

- Traffic and slow trucks.

COSTA RICA

Sem corrupcao ou tramitantes chatos e persistentes, a coisa fluiu bem apesar da grande quantidade de escritorios/janelas que tiveram que "visitar" para fazer documentacao de saida de NIcaragua e entrada em Costa Rica.

A primeira parada na agenda foi a regiao de Rincon de La Vieja onde chegaram ao cair da tarde e com sorte,  encontraram as termas Rio Negro facilmente. Banharam-se ali e depois dirigiram ao estacionamento do parque para acampar no carro. 

Com o sair do sol, fizeram cafe-da-manha e, depois de 20 minutos de caminhada desde o estacionamento chegaram a cachoeira Oropendola, um chuveiro natural sobre uma piscina clara de agua azul. Nada mal para comecar o dia. De la tentaram ver a La Cangreja, outra cachoeira na lista, mas a entrada do parque custava 10 dolares, por isso nao foram. Passearam o dia todo, visitando propriedade alheia como a poca vermelha, as cachoeiras Las Chorreras e Vitoria, e voltaram as termas Rio Negro, que sao otimas, antes de acamparem novamente.

Ao contrario do caminho em direcao a praia que tomaram em Nicaragua, este estava em excelentes condicoes e chegaram a peninsula Papagayo sem problema algum. Depois de passar por um portao de seguranca da rede de hoteis Four Seasons, foram as praias de visitantes. Pode-se dirigir ou tomar o onibus gratuito que sai cada 5 minutos.

O dia foi reservado para o litoral, entao de la pararam rapidamente nas praias Hermosa, Del Coco, Ocotal e Flamingo. Flamingo e uma cidade rica, cheia de mansoes, caros hoteis e parece muito segura, por isso decidiram acampar la.  Apesar das aparencias, foram acordados por policiais e  avisados de que o local era perigoso. Debora acha que eles so estavam curiosos e talvez ate planejando abrir o carro para mercadorias, mas acabaram surpreendendo-se com sua presenca.

Foram a praia Tamarindo pela manha e de la partiram em direcao ao lago Arenal, cujo alcancaram a tarde. Pat ja havia visitado a regiao com sua familia antes, por isso sabia que poderiam  encontrar acesso gratuito as aguas termais facilmente. O acesso encontra-se ao lado do resort Tabacon onde um rio de aguas quentes corre abundantemente.  Nao puderam ver o vulcao Arenal completamente porque, no primeiro dia, seu topo estava coberto por nuvens e no dia seguinte era como inexistente devido tempo nublado e chuvoso. Mas tudo bem, ja que o vulcao estava dormindo ha 25 dias e uma espera aproximada de mais 30 dias  ate que revelasse suas chamas era aguardada.

Continuaram sua rota cenica onde observaram varias cachoeiras e topos de montanhas, passaram pela cidade de San Jose onde se perderam por somente cerca de 10 minutos, e continuaram ate San Isidro de El General onde dormiram em um albergue.

O dia seguinte comecou com uma espera no transito de cerca de 1 hora, sem razao aparente, na estrada ate Platanillo. Logo depois que liberaram o transito alcancaram a rua de terra que os levaria a cachoeira considerada por muitos a mais bela de Costa Rica. 

Chegaram a area de Quepos e Manuel Antonio no fim de tarde e ficaram em um albergue "privado" pois nao havia ninguem mais ali, por US$ 10,00 cada. Manuel Antonio e uma cidade bem turistica que tem uma atmosfera relaxante.

Debora e Pat nao foram ao Parque Manuel Antonio, ou gastaram muito tempo la porque estao sempre "de saida", mas recomendam a visita.

Aguarde, Panama vem ai!

DICAS

- Evite continuar em estradas de terra por muito tempo se nao parecerem boas desde o principio. Chuva pode cair a qualquer momento e a situacao ir de mal a pior num piscar de olhos.

- Va de bicao em atracoes, muitas delas foram vistas de graca devido a cara-de-pau.

DESCABELOS

- Muita chuva.

- Transito e caminhoes lentos.