The Darien Plan...

The Darien Gap! One of the most ecologically diverse places on the planet is also one of the most impenetrable. Separating Panama from Columbia, its about 9000 square kilometers of dense jungle- think blowguns and poison dart frogs. We've only read about one group who drove through, often building their own bridges and winching their cars forward. It took them 4 months to cover a couple hundred kilos in custom 4x4 rigs. After careful deliberation, we have opted to ship our car. Aboard a giant shipping boat, around the Darien from Colon, Panama to Cartagena Columbia our van will voyage in a 40 foot container . Details and logistical challenges will be posted soon. The good news is we've found a couple from LA who we are sharing a shipping container with and should save us hundreds on the booking. We plan to "follow" the van on a 57' sailboat through the San Blas Islands :)

So we are off tomorrow for Panama! its been a killer month in Puerto Viejo and we've had a blast. Linds and i needed to get off the road for a while and sleep under a fan- on the still, humid nights sleeping in the van we would sweat through the floorboards. It's been a month of swinging in hammocks, reading afternoons away, surfing, some grommet stovetop action, cribbage tournaments and plenty of cold Imperials. We've learned a few things…

1. Don't bring your car to the local mechanic Danny. He runs a carwash/garage an should stick to washing cars. He charged us $300 for a brake job, did it wrong and after driving to Limon we had it done the right way for $20(and the guy only wanted $10 and someone to talk to).

2. The bugs always look bigger when you wake up to hit the toilet.

3. Ants like sugar.

4. Be reeeeaaaal careful about giving fantasy football advise to the locals. Especially for the superbowl. I almost cost Tom, the owner of Bread and Chocolate the title. Phew.

5. Leather does not belong in Puerto Viejo. One week had transformed my wallet into a fuzzy Chia Pet. Sorry mom- guess you'll have to go back to Spain for another one!(see below)

6. Jungle creatures don't eat cabbage. Linds tried to create a little treat in the yard to lure some critters in about 3 weeks ago, and we still have a pile of cabbage down there.

7. If you're staying over for a month, don't rent bikes- buy 'em! We bought two bikes for $140 rode all month and sold them fast for $50. $90/31 days =$2.90/2bikes = $1.45 per day, per bike. Better than the $10 a day at the rental stands.

8. We may open a laundromat and retire down here. Nothing dries on a clothesline so we paid the local ladies 1500 colones($3) per kilo for laundry. Thats a ton.

9. Just because you've surfed a few times before doesn't mean you're ready for a 6'1'' ultra-light shortboard(the "Pygmy).

And lastly, I'd like to congratulate the El Beardos, our fantasy football team for winning the superbowl last week.

pygmy and the train!

outta stickers, but had a sharpie!

leather + puerto viejo = no good!

fishin for limes

Raul's garage in limon

xmas potluck!

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends back at home, and to those out on the road! I hope it was only a few of you who got coal in your stockings! haha We spent Christmas with great company at a potluck at a super cool botanical gardens a little north of town. Good food and good people. If you cant have your own family with you, make a temporary one! Christmas abroad doesn't get much better than that. 

Brian and I both agree that it couldn't have happened at a better time or place, if it had to happen. Claudette finally broke down. The old girl has taken amazing care of us and if something had to happen, say for example, the brakes going out, better to happen three miles from our treehouse than driving up and over a volcano in the highlands of guatemala. 

Fortunately we were able to get her to the only mechanic in town, Danny, which unfortunately caused people to wince in pain when we told them what happened and where our van was currently residing.  Danny, who fortunately spoke english, is the kind of person who unfortunately gazes off in the distance with a little spittle rolling from his mouth when you are asking him questions about your "casa movil". But enough teasing. To his credit, he was able to get us parts from San Jose (new brake pads, a machined brake rotor and new tubes for a mere 300.00) and put it all back together again. The van is still acting a little suspicious so we are going to try and get a few second opinions. 

While Claudette was at the doctors, we continued to explore Puerto Viejo (on bikes of course!) and we definitely like what we see. Our surfing skills are steadily getting improving, though neither of us are quite ready to tackle the famous break Salsa brava, which consists of a monstrous mountain of ocean rolling over razor sharp reef.  My ice-cream homing beacon even went off one night and we stumbled upon the most amazing hand made gelato place. The only downfall is that you cant fall in love with just one flavor…they change every day. Which isn't too bad after all.

We call it the train. Its about 35 years old and weighs  about 50 lbs. But it is a wave catching machine!

A praying mantis taking a seat on a nalgene

Can you spot all five toucans? 

Desayuno at the treehouse. Toucans are LOUD! They remind me of naughty teenagers.

Our favorite breakfast place in town. Homemade everything! Yum!! Were begging them to come to Portland. Keep your fingers crossed!

Our little jungle style Christmas tree

Neville taking a mid-day snooze in his favorite spot. He only wakes up to scratch his belly!

Poor Claudette! 

Brian enjoying some Deelite gelato. Sabor de dia: Cinnamon!

A little two-toed sloth buddy er.... putting his feet up at a pizza place 

They aren't kidding when they call it playa negra... black sand beach! A well deserved surf break

On another ride with Amelie... stopping for a chat with some friends in town

Pura Vida

We can now see why many travelers get "stuck" in Puerto Viejo... Caribbean beach steps away, little restaurants that rival our favorite hole in the walls in Portland, great bars and friendly locals everywhere. Our friends at Tasty Waves, have a taco and beer joint on the shore & even broadcast NFL games on Sundays. If we didn't have passage booked on a sailboat to Cartagena, it'd be a safe bet that we'd extend our stay here for a good bit longer.

A couple of weeks back, we offered a friend we met, Amelie to help scrub down a handful of her horses. She runs a great stable jut outside of town, and if you're in PV be sure to pay a visit caribehorse.com. Amelie had just bought three new horses and returned the favor a few days ago by inviting us for a ride down the beach to mingle the new horses with the old.

I let Lindsay park the van...

We also paid a visti to the Jaguar Rescue Center south of town in Cocles. A couple have been running the rescue as a nonprofit for 8 years to help return injured or confiscated animals to the wild. Its a great way to learn a little about all the wildlife that your practically on top of down here.

This one really liked Linds...

Red Eyed Tree Frog

A little R and R

Living in a tree house in the rainforest is as cool as it sounds. The transition from life in Portland, with schedules and busy jobs to life on the road wasn't as hard as we thought. Daily activities of living, ie. eating and having clean clothes become little adventures in themselves, not to mention keeping busy from navigating the over 10,000 miles tread by claudette's four wheels. Whew. 

But now Claudette is parked under a banana tree. And there is a bit more transition to slow down to tree house speed. We are almost there. Lots of practice in hammock time, surf time, reading time, coffee and cervesa drinking time, bike riding time, food preparation and eating time, and other general rest and relaxation times are required. We are learning much from the sloths that live in our tree. Just take it slow. 

Then there are the bugs. Lots of bugs. In about a week we have become near- experts on the multitudes of ants that will swarm anything with a hint of sugar on it. Ziplocks are your best friend in a tree house. The light to the bedroom must stay off at night with the door closed due to the curiosity of any number of winged critter ranging from the size of your thumbnail to your palm. Mosquito nets with the corners tightly tucked guarantee a good nights sleep sans unwanted guests. Don't mind the little termite wood poops littered in some very inconvenient spots, just go grab the broom. And always, always look before you touch. Bugs? No big deal! 

But I still get squeamish with the centipede-ish critters. Too many legs. Ick. And Brian may or may not holler like a schoolgirl if there is a big spider nearby. 

We hit 10,000 miles near Volcan Arenal! Whoo hooo!!

Chicken parmesan on the stove top. We might both be a little rounder when we come back.  

Evening in Puerto Viejo

Surfer dude!

I feel like im back in Portland with all the bicycles here!

Biking to the beach

Big jungle roots

A little read over the ocean

Cool natural bridge 

I cant describe in words how excited I am to have a real fridge again! Milk! Cheese! Cold beer!!

A happy little buddy under the sink. 

Where we spend a good portion of our time. 

Yum red snapper! Caught just hours before it hit my belly!!

New friends. As you can see we didn't have any leftovers.  Josh on the right even ate  one fish eye.  As a courtesy I wont post those pictures : )

Welcome To The Jungle!

We'll let the pictures do most of the talking here. Jungle, bugs, beach, our crazy new house; its been an amazing week. Puerto Viejo is on the southwest (Caribbean) coast of Costa Rica and is literally where the jungle meets the beach. Its way off the tourist circuit and a large afro-caribean influence. Great surf, cheap beer, and incredible wildlife kinda sealed the deal. We rented this place while in Mazatlan over a month ago. Having never seen it we knew we were taking a leap of faith but as with most things on this little drive, it just worked out. It turns out we have two little Sloth friends that live in the giant tree in front of our house and a couple of Toucans that eat out of the papaya tree in the yard. We bought bikes from a rental place for $60 each- cheaper than renting and might be able to sell them on the way out of town and we are working on surf boards as I type. It's going to be a great month.

Our house til Jan 2

Two hammocks, outdoor kitchen and a view.

Look before you reach!

Thats our van and a sloth.

Neville the Sloth moving (slowly) back into his tree

These guys let us stay at their fire station in Granada. 1st class.

Chocolate factory in Nicaragua.

Bombaderos!

The truckers are super smart. Pack a hammock for the waits at the border!

Waiting for Leatherback Turtles.

Der Duetchland Bratwurst and Beir. 

Lindsay met this dude in the Mega Super bano.

Locals.