It has been 6 months today since we started our travels in Latin America. We have lived in the tropics for two full seasons, and to be honest there really has not been much difference in temperature or rain since we arrived. It is much easier to feel time pass when the weather obliges with differences, and it is shocking that back home in Wyoming snow will start falling soon if it hasn’t already (to be fair, snow has been known to fall in June as well out there).
H and I spent the day today reflecting on how much has changed since our first days on the road back in March, and we are sure that not only are we now more comfortable with our Spanish skills, we are better at traveling together, we know more about ourselves and how we react to situations that we couldn’t fathom before, and we now know that getting to the end of South America is actually possible even on our ridiculously limited budget.
As our 6 month mark, we decided we wanted to pull together a guide to the Central American countries that we have been trekking through for half a year. We were hoping that anyone who has traveled and has tips or tricks to share, leave them in the comments section and we will update the page accordingly. Fantastic idea, right? Yep, I thought so too. However, all I have is an outline compiled from H’s daily notes, and really nothing more right now. But do not fret, I will be working on it little by little as we go along, so feel free to leave comments!
Enough of that sentimental 6 month reminiscing; you are undoubtably more interested in how we happened to arrive in South America, correct? Well, I had begun to feel skeptical that our boat would be filled, or even exist to a certain extent since our captain had not yet purchased it… No boat, no definite confirmed or interested passengers, and our phone had just run out of minutes from our attempts to sort all of this out. So we flew. Yep, after all that work for weeks (a month?) I gave up on our dreams of sailing through the San Blas, and persuaded H that we should just show up at the Albrook domestic airport in Panama City and see if they had room for us in the flight to Puerto Obaldia, the last city on the border with Columbia. We (and everyone at the Villa Vento) were quite sure that we were unlikely to make it on the flight, so it was more of a practice run for when we would try again on Tuesday (the flights are only once a day on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday). We purchased the last two tickets on the flight.
The flight itself was wonderful: we were on a small 6 row plane (much like the ones we used to take back and forth from Casper as children) that looked like it was straight out of an old photo of rich travelers (if only I had my furs and cigarettes with me), jumped elevations at the slightest breeze, and had little to no seat belt requirements. The view of the Darien jungle and Caribbean islands was breathtaking on the way down, but that didn’t hinder me from chatting about it incessantly to the poor English chap who happened to sit near me. Once we arrived we all drug ourselves through the adorable town of Puerto Obaldia and began talking with our fellow passengers about Colombia (as they were mostly headed home) while the incredibly slow-moving officer looked at everyone’s piles of paperwork to get out of Panama.
We, however, did not have piles of paperwork, turns out you can pretty much get out of Panama and into Colombia by just answering one to two questions, handing over a copy of your passport, and smiling. We joined our new Colombian friends onto a lancha (they bartered the price for all of us; it’s good to be on friendly terms with the locals!) and sped to Capurgana to see to getting our entry into Colombia. Immigration was closed for us until later that night, so we checked into Hostel Nelly on the beach, set up our tents, and then joined our Colombian and English friends for a lunch.
Capurgana is a small beach town nestled in the Darien. There are no roads and therefore no vehicles in the small fishing village. There are, however, horse drawn carriages. So adorable! The town is beautiful and surrounded by lush jungle. We spent two days in the area and happened to befriended a local who decided to take us out on a motor boat date to Sapzurro, another breathtaking no-road town. It turns out that Sapzurro is even more picturesque, with a small but pleasant waterfall. Our date provided us with a coconut (which he obligingly filled with tequila), two pipas (the green coconut that has more juice), various flavors of ice cream, fresh baked bread, and interesting conversation! We spent quite a bit of our time relaxing on the beach while our date moved large bags of various materials on and off a boat.
At one point our date had to move an entire pile of earth down the beach so he left us with a Panamanian so we would not get bored. Once the guy started insisting on taking us to a nude beach and informing us how beautiful the children he would impregnate us with would be, we decided to hike back to Capurgana just the two of us. The climb was ridiculously steep and muddy, but at the top we came upon a gorgeous viewpoint and crossed paths with a man who claims to be God… We then joined our English and Colombian friends in some wine and great conversation on the beach at sunset.
After such a wonderful day we decided to take a three hour launcha to Turbo, a 5.5 hour bus to Monteria, and a 5 hour van ride to arrive in the romantic city, Cartagena! It is true folks our hearts have been stolen in this city! Stay tuned to hear more.
More photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.270123703106156.62190.264156350369558&type=1
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Rule #2: Don't Die. 
You two really are entertaining! I read your posts to George … and we laugh … and it really makes me miss South America … Ahh, I am so glad you made it to Colombia. Cartagena is one of George’s favorite cities (he went there w/out me)! Let me know if you guys have any interest in going to Caracas … My brother lives there and has a place – he is pretty fun too. Suerte!!!! -Chelsea
Hey you two! Cartagena is so amazing… You two should take a trip there together!
We would love to go to Caracas, but I think we may do Ecuador first, Bitty has been trying to get there since her Rotary exchange! But we will keep you up to date 🙂
if you get a chance stop in popayan y pasto they are 2 lovely cities,loved the cooler climates there
Thanks for the suggestions! We will for sure attempt to stop by there en route to Equador :)!
After reading this post, I had a crazy dream about you guys flying over the Darian. The plane was flying really low and slow – so low and slow that Nickel was able to jump down from the plane run along side then climb back on the landing feet. Also there was a section of the flight that had jaguars sitting in tree all in a row. Pretty great dream – I am sure that is how your flight went as well.
That’s pretty damn close, actually. It was a great flight with awesome views, although if we were to do it again I would wait for the boat through San Blas, even if it is sketchy