My parents and aunt came to visit Dec 20 - 30. The plan was to do some day trips in CR then take a 14 hr bus ride to Panama City to see the Panama Canal! This was something my dad has been wanting to see; he's never really been picky about vacations in general but when he said, "Yeah, let's go see the Canal," I knew I should make it happen. The day trips consisted of "taste" of CR (beach: Manual Antonio, volcano: Irazu, small village & churches: Orosi & Cartago, rainforest: La Paz Waterfall Garden). We had hired a car & driver, which ended up being cheaper than renting a car for 4 days + the headaches of driving/getting lost.
At one point, my brain almost exploded from thinking in English, Marathi and Spanish. But its quite a fun exercise when not stressful.
To get to Panama City, Panama, we took TicaBus, which is a bus line that goes straight from San Jose to Panama City. We took the executive class, which included (non vegetarian) meals, pillow and blanket + the standard movies, comfy seats and bathroom on board. The border crossing was relatively painless (although they did ask for the $500 cash insurance, but I was able to talk my way out of it saying I had a credit card ). In Panama City, we did a Partial Transit of the Canal, which was very cool. Basically, we were in a small boat (full of upscale tourists who could afford the transit in the first place), that went through 2 sets of locks on the Pacific Side of the Canal. You definitely do not need to do a transit to get an appreciation for the awesomeness of the Canal and the role it has played/plays in commerce and trade. The Miraflores tourist center provides a museum and great vantage point to see ships transiting through. We saw a cruise ship go through as well as a PanaMax ship (a ship that has the maximum dimensions for going through the Canal.) There is construction going on to develop a parallel set of locks to provide space for ships larger than the current PanaMax standard.
The rest of the time we visited some historical sites and ruins. Panama Viejo was the first site the Spanish settled at (there was already an indigenous population at the site), and then moved to Casco Viejo, which was later abandoned for the current site of Panama City. Casco Viejo is full of abandoned, dilapidated buildings with forests growing inside of them, the buildings are mostly hollow shells. Currently, some of the buildings are being restored/renovated, and that will definitely bring in more tourism into the area but hopefully not at the cost of the people who currently live there.
Finding good vegetarian food was challenging, as well understanding the Spanish. It seems that Costa Rica is the only country in the vicinity that pronounces "s" in words (IME, the "s" sound is very subtle or non existent in Panama City and Nicaragua), so add this to my mental confusion of English/Marathi/Spanish = total brain frustration and breakdown at some points (especially when you are also responsible for the comfort/hunger/overall happiness of 3 other people besides yourself).
No comments:
Post a Comment