Choices…

It looms in front of us, a huge, hot, steaming chasm, filled with bureaucratic red tape, a psychological barrier, once across return is more than a drive, home is on the other side of the world, almost literally.  The Darien Gap, a 50 kilometer stretch of land that separates Central and South America, that separates Panama from Colombia.

Boarders are not difficult they are time consuming, we have now crossed 6, but shipping a car, arranging air transport for 2 dogs and us, with no direct flights is a huge undertaking.  I have done the research; I am still doing the research.  I have reached out to people who will be crossing around the same time to see if they want to split a container, but it would mean another month in either Costa Rica or Panama.  I have reached out to people who have done it, to see how they did it, especially those who have dogs.  Some have sailed, 4 days on a boat with 2 dogs sounds traumatic, but less traumatic then the stories of people who flew only to arrive in Colombia and find that their dogs weren’t with them, but had been lost in Panama.  I contact another couple with two dogs now in Ecuador, they shipped from the US to Colombia, they didn’t drive the whole way, and they didn’t do the Darien Gap.  I have reached out to people who are slightly ahead of us, to see how they are going to do it, they have decided to go home for a while, they are storing their trucks in Costa Rica, flying their dogs home and leaving them there when they return. 

Home, a visit, a time to regroup.   Many people who do this trip return to home for a while, they get to a point and store their car. The visit lasts between a few weeks and a few months.  For most it is time to work and save up more money, to be with friends and family, to remember the differences between first world and third world, and to renew the desire to continue the trek.  For us flying home isn’t a solution, it is only a postponement of the current situation, we would return to Costa Rica with the dogs, who now would have flown 2 times, only to have to cross the gap.  But the seed has been planted, there is a way to do this, to get the truck and the dogs to Colombia, but it means retracing our steps and then shipping from the US to Colombia.

We walk down the beach in Tamarindo our home of the last month, we watch a group of surfers and Stand Up Paddle Borders, as one guy on a SUP takes off on a wave Fritz says “I could do that” as he falls off I say “I could do that!”  Kona chases the ball he catches it in midair, he turns and runs full speed into the ocean.  Haole sniffs sand castle built the day before, when he realizes there isn’t food hidden in it, he pees on it instead.  After 20 minutes or so of playing with the dogs and watching the surfers Fritz turns to me and says “Ready to go back?”  I smile and say yes, at the end of the month we turn north, we will re-cross Central America and Mexico, sometime in August we will be back in the US, I am ready, we both are.  As we walk back down the beach Fritz smiles again and says “Tacos Al Pastor”.

Learning something new…

My arms feel like lead, the water is deep, there is a rock right behind me and in front of me there are 20 people.  “Move up on your board, paddle, go, up.”  The wave takes me, I feel the start of the drop and try to stand up, wobbling I do it, I have moved left avoiding the other surfers and someone cheers, I fall into the water, grab my board and start paddling back out.  As I paddle I hear Pedro give the same directions to Fritz and watch him get a wave.  We are out at a point break, about 60 feet from shore, where beginner surfers usually aren’t allowed to go, but because everyone knows Pedro, they let us take a few waves; they know we need the confidence and indulge us.  After three waves Pedro takes one in and waves us to shore. 

I have tried surfing before, when I was 13 my sister’s boyfriend took me out on my “Morey Dole” (yes I just dated myself), but after paddling out, standing up and realizing my bathing suit top was around my waist I gave it up.  Now 30 years later I am trying it again, if my top falls off I don’t care (I have on a rash guard), I only care about feeling of the waves and trying something new. 

I have reclaimed my inner water baby, snorkeling, swimming, SUP and now surfing.  This was one of the reasons we wanted to do this trip, to learn new things and to push ourselves out of the rut we were in.  We have another lesson today, and this afternoon we will practice, unless we are too tired!

Sitting Still… Sort of

We are still in Tamarindo, more than two weeks in the same place, cooking most nights, exploring the area, resting and recharging our batteries. 

The first few days we were here we took the SUP’s out, took a surf lesson and spent the days exploring the calmer areas to the North.  The waves just in Tamarindo aren’t huge but for novice paddle boarders getting outside of the waves is still a challenge.  As our goal is to learn to surf on the boards, we decided to take a couple of surf lessons.  We asked around and were told that Pedro’s surf shop was one of the best.  We signed up for 3 lessons each, the first day the waves we larger than normal, and the sets came in fast.  We were both able to stand up and take a few waves and we both loved it.  Unfortunately Fritz tweaked his back so instead of taking the three lessons back to back, we have only taken one.  His back is doing much better but a huge swell came in and the idea of learning to surf in overhead waves is too much for us.

It hasn’t mattered much as we have spent the days not surfing exploring the other beaches in the area and two days just lounging by the pool reading.  The first few trips out were North, where there are coves scattered around sheltered enough to take the boards out and even get the snorkeling gear out.  On each trip we are happy to be in such a lush area, looking for Coati, birds and lizards, when not playing in the water.

On our third day here we ran into Silli and Roman, two backpackers we had met in El Tunco, they were staying in the same place so we decided we would all load up in our car and go down to a break south of Tamarindo, at Playa Grande.  The waves were huge, too big for Roman to try, but we still had fun with 4 people and two dogs in a car with only two seats! 

The next night we decided to barbeque with Roman and Silli, and two of their friends Cat and Dan.  The night included too much rum and coconut so the next day we couldn’t think about doing anything more energetic but driving them (now 6 people in our car) down to another big break where Roman and Dan rode “the best waves of Costa Rica” so far. 

Being able to “sit still” and really explore the area is exactly what we needed, and having the opportunity to really get to know this group of people and hear about their lives in Austria and their adventures in Central America has been great.  Today we will all load up into the truck again and regardless of surfing, paddling, snorkeling or just lazing around it will be another great day.

Tamarindo… stop right here

After our 4 nights in Playa de Garza, we decided to head back up the coast to Tamarindo Costa Rica, we used airbnb.com to book a little place for a week in Playa Grande.  After driving up and down the same road looking for a big church called the Super Milagro (Miracle) we spotted the sign, it was a liquor store… sometimes my Spanish leads us in the wrong direction! We arrived at the gate drove up the hill and were surprised that our “casita” where we were going to spend the next week was barely the size of our truck and that the bathroom was across the garden (and around the pool), I immediately burst into tears knowing that this wasn’t going to work for us and starting to feel the wear and tear of the last 4 months on the road coming to ahead. 

I was tired, tired and frustrated and seriously considering stopping this adventure right there, driving back to the States.  I mentally started doing the math in my head, we could find a place close to the border to stay for the night, drive straight through, Nicaragua and Honduras to El Salvador the next day (yes in my mental state I was considering 3 borders in one day!) and be through Guatemala in a few days, back to Mexico and then home!  I was on the verge of being done.

Instead of throwing in the towel in a dramatic fashion we found a restaurant with wifi and on booking.com (my favorite hotel site because they have a “pet friendly” option) located a pet friendly 2 bed hotel room with a kitchen that would take our dogs.  Still not sure that I wanted to continue with this trip, I only booked it for 3 days.

After checking in, Fritz, the puppies and I collapsed on our “couch” in the air-conditioned bliss and watched TV in English (our hotel has ABC, NBC and CBS from Florida) for the rest of the afternoon, only leaving to walk the dogs and get take-out food from the Shwarma place across the street.  The next morning we regrouped, the town was great, touristy yes, but also charming.  We walked on the beach and decided maybe we should stay here for a month, it was obvious that I needed a break and as we had passed about a million realtor’s offices with short term listings pasted on the window, we decided to see if we could make it work.  We went in two offices and left our information for the rental agent but in the third she said she had a place she could show us in an hour.  We drove over to the place, it was a cute 2 story, pool, air, REAL kitchen but a bit more than we wanted to spend, she mentioned another one that she could show us later that afternoon or the next morning.  That evening we were treated to a great electrical storm and tropical down pour!  It was then, as we sat on our covered porch (which the apartment didn’t have) that we realized why move, maybe we could rent this place, so the next morning we arranged to stay for a month or maybe two!