Panama and the San Blas islands.

We originally intended to motor through Panama quickly to get our car shipping started but a last minute decision took us over the mountains to the Caribbean coast to Bocas del Toro. Bocas is an island town and acts as the hub for the archipelago. The drive was stunning on the trip over, the road winding through incredible mountains. We were really struck by the natural beauty of Panama, something we weren't expecting. We had a ball in Bocas, especially being our first trip to the Caribbean. It was typical warm and drizzly tropical weather, not what we'd hoped for but still an awesome experience.

A big dam wall on the way to Bocas.

On our way to Playa del la Estrella (starfish beach).

These guys were everywhere, hence the name. We obeyed the signs and left them alone. About 2 hours later a boatload of locals arrived and started playing with them and wearing them as hats etc. Weird.

This was the back deck of our hostel. It was awesome to sit out and have a beer over the Caribbean. The whole town is like this, just sitting on the water.

Yep, its friggin steep.

Loaded and ready to go... I had to escape out the back. For the uninitiated, the small Darien national park between Panama and Colombia renders overland travel between the two virtually impossible, or at least highly inadvisable. Its a jungle marshland with a maze of rivers littered with guerilla camps forced there after the military squeezed them out of the rest of the nation. Everyone travelling between either flies or boats across the "gap". We were concerned about the process as we'd heard reports of weeks wasted in paperwork and bureaucracy. After a day and a half we were sorted and booking a yacht to Colombia for the next morning!

Excuse the window glare, we realised we were leaving central America with hardly any pics of the chicken buses. We'll miss these. Its an unbelievably efficient, effective and profitable form of public transport, honestly.

First of many Caribbean island pics. The San Blas are exactly as tropical islands should be.

See!

We sailed on the Sacanagem, a modern 43 foot French skiff ( sailed by a Colombian, captain Tilson). We ended up spending an extra day and a half in the islands due to a storm somewhere south. We certainly weren't complaining. We spent 4 and a half days enjoying the islands and then sailed for two days to Colombia on open water.

Getting ready for a snorkel on one of the cool shipwrecks. Really good diving, but the number of wrecks was a little disconcerting.

 

More sunsets...

Laura watching the sunset.

Postcard beaches were all we saw really. 

The local Kuna people were really friendly and live off the sea the same way they always have. I can't believe how they live on these tiny islands with a handful of people and no space on the land. For Australians it goes against our ethos, "boundless plains" and all that. Plus every time you kick the footy you have to swim out and get it back.

Just floating about. This was our favourite spot.

Gone fishing. Only Tilson caught anything worth mentioning.

Kyak-paddleboarding. Pretty serene way to get around.

Market day in the San Blas.

Got Lobster? The food was amazing!

Captain Tilson, captaining... He was about 5 foot nothing and loved to sail whilst singing along to the blaring stereo at the top of his voice (in nonsensical spanglish), especially to the likes of Gotye and Jimmy Buffet.

Arriving in Cartagena on wobbly sea legs.

Our first view of South America.

Our awesome boat crew. We had a ball with these guys swimming, sailing, making bonfires, drinking copious amounts of rum and dancing all night to salsa and reggae beats. Also pictured; salchipapa, a meal of about 15 kinds of meat, a pound of cheese and fried plantain. Delicious.

Next up, Colombia proper.

Costa Rica (slightly belated...)

We entered Costa Rica with mixed expectations. Many Americans we encountered loved it, many other people said it was full of Americans. Turns out that both opinions are valid. There is a distinct US influence, mainly in the prices and amount of English spoken... But the country is beautiful and full of wildlife, incredible forests, mountains and surf.
Due to the high prices we camped the whole time and found some great, out of the way spots! We also cooked everything ourselves which has been a huge benefit to having the van.

The view out the back of the van. This was our first, and our favourite campsite on the Nicoya peninsula. The beach is called Avellanas. We pretty much had the beach, and the waves to ourselves. Just camping on a local guys property with a toilet and shower for a couple of dollars a night.

This wave was right out the back of the car. There was a bunch more all down the beach. It got really big down the far end at a reef called "little Hawaii".

Our camp, just sitting...

This is why I was sitting.

Next spot, Nosara. Known to be haunted by a couple of relatives of ours.

We had drinks here with an ex-US, ex-rockstar, ex-con, millionaire cocaine addict. He told good jokes, but was a little manic at times (all of them). But he gave us two chairs.

Samara, rhymes with Nosara, and was the next stop. Awesome swimming/relaxing spot. Camped here for 6 dollars, next to a $140+ a night hotel.

Wake up.

The roads on the Nicoya were the worst we've seen, even counting panama and Colombia to date. Unmarked river crossings, wild corrugations, rocks and holes. Not a made road in the entire area. We averaged about 20 km/h and could only move about 80 km a day at most.

Mal Pais. Literally means "bad country". It was great. We heard three different stories for the names origin from the owner of the property. He had no idea which was correct, neither did the other couple of locals we were sharing beers and stories with. More rugged than the other beaches but equally stunning. It had an awesome unnamed left break around the corner. Our cocaine addict chairs are also featured.

Montezuma. Monkeys and hippies everywhere. Locals called it Montefumar (fumar is to smoke in Spanish). This wave was a bit of a freak, apparently happens once or twice a year.

Laura at the falls. 

Can you see the man jumping? He was from the states with cameras and gear. A little local kid did a perfect swan dive off a higher spot a little later on...

I guess the palm figured out which way was up eventually.

Capuchin's are really cute. They make the funniest noises and have funny little elf faces. Laura and I loved watching them fly through the trees.

Thankfully we didn't have to drive back up the peninsula. The ferry was cheap and took us back to the mainland at Punta  Arenas. Good luck finding it, it means sandy point and there's about 10 in every country in Latin America.

After sweating day and night since Guatemala we were ready for a climate change. Monteverde was that and much more. We camped at La Colina lodge. Had hot showers, a huge kitchen, watched movies and even sat down for a family style dinner with the manager (which he cooked) and an old couple from Virginia who were working in the quaker school. We were just down the road from the cloud forest. It's proper cool temperate rainforest climate here. Doesn't really rain so much as mist all the time in the forest.

It hadn't rained, and this is the dry season.

Walking in the clouds.

Caterpiller.

On the suspension bridge in the canopy.

Still not sure what this guy was.

Last stop Uvita. Camped in a great hostel called the flutterby lodge. The jungle came right down to the water. Really great to look at and watch the storms roll in over the mountains (they didn't seem to actually get us though).

Writing from Manizales, Colombia. We're going to do the Panama entry asap too.