Yhteenvetoa Väli-Amerikan reissulta

Otetaanpa sitten vaihteeksi yksi postaus myös suomeksi ja vedetään mennyttä kuukautta Väli-Amerikassa hieman yhteen. Yleisesti ottaen voitaneen sanoa, että oli aika rankka reissu monessakin mielessä. Ensin oli kamat reilun viikon kadoksissa ja siihen sitten päälle elimistö kieltäytyi ruoan ja nesteen vastaanottamisesta useamman päivän ajan. Lentoyhtiöiden kanssa paini korvauksista jatkuu edelleenkin.

On täysin anteeksiantamatonta, että lähtöselvityksen henkilöstö melkein tuottamuksellisesti aiheuttaa sen, että laukkua ei ehditä lastata koneeseen. Lisäksi on käsittämätöntä, miten hankalaksi asian hoitaminen on lentoyhtiöiden toimesta tehty.  Eikä siinä mitään, jos kamat on hukassa jollain Amsterdamin reissulla, kun jokaiselta ostarilta voi käydä hakemassa uudet, jos omistaa luottokortin. Guatemalassa asiat olivat kuitenkin hieman toisin, joten aikamoista kitkuttelua oli nuo ensimmäiset 8 päivää.

No, tien päälle lähdettiin joka tapauksessa ja Hondurasiin asti homma menikin kohtuullisen mukavasti, mutta sitten iski jäätävä rankkasade, joka saartoi meidät hotelliin, jonka keittiön antimet todennäköisesti aiheuttivat kohtuullisen rankan vatsataudin, jonka häätämisessä meni melkein viikko.

Lopulta sain kamat ja kroppakin oli taas yhteistyökykyinen. Sen jälkeen alkoikin sitten taas sataa, mikä tietysti jonkin verran latisti fiilistä. Reissun pari viimeistä viikkoa ovat sitten sään puolesta tarjonneet enemmän sitä, mitä lähdettiin hakemaan. Muutenkin homma on ollut vähän vähemmän haasteellista tässä lopussa.

Yleisemmällä tasolla sanoisin, että Väli-Amerikka tarjoaa ajoittain haastavaa matkustamista ja ajoittain myös erittäin rentoa meininkiä. Jos säät suosivat, niin erilaiset tulivuorivaellukset ovat ehdottomasti suositeltavia aktiviteetteja, jos vain oma kunto kestää. Jos sataa, niin polut ovat mutaisia ja näkyvyys käytännössä nollassa, mikä kyllä vie suuren osan homman visuaalisesta puolesta. Hintataso on yleisesti ottaen varsin korkea palvelun laatuun nähden. Siltä pohjalta täytyy sanoa, että en välttämättä suosittele Väli-Amerikkaa, jos on 50-50 valintatilanne esimerkiksi Etelä-Amerikan reissun kanssa.

Oli tietysti hienojakin paikkoja ja hetkiä. Tässä meikäläisen nostot:

Copanin rauniot

Tällaiset mestat ovat juuri sitä, miksi itse lähden reissuun yhä uudelleen. Jännittävä, upea ja yksinkertaisesti inspiroiva paikka. Myös Luna Jaguarin lämpimät kylvyt kannattaa kokeilla, vaikka tie onkin kohtuullisen pomppuinen.

Antigua

Kolmen tulivuoren ympäröimä pikkukaupunki, joka tarjoaa rentoa meininkiä päivällä ja kevyttä ryöstöuhkaa pimeän laskeuduttua.

Ometepe

Mukava vierailu paikalliseen yhteisöön. Olisi saanut olla jopa pari päivää pidempi, sillä nyt ei oikeastaan jäänyt aikaa tulivuorivaelluksiin.

Boquete

Hiljainen, rento ja sopivan hidasliikkeinen pikkukaupunki. Paljon vaellusreittejä lähiympäristössä. Kolme kadonnutta vesiputousta on aavistuksen vaativa päiväretki ja tulivuori Baru on parin päivän reissu.

Paikalliset ravintolat

Pienet paikalliset ravintolat tarjoavat hinta-laatusuhteeltaan parasta sapuskaa Väli-Amerikassa.

Puerto Viejo

Nautittavin pysäkki Costa Ricassa. Erittäin rento meininki. Polkupyörä alle ja menoksi.

Looptail

Kirja G Adventures -yhtiön vaiheista perustajan silmin katsottuna. Mielenkiintoista luettavaa kaikille yrittäjille ja erityisesti niille, jotka ovat käyttäneet yrityksen palveluita maailmalla matkustaessaan.

Se siitä, kohta lentokentälle ja jouluksi kotiin, jos vain KLM suo.

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Panama City & trip summary

The last stop on my journey here at Central America was Panama City, the capital of Panama and the home of the Panama Canal which is celebrating 100 years of existence just this year. Expansion of the canal was scheduled to 2014 but will probably be around 2016. Canal is a massive engineering artwork (and a huge business) and hundreds of people come to see big ships go through the locks every day. Admission has gone up from what Lonely Planet said it was – this time it was 15 USD.

The Canal was just one of our stops on our city tour. We also did short stops at Panama Viejo, Casco Viejo and ended the day to the huge Albrook mall. Casco Viejo and Panama Canal I would recommend. Pictures of the city tour are already in the photo album. As I’m writing this on my last day here, I’m still wondering whether I should also do a quick visit to the National Park of Soberania. I have a couple of hours before I have to get to the airport. 

Overall, it has been a relatively rough trip with all the challenges – especially the start was consuming since my bag got delayed which complicated everything. I do not hope this kind of delay to anyone who is going on the road for a longer period. My fight with the airlines has taken around a month now. Copa Airlines, who is responsible for compensation issue since it was the last airline on my way to Guatemala, has offered me 200 USD as compensation for the delay. I have not accepted this since I feel that the harm was way more than 200 USD since I have used over 300 € to buy myself some clothes and toiletries – all of which I have sent receipts to the airline. KLM, who caused the whole thing in the first place, has given me a 150 € E-voucher to be used on their flights within the next 12 months. So, I’m still arm-wrestling with Copa and after I’m done I still have the claim with my insurance company, IF, who should cover the gap between my expenses and the final compensation received from the Copa Airlines.

As a whole, this has been a terrible service experience and it shows that if airlines fail with their basic concept, it is always the customer who will carry the burden. If airlines really wanted to, they could have a system which updates the situation and provides the compensation automatically – I think SMS would be a perfect platform to make this happen.

In a case where your luggage goes missing, you just register and connect your phone number to the baggage tag and then you get automatic notifications as your bag is registered somewhere. And you might even report your current address to the airline via SMS. And get an automatic compensation according the dates your baggage was delayed. I think it could be done and would be real service instead of bouncing the customer around with all these useless and expensive service numbers. And then I woke up to reality in which airlines do not really care about a single basic customer if there are any problems. Unfortunately.

Ok, then the best of Central America in my view:

Copan Ruins

For me this kind of sights just encapsulate the whole idea why I want to go and travel again and again. Exciting, amazing and simply inspiring. Also Luna Jaguar hot springs are totally recommended.

Antigua

Rustic little town with breathtaking landscape.

Ometepe

Nice visit to local community. I would have liked to stay a couple of days longer to be able to hike the volcanoes also.

Boquete

Relaxed, slow and on Central American scale quiet little town. Go and hike the waterfalls and if you are there for a longer period, hike volcano Baru.

Basic local restaurants

Like I’ve written before – small local restaurants are absolutely the best value for your money what comes to eating in Central America. Go and taste for yourself.

Puerto Viejo

Most enjoyable stop in Costa Rica. Relaxed beach vibe. Rent a bicycle and just explore.

Looptail

Book about G Adventures and its founder Bruce Poon Tip – interesting and inspiring read. I just have one question: what if your passion does not realistically provide a living for you?

That is it – I'm coming home for Christmas.

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Panama Experience

Our first stop in Panama was Bocas del Toro and to be more exact the island of Colon where we stayed for three nights. Colon is a backpacker and party town with all the water related activities at hand. I myself went diving with company called La Buga which runs a relaxed diving operation in the city center. I can not really recommend diving here since it was cold and visibility was average at best and there was very little to see since all the fish were not on the reef – instead they seemed to be hanging out at the mangrove forests. 

Diving boats here are much smaller (and faster) since the sites are very close. This is both advantage and disadvantage. So, overall I would say that unless it is dry and hot season, save your money if you have had some quality diving before. In the evening we visited this local club called Aqua Lounge which is probably one of the most sinful clubs I have ever visited. I can imagine it can get quite crazy here during the hottest months of the summer. 

On day two at Bocas we had a boat tour which included five stops: Dolphin Bay, snorkeling, Zapatillos Keys, lunch and Sloth island. I would say the highlight of the day was Zapatillos Keys which to me represented a perfect remote Caribbean beach on an isolated island. Boat ride to Zapatillos and back was quite rough so I would recommend having waterproof jacket and also something soft to sit on with you.

Colon has many restaurants but I enjoy the most of these simple local establishments that offer simple and cheap food. And there is no waiting which is a defining feature in almost all the western targeted restaurants. Rice, some meat, veggies and a natural drink under 5 USD. It does not get any better than that in my view.

From Bocas we took a boat to Almirante and three buses to Boquete via David. We arrived Boquete in the afternoon and I instantly got the same vibe as in Banos, Ecuador. With the exception that there seemed to be less backpackers at this time which was also a good thing. Not so much of a party scene either which was also great. I would say that to me this was one of the best stops on the tour so far. And there was also an excellent lunch place called El Sabroson, where you can get good lunch around 3-4 USD. Also the local Supermarket Romero has excellent selection and it is open 24 hours.

In Boquete we did the 3 lost waterfalls hike which was a short hike in a jungle through muddy paths. Hike is a bit demanding on some parts but for a fit person who has done some hiking before it is a breeze. It takes around 2 hours to see all the waterfalls and come back. Plan 3 hours if you want to take pictures and brakes. I did it in sports sandals which was quite alright. Otherwise some kind of Goretex shoes would be the way to go. We paid 13 USD one way to get to the start of the trail and agreed a pickup time with our driver. Weather was just perfect for hiking and visibility was great which made the whole thing feel so good after all the disappointments earlier.

Our next stop in Panama was a remote surfing paradise of Santa Catalina which is located on the Pacific side of the peninsula. There are no supermarkets or ATMs here so one should come at least a bit prepared. Oasis surf camp offers relaxed place to hang out in the hammock, surf and spend time on the beach. There are only couple of available restaurants in the area and wifi is not really usable. So, if you want to get away from things, Santa Catalina is out of the map. For now. 

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Costa Rica

My relationship with Costa Rica has been surprisingly rainy and cold. I found myself missing some more clothes as Monteverde and La Fortuna were not offering sun or warmth. Especially Monteverde was almost freezing experience while we were ziplining and doing bungee in the rain. Ziplining was actually a lot better than expected. This was organized by "100% Aventura" and it included some very long ziplines (1590m). Unfortunately the visibility was limited because of the misty rain. 

Bungee, which we did with "Extremo Park", was also quite alright. Organization of the establishment was not. Customers were basically forced to wait standing in a storage room or in the rain.

This is a good representation of Central American service overall. There are usually many people working but the organization is poor resulting (typically) bad service. However, the prices are almost on western level which makes all the activities and services feel – well, expensive. Some feel even a little bit like rip-off. There are only a few exceptional businesses that have understood the meaning of good service and the potential to grow by doing exactly that. Most of service businesses are, unfortunately, just opportunists taking the money because they can. It is too bad that prices have gone up before the service has – in my eyes this will mean one thing: people will be a bit disappointed and nowadays it is very easy to share these feelings in social media, blogs and rating sites like TripAdvisor.

So, if Monteverde is the activity mecca of Costa Rica, La fortuna is the mother of all hot springs. There are plenty of spas that get their heat from a volcanic river (in which you can also bathe for free). If you like to lay in the hot water, La Fortuna is the place for you. All levels of service are available. Around La Fortuna there are also possibilities for several different activities including volcano hiking, whitewater rafting, horseback riding and different wildlife tours. I ended up doing rafting which was actually really well organized. Kudos to Desafio people for understanding how it is really done. On our free day at La Fortuna I hiked to the Rio Fortuna waterfall which is an easy 7 km walk uphill from La Fortuna. Just turn left from the city center, go over the bridge and follow the signs. Strey dogs can be a bit problematic, though. It costs 10 USD to get to the fall and my recommendation is that you save your money for a good lunch and skip the fall if you are not obsessed by waterfalls.

From La Fortuna we headed to San Jose where the first part of my trip came to an end as I joined another group to head to Panama. In San Jose I spend a lazy day just walking around at the walking district. I also had lunch at the Central Market which is as chaotic as you would expect it to be. For food these sodas or comedores are by far the best value for your money. At cheapest you can get lunch just under 5 USD, usually (in any restaurant) you end up paying at least 10 USD. Transportation is an exception by being really affordable. Bus ticket is around 50 USD cents and medium distance cab ride is also under 5 USD.

From San Jose we drove to small town of Puerto Viejo by the Caribbean coast. Puerto Viejo is a laid back surf/reggae style village offering all the hedonistic vices for gringos – also ganja is very much available. Bicycle is a perfect way to get around PV and nearby beaches and cabins. On the last night in Puerto Viejo it started, again. The rain, I mean. It is pouring down, again. And we are heading to the Caribbean islands, again. This time to Bocas del Toro, Panama. I really hope that there would be some sun, because the forecast does not look good. I’m feeling a strong Honduras (Roatan) flashback right now. It is supposed to be the dry season! I’m getting the feeling that me and the Caribbian are just not going to happen on this trip. Still very much hoping Panama would offer me the best in Central America. Let's see what will happen. I'm booked for some scuba diving tomorrow.

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Nicaragua

So we came to Leon one day early. Leon is the intellectual capital of Nicaragua and it has traditional colonial features plus the volcano related activities that are typical to the region. Most of our group went for volcano boarding which is basically downhill sliding on a board on a volcano. This went terribly wrong as one of the girls in our group had a bad fall and ended up in the hospital. Fortunately long story ends well and she is now recovering without any permanent injuries. This is also a good reminder that activities always always always include some level of risk.

Later the same day I went for a Telica volcano hike to spot lava. It was a 1,5h drive from Leon as we arrived to the Volcano. Hiking up an hour or so and we saw a nice and dramatic view of an active crater. After dark we lay down on the edge and see lava 120 m below through heavy sulfur smoke. Hike was ok although I somehow had in my mind something even more spectacular.

From Leon we traveled on to Granada which has very similar features to Leon. Additionally, Granada is located by the Lake Nicaragua which is a huge freshwater pool that might not exist anymore in few years as Nicaragua is planning to boost its business by building its own canal through the continent. This would basically mean that all the natural diversity in Lake Nicaragua would probably take an irreversible hit as fresh water would turn into salt water.

In Granada we did a (bit too long) full day tour and I might recommend Las Isletas which are the Hollywood of Nicaragua. Summer houses of really wealthy locals are located on these very small islands in the lake. My favorite thing on our tour was probably volcano Masaya which offers really nice views to two craters. Additionally you might enjoy a swim and a lunch in La Laguna area.

From Granada we made our way to Ometepe Island within Lake Nicaragua. We spend two nights in a homestay in the community of Puesto del Sol. Families offer this bed & breakfast style of thing with only basic necessities in the accommodations. My family seemed really nice and genuine. I just hope my Spanish was a bit better to get a bit deeper than just the small talk. On the second day in Ometepe I did a nice island tour but that is not what I recommend. You should definitely hike at least one of the volcanoes there. Both if you have time and fitness. My current condition did not allow this so I was better of trying to get my fluid & food intake working again.

I’m also waiting a response from the airline(s) – nothing so far. So I’m a bit afraid that it will be a new year before this case is closed.

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First week in Central America (from Guatemala to Honduras)

My first week in Central America has included Antigua (Guatemala), Copan (Honduras) and La Ceiba (Honduras). It has also included extensive travelling, heavy rain and old-fashioned farce about a bag.

Antigua is colonial style town with cobble stone streets, Spanish style central park, church and a dramatic natural setting in the arms of three volcanoes. Lookout point just outside the city is called Cerro de la Cruz which gives great view to the city and surrounding volcanoes. Antigua is not a safe city. Especially after dark it is reasonable to use taxi or walk in groups. Two members of our group were involved in muggings after dark. One of them happened just a few meters from the hostel door.

From Guatemala we took a bus to Copan, Honduras which is a home of some impressive Mayan ruins. For me this is exactly one of the biggest reasons I want to travel and explore the world. The feeling of anticipation going through a jungle path as it opens and unveils something that has been there since Mayan times. Great experience which definitely also had some similar features to Macchu Picchu and Angkor Wat. Copan is also a home to greatest natural hot pools I have experienced so far. Luna Jaguar offers many different kind of pools in a natural environment. Road to Luna Jaguar is a challenge but it is worthwhile.

We were actually not supposed to stay in La Ceiba but nature had other plans as heavy rain and wind stopped the ferries to Roatan. So, we were stuck in La Ceiba for couple of days before skipping Roatan since the forecast did not look good, and headed one day early to Tegucigalpa and from there to Leon, Nicaragua.

For me the trip has had a challenging start. My bag is currently 6 days delayed. Last news is that I’m going to get it in Managua on 30th. So it will make 8 days total. (update: this also was the case yesterday) I do not recommend this experience to anyone. I will definitely have some bones to pick with my airlines and insurance company. I’ll write the whole story as I finally get the bag, but in short I see KLM ground staff in Helsinki Airport as the main factor for this incident. Their incompetence in check-in caused my bag not to make it to the plane in Helsinki. What is interesting is that according to aviation business agreement it is the last airline in the line that is responsible for all. So I’ll be talking about compensation with Copa Airlines who only flew me from Panama City to Guatemala City. So although mistake was clearly made by KLM, Copa will be handling the issue with me. I really hope I finally get my bag on 30th to be able to have a peace of mind and some clothes.

On top of that my health situation is not the best which does not make travelling very pleasant at the moment.

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