Nilesh's Posterous

Bocas del Toro Island, Panama

I don't have too many pictures from Panama because my SD card got damaged (wet) and I lost a big part of the pictures, but fortunately had another card which I had a few more.

While in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, I talked to many travelers and many were heading to Panama to this island called Bocas Del Toros after leaving Costa Rica. It was only about some 5 hours or so away. I decided, as I was so close by, I might as well do the hop across the border and get to see another country. We took a shuttle to the Costa Rica border, did immigration, crossed a scary looking bridge onto the border to Panama.. did immigration there and then took another shuttle which took us to a High speed water taxi to bring us to the Bocas Del Toro island. It's a very small island, probably inhabited by some 200 or so local people and the rest are mostly backpackers.

As you can imagine, with an island that remote and low population, the pace of life was very slow. There was not much to do apart from doing nothing. So, I did nothing.. chilled out there for a few days - rented a bicycle and went around the island to see the beachesof the island and I came across the set for 'SURVIVORS'.. They had one survivor series shot on that island.

Bocas del Toro has excellent surf and a great surfing destination. While I don't surf, I did go in the ocean and these waves were the strongest waves I ever encountered.. almost twisted my arm... just by the sheer pulling and pushing power of these powerful waves.

Another day, I took a tour to go snorkelling and dolphin watching. It was pretty neat.. lots of dolphins followed our boat as we headed to a particular part where they reside. Then we did some snorkelling, before going to Red Frog Beach.. where as the name suggests, we have many red frogs !! Unfortunately, the camera I used on that particular boat tour, the card got damaged. It's supposed to be an underwater camera.. Olympus tough and I thought I'd used it for snorkeling, but sand or water somehow got in and damaged the card with all the pictures I took for that day.. but surprisingly the camera still works. 

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

After spending a few days at the very americanized Tamarindo, I decided to head off to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. They have a few Caribbean cities, but after talking to other travelers, I decided that Puerto Viejo would be the best place to chill out there. I left Tamarindo very early - the local buses leave 5:30a.m to go to San Jose and I had 1 hour or so break before taking the next bus to go to Puerto Viejo.

I did not have time to book any hostel accommodation for that first night and I was hoping when I get off the bus, somebody will try to come and sell me some cheap hostel.. as sometimes it's hard when you get to a new city to walk around with a big backpack looking for accommodation. Indeed when I got off the bus, somebody came and was trying to pimp out the accommodations where he's get a commission at. I checked out two places and liked the second place he brought me. For $10 a night, I had my own private wooden cabin(with shared showers) and it was only 1 1/2 blocks from the beach and all the main bars/restaurants of Puerto Viejo. I can't remember the name of the place.

Anyways, I stayed in Puerto Viejo for 3 days. Not much to do in Puerto Viejo, but it has a nice Caribbean beach and very chill out and mellow town. I rented bicycles for a couple of day to go and bike around and just doing nothing in particular. I really enjoyed the chill out time and the not so-much americanized touristy feel that I had in the pacific coast.

Sunsets are so colorful and vivid as compared to the ones on the Pacific Coast which were gorgeous as well. The sunset pictures in this gallery are real colors.. not enhanced colors... It's really that gorgeous !!

Shells of Costa Rica

Walking on the beaches of Costa Rica, you find all kinds of beautiful shells washed out on the shores by the strong waves. I really enjoyed examining the tiny details that make each shell so unique. I took some close ups of some of them. These close ups came out pretty good considering that it's from a point and shoot camera rather than an SLR. These shells were from a combination of the beaches of Tamarindo and Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica.

Tamarindo Sunsets, Beaches etc.. Costa Rica

Sunsets on the Pacific Coast of about anywhere are always nice and spectacular and I particular loved the beautiful ones at Tamarindo Beach in Costa Rica

These pictures were taken more than 2 months ago, but I have been procastinating posting them up. Coming very soon are the remaining of the pics from my backpacking trip - Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador !

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Tamarindo is a a beach on the pacific side of Costa Rica and one of the most americanized places I've been to during this trip. I think there were actually more americans in Tamarindo than actual local costa ricans. It's packed with American fast food chains and american food. There's only one single place in the whole town that serves local costa rican food and caters to the local. All other businesses are mostly for the american tourists and dollars are accepted everywhere.

As most of the pacific coast, the surf there is excellent and many people come there for the good surfing. I thought about taking some surf classes, but then got lazy and decided to just bum around the beach.

One good thing about Tamarindo or mostly anywhere in Costa Rica is the abundance of wildlife all over the country. In the hostel I stayed, every morning, we could see/hear howling monkeys on the trees just by the hostel, see huge iguanas roaming around in the yard to catch some sun and by the beach I saw a sea turtle and some great colorful crabs and numerous species of birds !

A Tanner Browner me...

Even brown people can get browner with the extreme sun (when it's not raining) on the Carribean coast of Costa Rica. This is me, even though I had sun cream SPF 50...

Best way to spend a Sunday Afternoon

This picture summarizes how I spent most of my Sunday today !! I am in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in Costa Rica, a small carribean beach town with plenty of gorgeous and empty beaches, but as it's rainy season, it rained for a big chunk of the day today. I am glad that my hostel had hammocks (most hostels that I've stayed in Costa Rica also have them). The hostel I am at - well rather a hotel.. as it don't have dormitory beds.. mostly cabins and it's only 1/2 block from the beach !! I got my own cabin for $10, but no AC.. only fan and shared bathroom.. but you can't get it all for $10 a night :)

La Jolla, California

On my way back from Los Angeles to San Franciso, on Priscille's advice, I took the exit for La Jolla Beach and it was so worth it. Wonderful beaches, wild sea lions and numerous varieties of wild birds. It was among the most beautiful beaches and scenery I've been to in California.

Bonfire at Ocean Beach for Vikram and Nidhi's birthday

Sent from my iPhone

Chrissy fields beach on Sunday afternoon..

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