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Darwins Inspiration - Central America + Ecuador - Part 1

 
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stealthpilot
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Location: BLR, DXB

PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 7:19 pm    Post subject: Darwins Inspiration - Central America + Ecuador - Part 1 Reply with quote

Originally this holiday had multiple possibilities ..... initially R and I wanted to do Antarctica but it was too expensive. Then we figured Peru and Bolivia but we wanted to trek the Machu Picchu trail which was closed in February so we put that on hold. Galapagos had been on our list, so that + a week in Ecuador was the perfect fit. We had planned to fly DXB-PTY direct when EK announced their non stop to Panama, but after they cancelled the flight we routed thru IAH. We booked our flights out of Panama in advance and were excited about visiting so we stuck to that part of the plan. We had a few extra days to spare so after some brainstorming we decided to tag on Costa Rica for a few days.
It was a bit hectic towards the beginning but given the last minute change of flights the whole thing worked out great.

I'm going to have to split this TR into 2 parts because there are lots of pics. Im uploading the medium size pictures so apologies in advance if it's slow to load.


DXB-IAH EK-211
(0905-1550)
Emirates Airline A380

Normal flight nothing to add. Fish was yum. The lounge/bar is great.


IAH-SJO UA-1181
(2112-0057*)
United Airlines 738

IAH = Houston, George Bush Intercontinental Airport
SJO = San Jose, Juan Santamaría International Airport


We landed on time got our luggage and went up to the UA check in. The plan was to take the 1730 flight to SJO but the check in agent had other ideas Evil or Very Mad He thought R needed a separate visa to enter Costa Rica, long story short he took 30 mins and couldn't figure it out. Initially he said he can't let us travel, then we went to the back office and waited some more. We asked him to call his colleagues in San Jose they would tell him the visa requirements but god know what he was doing. Other United agents were no help and it took the supervisor half an hour to show up .... but when she did she gave us the thumbs up in 10 seconds. Literally 10 seconds she said of course we can go (with a valid US visa you can travel to costa Rica, the agent couldn't understand that). Foolish chap. He checked us in and told us to hurry but security was painfully slow and we got to the gate 5 mins after they closed the flight. They rebooked us on the next one 4 hours later (the rebooking was painless) but it still wasn't a fun experience.

The flight itself was so so. Normal for a US flight. Nice interiors + DirectTV + nice screens. Didn't watch anything tho tried to sleep the whole flight. Another passenger was complaining no blanket no pillow no food hehehehe must have been a shock for her.


Costa Rica, San Jose
We did a full day trip and some shorter tours. The city was interesting not as developed as I thought however very (surprisingly) expensive.



Tea and empanadas.


The tour operators (all of them) never showed up on time hmmmmmm. You kind of expect it but when they say 0645 and are late and you call the number they provided but no one picks up you do worry.
A coffee tour to Doka coffee estate was so so. Poas Volcano and the national park was fun. We couldn't see much with the fog so we trudged along to a lagoon nearby.


After that was La Paz Waterfall Gardens and a butterfly park. The park was privately owned and was good fun, we waked around for a few hours and had lunch.








The waterfalls were wonderful, they had built a nice pathway which was mainly downhill.





Interesting facts about Costa Rica.
- They have no army. It was dismantled by a constitutional change in 1948. So they spend a lot of money on healthcare and education. Respect.
- They accept both USD and their local currency (the Colon)
- Quick wifi everywhere.
- Not many local food joints weirdly. In fact even on the main pedestrian walkway can't find much expect a few bars/restaurants but none local.
- Coats Rica used to have 4 capitals which rotated every month or.....
- There is seismic activity all the time so buildings are generally not high + specific rules on construction.


We did a morning walking tour which was advertised as a 'breakfast and food walking tour'. It was ok but apart from walking around the central market sampling a few fruits + breakfast there wasn't much else from an eating point of view.



Street life


Breakfast was yum, eggs with rice and beans + cheese and tortillas


One morning we took a train to Cartago for a cycling tour. It's more of a metro actually the train is slow and runs between the 2 cities (San Jose and Cartago) only mornings and evenings. Cartago was devastated by an earthquake in the early 1900s and rebuilt.





The Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. or Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels.
Cartago was the capital of Costa Rica in the 15th or 16th century, and this is the countrys main church.



Guess there are dozens of pilots Wink



SJO-PAC 7P-793
(1300-1500)
Air Panama F100

PAC = Panama City, Albrook International Airport

I was hoping for the F-50 or something special like a Britten-Norman Islander even a Cessna 208 .... but got an F-100 😱. Can't complain much, I flew one last year on Austrian Airlines but still. Great sound on take off, drinks run and some passtime biscuits snack. The fun was landing into Albrook the 'local' airport. Nice views of the canal and the Panama Rail.

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The night we got in we didn't do much, had a steak dinner.




Panama, Panama City
Technically Panama have their own currency the Panamanian Balboa but they use USD. It's linked at 1-1. You pay in USD and the notes are all USD but you may get change in balboa. They just have those coins- doesn't make much of a difference what you use in the country you just have to remember to change the balboa qaurters or nickels into American currency before you leave. It's all worth the same but for obvious reasons no point leaving Panama win balboa coins.

We only had one full day so we did a day tour. Our guide was amazing as was the tour. Started by going up Ancon hill (was a US base) for the view.
A bit of history? The Americans managed (and had a territorial presence) in Panama for almost a century. In 1903 (or something) Panama signed a treaty with the United States to build and manage the canal in return for recognition as an independent state and political support. The Americans managed the canal till December 31 1999 when it was transferred to Panamanian control.




A video tour from the ships/bridge point of view


The French initially tried to build a waterway joining the Atlantic and Pacific in the late 1800s but after years of construction and losing 20,000 workers they gave up. Remember this area was all thick rainforest back in the day and malaria/dengue/many other sicknesses were a huge threat.
Interesting fact. The doctors around the time didn't know what caused malaria. They thought it was the air. Mal+aria were 2 words meant bad (mal) air (aira). So they left all the hospital windows open to allow the breeze (and unintentionally the mosquitos) in. They thought ventilation would help. People kept dying. They then thought it was the ants so they put water under the beds to prevent ants from crawling around. Open windows + standing water = talk about a bad decision becoming worse.



After that we drove to the Mira Flores locks. Amazing amazing amazing! I knew ships had to be raised to pass thru the canal but I didn't know how or why.
Basically the Atlantic and Pacific on either side are at the same level (tadaaaa Laughing ), but the lake in the middle is 26m higher. On the Atlantic side the Gatun locks (3) are in one spot. On the Pacific side there is a single lock (Pedro Miguel) and the Mira Flores are double locks. The locks work solely on gravity. The lake in the center gets refilled by rainwater and rivers, and every time a lock is opened that much water drains into the sea. If the lake dries up? hmmmmmm.
The visitor center has a great view of the Mira Flores locks and you're close to the action. The trains tugs on either side pull them thru but mainly keep the monster ships stable.








Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked WOW



The Panamanians are building an expansion with another set of locks. The new locks will allow larger ships and will supposedly be more environmentally friendly by reusing a portion of the lakes water. No tug locomotives in the new locks normal tugboats will be in the locks with the ship doing their job.

After the locks we went to Amador causeway. The causeway was built when the canal was being built (they used a lot of excavated earth). The idea was to make a wave breaker for the canal entrance. During WW1/WW2 it was a defensive position run by the Americans with anti aircraft guns etc.

We visited the Smithsonian Institute and saw iguanas and sloth bears.



Lunchtime! I forget what the fish was called, with plantain chips.


Ceviche, a must have.


After that we walked around old Panama city. Lovely buildings and lanes and squares- definitely the place to stay. Next time Smile


PTY-UIO CM-211
(2109-2300)
Copa Airlines 738

PTY = Panama City, Tocumen International Airport
UIO = Quito, Mariscal Sucre International Airport


Tocumen airport is 22 km away. Driving up all I could see were boring 737s. Check in was quick and I had a great view of a KLM 777 (Hadrian's Wall- I have a pic of her) and an AF 777. Nothing else interesting around just 738s 😖😡. The only thing weird was the gate area was freezing. As in 14 degrees celsius or some rubbish everyone put on their jackets. It was a comfortable flight with a drinks run and a beef/cheese fajita sandwich which was soso. No PTV. The overhead screens were only playing on the ground (a destination list demo during boarding) and later the safety demo. After that up they went 😶 Super expensive flights tho.



Ecuador, Quito

Quito - what a great city. The highest capital in the world depending on what the definition is. La Paz of Bolivia is higher but by one measure their constitutional capital is Sucre and La Paz is only the seat of government.
Anyway Quito is 9300' so good idea to take a day to acclimatise.

Some city pictures. Quito old city.









They had a dog park in a park. Now that's a sign of a civilised society.


When in South America. The meat wasn't as nice as the more famous Brazilian or Argentinian beef but still good.



Interesting facts about Ecuador.
- They use USD, no local currency. Again .... they print their own coins.
- They don't require visas. Most citizens from almost anywhere doesn't need a visa to visit. Just passport, you just fly in. Nice!
- Petrol is 1.5$ a gallon.
- After petro products their biggest export are roses.
- The city Quito got its name from the Quitu tribe (spelling?) the natives before the Incas invaded.
- Ecuador losely translated means ”Republic of the Equator”


The city has a cable car that takes you up another 1000m (the highest in South America) and offers a spectacular view of the city. They had a hiking trail which would take 4 hours I believe, to bad we didn't know that in advance we would have given it a go. At an altitude of 12000' it would have been fun.



A short drive north brings us to the Equator line, the clockwise-anticlockwise test always amazes me!


A solar calendar



This shrunken head is a real one of a 12 year old, they guess he was probably the son of a shaman priest. The tribals used to shrink the heads of their enemies ... sheepishly I forget why Embarassed
Tough process I would imagine, first remove the skull and replace it with stone/wood so the head keeps its shape. Sew up the eyelids and nose/mouth and then it's boiled. Obviously it was a lot more complicated than that.



Stopping along the way trying to tell the difference between a Llama and an Alpaca. Which ones which?


We spend a lot of time driving, drove from Quito to Patate to Cuenca to Guayaquile. It was carnival time, kind of like holi but with less colour. People basically dance around and throw water on each other. By each other I mean EVERYONE. Driving thru town meant keeping the windows up because people on the road would have buckets and balloons splashing everyone and anything that crossed them. Apparently no one gets angry- if you don't like carnival or getting wet you stay at home hehehehe.

Antisana reserve. There was a forrest fire so couldn't make it to the lake and viewing point. We had lunch at a hacienda and had time to stroll around, gorgeous scenery.
We were on the lookout for Andean Condors. They only live in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru and are an endangered species only 150 or so remain in Ecuador and maybe 500 total.
The Andean condors only lay 1-2 eggs a year and 40% of newborns die. They are not predators and only eat animals that died in the wild. The birds in the wild generally won't touch meat left or handled by humans so they can't even be 'fed' as such.






It was cold and drizzly so we had sunfo tea (?) with alcohol. The first time I've had tea with alcohol.
Locro de papa - potato soup with cheese and avocado. I loved this soup, had it many times over the next few days.


Higo- a desert of sweet fruit with cheese. It was a fig .... maybe?


Stayed the night near the town of Patate at another wonderful hacienda. They had a big dog who we happily played with all evening.


The Ingapirca ruins (The wall of the Inca) - the largest Inca ruins in Ecuador. The 'Temple of the Sun' was the biggest and most well preserved, the amazing thing about their construction was they built without mortar. They carefully cut rock and placed them one on top of another, you can imagine how accurately they had to be cut. The Ecuadorians call Ingapirca the Machu Picchu of Ecuador ... lets just say that's quite a stretch Smile
Originally, this site was a Canari (the then indigenous people) settlement and the Incas invaded. Part of the ruins have Canari architecture and and the other is Inca.




Inca face carved into the cliff



Lunch Cool
Starter - tamale (savoury and sweet)



Beef with fried egg and rice + a slice of avocado


Desert was tree tomato, a sweet fruit. Didn't taste tomato-y don't know how it got its name. It doesn't even looks like one?


We visited a guitar factory on the outskirts of Cuenca. Family tradition they use wood and do not paint their guitars. They painstakingly make 1mm cuts into the wood and hammer in coloured wood creating a pattern.



Stopped for coffee and a brown bread sweet, forgot what it was called? I didn't think much of it but o well.


Everyone has heard of the Panama hats? What I didn't know was they aren't made in Panama. The hat (and its name) got popular because the workers wore them during construction of the Panama Canal. If it says made in Panama- it's fake!! The original Panama hats are all made in Ecuador.



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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey! Nice TR Nikhil! Smile

Usual Nikhil style TR as always..and no, a load of pictures is never a bad thing Very Happy

Loved the GoPro part...they're equally bad lol

Nice flight on the Fokker again Wink

Looking forward to more!

Regards
Wish
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, talk of the exotic, and trust stealthpilot to do the route, and the places!
One again, thank you for an incredibly nice trip through space and time.
Exotic locations and even more exotic routings!
Your trip reports are also full of some real eye-candy, and pictures which get my digestive juices doing a Matrix-like routine inside my belly...food pictures.
Your TRs are also extremely informative: you pay such attention to small details: local names, customs, history and all of it comes in the form of an enjoyable package, which is a delight to read.
A picture of an empanada around the Holi season in Delhi brought up visions of...the famous North Indian sweet, which bears a superficial resemblance from the mere sight of the object...gujiyA!
Lovely wildlife pictures: is that an ocelot, or a bobcat/lynx...looks like the former. Exotic!
And the Jaguar with its rosettes...lovely!
A hummingbird coming in to land, with its wings in a blur...beautiful!
The Panama Canal, and the malaria information was...nothing short of awesome. Seriously, you should consider letting kids read your trip reports to learn more about history, and geography.
Sloth...ha ha, the Wife pointed out (helpfully) that the pose also resembled mine.
Llamas and Alpacas: I would not know!
Tea with alcohol: interesting!
The temple of the sun: this was a place I had wanted to read about for quite some time. At least I got to see and know about it through your trip report.
And I wouldn't have know about Panama hats, either!
Thank you for an exciting learning experience...I look forward to going through Part 2 over quite a few meal sittings. The Wife had shouted at me last night for my over-eating.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jbalonso777 wrote:

Thanks, it was hard to figure out which pictures to use/leave out Smile


sumantra wrote:

One of the best parts about travel is eating/trying different things. No doubt you agree Wink
You are correct I believe that is an Ocelot.
I love those bits of information random or otherwise I find them fascinating ..... trouble is I'm not very good at remembering them hehehehe.
The tea with alcohol was interesting I've never added sugar (no milk) and alcohol to tea. It was particularly nice since it was rainy and cold outside, maybe a bit to strong but I'm not much of a drinker so I guess most people would think it was alright.
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iah87
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very interesting. I visited Costa Rica, Peru, Panama and Brazil, but Equador sounds interesting. Perhaps on the next visit.

Sorry you had a delay at IAH, perhaps it would be helpful to print the visa requirements of Costa Rica or other countries, which accept US or Schengen or UK visas to enter their countries.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

iah87 wrote:
I visited Costa Rica, Peru, Panama and Brazil, but Equador sounds interesting. Perhaps on the next visit.

Hi iah87: it is nice to see you in this part fo the forum. However, with such exotic trips...do you not owe us a trip report? Smile Perhaps on your next visit to the site? Razz
Cheers, Sumantra.
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

iah87 wrote:
.

We showed him the visa requirements from the website. It was an iPad but what's the difference the chap was confused. Took 40 mins for the supervisor to sort things out (in 6 seconds)
At the end we just took the next flight it was a 4 hour wait, tiring but not the end of the world. It just wasn't a good experience, especially with the check in agent going on about how he handles Costa Rica all the time and knows what they want and he would be responsible if we were sent back Confused
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Spiderguy252
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fantastic TR, NiT! Stunning shots!

Thanks for the share!
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avbuff
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 12:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stunning TR Nikhil, amazing pictures ... a virtual tour indeed!

Sorry about the DXB - PTY thing, but then I informed you who to blame for that Twisted Evil Twisted Evil

BTW that picture with you and the Llama reminded me about Captain Haddock wherein the Llama spat water on him! LOL

Thanks for sharing!
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