Monkey Hut Mishaps, the Sequel

Nicaragua - August 2006:After several days of suffering through an oppressive heat wave with no water or electricity, Catherine and Jocelyn finally find reprieve.

The deep blue waters of the volcanic Laguna de Apoyo are the perfect therapy for body and soul. The girls enjoy countless hours floating on tubes and reveling in peace. Intermissions are spent sipping beers on hammocks before pursuing afternoons of kayaking or sailing.

Their spacious room at the Monkey Hut provides the ideal resting spot for their vacation getaway. Finally, after a week of travel they feel detached from the hassles of home. No phones, no email, no worries.

To celebrate, Catherine and Jocelyn decide to treat themselves to a meal at the local lakeside restaurant. They walk down the road about ten minutes from the Monkey Hut and sit down for an abundant feast of Nicaragua's best - rice, beans and meat.

Sated, they pay and hurry home to slumber's call.

The girls wake up with the birds in hopes of catching the early bus to their next destination. A review of belongings reveals a missing wallet. The peace of the previous two days immediately becomes hurried panic.

"Where the hell is Catherine's wallet?!?!"

They frantically search the room, the hostel, the road, the restaurant, and yet no wallet shows up. With little money and no contact with the outside world they hurry to the nearest town in hopes of canceling Catherine's card before any damage is done.

Luckily, their speed in the early hour proves beneficial and the only damage is canceled cards for Catherine. They use Jocelyn's cards and enjoy the last few days of vacation before heading to the normalcy of home.


Nicaragua - June 2008:
Eight months of travel and finally Catherine and Jocelyn decide to revisit a destination. Originally, Nicaragua was to be skipped altogether. But, nostalgic about the Laguna de Apoyo's serenity, they decide a revisit is worthwhile.

Overtaken by excited memories they grab a cab to the Laguna and are not disappointed. Even before checking into their room they don swimwear and bake in the morning sun while floating aimlessly on tubes. Perfect. Just as they remembered it. The rest of the day is spent lounging on the grounds enjoying the lush surroundings. A long kayak across the Laguna allows for a beautiful sunset view before a late evening storm cools the night.

The girls wash up and go to work on whipping up a meal. Unfortunately, the day's peace is interrupted by the party intentions of the ill focused receptionist. She and a group of friends overindulge in alcohol and ridiculously loud music while the rest of the guests try to prepare and eat dinner in the sole communal space.

Catherine and Jocelyn's happiness is not affected. They make due with the irresponsible revelers and after a few hands of rummy they are off to the solitude of a quiet room. A perfect day for the girls albeit an unnerving sense of recklessness from some of the other guests.

Catherine must have sensed it strongly because all night she struggles to sleep. The first drops of light are welcome reprieve from her tossing and turning. She "awakes" at around 5am and quickly wakes Jocelyn up for a glimpse of the sunrise. Although reluctant to shake her slumber, Jocelyn complies with Catherine's wishes and soon they are headed to the lake's edge. As they descend the stairs of the deck Jocelyn notices a "backpacker" Catherine had met the previous night. He and his buddy had slept on the deck and now he too is awake. The eye contact is fleeting and Jocelyn soon catches up with Catherine.

The morning light is soothing although the sun's emergence lacks the spectacular. The girls giggle and joke with each other and soon sleep calls again. They head back to their room but to their surprise their door is locked. Immediately Jocelyn notices the missing "backpackers" that had slept on the deck the night before. Something is not right. Before the sunrise they had left the door unlocked feeling quite safe in the communal style setting.

The girls try to find the receptionist to open the door but in the early hour of 6am she is still in bed nursing the countless drinks of the previous evening. With each passing minute and the continual disappearance of the "backpackers" Jocelyn senses an urgency to get into the room. After several failed attempts they finally find a spare key behind the reception desk.

Once in the room they find two missing credit cards, $200 missing in cash and a missing brand new iPod that they purchased just two weeks earlier. Panic and mayhem set in. Catherine promptly and unabashedly wakes up the receptionist with demands for assistance.

Unfortunately the peace of the Laguna is achieved with no phones and no internet. The girls pack up their gear and within twenty minutes are back in Granada, the closest civilized outpost. By the time internet and phone connections are accessed it is already 7:30am, over two hours since the robbery. The credit card companies confirm the worst. The "backpackers" diligently charged over $800 at gas stations and supermarkets.

The girls are completely dejected. Many times during the ordeal wishes of going home are uttered. Plans of visiting organic chocolate farms are quickly discarded. The girls decide that Nicaragua is not a friendly host and by the following day they are meeting Victoria in San Salvador.

Nothing like family to make things better.

Top Models are Back!

If Bogota was not prepared for the NYC divas then Bocas del Toro could not even compete for their attention. Carl and Efrain decided to try their luck again and joined us for a beach getaway the first week of June in the Panama archipelago of Bocas del Toro. Unfortunately for them Bocas was a bit overrun with gringos with a spring break mentality and peace was hard to find unless one was willing to pay a lot of money.

And since no one wants to visit Latin America to spend a lot of money we passed most of our time at small beaches or at our beach house. Oh yeah, the beach house. Be careful what you reserve over the internet. Our "beach side" house "near a village" was actually smack in the middle of a collection of local homes in a very poor area. The house was very beautiful but the tiny "beach" in front was very dumpy. Literally used by the locals as a dump. Being in a beautiful house amidst such extreme poverty was very difficult for all of us to cope with. Some people may like to marvel in their privilege by seeing the hierarchy firsthand, but others of us actually feel morally responsible for the world's disparities. There is one thing staying at a $10 hostel for the night and knowing that it is still luxury for most locals but staying at an overpriced beach house for a week with locals literally walking by all day is a totally different experience.

The house put a damper on the festivities and even worse was Carl's fever of over 103F for over three days. At first we gave him some Tylenol and hydration salts but after a few days and a peak of 104F we feared the worst - dengue or malaria. In the middle of the afternoon instead of sipping pina coladas on the beach we called our water taxi and zipped to the local hospital. We were dropped off in front of a dilapidated building and made it to the hospital after walking over mounds of debris. At the hospital we were sent away until the next morning because the laboratory was closed for day. Luckily, test results came back negative and the only thing lost was beach time. And, Blackberry time for Efrain.

We're bringing Papi back

Crew of Papillon - Mike, Eric, Ally, Captain Tom, Catherine and Jocelyn

For months we have anticipated the sail from Cartagena to Panama. Beautiful Caribbean islands and crazy deceptive captains. We seriously did not know what to expect. In Cartagena we thought we would be savy and visit the local marina to scope out the "backpacker" boats. We left the marina totally sketched out by sleazy Colombian captains and even more horror stories of deception.

Luckily, at our hostel we met American brothers Mike and Eric who teamed up with us to find a decent boat. We hit it off with the brothers and decided that they would be great protection in case of any problems. Our second night in Cartagena we met Tom, Captain of the Papillon. The stereotypical German, Tom was blunt and abrasive. Immediately I knew we found our guy. I forked over our deposit as soon as he informed us that he did not drink and frowned upon drinking while we sailed.

We explored Cartagena for two days enjoying real heat and a terrifically restored old town. Not to mention our most favorite food establishment in Latin America - Crepes & Waffles. Since our first ice cream cone in Bogota we have become obsessed groupies. In each large city that we visit we immediately scope out the local Crepes & Waffles and overindulge. We figured Cartagena would hold the distinction of our last South American city and our last Crepes & Waffles.

Many calories later, on Wednesday morning, with all our gear, we headed to the marina to meet Tom, see our sailboat for the first time and bid adieu to South America. We really had no idea what to expect from the Papillon except that at a mere 31 feet it would certainly be a tight squeeze for six people and gear. We boarded the Papillon and I am sure we all had apprehension about the basic and cramped quarters that would be our shared home for five days. Nothing about the Papillon gleamed of luxury.

As we had hoped our crew bonded immediately and the company became more important than the physical space. We not only shared our sail with brothers Mike and Eric, and Captain Tom, but also with Ally, a British woman who has lived in Africa most of her life. She was intelligent, progressive and absolutely warm. As soon as we boarded stories started flowing and before long there was nothing around except laughter and the open seas. As our tiny vessel floated in the Caribbean we were overwhelmed by the peace that surrounded us. The sun's intensity waned as it prepared for its evening departure. With it came a spectacle of colors and light. The only thing more beautiful was the moon rising that surprised us on the other side of the dark sky. We went to sleep in our tight beds feeling completely satisfied.




We awoke very early the next morning to yet another gorgeous sky illuminated by the morning sun. By mid afternoon we had jumped in the water and reveled in its warmth and clarity. A day spent chatting, lounging and relaxing was only made better by our evening visitors, a pod of dolphins.





We went to bed the second night like kids awaiting presents on Christmas morning. The third day would mark our arrival to the San Blas Islands. The prevailing reason why this sail was a must for us was the visit to San Blas. The archipelago is a protected autonomous zone of Panama dedicated to the preservation of the environment and of the indigenous Kuna people who inhabit the islands. The islands were not a disappointment. Isolated white sand beaches with crystal clear waters and complete peace. There is absolutely no infrastructure on the islands, therefore, other than sand and palm trees, you may only see one or two Kuna and not much else.

We were ecstatic to get off the sailboat and enjoy the pristine beach of the small island we called home for our third night. The island was so small one could walk around it in less than ten minutes. We played in the water for hours, enjoyed a lovely dinner on the beach sharing more stories and then camped out for the night.

The trip was a definite highlight of our year of travel. Not only did we experience spectacular scenery and serenity we also got to share it with a great group of people. We shocked Tom's East Berlin sensibilities but that was just an added treat. I cannot believe that I almost convinced Catherine that flying would be better.

Check out the rest of the pictures from our sail at:
http://www.juicycat.smugmug.com/gallery/5176253_7vKJv#313648508_7sa3q