so last year I went on a “holiday” which turned out to be more of an adventure then anything. Our original plan was to hit the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, and venture down in to the northeast coast of Panama to explore the Bocas islands and surf some beautiful reef breaks. On our first day in the country, the Caribbean coast was hit with some of the worst storms they have had in 25 years; and of course it just so happened to be when I decide to take a trip down there. See here
While we were in the midst of the storm, we were documenting everything on my little waterproof Sanyo videocamera. Much of the intent of the trip was to surf; but I wasn’t about to surf in 20ft+ messy swell, and get sucked out to who knows where. People thought we were crazy for even skimboarding while it was full throttle. We ended up being trapped on the coast due to bridges being washed out, and mudslides coming down the mountains washing out any cars that were unlucky enough to be driving on the highway. The storm was like nothing I’ve seen before. Just picture the strongest downpours you’ve ever seen for days straight, power outages all day, food supplies starting to run low in stores due to washed out roads. We thankfully met the nicest, most hospitable people I have ever met on ANY of my travels if the course of my lifetime. If it wasn’t for them, our pet dogs for the week, Nicaraguan rum, a deck of cards, and a positive attitude; we would have been in a way worse state then we were. Even with so much destruction around us, it was still amazing and I don’t regret it at all.
Adam edited a video showing our adventures from the two weeks; and now we made light of the situation and dealt with it. From the Caribbean, to avoiding Panama all together; completely diverting our trip to the pacific coast of the country with our new friend Alex from Puerto Viejo - this video shows what an insane trip this was. Once we got to the Pacific we did have a couple days of sun, but it was still relatively dumpy weather. Even though things did not go our way weather wise, it was an incredible experience that I will never forget as long as I’m alive.
