Whistler

Arriving in Whistler I was absolutely dumbfounded by all the snow and the freezing alpine landscape speckled by cosy timber chalets. As soon as I had put my bags down - I had hooked up a days work, shovelling snow in replacement of Willy. It was almost enjoyable as i made snowballs, ate the snow, broke off icicles and putting the shovel down to absorb the alien scenery.

shovelling snow and ice

view from the window

Coming from 5 months on the road surfing, it was a real trip being blasted into the middle of surfings cousin - the snowboarding scene. It's way more of a process and requires a lot more money and clothing - though the rewards are epik. Refusing to pay for a $100 a day for a pass, a fellow explorer and I managed to board for free hiking to the second lift and enjoying the wealthy ski resorts complex infrastructure, stretching to all extremes of the mountain. When the chairlift penetrates the cloud-line, you are overwhelmed by a 360 degree view of distant rugged mountain ranges blanketed by powder. It really feels like you are on the outskirts of human existence...

Drive to Whistler
Vancouver metro
New city - new scenes
On the roof

Well, I've done it, drove the car from Northern California to Panama city and FINALLY sold her off at the border. It feels like a great accomplishment, an iconic journey on which I grew immensely. After lawyers, bribes and bent custom regulations I finally was able to run into Costa Rica with $US 2 000 in my sock, and hitch-hike 7 hours straight to the aeropuerto...

It was a plain ride of reflection for me as I ventured north into the depths of winter and thought about all the amazing experiences I had throughout Central America.

A day or two later I was greeted by a shivering Willy in a freezing Vancouver train station. After a few days exploring the sharp, modern and funkily Euro city - we hitched an internet ride (thanks craigslist.com) to the famous Whistler Mountain.

Some shots Willy snapped during a skate round the city

Walking out the front...
to this...

After dropping off our grateful Tico hitchhiker amigo in Santiago, we headed off into the night towards Santa Catalina. Many potholes and Spanish swear words later - we arrived and checked into a little cabin in the middle of some farm land and fell asleep to the sound of crickets and waves. The next morning I was greeted with perfect head high waves breaking on an A frame reef straight out the front. The next week and a half were spent surfing, cooking up delicous feasts with our multicultural travel mates and enjoying Panamanian beer or Chilean red wine on the roof watching the sun set over the waves.

Morning traffic near Santa Catalina


The last couple have months I have really fell into the groove of the latin beat, cruising down from Nicaragua to the Carribean coast of Costa Rica, white water rafting the mighty Pasquares before trekking through the Nicoya Peninsular and settling for a few weeks in Playa Santa Teresa. Jumzi, Catalina and myself rented a beatiful little cabina with barn door windows looking back into a forest full of howler monkeys, and every morning we enjoyed rich Costa Rican coffe before the short skip down to the waves. After my travel compadre Willy split to the US, and James headed back up to Nicaragua, we spontaniously decided to hit the Panamericana highway down South into PANAMA! It was so exciting cruising through the temperate jungle terrain and stopping in at little family owned restraunts by the highway. After heckling through another border crossing and picking up a random Costa Rican surfer heading to Panama City, we cruised into Panama with the windows down and music pumping - I couldn´t beleive I had actually made it to Panama...