Digital Nomad Life: Month 114

Month 114 was spent traveling in Panama and Costa Rica for the first half of the month, and then I was back home in the U.S. for a quieter second half of the month.

I began the month with three days left in Bocas Del Toro in Panama, where we made the most of our time despite the rain and clouds. From Panama, we headed back to Puerto Viejo and spent another four nights there before spending a full day on buses to get to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Coast.

We spent one day in the park and saw so many animals and hung out at the pretty beach. And then it was time to travel to the final destination of our trip before returning to San Jose – Monteverde.

We stayed in the town of Santa Elena and I enjoyed the cooler climate and lush landscape, although we did get some crazy winds and rain during our four nights there.

Then it was back to San Jose where we spent one night before flying back to Denver.

We got back late so we stayed a night at an airport motel then we picked up our RV, car, and cat the next day. We started a one-week dogsit in the lovely Wash Park neighborhood of Denver the day after that.

Toby stayed in the RV outside with the cat and I stayed in the house with the dog. It’s a bit of a weird setup but I needed more room to move around while recovering from my varicose vein laser removal.

It’s so expensive to rent a place for a week and we have some big expenses coming up already so we wanted to save our money. I really enjoyed the sit – the dog was super sweet and the house was cozy and Christmassy with a real Christmas tree and decorations.

Although I was pretty sore after my procedures we still managed to do lots of Christmas outings and I even made it to Golden to grab a coffee and go for a riverside walk with a friend, and to Boulder to do some Christmas shopping and admire the Christmas lights there.

After leaving the housesit, we had three more nights in the Denver area staying in our RV at family’s then we drove down to Alamosa for the night to attend a memorial of my father-in-law’s best friend Dennis who died while we were in Costa Rica. It was obviously sad but I am so glad we could make it to pay our respects as I had got close to Dennis over the years.

We spent the last couple of nights of the month in Espanola with my father-in-law, with visits to Chimayo and Santa Fe to soak up the festive atmosphere.

Countries Visited: USA, Costa Rica, Panama

Places Visited:

• Panama: Bocas Del Toro
• Costa Rica: Puerto Viejo, Cahuita, Quepos, Santa Elena, Monteverde, San Jose
• Colorado: Aurora, Denver, Bennett, Boulder, Golden, Buena Vista, Alamosa, La Jara
• New Mexico: Espanola, Chimayo, Santa Fe

National and State Parks, Monuments, and UNESCO Sites: Cahuita National Park, Manuel Antonio National Park, and Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica.

Islands Visited: Colon Island and Bastimentos Island in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.

Best Meals: Garlic shrimp with rice, salad and patacones from Olazul in Bocas Town; Sourdough baguette from Panis in Bocas Town; Poutine and chicken burger from JJ’s in Bocas Town; Sushi and shrimp gyoza from Calypso Sushi in Quepos; Roasted chicken breast with chimichurri and white cheddar mac and cheese from Chook in Denver; Vegetarian plate with a chile relleno, a refried bean and cheese taco, a cheese enchilada with Spanish rice, calabacitas and green chile from Rancho de Chimayo in Chimayo; Calamares Frito, Gambas al Ajillo, Patatas Bravas and Aguacate from El Farol in Santa Fe.

Best Craft Beer: Cherry Wheat Beer from Desert Dogs Brewery in Santa Fe.

Hikes/Walks:

• Encantado, Mundo and Youth Challenge loop trail in Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica 2.5 miles
• Peak 2 Plains and Welch Ditch Trail in Golden, CO 2.6 miles

Watching: Somebody Somewhere Season 3 (I am sad this sweet show is ending), Will and Harper, Shrinking, Bad Monkey, and an uncountable number of Christmas movies.

Reading: Billy Summers by Stephen King, Where I End by Sophie White, The Women by Kristin Hannah, The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson.

New Posts: I wrote one new post this month, my annual travel wishlist which lists my future travel plans for next year and some that I hope to make happen.

Highlights

An Afternoon Exploring Bastimentos Island

After a rainy morning, the sun finally came out after lunch so we took a water taxi to the largest island in Bocas Del Toro, Bastimentos Island, to explore.

If I had a full day, I would have liked to hike through the jungle to Red Frog Beach, or even further to remote Polo Beach, but as we only had a few hours of sunlight left we explored the colorful and vibrant town of Old Bank, and did the short hike through the jungle to rugged Wizard Beach where we spent a couple of peaceful hours swimming and reading.

It was an excellent afternoon in Bocas Del Toro.

Animal Spotting Tour in Manuel Antonio National Park

A definite highlight of Costa Rica and one of the main reasons I wanted to visit Costa Rica was to see all the incredible animals. We got to see a ton of them on our walking tour in Manuel Antonio National Park. Our guide had strong binoculars and he was so good at spotting tiny animals in the trees or animals that were really far away.

I can’t even remember everything we saw now but the standouts were capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, Morpho butterflies, sloths, Iguanas, Jesus Christ lizards, coatis, a crocodile, some crazy spiders, bats, a turtle, and a Mexican anteater! I got some great photos with the zoom on my camera but unfortunately I forgot to bring the cord that connects my camera to my computer on my current trip so I will have to update this with animal photos at a later date.

After the tour, the sun started to come out and we went to the beautiful beach in the park where we saw loads more iguanas and a cheeky capuchin monkey going through people’s bags while they were swimming.

Ziplining in Monteverde

I haven’t been ziplining since we were in Laos in 2020 so I was excited to spend a day ziplining in Monteverde with The Original Canopy Tour, and it didn’t disappoint.

The tour included 10 ziplines from tree to tree in the forest, an optional Tarzan swing (I did not do this- way too scary!), a rappel, and a crazy climb up a ladder through a tree. I really enjoyed the day and the guides were fantastic. It was a fun way to experience the cloud forest.

Spirogyra Butterfly Garden in San Jose

One of the big highlights from my four weeks in Costa Rica was spending time in the peaceful paradise that is the Spirogyra Butterfly Garden in San Jose. The garden is gorgeous with various colorful flowers, lots of trees and even a waterfall. There is also a trail down to the river which was really nice too. 

There are 20 species of butterflies in the garden and they were absolutely everywhere. There were lots of the beautiful blue Morpho butterflies, my favorite, and even some hummingbirds. Because I sat still for a while, just enjoying all the butterflies, a few of them landed on me and tried to feed from me!

Casa Bonita!

If you are from Colorado and/or are a fan of South Park, you have probably heard of Casa Bonita. Known for its cliff divers and terrible food, this kitschy pink palace restaurant located in a strip mall was bought by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in 2021. They completely remodeled it and since it has reopened, it has been next to impossible to get a reservation.

I ended up joining their Founders Club and you get early access to reservations when they release them each month. After failing the first time, I managed to finally get a reservation for Toby and me this month. And I absolutely loved it! People compare it to Disneyland but it reminded me of Vegas, like a Mexican-themed hotel in a similar vein to Paris Las Vegas or the Bellagio.

The food isn’t a joke anymore, it’s actually really good now and you even get free sopaipillas after your meal. We enjoyed running around and seeing everything like the cliff divers, Black Bart’s cave, the small museum, live music, and the funny puppet show that Trey Parker and Matt Stone created.

If you are visiting Denver and have the chance to visit Casa Bonita – do it! You don’t need to be a kid or have kids to enjoy it. Embrace the fun and kitsch!

Snowy Walk in Golden

I wasn’t allowed to hike or exercise while recovering from my vein procedure but I did sneak in one of my favorite hikes in Golden with a friend, the easy and mostly flat Peak 2 Plains and Welch Ditch trail. We grabbed a coffee from Humble House first and I tried one of their seasonal offerings, a Pecan Pie latte, and it was absolutely delicious.

Christmas Activities in Colorado

I haven’t been in the U.S. for Christmas since 2018 so it was my aim to do as many Christmas-themed activities as possible during our time in Colorado, and we did a lot!

We saw the Christmas lights on Pearl Street in Platt Park, went to the Cherry Creek Holiday Market and Mistletoe Lounge, enjoyed the Christmas lights in downtown Boulder and the Hotel Boulderado Christmas tree, did a self-guided Christmas lights walk in downtown Denver, visited a popup Christmas-themed tiki bar, went to the Larimer Square Christmas Market, and thoroughly enjoyed the excellent Christkindl German Christmas Market.

We were housesitting in Wash Park and just walking the streets around the park we saw some beautiful Christmas lights too. I did pretty well considering how much my leg was hurting.

Christmas Fun in New Mexico

The Christmas fun didn’t stop in Colorado, I also had two more nights of Christmas fun in New Mexico too. We went for dinner at the excellent Rancho de Chimayo which was all decked out for Christmas, and visited the nearby Santuario de Chimayo which was lit up by farolitos, New Mexican Christmas lights.

On our second night, we went into Santa Fe to see the incredible lights strung in the trees in the plaza and the lights on Canyon Road. It was so beautiful that I think it even topped all the Christmas activities we did in Denver (except maybe the Christkindl Market – I really loved that).

Lowlights

Sunburnt Lip

At the end of last month when we spent a sunny day on a day trip to Zapatillas Island, unfortunately, my lip got sunburnt. There is some kind of virus like the cold sore virus that affects me when I get a sunburnt lip, and my lip was painful, peeling, and eventually, bloody (sorry – TMI), until it finally started healing a week later.

More Bad Weather in Panama and Costa Rica

While we didn’t get as much rain as the first part of our time in Costa Rica and Panama, unfortunately we did see a larger amount of rain than normal for the rest of our trip with torrential rain in Panama over a 24-hour period, and crazy wind and sideways rain in Monteverde.

I think of the full 5 weeks, we only had 3 or 4 days when it didn’t rain at all. I will never go to Costa Rica in the rainy season again, if I ever go back at all.

Two Death Notifications in One Day

The bad luck continued when we found out about two deaths in one day while we were in Manuel Antonio National Park – my FIL’s best friend and roommate Dennis, and one of Toby’s old friends, Monty.

I was close to Dennis and although his health hadn’t been good for a while, I was still really sad to hear about his passing and I will miss him. Monty and I never really got along and Toby hadn’t been on speaking terms with him for a while but I was still sad to hear about his passing – he was barely 50.

Bus Delays

When I was 29-30 I spent seven months traveling by bus from Mexico City to Buenos Aires (I took a boat from Panama to Colombia), and many of those bus rides were over 12 hours, and had multiple delays.

I don’t have as much patience for that kind of travel at 42, so the two full days we spent on buses this month were frustrating, especially because they took hours longer than they were meant to, and at one point there was construction and we sat in the bus without it moving for over two hours.  

Finding Out the RV Will Cost A Lot to Repair

We have been having issues with the RV pretty much since we got it. It is a vintage 1981 motorhome after all. The latest issues include oil leaks and it has been losing power when driving uphill. 

Toby had the engine scoped while we were in Costa Rica and the mechanic says there are so many issues with the engine due to it not being properly fixed and fitted just before we got it, that it would be a good idea to get a completely new one.

To get everything fixed and get the new engine we are looking at around $5000 so we are trying to decide now if it is actually worth fixing, especially as we are trying to move to New Zealand in a year or so anyway and it is technically running so we could take it to spots close to Denver.

Long Recovery From My Varicose Vein Procedure

I realize now that I was being naive when I expected very little pain after getting my varicose veins lasered. The procedures themselves weren’t very painful and were over within half an hour, but the recovery has been rougher than I expected.

My leg is horribly bruised and it hurts to walk, so I have been walking with a limp. The pain was pretty steady for the first week of recovery and then it finally started to get better, although two weeks after getting the procedure there is still some pain and bruising, and some hard lumps around where the veins were lasered. I’m hopeful that in another week I will be doing much better.

Spending

I don’t include international flights in my recaps. Some of my costs are shared with Toby or other travel partners.

Total: USD$5439.50 

A very expensive month, but this total does include $2313 for my varicose vein procedure which definitely skews it. Without the vein procedure, my total would be $3126.50, which is still more than I would like. The next couple of months will be expensive too as we will be on the road for most of January and February.

Accommodation $383

My 17 nights of paid accommodation for the month consisted of three nights in an apartment rental in Bocas Town, three nights in an apartment rental in Puerto Viejo, one night in a private room in a hostel in Puerto Viejo, three nights in a private room at a hostel in Quepos, four nights at a hotel in Santa Elena, one night at a hotel in San Jose, one night at an airport motel in Denver, and one night at a motel in Alamosa.

My 13 nights of unpaid accommodation for the month consisted of four nights staying in our RV with family in Aurora, seven nights housesitting in Denver, and two nights with family in Espanola.

Food and Drink $1004 

Another expensive month for eating and drinking, but I am not too surprised considering we were eating out for most meals and Costa Rica and the U.S. are both expensive.

Clothing $146.50

• Hiking shorts $28
• Teva sandals $35
• Hiking socks $25
• Dress $31.50
• Beanie $27

Transport $210

• Gas $64.50
• Isla Colon collectivo $3
• Return taxi boat from Bocas Town to Old Bank $10
• Return shared taxi from Bocas Town to Playa Bluff $8
• Boat and shuttle from Bocas Town to Puerto Viejo $29
• Return local bus from Puerto Viejo to Cahuita $2
• Uber in Puerto Viejo $2
• Ubers in San Jose $5.50
• Bus from Puerto Viejo to San Jose $13.50
• Bus from San Jose to Manuel Antonio $11
• Uber in Manuel Antonio $4.50
• Taxi in Quepos $2.50
• Buses from Manuel Antonio to Santa Elena $11.50
• Return bus to Santa Elena Cloud Forest $8
• Bus from Santa Elena to San Jose $7.50
• Uber from San Jose to airport $8.50
• Uber from Denver Airport to Brighton $9
• Ubers in Denver $10

Activities $144

• Cahuita National Park entry donation $2
• Manuel Antonio National Park entry fee $18
• Manuel Antonio National Park tour and guide tip $26
• Ziplining in Monteverde including tip $73
• Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve entry fee $18
• Spirogyra Butterfly Garden entry fee $7

Other $1063.50

• U.S. Phone plan $35
• Spotify $13
• One Drive storage $2
• Garmin monthly subscription $15
• Netflix $3.50
• Toiletries $130
• Laundry $10
• One Month Prime Membership $15
• Phone case $22
• Air fryer $22
• Duffel bag $31
• Fleece sleeping bag liner $30
• Green powder $20
• Cat stuff $44
• Charity $115.50
• Restroom fees $2
• Christmas gifts $129
• Souvenir $2
• Joni boarding $237.50
• Vet checkup and vaccinations for Joni $67
• Birthday gift $26
• 2025 planner $14
• Police report for visa application $68
• Slippers $10

Health $2313

• Compression stocking for vein procedure recovery $125
• Varicose Vein Lasering $2188

Website Costs $12

• Monthly payment for Keysearch $12

Vehicle Costs $163.50

• RV and van insurance $79.50
• Car and RV Storage for 3 months $75
• Toll fees $9

What’s in Store For Next Month

We’ll be heading to Phoenix via Holbrook for Christmas with family for a few days at the beginning of the month. I am looking forward to making (and eating) lots of Christmas cookies, soaking in my MIL’s hot tub, and also catching up with friends for the couple of days after Christmas.

From Phoenix, we will be driving up to the historic mining town of Jerome where we have booked a cute apartment for a week. I am excited to spend time in nearby Cottonwood, Sedona, and in Jerome. We have a ghost tour booked and will try to find something fun to do for New Year’s Eve as well.

After our time in Jerome, we will be heading back to my FIL’s in Espanola for five days via a quick stop in Phoenix for my MIL’s birthday and Petrified Forest National Park. While in New Mexico, I am hoping to maybe visit Taos, do some hiking, soak at Ojo Caliente hot springs, and finally visit the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, which has only recently reopened after closing during the pandemic.

Then it is back up to Denver to drop off the cat at the sitters place and run some last-minute errands before our first big trip of 2025 – 6.5 weeks between Qatar, Tanzania, Madrid, and Mexico!

We fly to Washington D.C. where we connect to our overnight flight to Doha. We will be spending four nights there in a four-star hotel that we booked as a very affordable stopover package with Qatar Airways. It will be my first time in the Middle East and we are looking forward to exploring Doha, as well as doing half-day trips to the sand dunes and inland sea, and northern Qatar.

The last four days of the month we will be traveling in Tanzania. We have a night in Dar Es Salaam before taking the ferry to Zanzibar where we will be spending the rest of the month.

It’s going to be one hell of an adventure!

To read additional Monthly Recaps, you can find them here