Costa Rica Vacation Journals

Well, everyone. I guess this is goodbye!
I made it back to SF without any glitches.
My flight arrived in SF about ten minutes late. My ride was waiting for me and I was home 20 minutes later!
Pretty much today, I have just moped around napping and getting souveniers and presents ready to mail out. I feel like I am out in the ozone layer. Tomorrow is gonna really suck at work!
I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog, I enjoyed writing it!

Thank you Alex for a great vacation!

Bye!

Randy

Well, I am almost on my way. It is 9 am and I am packing up my souveniers and clothes. My flight leaves at 2:30 but I need to get to the airport a few hours early.
I can't believe that in just a few hours I will be back in San Francisco. I am a little home sick, but I have had such an amazing time.

Luckily I am taking tomorrow off from work, I have a feeling I am going to need a few days to recoup from this trip.

It has been fun writing this blog, I hope you all enjoyed it and got some insight on Costa Rica.
If you have any questions, you can email me at ripleyguy2@aol.com.

I will let you all know when I make it back to SF!

Well folks, my trip is almost over. I spent the day with Alex running around shopping. There are three big malls in San Jose. They were just like any mall in America, only a little more expensive.
The last two days, I decided to lay low and relax. We were going to try and head to a few volcano's but the weather has been cloudy and rainy, so we probably wouldn't have much luck seeing anything.
I have pretty much decided I will return to Costa Rica again, in the future. The volcanoes have been around for millions of years, they will be here when i get back.
Tonight I am taking Alex and his mother out for dinner at her favorite steak house. Its my way of thanking her for opening her home to me and letting me stay here for two weeks.
I can't believe my trip is over. This last two weeks has been incredible and magical. Its going to be sooo hard to go back to work and focus.
My flight leaves tomorrow at 2pm I believe. Then I will be back in San Francisco at 10:35 pm.
That is UNLESS Taca airline screwed up my flight. I am sure they are gonna mess up my return home. Keep your fingers crossed for me. If you are flying to Costa Rica, try United Airlines!

Last night Alex and I went to a club with our new friends from Jaco. The club has a "special" on Saturday nights. You pay a cover charge and from 10pm until 2am you can drink whatever you want, for no extra charge.
I think i need to give my liver a vacation!

Today we are just going to hang out in San Jose, and do some shopping and lay low.

I can't believe that my Costa Rica vacation is almost over. This morning (OK, I lie...it was in the afternoon!) I was having breakfast with Alex and I was trying a new kind of tropical fruit. It's moments like that, I will miss when I come back home.
Life is so simple here, but full of great pleasures.

Alex and I got up early this morning to see my first Volcano. We drove about two hours north of San Jose. The weather was rainy and foggy all day. We got to the Poas volcano, but we couldn't see anything. Bummer. Oh well. I got to look cute in my little garbage bag rain poncho!
We then drove to the Lapaz Waterfall Gardens and had lunch. Another buffett. (Xinfeng, this time you would have really died!)
Then afterwards we walked around and looked at all the plants, the butterfly garden, the waterfalls, and best of all the frogs.
Afterwards we drove to Sarchi, a little town full of wood craftsmen. Alex has a business associate that makes wood souveniers in a shop. I spent waaaaaaaaaaaay too much money there, but everything there was absolutely beautiful. Everything is handmade, most out of teek wood. I bought some presents for friends and family. If you ever get a chance you should check it out. The guys name is Vinicio Marin.
I believe Costarica.com will be selling his items soon too.
Pretty much that was my day. I woke up this morning with horrible allergies. I think it is turning into a cold, so I might lay low this evening.
Tomorrow, i belive Alex is taking me to one more volcano.

Last night we went to a few clubs in the city. I walked into the men's room and someone tapped me on the shoulder, it was someone I know from my office in San Francisco, He just flew into San Jose that evening. It was so nice to see a familiar face.
We are gonna pick him up and take him with us to the volcanoes today.

If you are planning a trip to Costa Rica and need a tour guide. Let me recommend Daniel to you. His name is Daniel Fernandez. He speaks both Spanish and English and is an AMAZING guide. He knows a lot about nature and geography and Costa Rica. My trip to Tortegero would not have been the same without his skilled eyes for finding animals and his knowlege about biology! He mentioned to me that he has been doing this type of work for well over twenty years. He was considerate, polite, and has a contagious laugh! You can email him at dannatureguide@yahoo.com. Tell him I sent you! Ask if he ever finished Shogun.

Me and Alex just got back a few minutes ago from our trip to the othe coast. Each trip I make into a part of Costa Rica, I come back saying, "This is my favorite part!" But, this time I truly mean it!
On Tuesday morning, Alex and I took a cab ride to a hotel and were picked up by a bus. Alex planned a little trip over to Tortegero. It is in the state of Limon on the Carribean coast of Costa Rica!
I prepared myself for a pretty grueling trip. We had to take a bus for three hours, and then transfer to a boat and ride down a canal until we got to Tortegero. I was pleasantly surprised that our trip included a guide. His name is Daniel. During the ride, he gave information on various regions as we were passing through them. This made the trip go by very quickly. Daniel is a very passionate naturalist, and loves giving tours and showing people the country.
The bus ride went by fast enough, and then we had to take a boat "taxi" to the hotel we were staying at. The boat ride was a lot of fun. Along the way we saw various birds, turtles and from a very very far distance, we saw a crocodile.
We made our way to the Laguna Lodge, the facility we were staying at for two nights. When our boat landed and we walked out, I half expected a plump man with a beard to come out and say, "Welcome to Jurrasic Park!"
The hotel was BEAUTIFUL! Everywhere there were tropical flowers and plants!
The manager of the hotel greeted us and gave us a run down of the activities and dining schedule, then sent us off to uour room. The room was adequate. Small and charming, there were two beds an extra couch thingy and a large bathroom. The windows were encased with screen to keep out bugs and mosquitos! There was also a ceiling fan in the room to keep the air flowing!
I was eager to see the ocean so i ditched Alex and went for a walk on the beach. The Caribbean Ocean is very rough and you cannot swim in it, that is unless you have a death wish! I walked for about half a mile listening to the ocean and admiring the view. All along the beach there are beautiful palm trees lining the way!
I decided to head back to the lodge and haave some lunch. Part of the trip and stay are the meals. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, but the best part is that it is BUFFETT style! (Xingfeng you would have died!)
The food was pretty good, a lot of fruit and veggies, which was fresh and delicious!
After lunch I decided I needed to be IN the water, so I went swimming at the pool. It was the perfect temperature and not too crowded. The best part is that ten yards away was a full bar! Woo hoo! I practically ran to the bar and begged for a Pina Colada!
I brought it to the pool and swam and sipped on my drink the rest of the afternoon.
Part of the tour was a trip into Tortegero. I decided to stay at the pool instead of going. I wanted some alone time and to get some sun.
The weather was amazing! Not too hot and not a lot of mosquitos!
I laid out for the rest of the afternoon and then met up with Alex (sleeping in a hammock!) and we had a few drinks and went off to dinner.
Dinner was served from 7 until 9 pm. We ate quickly and headed back to the room and basically crashed!
The next morning I had to awake early because Daniel was guiding us into the rain forest by boat. This was by far the best experience so far. We boared the boat around 6 am and went into the canals near the rainforest in search of wildlife. The trip was amazing, I saw so many different types of birds, lizards and other wildlife. The weather was a bit overcast and it started to rain, luckily they provided us ponchos to keep dry. A lot of the other people in the boat were complaining of the rain. But I was thrilled! Helllllllllllo, if you go into a rainforest folks, you might get some rain.
We went around for about two hours spotting different creatures before having to return to the lodge for breakfast.
After breakfast I took a nap. There was another trip out at 10:30 to see more wild life. I almost passed on the opportunity because I was a little tired and bored of spotting bird after bird.
Alex told me to get off my ass and go. I am so glad I listened to him. The second time we went in, we spotted so many more animals. Iguanas, Sloths, Camans (think shrunken alligator), turtles and many, many birds!
It was great being so close to these things and being a part of the rainforest. In just a few hours, the trip had changed my life!
Afterwards, ALex and I decided to walk down the beach into the town of Tortegero. It was an interesting time. The town has NO cars. Basically everything is brought into the town on boat, and if you want to get to another destination you have to take a boat taxi.
The town was small but lively. There were a lot of children running around playing soccer and walking with family.
We were only there for about an hour. Alex needed to check his email. It was interesting to see a little cyber cafe right in the middle of this little desolate town.
We walked back down to the lodge in time for some drinks and dinner. Pasta...not good.
We decided to walk to the pool and sit for a while while we chatted. In the middle of the pool is a little island that one solitary frog lives on. I am not sure but I think he is the lodge mascot. They are nocternal so during the day they are hard to find. But someone else came along with a flashlight and we managed to spot him. I washed my hands and held him in my hand for a few moments. He felt so soft and beautiful. I love reptiles and lizards and amphibians, so this was a high for me. We had our moment and then I passed him into the hand of the woman with me. He jumped from her hand into her hair. I think this was his little way of saying leave me alone!
We decided to turn in after that.
Around I was awakened by a rainstorm. It sounded amazing, and kind of lulled me back to sleep!
We had to leave at 9:30 so we woke up a little early so we could have breakfast and say good bye to the lodge. I walked around and took some pictures while alex rested in a hammock. Alex has done this trip many times before so he wasnt as enthusiastic as i was!
We packed our things and got on the boat and made our way back to San Jose.
I am sitting here now in front of this computer feeling as if the last few days of my life have been a dream.
Costa Rica is definately one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I cant remember the last time I have felt so peaceful and happy!

Anyhoo...I am going to rest for a few hours and then we are are going to meet up with some of the friends we met in Jaco. Tomorrow we are heading to see some volcanoes and do some souvenier shopping!

I got something pretty for you Adolfo!

There are a few things that I learned so far while visiting Costa Rica, I want to pass on to you if you are planning a trip.
First off Costa Rican currency is called Colones. I was here for about 5 days before someone told me how to figure out the cost of products in American dollars. First you take the price of the item you are purchasing and multiply it by 2 and then divide by 1,000. It is not the actual amount but gives you a very close range of what you are purchasing.
The second thing to remember, if you go into a shop try to bring a Costa Rican friend in with you, sometimes people charge more for gringos. If you have no idea what you are doing, as I did most of the time, you might end up spending too much money.
Luckily I was always with friends who were watching out for me. I almost paid $5 for a coca-cola in Jaco.

Last night Alex and I got back to San Jose, I spent 3 days in a little town on the coast called Jaco.
Jaco was a great little beach town, very laid back and exciting. The people there are very friendly and LOVE to party.
I left San Jose on Friday early afternoon with Jorge. We had to take a bus for 31/2 hours to get to Jaco. The ride wasn't too bad, except for the fact that I had McDonalds for lunch, and got a mild case of food poisoning. An hour into the trip, my stomach started gurgling and I had to fight off vomiting for the next hour. Luckily we took a bathroom break and I was able to purchase some medicine to settle my stomach.
We arrive at Jaco around 4 in the afternoon and made our way to the villa we were staying at. The villa was rented by Michael a friend of Allejandra, Jorge's friend. They welcomed us into the house and made us feel very welcome.
Jorge and I made our way into town and to the beach, the sun went down around 5:30 but we still wanted to walk on the beach. The town was pretty busy, but the beach was almost deserted. We walked for a few hours talking while Jorge coached me on Spanish. We eventually made our way back into town and had a nice dinner at a placed called the Belmont. I had shrimp again...very good and very fresh! Later we took a taxi back to the villa to get ready to go out. We all piled into a car and went to a local disco.
The music was incredible, and we danced and drank all night. The people were very friendly to me, It was sometimes difficult because a lot of them do not speak English and I dont speak spanish, but they never made me feel like i wasnt part of the group.
After a few hours, we made our way back to town and another bar. After many cervesas, we decided to leave and go to the beach. A small group of us sat on a log and talked while the sun came up. It was really a beautiful experience.
We all ended up back at the villa and slept until noon. Jorge and I walked into town to meet ALex, who was returning from Panama.
This was new years eve, so to celebrate, Michael made a delicious Cuban dinner for a big group of people and we brought the food to another house and ate and drank until 11:30.
We all piled into cars and made our way to the beach. At midnight we all wished each other a Happy New Year, with a champagne toast.
Afterwards we set off fireworks and continued to drink and talk. It was so much fun. I will always remember that I brought in the New Year on a beautiful beach with amazing people under the starry sky in Jaco, Costa Rica.
The next day, Alex and I got up early and made our way to Manuel Antonia. This place is more Americanized and commercial than most other places in Costa Rica. It is also vey beautiful. Alex slept on the beach while I swam and sunbathed. The water was perfect for swimming. The water was clear and beautiful. I could look down and see fish swimming around my feet. The beach was right off of the rainforest, and there was a lot of animals around us. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to see a monkey (this beach is famous for the monkeys) but i did see several raccoons, lizards, and hermit crabs.
We drove back to Jaco in time to watch the sun go down. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. The ski turned blood red, and reflected on the water and beach.
We went and picked up Jorge and Allejandra. Alex drove us back to San Jose. We dropped Jorge and Allejandra off and made our way back to Alex's home. His mother was awaiting our return and prepared us a delicious meal of fried shrimp.
Alex's mother loves to cook, and I love to eat, so we have a perfect friendship! Ha ha!
Today, I am mostly resting and recharging my batteries. Me and Alex might take a ride into the city and explore. I told him that I wanted to go to a fruit stand so I can try all the different tropical fruits.
Tomorrow we are going to do a canopy tour of the rain forest.

Until next time!
Ciao!

Randy

It is Thursday afternoon, at about 4pm. Me and Evin just got back from the farm. What an incredible experience. We left Tuesday morning around 11am. A friend of Alex's took his Uncle Mario, Evin and me to the farm. Driving in this city is a bit of a roller coster ride. Everyone drives pretty aggressively. I am surprised there aren't more accidents than there already are.
When you drive along the highway every so often you see a yellow heart with a halo spray painted on the road. They told me they do this when someone dies at that spot in a car accident.
Leaving the city took a bit of a while, you wind through several roads before you hit a major highway. The roads aren't all that great so it is a bit of a bumpy ride, so make sure you go pee before you leave!
Once you hit the highways, you see people selling goods on the highway...mostly sunglasses, cell phone accessories and baseball caps. The people sometimes stand in the middle of busy roadways, I wonder how many of the yellow hearts are for those poor people trying to make a living.
We drove about an hour to a small town West of San Jose called Esparza. This is where most of Alex's family lives. They live on a small chicken farm that has been in the family for over 50 years.
The family live in about 8 seperate houses, but I would say the "main" house is the one his Grandmother lived in. This house seemed to be the heart of the farm. I ate all my meals there, and everyone gathered outside to talk after working and eating.
Alex told me he wanted me to get a view of how Costa Rican families live. He gave me the option of going with him to Panama for work or going to his family farm. I am so glad that I got to see the farm. The people there were so welcoming and friendly. I never once felt like an outsider, even though besides one family member, Vanessa, I was the only person who spoke English.
The house that I stayed in was very minimal. It had running water and electricity. There were not a lot of decorations on the walls, a lot of food, or a collection of dvd's and cd's like you would find in most American homes.
I got a sense, right away that everyone there was very happy, and that family was the most important thing to them.
Vanessa and I were talking about my home in San Francisco. I live alone and my family lives in Montana, whom I only see once or twice a year. She told me that without her family, she would die.
The family kept me well fed. I ate better than I have in a long time. Each meal was served with rice and beans. For breakfast they combine the leftover rice with the beans and it is called Gallo Pinto pretty much a staple of their diet, and not bad with a little salsa mixed in for flavor!
The first night we walked into town to see what was going on. For such a small little place, it sure was busy. There is a town square in the middle that was swarming with people, even after dark. I loved that everywhere you could see families hanging out together, and couples holding hands and walking around. Everyone seemed so care free and happy.

Wednesday, I woke up a to a big surprise. There was an earthquake. It was pretty strong, and better than an alarm clock! Soon afterwards, everyone ran to the house I was staying at because they thought I would be freaking out because of the earthquake. I told them that it made me feel like I was in San Francisco! Later in the evening, we learned that the center of the earthquake was in the southern part of the country and it measured 5.2. Not bad!
After the excitement from the earthquake wore off, Vanessa, Uncle Mario and I took off to the Ri0 (river) to go swimming. They warned me all morning to watch out for snakes and alligators, so I was honestly a bit freaked out hiking to the river. I would say the hike was about 3/4 of a mile from the house. Luckily, no snakes were to be seen. I did see one lizard run across a pond though. I love lizards so I was happy with that.
We made it to the river and scoped it out for alligators. We threw rock in the water to see if anything moved..nothing did, so we jumped in and swam for a while. We met another family that lived in Esparza. A man and wife, two boys and their little girl.
The children were excited to meet an American, so I spent some time sitting in the water and giving a brief English class.
We sat in the water for a few hours talking and relaxing and enjoying each others company.
Afterwards, we all packed up and hiked back together. I was amazed how friendly and trusting the people are.
On the way back, I was walking behind one of the kids, and he said something in Spanish, and pointed at the ground. I didn't see a snake, so I wasn't too concerned. He pointed at a hole in the ground and Vanessa looked at me and said "Spider."
I bent way down expecting to see a daddy long leg or something like that, but it was a tarantula about the size of my fist. Luckily no one in the group understood English slang, because I let a few colorful curse words fly out of my mouth.

I think I was the first one back to the farm!


Afterwards, we all showered up and got ready to go into a different town. This was going to be interesting because we were taking a bus to get there. Luckily they knew what they were doing because I sure didn't.
The bus took us to the town of Puntarenas. It's a small tourist town right on the Pacific Ocean. Sadly we got there at night, and I was not able to see much of the beach. It was lined with beautiful palm trees, shops and souvenier stands.
The town was just as busy at night as Esparza was. Again, everywhere you look, you saw families either walking together or riding bikes together.
They asked me if i wanted to have Chinese food or Seafood for dinner.
Not that I dislike Chinese food, but I can get that anytime in San Francisco. We decided on seafood. We had dinner at a great place called Gugas. I ordered the jumbo shrimp with garlic.
I was a little disappointed when the shrimp came served with french fries! AHHHH MAN!
The shrimp was actually very good, so it made up for the Fries.
I actually even got to use my minimal Spanish to order another been.
UNO CERVESA POR FAVOR!!!! (Thanks Lorena!)
There is a beer in Costa Rica called Imperial. I am not a HUGE beer drinker, but this was sooooo good. It tastes a little bit like regular lite beer, maybe a little more stout, but with an almost sweet taste too it.
OK, I am not so sure if the beer was that great or if it just tasted so good beacuse of the heat!
(Does anyone know if you can get this beer in San Francisco?)
Since everyone had been so nice to me, I decided I would surprise them and pay for dinner. For 4 people the bill came to $62. Not bad.
Also, fyi...they don't tip in Costa Rica, unless you feel obligated.
After dinner, we walked around the pier a little more, and I bought a couple souveniers...can't say what...the person I bought for may be reading this...
We took a bus back to Esparza and walked home. I think I was in bed an hour later.
I woke up early this morning a little sad beacuse I knew I was leaving soon. I really enjoyed staying on the farm and getting to know everyone.
I made a good friend with Vanessa. I helped her out with her English and she coached me on Spanish. I gave her my address and promised I would write her a letter in Spanish someday!
I packed up my things and made my way to the main house for breakfast. The whole family made their way in and out eventually. One of the Aunts brought me to her place and gave me a wood carving of an alligator...i think she was teasing me cuz she knew I was worried about alligators. HA HA!
I said goodbye to everyone and then Evin and I made our way to the bus stop. We had to take a bus from Esparza back to Puntarenas to get an another bus that would take us to San Jose. The whole trip took about three hours. I mostly slept on the way home, but once in a while the driver would slam on his brakes and wake me up.
As you can tell I made it home safe and sound...
I've had a little time to sit and think about the last two days...I left the farm a little envious of everyone there. My first impression was to think how sad it must be to live like they do...but after spending a few days, I realized that they have everything they need plus a lot more than most people have.
I was talking to the house keeper and told her I lived alone in the city. I think she felt sorry for me. She thought I lived a pretty lonely exisistence.

Anyway, Evin is about to order some food for us, to be delivered, then I will probably take a power nap. Tonight a friend of Alex's is picking me up. From there I will stay at his apartment, then tonight we are going out on the town. Apparently Thursday nights are THE night to be seen in San Jose.
Then tomorrow we are heading the the beach for a few days, and then Alex will join us, and we will go from there!

Ciao!

Randy

My friend Alex has business in Panama, so he is leaving me in care of his mother. We are heading out the the farm in a few minutes. This should be fun since I will be the only one there that speaks English...not sure if I mentioned earlier, but my Spanish skills are minimal. This should be fun. I wont be near a computer for a few days, so i will have to catch up to you all later! Be well, see you soon!

Hey everyone.
I made it to Costa Rica safe and sound! I arrived this morning at 10am.
I had a minor hangup at the airport in Los Angeles. I had one hour from landing to get to my new flight on a different airline. I caught a shuttle to the new terminal, but the driver dropped me off at the wrong terminal, so I had to walk back. By the time I got to the counter, they had reached their weight limit and were unable to fit me on my flight, so instead of flying to Costa Rica directly from LA, they put me on a flight with a lay over in Guatemala. The airline gave me a $200 voucher for my troubles and sent me on my way. I might try to use the voucher to fly first class on the way back...Schawiiiiiiiiiing!!! The nice thing about all of this was flying into the airport in Guatemala, you fly right next to this HUGE volcano. It was amazing. My next trip might have to be Guatemala. I flew into Costa Rica at 10 am....Sadly this was an hour and a half later than when I was expected, so when I arrived my friend Alex was not here to greet me. I finally tracked him down about an hour later. We had just missed each other. He said he spoke to the airline and they said I cancelled my flight...They did a search and couldn't find me on any of the incoming flights! Another mess up with the airline...so eventually, Alex showed up and drove me to his house. A lot of the roads around the area we are staying are not named or numbered, so if you plan on driving here. make sure you have a great memory and keen sense of direction. You might also want to buckle up, they don't follow any driving rules and the drivers are pretty aggressive. So basically I have just been hanging out with Alex and his mother Evin. For breakfast, Evin made tamales....they were so good! In Costa Rica they put a little bit of everything in them, beef, peas, peppers! They were made on a fire wood stove on a small farm outside of Costa Rica....YUM! After that, I was gonna take a little nap, because I barely slept on the plane. I ended up falling asleep for 6 hours! When I woke up it was pouring rain, so it almost felt like I was back in San Francisco! Tomorrow I am heading with Evin to the farm she grew up in, Alex is off to Panama for business. I think we are going to head out in a little bit so Alex can show me some of San Jose.
My first impressions of Costa Rica are pretty nice. The people are very friendly, except for maybe the hag at the Immigration counter (but who can blame her). When I was waiting for my friend Alex, people were very helpful and offered their cell phones so I could call him.
Some parts of the city feel like driving through the Mission back in San Francisco, but there is a definite laid back feeling here, that you don't get in the city!

Hello everyone, I will be starting my Costa Rica Travel Blog very shortly.