William ("Billy") Paul

BillyGoat

William ("Billy") Paul

In my 31 years, I've managed to make it to Europe, all over the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. Next stop is Central America (Costa Rica). In fact, that's why I've started this blog. I want to begin to chronicle my travels. Maybe writing about them will inspire me to get out and travel more often.




Day 10, the Interbus picked us up. They were early, but kind enough to let us finish breaking our fast. The bus ride was long but only bumpy for the first 1 hour or so. After that it was nothing but paved highways! About 2.5 hours in, our driver pulled over so he could eat lunch. The rest stop had lots of touristy goods for sale and free coffee. Yay! As we drew close to Quepos, we started seeing fields upon fields of palm trees. Apparently Costa Rica exports lots of the palm oil used in many bath products. Upon arriving in Quepos, our first impression was... mixed. The city was weathered and the streets weren't as clean as elsewhere in Costa Rica (like a baby San Jose). We were dropped off at the Wide Mouth ... read more
Funny sign
Crab!
Manuel Antonio Beach


Sorry, not a lot of pictures for this one... Today we decided to relax a bit. We woke up later in the day and ate some breakfast. Then, headed down the hill to the Frog Pond. We bought tickets and got a guided tour. Lots of frogs... But, they were all sleeping! Almost all of them. Apparently frogs are, for the most part, nocturnal. Luckily, the tickets were good for the whole day, so we left and decided to come back later. Nap, eat, nap... After some much needed r&r, the sun had gone down and we returned to the frog pond. At night, the pond was a different world. The frogs were all awake and croaking. Most of them were right at the front of their cages. Plus, they were much easier to spot given ... read more
Monteverde streets


First thing in the morning, dropped off the rental car, walked to grab breakfast, checked out, then hopped in a van for the jeep-boat-jeep to Monteverde (it would be more aptly named van-boat-van). The van took us down some decent roads to Lake Arenal where we hopped into a large boat. This was the first point in the trip where Shavonn and I wish we'd brought backpacks instead of luggage. It was pretty muddy from the van to the boat, and we had to carry the rather heavy suitcases. The boat ride was about 45 minutes and consisted of relaxing in a cool breeze surrounded by beautiful scenery. It more than made up for carrying the luggage. :) At the end of the boat ride, we hopped into our next van (with a quick photo shoot ... read more
Shavonn enjoying the trip
Beautiful hills
Our van


Today was a reasonably short day. After waking up, we started to work on a plan for the rest of the trip. After doing some research, we decided that we'd jeep bus jeep to Monteverde, then take the bus from Monteverde to Quepos (which is close to Manuel Antonio), then, the morning of our outbound flight, hop a Sansa regional jet to San Jose. After we worked out all of our plans, Shavonn started feeling a little rough, so we relaxed in the room until it passed. We think it was just from the heat. With Shavonn feeling better, we took off for the mountains. First of all, given that the previous day we were swimming and didn't want to get the camera wet, we drove by Tabacon and took some photos. Then, we headed up ... read more
Pool at Tabacon
Natural hot spring
Small waterfall with seating


Today, woke up, had a wonderful breakfast, hopped on a tour bus, and headed to the mountains. When we arrived at the mountains, we were whisked through the line and led on a short hike to some stables. At the stables, we were handed helmets and brought some horses. My horses name was named after the national liquor - Casique (forgive the spelling)... Shavonn´s had some crazy name that neither of us could remember... For the sake of the story, let´s call him ¨Donkey¨ (in a Shrek voice). With the regulators mounted up, we started trotting up a gravel trail deep into the mountains. The sun was hot and the bugs were plenty, but that didn´t slow us down. At the top of the trail, we had what was described as a 15 meter hike down ... read more
Regulators mount up!
La Fortuna Waterfall
Swimming


Got up, packed, and hopped on our tour bus. We lucked out because the tour operator said they would carry our luggage to our next hostel. With luggage on board, we headed to Doka coffee plantation. On the way we were introduced to our guide Ana Luisa. A sweet though fairly ethno-centric lady. Apparently, the guide books do not lie. Costa Ricans are not big fans of Nicaraguans. At the coffee plantation, Luisa went on about how the Nicaraguans handle all the physical labor, because the Costa Ricans were too good for that. On the bright side, the coffee and breakfast was delicioso! Next stop Volcan Poas! Unfortunately, right as we were approaching the volcano, the clouds started rolling in. The hike to the top was beautiful, but the view was nothing but clouds. A short ... read more
Ana Luisa
Ox Cart
Hike to acid lake


Today we arrived at Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. Hopped off the plane and went through immigration, then customs. No problemo. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Walked outside, hopped in a cab and headed to our hotel - the Palacio (by Barcelo). The hotel lobby was beautiful... Lots of hard wood and furniture that I can only describe as "Cuban looking". We checked into our room and headed upstairs. Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready. We went back downstairs and told the lady at the front desk that the cleaning lady was still in our room. She apologized and switched us to a different room. When she handed me the key, she smiled and said, "I think you will really like this room." Turns out the new room was a considerable upgrade from ... read more
View from room
Flower in hotel garden
Hotel lobby




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