http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mvt0309/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mvt0309 en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:16:29 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:16:29 +0000 After a relaxing few days except for the surfing of course it was time to head back to San Jose for one last night out with the group before we all part ways. We ate at a wonderful Thai restaurant that had wonderful infused teas. To eat I had curry in a hallowedout pineapple and it was very good As we walked back to the hotel that last night I took time to soak in the Costa Rican lifest http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Jose/San-Jose/blog-313750.html After an exciting time in Monteverde it was time to head to the Pacific coast for a few days. This was our longest travel day. The drive was beautiful driving back down the mountains and then driving along the coast. This is the Costa Rica that most people think of crystalclear blue water brown sand and tropical heat.We stayed in Quepos a port city that was a little rough around the edg http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Quepos/blog-313212.html Today started with a van ride to Extremo Canopy Tour. Finally after several days of clouds and rain the sky was a beautiful blue and the sun was shining brightly. It was a welcome sight. The Extremo canopy tour was amazing with several ziplines stretching between mountains. What an amazing experience to be flying through the air attached to a small wire hundreds of feet above the ground. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-312985.html Today was the day we did our 7hour trek from La Fortuna to Santa Elena and the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We started early in the morning by taking a van to Lake Arenal Costa Rica's only lake at the base of the volcano. From there we boarded a bot that took us across the huge lake. From there we mounted up on horses for a 4hour trek on horseback. the horseback ride was fun but very painful a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Elena/blog-312601.html I am now in La Fortuna a small town that reminds me of a smaller Gatlinburg with lots of shops and hotels and restaraunts. The attraction here is the Arenal Volcano a stillactive volcano. We took a hike though the forest with a guide to see it. I couldn't believe it but as we were watching the volcano an explosion of fire came out of the rim It looked like fireworks and the lava runnin http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Alajuela/La-Fortuna/blog-310298.html I made it here in San Jose a few hours ago. What a culture shock I feel REALLY out of place walking down the street and buying things etc. In fact this keyboard is in Spanish Mode so it took me a while to find the right buttons for apostrophes and stuff. It was a mad house as I left the airport with all these taxi drivers trying to get me to go with them. It was scary at first but I http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Jose/San-Jose/blog-309119.html Well I'm just about packed now and I'm ready to get up bright and early tomorrow morning to head to Tampa International Airport then it's off to Miami and then finally San Jose Costa Rica. The past few days have been spent busily running around getting everything packed as well as getting all the necessary preparations done. Today I had to go to the local FedEx Kinkos. I don't have a prin http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/St-Petersburg/blog-308820.html So welcome to my new travel journal. I am traveling through Costa Rica from August 6th August 14th visiting San Jos Arenal Volcano Monteverde Cloud Forest Quepos and Manuel Antonio National Park. I'll try to update the journal as I travel but I make no promises Here's a copy of the planned itinerary given to me from the adventure travel company I'm traveling with GAP AdventuresDay 1 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/St-Petersburg/blog-308061.html