Blogs from Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

Fakten über Costa Rica! • Pura vida! Zwei Worte die alles sagen. Wörtlich übersetzt heisst das: reines Leben. • Einwohnerzahl: Nicht ganz fünf Millionen. Ca. 2/3 wohnen im zentralen Hochland, wo neben der Hauptstadt San Josè, auch die Städte Cartago, Alajuela und Heredia liegen. • Fläche: Costa Rica ist mir rund 51'000 km²nur etwas grösser als Niedersachsen. Rund 30% des Landes steht unter Naturschutz. Vergleichsweise zur Schweiz, in der rund 24% unter Naturschutz steht und kleiner als Costa Rica ist, ist 30% ganz schön viel. Essen: Das traditionelle Frühstück heisst Gallo Pinto. Das ist Reis mit Bohnen, Koriander, Rührei und Kochbananen. Das traditionelle Abendessen heisst Casado. Das beinhaltet Reis, Bohnen, Poulet/Fisch. Tag 1 Die Anreise verlief so: Meine Familie (Meine Mama, mein Vater und ich) standen um 04:00 Uhr morgens auf. Um 04:45 fuhr uns mein ... read more

When I set out to plan my year long adventure in Costa Rica, I wrote an earlier blog titled "Preparing to move out of the Country? Some Things to Consider" about things to consider when planning an international move such as the one I was about to embark on. Now that I'm nearly 1/3 of the way through my year abroad I figured it would be a good time to go back and report on whether my planning was realistic and / or whether I would amend my previous advice. Planning topic #1 from previous post: Can I live here legally for 1 year? It turns out my research in this area provided me with correct and important advice. While some people have suggested I might have been successful in applying for an extension to my ... read more

So much for staying on top of my blogging, I think I'm just shy of being one month since my last update! Oh well, I think I can basically get everyone up to speed. The past month has taught me a lot about the pace of life here and that I just need to relax, be patient and eventually things will get done. When I told some relatives incrediously how complicated it was to get all of the uniform pieces for the kids and how the school couldn't provide me with a daily school schedule or lunch prices prior to the start of school, they just laughed and said that sounded about right. So, now that you've gotten a peek into what I've been coping with here's what's been going on. At the end of January ... read more

We'll it hasn't been quite a full week that I've been in Costa Rica, but so much has happened already I'd better get some of this documented or my blog posts are going to turn into novels. Our travels were for the most part uneventful. We tried out Spirit Airlines because the tickets were such a good deal. I would say we made a good choice, but for others considering flying with them (because they will almost always show up as the cheapest option if you've selected a route they fly) just a few little words of caution. First, the price you see is not the real price of your flight. It is the price before you pay for things like seat assignments and luggage. For us, the flights were still cheaper even after paying for ... read more

Third day in CR - relaxing by the pool. Highly recommend the "Hotel La Rosa De America". Not a five star hotel but a real nice budget place, clean and friendly and everybody speaks english (which is great as our Spanish isn't so hot). The garden is amazing. The place is owned by a Canadian military guy from Prince Rupert. Yesterday we bused up to Atenas where we met up with my old friend Ron. He has been a godsend. our bank cards have not been working so Ron took us to at least 5 banks to help us out. He's been teaching us Spanish, introducing us to dentists (Spanky the dentist - as I had a terrible tooth ache) and helping us get around. Took a huge learning curve out of the first few days ... read more