Our bus trip from San Jose got this next section of our trip of to an exciting start. After traveling for a few hours we had to get off our bus and walk near to a kilometre to a connecting bus because a they were fixing a bridge on their main highway out to the northwestern peninsula. So all hot and sweaty we got back on the bus again and continued our journey. Because of this unexpected delay we missed our connecting bus from Nicoya to Samara so we had to wait and hour for the next one which was incredibly [View Full Entry]

---

---

English at the bottom Nous avons decide de voyager en style, alors nous avons reserve un mini-bus pour nous emmener de Montezuma a Samara, notre prochaine destination- toutefois, c'est autant du a l'itineraire TRES complique que l'on aurait du emprunter qu'a notre envie de luxe... J'ai eu l'impression qu'il faisait encore plus chaud a Samara qu'a Montezuma; je ne pense pas qu'il fasse plus chaud, c'est simplement plus humide je crois. Samara est un joli petit village, moins touristique que Montezuma, et la plage est tout aussi belle, encore une fois, une plage avec la foret tropicale qui d [View Full Entry]

---

---

I left Tampa after a week with Candace for San Jose, Costa Rica. The plan when I left was to travel in Costa Rica until April 16th, fly back to Tampa, then to ATL, then to Malaysia with Jared....Jared is planning to go to Malaysia for business and thought he would be able to get me a free ticket by making me an "associate" of the company. I had planned to go to Thailand April 2nd, but he informed me of this opportunity to go to Malaysia just before I purchased a ticket to Bangkok. Jared didnt plan to go to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yes, I´ve found another paradise, this time on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica--on the Nicoya Peninsula, to be exact. It´s a beach and small town called Playa Carillo. It´s 8 kilometers south of Samara, which isn´t bad, either, but it´s more touristy and the beach at Carillo is much nicer (see photos). Unlike Samara, most of the beachcombers at Carillo are "Tico" families. Only problem is, this paradise may disappear in the coming years. I had lunch yesterday at a local hotel with a lovely view of the bay and beach. Seated at the bar was an American --the same [View Full Entry]

---

---

After returning from our visa vacation in Nicaragua we enjoyed a quiet relaxing weekend in and around Esparza. We hadn’t seen some of our Costa Rican friends for a while so we invited Marlon, Andrea, and their one year old daughter Camilla to spend Sunday afternoon at Playa Dona Ana. It was Camilla’s first trip to the ocean and we enjoyed watching her parents fuss over her. It is very interesting to watch the subtle differences in child rearing no matter where we are. In Costa Rica the child is always golden and it seems like the parents will do everything [View Full Entry]

---

---

CULTUUR Costa Rica (CR) is veruit het meest ontwikkelde land van Centraal Amerika. Het heeft zich volledig aangepast aan de behoeften van de Amerikaanse en, in mindere mate, Europese touristen. Hieruit probeert het voldoende financiele middelen te generen voor haar eigen welzijn. Iets waar ze volgens de naburige landen in slagen. Zij zien CR als het leidende voorbeeld. De lijfspreuk van CR is ´Pura Vida¨. Een kreet die iedere Tico en Tica (de lokale inwoners) bezicht. Continu slingeren ze het om je oren. Tegenspraak wordt niet geduld. Tevens heeft CR geen leger. Na de burgeroorlog in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Having saved a fair few pennies just by generally chillaxing (Potter wrote that word!) for a week in Nicaragua, we decided to splash the cash over Chrimbo in Costa Rica. Some fantastic pre-tour research by David meant that some unbelievable accommodation was secured in the beautiful town of Samara on the west coast. The hotel - Casa del Mar - was literally less than a stone's throw from the beach. We arrived to find the sun shining and the waves beating down. So began four intense days of bodysurfing in the Pacific Ocean. This was how most of our daylight hours [View Full Entry]

---

---

After an early morning bus ride home from Monteverde we reorganized our things and headed up the Inter-Americana Highway on our way to meet the McLeod's in Samara. We were making terrific time, for Costa Rica, and had gone 50 kilometers in 45 minutes when traffic slowed to a crawl. The next 10 KM took 45 minutes and we finally made it to the turn off towards the Friendship Bridge and our final destination for the day, Hacienda San Fernando near Samara. When planning any excursion in Costa Rica it is very important to allow for at least one hour travel [View Full Entry]

---

---

Another week has passed and I thought it would be quiet; however we have lots to write about. Just as I posted the blog last week about settling in, Ron and Owen arrived home on Thursday night with news that we were going to look at two more houses for rent. The school bus driver knows someone, who knows someone, etc. So off we go to look and the second house we visit is clean, ready to move into, closer to downtown but still in a nice area. And the price is very good. It also has hot water in the [View Full Entry]

---

---

You've all heard Costa Rica is a little slice of heaven. We're here to tell you that it's all true. When we first breezed across the border, we beach-hopped along the Nicoya Peninsula with stops at Playa Coco and Playa Sámara. In Sámara, we stayed just 10 steps from the beach with a yard full of palm trees and a cute and nosy little neighbor, a chihuaua named Sancho. We took our first surfing lesson and actually did catch a few sweet waves, dudes. We practiced for only two hours and it was us against the ocean... The ocean won - [View Full Entry]

---

---