Blogs from Samara, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

It was beautiful they said.... I decided since I was already in the western hemisphere to go ahead and again visit my friend who was traveling central America. He didn't need to try too hard to convince me, especially when my Jetblue flight was canceled. I initially planned to fly to Jetblue to Liberia, Costa Rica, but while my sister and I were hiking with friends, she received a message from Jetblue. I had given them her number as I do not have a US number. Apparently, only Americans with American numbers are allowed to book American flights or some BS - it is really annoying. Anyway, we waited to listen and found out that that flight was also canceled. Wth? I thought Jetblue was one of the most reliable. I wound up rebooking with American ... read more

I left Monteverde for Playa Samara. Playa in Spanish means Beach. This time I took a shuttle (Interbus) as the alternative of public bus was changing multiple buses which I wasn't keen on doing. The shared shuttles cost typically about $55-60 but are point to point (hostel to hostel), so are convenient. They also operate an interesting system by which the drivers don't have to spend time away from their families. Basically all shuttles in that network converge at one common point, passengers are shifted from one shuttle to another so that the driver from a particular location goes back to his location. So I came from Monteverde to the common point in one shuttle, shifted to a shuttle which had come from Samara (with a local Samara driver) and reached Samara on that. Pretty simple ... read more

Week 2 in Costa Rica complete! Some days have brought more adventures than others :) My mornings start with a yogurt in my outdoor dining room aka picnic table. On Tuesday I met Isabel’s husband (still haven’t quite figured out his name) and they showed me all the art pieces they make out of coconuts. They also offered for me to park my car in their garage / carport, very sweet older couple! Thursday morning I had the unfortunate surprise of a flat tire, and not only that, but my spare tire was flat as well. My host filled up the spare tire and helped me change the flat (which is almost its own story with language barriers and pouring sweat and that one lug nut that just would not give), but given that I had ... read more

Birds spotted today: caught a glimpse of a squirrel cuckoo, lots of cinnamon hummingbirds! and the troupe of howler monkeys was back again :) After some discussion between the Ara admin and me, we decided to proceed with setting them on the Xero accounting package. We spent the rest of the morning working out what format their account structure and reporting would look like, and then spent the afternoon creating the backbone within Xero. Tomorrow we can start with actually inputting real data and some accounting training for their staff. Looking forward to a team dinner tomorrow with everyone at Ara!... read more

Birds seen today: boat-billed flycatcher, scarlet macaws, pelican, turquoise-browed motmot After a sleep-in, I unpacked into my new home. Saw my first bird of the day out my bedroom window, a boat-billed flycatcher (followed by some local chickens!). After a little stroll through the village, I decided to take a drive and started out at Punta Islita’s beach, where I waded in the Pacific. The heat is much more bearable when you have the water and the wind coming off the waves! The coast here is very dramatic - more mountainous and less beachy. As I walked along the beach, I heard the familiar parrot screech and looked up to see 3 scarlet macaws in the treetops. Loud rumbling thunder brought in some heavy rains, so I continued my drive back over the roads from the ... read more