Blogs from San José, San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 13

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Myself and Anna had a little bit of a set back on our way to Costa Rica as we realised on our stopover in Panama that we had been booked on a different flight to the rest of our group which was 3 hours later. So we had about 4 hours to kill by ourselves in the airport (very reminiscent of Delhi experience). We made the most of it by eating sushi and drinking alot of coffee while reading our books spread out over the airport chairs. When we finally arrived we met up with the rest of the group and proceeded to get ready for our one big night out in the capital. We were really licky as our friend Sebastion lives in San Jose so he was on hand to be our tour guide ... read more


We went back to San Jose again to spend a few more days here befre we moved on to Nicaragua. The main reason for going back was for water raftng. Our friend Sebastian told us that we couldnt not go to San Jose and not got water rafting as the rivers are rated top 5 and number one in the country for rafting. So we booked our trip and apprehensively went on our tour. I was so nervous and excited to water raft as its something i have always wanted to do. And i was not disappointed. It was such an exhilarating experience and i enjoyed every minute of it. Our guide was amazing and he made the trip really fun and exccitning. It was us 5 girls and Sean in our boat with the guide ... read more


Waking Hostel: Nomadas Backpackers Cost: $12 USD/night Waking up this morning with a beautiful view, the first thing I did was look out the window. Yep, I'm still in paradise! Even though I had no plans when coming down or when I arrived, I luckily had a friend that had a cousin that lives close to San Jose. I called her up to meet later in the afternoon, but I had about 3 hours to kill and my stomach told me that breakfast needed to be included in whatever plans I made. Since there was nothing to be had in my hostel (I'm not too sure how this works yet), I decided to grab something while I was out touring a bit of the city. Figuring I only had time to hit a couple of blocks, ... read more
Life Everywhere...
View from the Park Downtown
Delicious "Black-Person" Breakfast  Sandwich


I made it to Costa Rica!! Now, let's rewind all the way back to Dallas. Thanks must be given to my good friend Brandon Montgomery for picking me up and taking me to the airport. Not only that, but for the earbuds (which are awesome) as well as the checklist of things to run through before I left. One of the things he ran through was having a place to stay once I got here. Sheepishly, I grinned and admitted I had no idea when he asked me. It's not that I hadn't looked, however- it's because I "waited until later" to book and when I tried to reserve the hostel before leaving I found it was all sold out. Sold out for a random Thursday?! Tan loco I say! Either way, how many complaints can ... read more
View From my Hostel the following Morning...


I'm back in Costa Rica for a couple of more days and then I'll be going back to LA to stay at my parent's house for a month or so. I do tend to go a lot to Costa Rica because I have several friends there so I have a place to crash whenever I want. Before I head back, I am currently shopping for gifts for my family. Since I am a free wanderer with no steady job at the moment to speak of, I am always out looking for bargains in Costa Rica or as they say in Spanish, Costa Rica descuentos. Luckily enough, as I was playing around on facebook I found this facebook page on Costa Rica ofertas y descuentos which really helped me out. I'm not one that is big on ... read more


Wij kunnen geen titels verzinnen over onze blogs maar wat kunnen wij verhalen vertellen... Vlak na de grens tussen Panama en Costa Rica ligt Peninsular Osa met haar nationaal Park Corcovado, volgens sommige het mooiste nationaal park van de 19 beschermde reservaten van Costa Rica. Om in Corcovado te komen moet men tijd hebben en tijd is gelukkig altijd onze vriend geweest, na 14 maanden maakt het ons niet uit of we 1 of 2 dagen achter lopen op ons schema, we hebben trouwens niet eens een schema. Hoewel Corcovada in het hoogseizoen haar meeste bezoekers ontvangt blijft het een nationaal park wat een stuk minder bezocht wordt dat andere parken. Reisgidsen geven aan dat de paden naar het rangerstation duidelijk zijn aangegeven, wij weten inmiddels beter dat er de eerste acht uur richting het rangerstation ... read more
Meisje en haar hond
Capucijn aapje
Zonsondergang Samara


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


Costa Rican tourism is dominated by Americans, old Americans retire here, middle aged Americans bring their kids on holiday here and young Americans backpack or volunteer here. As such the country is heavily geared toward catering to demanding tourists, the restaurants serve fast food, the tours run seamlessly with English speaking guides and everything costs many times that of the neighbouring countries, I may be being harsh but I feel like Costa Rica has lost much of its authenticity and is now more like a tropical Disney Land. My first stop over the border was the town of La Fortuna, famous for its proximity to Volcán Arenal the town is geared toward adventure tourism; having gotten used to personal guided tours for $10 many of the available activities were well out of my price range, amusingly ... read more
Monteverde
Monteverde
MONKEY!


Greetings from San Jose, the capital of beautiful Costa Rica. I arrived via the red-eye this morning at about 5:30am delirious and dehydrated-- what's up with the one serving of miniature water once during the 5 1/2 hour flight? After a bumpy cab ride I arrive at the El Hostel Pangea and greeted warmly by the guy just finishing the graveyard shift. A quick tour revealed the drunken carnage from the previous night, a couple randoms passed out on the sofa and some cardboard boxes overflowing with beer bottles branded with names I've never seen or heard sitting under a giant banner advertising $1 dollar Jagermeister shots. I immediately regret not sleeping on the plane. Pura Vida baby. Since I am not able to obtain a key to my room until 2pm I decide to order ... read more
Pigeon free for all
More pigeons




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