Blogs from San José, San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 18

Perusing travel websites, and travel blogs, and reading excerpts from travel books, there seems to be a recurring, inevitable theme. And every story starts the same way: So-and-so finally did what most people only dream about. He left behind the world of advertising and fifty-hour workweeks and followed his heart. With only three-hundred dollars in his pocket, so-and-so bought a one way ticket to (insert country full of brown people here). With a backpack and thirst for adventure, he set out in this unfamiliar land to find things he never dreamed possible. He made many friends along the way, had better experiences than you ever will, and finally discovered who he really was. This everyman traveler has a beard, is probably white, and has an oddly thick amount of forearm hair. When you read his book ... read more

Sadly, the time had come to say our goodbyes. Saturday morning came, the day I'd be traveling back to San Jose, on a bus, for 8 hours...alone. Neil's 3 week trip had ended too, but he wasnt coming back with me. He was off to go diving somewhere, and more adventures for him! This was the only part of the trip I was nervous about. So many people asked if I was nervous traveling alone. No, no I wasnt. Only traveling from Panama back to CR not speaking the language....well, I was nervous. Plus I worried there would be some hassel at the border. Luckily, there wasnt. The trip went like this....I said goodbye to Shen and Neil. Erick and I loaded into a boat, along w/ a driver and we made the 45 min boat ... read more

Hi all, This entry is going to be really short! Upon returning to San Jose from our Caribbean adventures - we took the time to rearrange. We did laundry, some shopping and quite a lot of schooling for the kids. OK, TV watching too... The only two things worth mentioning from our 2 days in San Jose are: 1.Butterfly Garden, a Xanadu within San Jose - we spent 3 great hours in this tiny hidden butterfly garden, located right in the center of the city. We have seen many different butterflies, some of which we have already seen before in nature, but at last we could actually take photos of... We got some interesting explanations from one of the local employees about their life cycle, he showed us their eggs, their caterpillars and their cocoons. He ... read more

The day I had been waiting for had finally come! My trip which I had been planning for the past 5 months had finally arrived. I flew jet blue, and to my surprise and delight....had the entire row to myself! I got to stretch out, take my shoes off, and gaze out the window. And of course, me being on a plane meant....wine time! I am no longer a nervous flyer, but usually I like having a drink or two (or three!) when flying to start out my vacation. Well....for some reason the (male) flight attendant did not charge me for my three wines I had ordered. There was a row of girls across the aisle from me ordering drinks and he kept giving them free drinks too so I couldnt feel too special, lol. Well, ... read more

As the crow flies, San Jose, Costa Rica is 4842 kilometers from San Jose, California. San Jose, C.R lies at 9 degrees north of the equator. San Jose, CA is N37 degrees. (Waikiki is N21 degrees.) San Jose, C.R. was founded in 1737 more than 200 years after Columbus came ashore in Central America. San Jose, CA was founded just forty years later in 1777. San Jose, Costa Rica seems very different from San Jose, California. One third of Costa Rica’s population lives within this metropolitan region. The population of San Jose itself is less than 350 thousand whereas San Jose, CA is just under one million. However, here you can see the people. There are hundreds of people milling about especially on Avenida (Avenue) Central and Calle (Street) Cero (Zero) which have been converted to ... read more