Blogs from San José, San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 19

Advertisement


It's our final day in Costa Rica and we want to make the most of it... We got up early because the next day's flight requires the alarm to go off at 3:15 a.m. Knowing this, we start off early at 7 with breakfast at the hotel. We converted more money and hit the streets. This time we had the guide book with us and headed out... Turns out that San Jose is not only the Capitol, but the cultural and political hub of this amazing country. We started off at the Museo del Jade... yes, a Jade Museum that is devoted to the Meso-American and native Costa Rican artifacts uncovered in Central America. It's impressive and didn't allow for camera, so there are no inside shots... bottom line, the $8 to get in is a ... read more
Museo Del Jade
Statue in Central Park
Argentine Embassy


Thursday, March 4th. Tomorrow, we will leave our excellent accommodations at the Costa Rica Yacht Club and head south. Not comfortable with staying here for free, we settled with the manager for fifty bucks apiece - $10 per rig per night. John and Johnette’s daughter Daniella and her husband Heath joined us for a few days. John and Johnette will take the kids around to see some of the sights and then the kids plan to spend a few days in the touristy town of Manuel Antonio where they can get in some beach time and do some touring on their own. We are sharing our digs with a family of iguanas. All are the very ugly gray things. The father must be at least three feet long. I don’t like them but guess this is ... read more
Main street in Dominical leading to the beach.
Beach at Dominical.
Setting up shop on the beach at Dominical.


Well, we ended our time in Honduras with a little treat after our week of study and food poisoning, a trip to the Copan ruins. It was spectacular and we would love to share our amazing photos of Scarlet Macaw parots and incredible Mayan ruins, however, as a security precaution, we kept our memory card away from our camera and promptly lost it so no photos here! After that, we took on the epic journey to get to Nicaragua. There was no pleasant way to do it, so we planned our route. 2 days of buses (11 buses in total),3 borders and a stop of in San Vincente in El Salvador. I don't have anything nice to say about El Salvador, so I'll move on! Nicaragua was really nice, we stayed in the colonial towns of ... read more
Tell me...
And the answer is....
Gimme the coffee


I was awake and up with the lark this morning - assuming the lark was diesel electric, towing carriages and hooting very loudly as it passed by on the other side of my bed! Fortunately, it was 07h15, so despite it being almost lunchtime in the UK, I'd actually had a very good night's sleep. After showering, I grabbed my bags and headed downstairs for a breakfast. My room-mate was already down, as were a German family and, as it turned out, four of the remaining five adventurers. This was going to be an exciting trip as these four were all of pensionable age! One thing that has surprised me already, just a day into the trip, is the poor quality of the coffee. I can only assume that the best is exported as the coffee ... read more
Beautifully Decorated Clay Pot
Decorated Clay Pot
Carved Metate


Life should be full of experiences. Some will arise from the opportunity to visit exotic places. Others from meeting extraordinary people or participating in unusual activities. But it shouldn't be forgotten that there are other such experiences closer to home. Travelling through the capital city at 03h30 on a Tuesday morning is one such experience. It's interesting to see the bare city devoid of hustle and bustle and without the traffic. It is, after all, a glimpse of the real city. And so, instead of arriving at Heathrow three hours before my flight as advised, I was heading through the eerie, mist enveloped neon lit city as though it were a ghost town portrayed in some disaster movie, towards the airport where I'd be arriving some 2½ hours before check-in. I'm not sure why I really ... read more


Early Saturday morning: We flew from Panama City to San Jose—just a one hour flight. I thought I’d take a minute and let you know about the accommodations that we’ve had so far. Our room in Panama City was minimal but clean. It had a queen size bed and private bathroom. It had in room A/C. The bed was made up with a colorful sheet for the top sheet/bedspread. There were a couple of common areas where you could sit and chat with others, a couple of balconies where we could watch the birds, monkeys, squirrels, and a sloth. These were also the areas where we ate breakfast in the morning. They had made to order eggs or pancakes and then buffet style fruit, juice, coffee, yogurt, cereal, etc. The B&B itself was on Ancon Hill, ... read more
Sloth
B&B in San Jose
Our patio


From Tortuguero we had to take a boat to leave, this boat ride was even more beautiful than the one on the way from Moin! To make the ride even more fun the boat drivers were racing each other! It seemed a bit dangerous as there are fallen trees etc along the way but still it was pretty amusing. After the boat we jumped onto a bumpy and hot bus which took us into town. From there we got onto another bus which took us into San Jose. Our hotel in San Jose was great! It was part of a home and they have just built 4 rooms which they rent out, they live a bit outdoors in the mountains but they gie free rides into the city when you want and also pick you up! ... read more


I gotta stay away from falafel because I don't think it quite sat well with me. So that's how my day started. Sleep was great last night. In the morning a kid came in from the night and we discovered that we were at UCC at the same time, with the same major only his was there as an Irish student. Poor guy had his backpack stolen which had his passport in it. I left the hostel and checked out Parque La Sabana, San Jose's largest park, it was very nice. The national stadium is there and it is currently being renovated, or something. Then I went to the central market and that was really cool--had lunch, arroz con pollo. Didn't find a hammock I wanted so I went to the artisanal market and bartered with ... read more


I'm here in San Jose! Finally, after quite the day of travel. My spanish needs work and I need to get used to the currency. Also, I really need some sleep. After finally getting on the plane, I had a hard time handling the first flight, I thought I might be having a panic attack, but I settled down pretty quick, I guess flying just does that to me sometimes. Didn't really sleep until my layover and I passed out by the payphones until some guy started yelling to somebody on the phone about Dubai and how long it had taken him to get from there to Bagdad and to Atlanta. Arrival in Costa Rica was simple, checked my passport in no time...after waiting in line for a while. Got my bag, got my bags scanned ... read more


On top of the adventures we've been having on the weekends, our program director, Rebeca, has been organizing mini-excursions for us during the week. Our first outing was to the movies. I'll be honest, "Avatar" isn't the kind of movie I usually go to see but I'd been told over and over again that it was a cinematic experience that was not to be missed. So in early January I caught up with the rest of the world and everyone who went to see "Avatar" over Christmas break. The version I saw had Spanish subtitles but I got to wear the 3D glasses just like everyone else so I don't think I missed anything. It wasn´t hard to follow because the actors were speaking English for the majority of the movie, but those of you who've ... read more
2
3
30




Tot: 0.111s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 5; qc: 86; dbt: 0.0547s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb