Blogs from San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 8

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Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » San José November 15th 2015

On the first day we took it easy, unpacked, and explored a bit. We went to Lincoln Plaza mall to try to find Sean a raincoat. We were surprised to find mostly American brands at very high prices. Most of the American clothes cost more here because they're imported and they're very popular. One big difference between this mall and an American mall was that there were tons of musical performances throughout. Some dance numbers by restaurant staff, some singers, a wandering saxophonist. We tried a local chain called Rosti Pollo and for our first time ordering in Spanish the whole trip we did okay. Although we ended up with quite a few extra sides...... read more


Une arrivée matinale à San José, capitale du Costa Rica, il est 5h du matin, on change un peu d'argent et première épreuve pour nous, une des plus redoutée : ne pas se faire arnaquer pour arriver jusqu'au centre ville! Et bien il s'en est fallut de peu, mais nous arrivons quand même à rentrer dans un bus pour pas grand chose qui nous emmène... et bien on ne sait pas où, mais on y vas! La galère favorise les rencontres, c'est bien connu, nous nous retrouvons en compagnie de Maja, Sarah et Diana, avec qui nous partagerons les 3 jours suivants. On démarre avec la découverte de San José, puis, départ pour aller travailler dans un lodge écolo où ils nous attendent de pieds fermes pour travailler pendant une semaine, sauf que.... dans le bus ... read more
Arenal Volcano
Cerro Chato Crater Lake
Sven in Jungle


We made it safely to Costa Rica excited and with a little bit of a buzz too. Thanks to the kindness of our first friends met on our trip, Sergio and Gloria, we were given multiple airplane bottles of rum and wine and a big bottle of red to celebrate when we arrived in San Jose. We will certainly pay their kindness forward.... read more


Something happens to you in Costa Rica where you want to do everything the insurance requires extra for! We went white water rafting today and it was brilliant! Not as tough as we thought but way more fun. The instructors were crazy but very good at steering and we hit some big rapids with two near capsizes but luckily no casualties. We saw another sloth and a giant iguana in the trees as we floated down the river. We didn't buy any of these pictures as the water is covering us in most of them and we looked very focused and determined on the rowing! We then got a bus to San Jose where we had our final dinner as a family which consisted of awards and an emotional farewell to our amazing guide, Phillipa. Scott ... read more
The river
Happy hour!


Final Thoughts It's difficult to sum up an amazing couple of weeks in a few hundred words, but I hope this blog has given you a taste of Costa Rica, a beautiful and varied country with a lot to offer. It will soon be easier to get there from the UK, as British Airways announced that they are launching a twice-weekly route from Gatwick to San Jose from May 2016. If you're looking to visit somewhere that's affordable and interesting with outstanding natural beauty, you could do a lot worse than Costa Rica. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you've enjoyed my blog. Pura Vida.... read more


Why I'm here Having quite a lot of outstanding leave to take, I've come to Costa Rica for a mixed holiday, with the first week spent at a sea turtle conservation project and the second travelling around the country with a program of different activities. The trip is with G Adventures, booked through STA Travel. While I have come to the country on my own, I am joining a group and will spend the whole two weeks with them, and we have a G Adventures guide with us throughout. Not exactly a shoestring budget backpackers trip, but an opportunity to get involved in some voluntary work and see a country I might not have otherwise visited. This is my first attempt to write a blog, so any constructive feedback is appreciated. Arrival Getting here from the ... read more
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Distance driven today: 112 miles / 180 km Cumulative distance driven: 7,587 miles / 12,211 km Today’s trip: Manuel Antonio and back to San Jose, Costa Rica Motorcycle parts repaired: yes, we got a new clutch handle Today we rode the short distance from Manuel Antonio and back to the Costa Rican capital of San Jose. I had already called the authorized BMW dealership in San Jose, explained the parts needed, and made an appointment. When I drove in the motorcycle to the service area, a few of the mechanics raised their eyebrows. The bike looked like it definitely needed to be washed, clearly had a few broken and worn parts, a Washington license plate, and extra packing paniers and duffel bags. The most important thing is that the clutch handled has been replaced and adjusted ... read more
Rear mud guard broke and a part of the screw is stuck in the grooves
The aluminum pannier took the entire weight of the fall
This clutch handle needs replacement


Distance driven today: 267 miles / 430 km Cumulative distance driven: 7,384 miles / 11,883 km Today’s trip: Managua, Nicaragua to San Jose, Cosa Rica International border crossings: 1 We left Managua at 7:30am in the morning, to avoid any rush hour traffic leaving the Nicaraguan capital. We made really good progress, and by 11am we were already at the border to Costa Rica. Since we have crossed enough Central American borders by now, we figured that we knew the drill really well, and that we had the right expectations. 3 hours later, we had passed through the last Costa Rican control, and had started riding towards the Capital San Jose, were we arrived early evening. Here is an account, of all the 35 steps required to pass the border from Nicaragua to Costa Rica: Step#1 ... read more
Costa RIca license plate
The border to Costa Rica
Zoe rests at the shadow of a tree during a long wait at road works


On Wednesday 27 we left La Fortuna at 8am and again we used InterBus to get us to San Jose. We were told the journey was around three hours with a twenty minute stop off. We were pleasantly surprised when this timeframe turned out to be pretty much correct and we arrived at our hotel, hotel Bergerac at 11:30. We weren't allowed to check in until later so we left our bags at our hotel and headed off into town in search of lunch. After lunch we visited the Precolombian Gold Museum which had a fascinating collection of gold figurines and jewellery dating back to thousands of years ago. The national coin museum is also located in the same building and here we discovered how banknotes are designed and printed, as well as seeing how Costa ... read more




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