This is the home of the Cloud Forest, where the clouds settle right into the forest. Dana finally got to go on the zip line he was waiting for and I toured though a hummingbird garden where the whole place is vibrating and the humming birds come right up to your face, pause and then zoom away. Dana's zipline was a series of 16 cables including a Tarzan swing, all of which you zoom through the jungle at rediculous speeds. We also hiked around a mountain. Very cool when the clouds came in. We saw monkeys and other jungle animals. That [View Full Entry]

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Whether you are visiting or live in Costa Rica, most people spend at least some time in the capital city of San Jose in the Central Valley area. Many visit the San Jose downtown sites and are then looking for nearby places to visit for half or full-day trips. Most popularly mentioned ideas based on their relatively close geographic proximity to San Jose can still be several hours in travel time due to Costa Rica's terrain, roads and traffic. Examples: Poás Volcano is 1.5 hours away, Arenal Volcano is 4 hours away, La Paz Waterfall is 1.5 hours, etc., etc. A [View Full Entry]

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Hola! Throughout the next week we surfed alot, lounged around, forgot to wash the bird shit off my shorts for a copule of days, and said goodbye to Zoran as he left to San Jose to catch his flight back to Canada. Last monday we left Nosara and Juan Surfo for a new destination: Mal Pais. I had heard alot about it on my last trip to Costa Rica, but never made it there so I was excited to check it out. The town is at the bottom of the Nicoya Peninsula we have been traveling around on and getting to [View Full Entry]

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I'm starting the blog with some pictures from last years trip to Costa Rica [View Full Entry]

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Hello family and friends, Our plane landed at 1130 and we found a hostel close to the NICA bus station. We ate pollo tacos and when I asked (valentin asked) if they had any juice the nice waitress got a whole pineapple and squeezed it fresh. It was amazing. San Jose was loud, pretty dirty, and there was a lot of poverty and homeless folks walking around. It's odd because we saw many mecedes benz driving around and just as many young kids eating out of the trash. Our hostel was expensize but also safe. Central America does have black tea, [View Full Entry]

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The Hermosa beach in Jaco is the ideal place to relax and do nothing. Actually, this would be misinformation for the avid surfers for Hermosa is the surfers paradise. But since I don't surf at all I liked it because it was quiet, devoid of much commercial activity and the hotel we were in was right on the beach. We did go out on a sky walk tour near the Carara Biological Reserve but we were unlucky as we didn't get to see any toucan or macaw. We saw some other birds and a lot of green and black poison dart [View Full Entry]

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Our Costa Rica Trip - Part I This blog is primarily a summary of our trip, focusing on the best parts, and the occasional comment on what didn't work as well. Accompanying this 2-part narrative are what I think are the 120 best photos from our trip. We also took a lot of videos (especially since Miles had his flip camera along), and I have not even begun to deal with them yet. At some point I'll post a few. The Challenge Having purchased reduced-fare tickets just weeks before traveling, I threw myself on the mercy of a travel service. I [View Full Entry]

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Traveling to Nosara got off on a great start when we missed our bus and had to take a taxi driven by a one footed man in order to catch our next connection. He was cheerful nonetheless. Next, we got to sit in a bus terminal for a lil while...enough time for some pigeon to take a shit over everything I own. Seriously...It went everywhere. Not just one drop like a normal bird; this one must have eaten too many beans and washed them down with some of the bad water they warn about in all the guide books. He/she slopped [View Full Entry]

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I just realized that I had not published my blog from July! But here it is September and I am moving into my house in 8 days. There are still finishing touches to be completed, but my household goods will be delivered this Friday and I will take up permanent residence on Sept. 16th. The whole construction process has been so wonderfully managed by my Tico friend who is bilingual. Without his help this effort would have been impossible as I am not yet able to communicate in Spanish. But I have been working with a fantastic architect and with a [View Full Entry]

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Before I visit any place, I always try to find out what my options are with food, what is local and famous. When I was doing online research and reading guide books in Costa Rica, I didn't find much being mentioned about food. The only comment about food was that it was bland and there weren't any specific suggestions. Costa Rican's eat simple and the dishes comprise of simple local ingredients. Rice and beans are staple and constitute the major portion of a meal. Rice and beans don't sound very inviting but they make something called "gallo pinto" by mixing the [View Full Entry]

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