http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Costa Rica , Heredia en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:46:50 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:46:50 BST Well it's the 21st of July 2008. I'm still here in 3rd. world country Costa Rica this place is really getting to me. The people here have no class whatsoever and as far as work.......every job I've had has been a scam. I've been in an online pharmacy working where nobody ever got the drugs they orderedthat's really big here in Costa Rica employed in a sportsbook......americans love to bet on http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-302874.html First I'd better explain the language in the first video even though you may have already watched and heard it. There is plenty of humor throughout the Caf Britt Coffee Tour. The supposed owner of a coffee plantation begins the tour by leading the group through his shaded coffee fields to two of the workers who help the owner to explain the process of growing and processing coffee beans. They http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-294683.html By Crystaldirectly after class they pile us back to the van to head to La Paz the waterfall gardens. Its an hour ride there during which time i do not face backwards. we drive through coffee fields pass a volcano lots of farms cows in the road a runaway cow... and we even stop to take pictures but i think that was mainly because we were traveling uphill through the mountains so lots of http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-292988.html When does a 30minute meal REALLY only take 30 minutes When you have 10 highly skilled ASU students cutting chopping and grating with a very experienced Costa Rican cook named Doa Eugenia organizing everything. Check out Crystal's account of the Costa Rican cooking class along with some photos and even videos of the action. You can find the recipe for Arroz con pollo rice with chicken http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-292131.html After classes on Wednesday it was time for the Latin American dance class where we learned the basic steps for salsa merengue and cumbia. The instructor spoke only Spanish during the onehour lesson. Caderas means hips. She said that a lot. Other than that it didn't really seem to matter what she said. We just watched and did what she did. Check out the pictures and video they spe http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-289033.html It was a very long day but the group arrived safely and in good spirits. Everyone was absolutely starved since our connection in Charlotte consisted of hurrying to the gate catching our breath and getting on the next plane no time to get anything to eat. The CPI personnel quickly took action though and used a cell phone to call ahead to have pizza delivered to the school so that the gro http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-288127.html ASU in Costa Rica is a 4week summer study abroad program that gives university students the opportunity to experience Costa Rican culture firsthand. Participants in the program earn six credits in Spanish by living with a family and studying at el Centro Panamericano de Idiomas CPI. Students spend the first three weeks of the program at the CPI location in the typical Costa Rican town http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-277381.html After spending most of 2007 travelling I wanted to settle a little bit the following year. I wanted to have the same bed for more than three nights in a row I wanted to be able to pick from more than five tshirts each morning I wanted to make more permanent friends I wanted a cupboard full of food etc etc. However I was sure that i didn't want to be in the UK. Tried that not too keen. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-276262.html In Costa Rica there is no debate about when schools in Costa Rica take their spring break. Everyone is off for Semana Santa the week before Easter Sunday. So with the boys off school and some friends from Minnesota Dave Naomi Nicole Abby and Allison down for their kids' spring break we decided to do some traveling.Our first stop was Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. This is located in the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/Puerto-Viejo-de-Sarapiqu-/blog-272802.html We have decided to sell the business. If you're interested in starting your own adventure please check us out.httpwww.theorchidlodge.comsale http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-272732.html We made itGot up at 430 in the dark and all to drive to the San Franciso Airport in order to be in time for a 9AM departure for Phoeniz. From Phoenix after a 2 hour layover on to San Jose CR. I was having fun with El Enano in the Phoenix Airport and on the airplane. Six hours. AY CarambaThe in flight movie was Million Dollar Baby. Weve seen that one so we tried to sleep. Had two newborns an http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-259410.html Hi FolksThis is just a quick line or two to let you know that we arrived in Herredia on Wednesday 19 March at about 9PM safe and sound with El Enano in tow.Havent been able to post anything until now because the entire country seems to shut down during Easter Week. Everything that is except for the grocery stores. It was really strange walking around the streets of Herredia on Thursday morning w http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-259360.html Hey well its been 2 weeks now and I'm just finishing up my trip in Costa Rica. Its been great so far went straight to Bocas Del Toro on the caribbean side of Panama from San Jose. Met some german surfers at the bus station who were heading to Bocas too so I stayed with them for 4 nights at this awesome hostel right on the water on Caranero island in Bocas. The waves started to pick up after a f http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-239139.html We spent a few days searching for a car. Kilon and I were undecided on the exact model etc. We were told to NEVER trust the odometer. Look for paint and body work to be an indication the car had been involved in a wreck from witnessing the driving Irsquod say a good portion have been involved in an accident. We were originally looking at Honda CRVs and Toyota RAV4s. The CRV and RAV4 were t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-203202.html People often have a hard time understanding that there are basic items that one cannot obtain in Costa Rica. With all that is said about it's modernity there are countless things that people take for granted living in the US that are not even a part of daily life down here. I am not talking about HDTV or HighSpeed internet while neither of those are that easy to come by in CR I am talking abo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-199427.html So after traveling around as much of the country as we could stand for a month midNovember to midDecember while toting our two highmaintenance pieces of luggage we settled back in Heredia. We chose Heredia primarily for the cooler temperatures about 70 degrees in the morning and almost always sunny rising in the afternoon to the mid80rsquos then cooling again with the afternoon rain http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-174291.html So I'm here and I already love it however it is a lot different than I thought it would be because I forgot that this is a 3rd world country. When I arrived at the airport I was happy to see that everything was in English and Spanish but that pretty much stopped there. Our hotel is right in the middle of a semibusy street in Heredia and I will put up pictures soon to show you. The rooms are pret http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-173487.html After living for 2 weeks with power outages lasting from 25 hours a day there was sufficient rain in near the dams to allow the hydroelectric plants to start producing again.The power outages are over It's amazing that even though it was only a couple of hours per day it impacts you life in so many waysThis week they were working on the lines up the mountain so not only is Costa Rica's power http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-165307.html We took a day trip to La Paz waterfall gardens which is near Poas Volcano. It was a little pricey but worth it. There is a series of five incredible falls in the rain forest with plenty of steps on the trail. Luckily it is mainly downhill with a shuttle to take you back to the top. There was also a butterfly garden frog habitat serpentarium bird habitat typical early CR home and a hummingbird http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-151996.html Baby Klein makes his appearanceSorry this has taken so long to get online but itrsquos been a bit of a crazy couple of weeks.On Sunday April 8th Rachel gave birth to a beautiful baby boy at hospital CIMA. Everything was wonderful we were in the hospital over the festival days of the holiday of Passover where we donrsquot drive or use electricity which made for an interesting 48 hours.Fort http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-151947.html Since coming to Costa Rica we have thankfully fallen into amazing contacts.This is not typical as most people have horror stories about one person or another.Thankfully for us everyone from our realtors to our lawyers contractors bankers and more have worked out perfectly. I figure it is good for them and anyone else that may be looking to relocate here to have a list of tried and true conta http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-140245.html Well we are almost finished with our first month and things have gone well. Obviously we would have loved to have been full the entire month but we did pretty well considering that we opened our doors less than 30 days ago. We have had 14 guests through the hotel and it seems that all have been thrilled with the results. I will get some of the thank you notes up as soon as I get permission to r http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-123681.html Pics of the hotel can be found at the following site CLICK HERE FOR GALLERYHere are some pool pics Orchid Lodge's Website httpwww.theorchidlodge.comClick here to read our blog httpblog.theorchidlodge.com http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-119421.html We celebrated the opening of our hotel last week. We had our first guests and everything went better than I could have ever imagined. Rachelrsquos food was spectacular although it is clear that shersquoll need help in the kitchen which I can offer now and wersquoll hire someone to do so in the future. All of the rooms and bathrooms were completely finished and considering what many of the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-114923.html Today I was weatherstripping the new front doors of the hotel. I realized after a while that I was not working alone. I had attracted a teeny tiny friend standing on the sidewalk next to me watching my workI can only assume that he wanted to see if I was doing a good job Unfortunately for him now that the weatherstripping is up he's locked outsideI put him on a rock a bit farther from the do http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-113598.html Yesterday we had our final taping for the show House Hunters Airing should be in a couple of months.The Inn came together so unbelievably over the past week that we even surprised ourselves All of the furniture is here all of the projects are done and we got all of our art up on the walls The bathrooms are spectacular and the bedding and window treatments really finished off the look of the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-111934.html Well if yoursquove been following my blog you have seen things were looking pretty dismal for a while. Construction was moving relatively slowly and the house looked like it would never be done Fortunately over the past week things have flown as we finished all of the bathrooms the kitchen and the new front doors including a beautiful slate ramp making luggage transport a breeze and thatr http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-110956.html For our last big adventure before heading back to the US we zipped through the canopy suspended from steel cables strung between 8footsquare platforms in the rainforest. Sound crazy We were pleasantly surprised by the wellmaintained facility the professional and thorough staff and the safety procedures followed. And we had a great time. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-110460.html Itrsquos been a long time since I made an entry. Last week my mother was in town it was her first time visiting Costa Rica. It was a nice visit but unfortunately she had to deal with our crazy daytoday of not having a moment of peace waking at 545 to jackhammers in the bathrooms and going to the hardware store 310 times a day I think she enjoyed the trip itrsquos just that she missed http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-108672.html