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, 02 Jan 2010 15:53:28 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:53:28 +0000 Hi allApparently Irsquoll always write lsquoit was a long trip by busrdquo on my posts.I think that in this trip most of the time we will be on the bus going somewhere or trying to get somewhere.Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui is really green. I'm loving to hear the birds and it's a quite place comparing with San Jos.I already saw toucans woodpeckers and a lot of birds on the garden of the host http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/Puerto-Viejo-de-Sarapiqu-/blog-453143.html Megan and I went on a great rafting trip with 11 of the other teachers from school. It was an exhilarating trip during rainy season here in Costa Rica. The river Paquare is supposedly classified as class 3 and 4 rapids with 5 being the highest on the scale. I am have no idea if the rapids were that big but they were definitely big enough for us. We stopped half way and had lunch and then finished http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-416962.html sorry i havent published any blogs recently but weve been veryy busy..so where did i leave off well i cant remember so ill start with friday. so as usual i had school from 812 schools a drag but its okay im learning alot. then we all had lunch at the usual spot called fresas. after lunch the bus picked us up at school and we drove for about an hour n a half to go waterfall rappelling. if yo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-415990.html Hoy fue un buen dia despues de acostar yo comi el desayuno me bane y entonces fui a la casa de allen. lol okay ill stop well today we went to see another volcano but this time we weer able to get a closer look. unfortunetley there was fog everywhere and rained like crazy again. but we were still able to see it when it cleared up but only for a few seconds. the bus ride back had so much laug http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-414278.html So yesterday was johnnys bday and to celebrate we all went to a bar and played pool and stuff. this morning i woke up kind of late my tica mom had to wake me up. for breakfast i had eggs with toast even though i dont like eggs it was actually pretty good. so me allen kelly and liz met at allens house to walk to school because we all live pretty far from school. after school we all ate a restau http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-413922.html sorry for not posting in a while but i have been really busy that olast couple of days. so ill start from wednesday. well weds. started off as one of the worst days of the trip i went to sleep around ten and woke up at about 5 or so. As i got up i noticed my eye felt a little strange so i looked in the mirror and saw that my eye was completely swollen exactly how a boxers eye is after a a lon http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-413191.html A typical Costa Rican meal consists of meat rice beans and sometimes salad. The meat is usually chicken beef or steak. Costa Rican salads contain avocado juice and do not contain dressing and French fries are sometimes served instead of beans or rice. Burritos are commonly served in restaurants.There are several differences between Costa Rican food and American food. The amount of grease http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-412716.html Here in Costa Rica the houses all look the same. All of them have security gates and these gates can be tricky getting into. On the inside the houses are smaller than what most Americans are used to. Most U.S. houses have 24 bedrooms all of a good size. Most have 13 bathrooms with at least 1 being really big. In your kitchen you have 2 sinks a large stove and a big fridge. Your livi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-412548.html We are learning so much about Costa Ricarsquos culture including the countryrsquos work with their native Costa Rican indigenous population. There are 3 to 4 main populations that remain active in Costa Rica and live on reservations. During our first week at CPI we were fortunate enough to meet and talk with this couple who shared their culture with us. They live in the mountains on reser http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-412251.html Days 13On Saturday morning i arrived to the airport at about 530 i was one of the earliest ones there besides my teacher and 3 other people. Everything started smooth even though i really had no clue what to do. It seems as if everyone who works at LAX absolutely hates their job because everyone is so rude. So after waiting with some people in the group to get our passports checkedthe first o http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-411444.html Written by Jill On Tuesday with the help of Doa Eugenia all of us had a lesson in Latin cooking. We made salad and Arroz con pollo or rice with chicken for all you nonspeaking Spanish folks. Everyone had their own cutting board and knife. We cut up sweet chiles cilantro celery garlic and many other tasty ingredients. Doa Eugenia taught us how to make our own corn tortillas with tortil http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-410907.html Blog Entry by Valarie Vegetation We have been here just over a week so we have become somewhat accustomed to our new homes new school and new schedules. Although I am very familiar with my walk to school I never get bored looking at what is on the way there. I knew before I arrived that Costa Rica would be very green but I guess I never really anticipated how green. Green is not the only b http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-409649.html Blog Entry Written by Michelle The First Week It has been a tiring yet amazing five days I am learning so much Spanish and enjoying spending time with my host family and our group. I taught my family how to play Go Fish or Vaya de Pesca in Spanish. I attempted to teach them how to call the Hogs but I only got laughs and funny looks back. Wednesday we had dance class and learned the s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-408604.html The Market in Heredia Written by Valarie with some photos that she took of the market and other sites in Heredia On a tour through the central part of Heredia we visited a large indoor market. Although our guide says that this type of market is becoming less popular in Costa Rica there was a great deal of activity and a high level of energy there. There were a variety of fresh produce meat http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-407537.html On Monday after classes we had our first experience on a public bus in Costa Rica. We went as a group to the neighboring town of Heredia capital city of the province of Heredia which is only about 15 minutes from San Joaquin. Even though it looked like it might rain any minute the weather held and we were able to see all the highlights of the town el Fortin the main square a church buil http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-406950.html To be sure that you see all of the pictures please remember to click on view full entry. Everyone has been far too busy since we arrived yesterday to email home so don't worry if you haven't heard anything yet. The flights the brief layover in Houston and arrival in San Jose all went very smoothly. Almost everyone changed some money or used the ATM before leaving the airport and we were http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-406716.html Posted by JohnTime to catch everyone up on our travels again. It has been a while. Megan and I have been on a few trips since we last wrote in the blog.Not long ago we took a short trip to the Monte Verde area. This region in the northern part of Costa Rica is a popular tourist attraction for its zipline tours and jungle canopy bridge tours. We decided to ride the ziplines the afternoon we arri http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-406620.html Posted by John It has been so long since we have posted. Megan and I have just been caught up with teaching and the daytoday aspects of living here. We have adjusted quite well. It feels now almost like living anywhere else really. We work pay bills grocery shop clean house and all of the other things we would be doing in the States. Now we just have to do them in another language. Needl http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-389759.html Hello from sunny warm Costa Rica This is our first blog and I am not sure things are working as planned but if any one of you gets this We are sure to hear from you about it. I will keep this short as I don't want to spend too much time not knowing if it is going to get through to you. Keep looking and let us know if yuou receive it.Talk to you all soon. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-386187.html Well where to start In a complete opposite to London it's hot. Permanently 25 degrees I knew when I booked this trip that it would be my hardest yet. Especially with my plan of learning the local language rather than attempting every form of body language to get my message across like I did through the Middle East and Europe.But first things first I left the airport saying goodbye again t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Heredia/blog-384243.html