http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Costa Rica , Puntarenas en-us Sat, 25 May 2013 17:34:49 +0000 Sat, 25 May 2013 17:34:49 +0000 Costa Rica 2013 Day 7Monteverde Day 3This morning we39d booked the Hanging Bridges tour at Selvatura. The minivan picked us up and about 12 others. After a rather long ride mostly due to rough winding roads we arrived at Selvatura. This place has the Hanging Bridges tour at least one canopy tour canyonerring a Tarzan swing and Butterfly Insect and Serpent houses. We were really loo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-787494.html When I used to guide nature tours in Costa Rica people would always ask me Are we going to see monkeys or a sloth toucan etc. I would always respond Well its possible but not guaranteed its not like we put the animals out in their positions in the morning When we talk about the Cur Wildlife Refuge however it actually almost is guaranteed to see a wide variety of http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Paquera/blog-787422.html Costa Rica 2013 Day 6Monteverde Day 2This morning we ate our first breakfast in the hostel. Manoli had fresh fruit coffee and juice all good and so fresh. I had some fruit and a decent pancake along with coffee and juice. While Manoli got ready for the day I went to the ATM to get some cash for the day. Although the machine at Banco Nacional said it gave dollars all it allowed me to get w http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-787349.html Sorry folks you39ve still got to put up with my Ben39s rambling as I have the advantage of being able to type away whilst on the bus and we39re currently snaking our way up into the Panamian mountains...but that39s for a blog in a few days time.We woke up a little disgruntled given we had to leave our beach paradise and travel back to the dirty capital. We could39ve have easily s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Manuel-Antonio/blog-787327.html What are you doing for your summer holidayWhat about a beach holiday in the tropics Sun sand surf Costa Rica is at the top of all popular travel sites this year. Warm water abundant sunshine palm trees balmy temperatures friendly people and lots of great places to stay and things to do. This year try an active surfing vacation in tropical Costa Rica.Costa Rica is the third most popul http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Jaco/blog-787309.html Cosat Rica 2013 Day 5Tortuguero To MonteverdeWe woke up at 430am to pack up and get our taxi to the village boat ramp. The lodge made us up two bags of fresh fruit for the trip and there was fresh coffee too. Unfortunately they didn39t remember the creammilk so I only drank a bit of it. We arrived at the village boat ramp before the ticket office opened so we bought the first two ticke http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-787188.html The world39s environmental grades have been posted by Yale University. So which countries are really walking the talk with their national environmental policies and actionsEuropean nations are at the top of the world class with a lone contender from the Americas Costa Rica placing 5th best in the world for its environmental performance according to the recent Environmental Performanc http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Manuel-Antonio/blog-787073.html Desde hace algunos aos los representantes de los ministerios de Turismo en Centroamrica han planeado una estrategia conjunta de promocin regional. Desde esa perspectiva se pretende que los excursionistas visiten varios pases en un mismo viaje. En tal sentido se impulsa un plan de sostenibilidad y calidad. Este incluye entre otros el fortalecimiento de la seguridad del rea. Tambi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Teresa/blog-787066.html It was a bit like playing bumper cars in the middle of Roaring Rapids. There I was perched very alert in my hightech individual raftingtube bouncing off a rock to my left only to spin off a rock on my right and now speeding backwards down the chute to smack the huge wave in the Coca Cola rapid deadon. Facing the wrong way had its advantages the wave went over my head instead of right in http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/blog-786863.html We allowed ourselves a bit of a sleep in this morning given our frantic week of bussing all around the country. We wandered 3 doors up from our hotel to a hostel that did 4 39big breakfasts39 fruit platter scrambled eggs toast coffee and of course Central America39s favourite dish rice and beans.The sun was already beating down on us and it felt like 100 humidity as even sitti http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Manuel-Antonio/blog-786681.html We were on the road relatively early again as we made our departure from Monteverde down out of the mountains and back down to sea level. The view was amazing as our little minibus spiralled its way along this windy gravel road. Rolling green mountains some of which were baked in sunshine whilst others were covered by low hanging cloud. Rach tried unsuccessfully to capture the moment the bumpi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Manuel-Antonio/blog-786679.html We had a massive day today We had to be up at 6am so Olly naturally blasted out Troublemaker again at us Nooooo We had breakie included in our hotel for the next 2 days which was good for saving money as we are just burning through cash in Costa Rica cos it is so expensive It was simple fruit toast and some eggs but not too bad. We all piled into the van again and drove for about 20 mins http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-786675.html We were meeting at a relatively reasonable time this morning 8.30am. We had read that the Rainforest Cafe had the best reviews for food in La Fortuna and we only had one meal left to try it so we threw our stuff together and headed down the road to try it out. The coffee was fantastic. We are slowly getting used to having full cream milk. Its gonna be weird going back to skinny milk when we ar http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Monteverde/blog-786624.html We woke up a little before 5 am to catch a 530 am bus to Quepos. We were told that someone at our hostel Chill Out Backpackers is always in the office by 5 am. This was not the case and since they had our 20 key deposit we were frantically trying to figure out what room the employee was in. Dan was banging on doors and I was livid that they weren39t there despite the fact that we specificall http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Quepos/blog-786512.html Are you happyThat seems to be the question being asked in recent times from boardrooms to bars international conference centers to offices of government leaders business schools to book stores. Are we happy Following our bliss Living our passion Are we mefocused or othersfocused The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan even measures its country39s prosperity by its gross national hap http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Teresa/blog-785768.html La semana anterior la directora general de la Organizacin de las Naciones Unidas para la Educacin la Ciencia y la Cultura Unesco Irina Bokova vino de visita al pas. El motivo de su viaje fue conocer de primera mano las famosas esferas precolombinas de Diqus candidatas a convertirse en Patrimonio de la Humanidad.De tal manera la dignataria vio en persona estas estatuas monumentales http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Osa-Peninsula/Puerto-Jimenez/blog-785423.html Costa Rica posee 27 parques nacionales 58 refugios 32 reas protegidas 15 humedales pantanosos 11 reservas forestales y 8 reservas biolgicas. La totalidad de territorio protegido representa el 25 de su extensin geogrfica completa. Un lugar especial dentro de estos lo ostenta la Reserva Natural Absoluta de Cabo Blanco. Esta forma parte del rea de Conservacin Tempisque en la provinc http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Teresa/blog-783695.html Cuando pensamos en buceo tenemos la imagen mental de un traje de escafandra y un tanque de aire en la espalda. Su historia se remonta a un pasado reciente. Fue en el siglo XVI cuando comenz a dar sus primeros pasos. En aquel entonces las personas comenzaron a utilizar las campanas de buceo para bombear aire desde la superficie para quienes estuvieran sumergidos. Huelga decir que los avances te http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Paquera/blog-783590.html El torneo Reef Classic Adrenaline Tour 2013 llev emocin y sorpresa hasta playa Santa Teresa de Cbano Puntarenas. Patrocinado por Costa Rica Sin Ingredientes Artificiales el evento reuni a la crema y nata del surf latinoamericano desde el 17 hasta el 20 de abril.La puntuacin mxima estuvo a cargo del deportista brasileo Alan Saulo. A lo largo de cuatro das el joven logr sumar un http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Santa-Teresa/blog-782786.html Melodious bubbling of the river below combines with the metallic clink of Common Tink Frogs and the hum of crickets to lull me to sleep. My soft cushy bed in my modern comfortable bungalow is just steps from the wild Costa Rican rainforest. I make out the dark outline of large vinecovered trees out the window and sweet fragrances of nightblooming flowers drift through the room. This is http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Manuel-Antonio/blog-782490.html