Blogs from Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Excuses voor mijn afwezigheid, ik hoop dat ik het met deze blog goed kan maken. Nadat ik mijn blog in Leon had geschreven was zo ongeveer het eerste wat we besloten te gaan, omdat we lichtelijk verveeld waren, sandboarden. Dat houdt in met een massief houten bord een (actieve) vulkaan afgaan zónder beschermende kleding (hebben ze hier nog nooit van gehoord). Wij namen natuurlijk geen genoegen met gewoontjes dus besloten we er full-moon sandboarding van te maken. Eén probleempje werd echter duidelijk toen we daar aankwamen: er was geen maan zichtbaar. In ruil daarvoor hadden we onweer en harde wind gekregen, dat dan weer wel. Echter, het mocht de pret natuurlijk niet drukken en met en overdosis optimisme gingen we alsnog de berg te lijf. Eenmaal boven, na een uur klimmen, was het optimisme van sommigen ... read more

3.30am, wake up time!…After a crazy Costa Rican style new year eve and some great diving in Playa del Coco, a short stop in La Fortuna, my next stop was Turrialba, a tiny town located at about two hours drive from San Jose & a good 5 hours from La Fortuna. Turrialba is slightly off the main touristic area, and this actually does come as a relief especially after my very short stay in La Fortuna! It is well known by the outdoor sports lover as the absolute adventure Mecca in Costa Rica and for really good reasons…From the Pacuare River that has been designated by the National Geographic Magazine no less than one of the top five most beautiful rivers in the world for rafting to its rain forest where ones can experience truly fantastic ... read more

Ah Turrialba, the land of farms, friends, and oddly enough, the Rawlings factory that produced the weapon Barry Bonds used to hit his record breaking home run. The weekend following our trip to Nicaragua, Steve and I made our way to nearby Turrialba to visit my good friend Guillermo (Memo) who I had met while harvesting the Earth’s bounty at the Bean. It is partly due to his stories of Costa Rica and the friendship we built that I find myself in this truly “Rich” country. Early on Saturday morning, we hopped on the bus in Cartago to start our hour-long ride to Turrialba where we were met by Memo, his girlfriend Adriana, and their beautiful baby boy Andres. The town of Turrialba sits in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains and rolling hills with endless ... read more

Kathryn, who we had met on the bus from Panama, had invited us to stay with her so we went up to Turrialba to stay a few nights. It was a 2 hour drive passing plantations and rural settlements. Some of the housing was small and uniform and we found out later it was for the Nicaraguan workers on the coffee and sugar plantations. We found Turrialba to be a small town with a main square, lovely church, a disused railway and lots of people. We brought a couple of bottles of wine from the supermarket and took a taxi to Kathryn's place which was 5 minutes out of town. She worked as an English teacher for Catie (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center - the acronym works in Spanish) and had a house on ... read more