Blogs from Jaco, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean

Jaco was not what we expected at all. For some reason we had anticipated something akin to Benidorm in Spain. Instead we found it much more closely aligned to Patong in Phuket, Thailand, but with vastly inflated prices! We didn't really like the place, to be honest, but we made the most of a bad job as we always do. From our luxury accommodation in Montezuma we were in a true backpackers' hostel and my feedback and criticism of their attitude (the guy on reception when we had a problem didn't speak English and got very grumpy when he found out we could do it all in Spanish!) and lack of hot water (despite the electrical contraption being in the room it is, apparently, not included in the price!) did not go down well. Enough of ... read more

It's been exactly three weeks since we've arrived here in Jaco and yet it feels like only a few days have gone by. We've had a great experience living the Costa Rican lifestyle and meeting some new friends during our stay. Since we've arrived our jobs have ranged from cleaning rooms to painting them, fixing and replacing screens, some gardening and yard work and some general maintence around the hotel. We met a couple from Holland Netherlands, Roscoe and Femke, and had our first double date of the trip. We're hoping to meet back up with them towards the end of our trip and spending time with them in their hometown and around Amsterdam. During another night out after a tough eagles loss we made some friends from Austrailia, Dean and Gemma, who were on their ... read more

This is my first attempt to blog. Kevin and I were just talking about how it's not us to post pictures and talk about ourselves for everyone to see. We both feel more than fortunate to be living the lives we are living for the next year and hope by writing this it will perhaps open the eyes to someone out there to travel or do something that is out of the "norm". We decided to treat this blog as if it is a diary that is open to everyone that wants to read so you can experience this journey with us. We are sure to have some ups and downs and will be sure to post it all. It's only been 10 days and we've had them both. I was just rambling to Kevin the ... read more

Costa Rica. Just saying the name conjures up images of lush, tropical forest, of pristine, palm-lined beaches, of cheeky monkeys and big, blue butterflies. Ever since the first time I visited Costa Rica over nine years ago, I’ve loved every inch of its natural beauty. There was only one place in the entire country that I avoided like the plague, a tiny black spot on its map of greens and blues. This place was Jacó. In 2004, halfway through my first stroll in downtown Jacó, I could already feel an overwhelming contempt creeping into my system. What I saw disgusted me. I saw an Americanized, hedonistic cesspool; a place for college spring-breakers to get f**ked up without fear of the law; a place for perverted pensioners to find cheap sex, a place of feces-filled waterways, robber-filled ... read more

I finally hauled myself out of my beach chair around one o'clock, got ready and headed out for an adventure. I was not expecting a private tour of this location but that's what I got because as it turned out, I was the only one there. The guide was a little bit too touchy for my liking BUT he did take some awesome pictures for me and showed me a couple of features on my camera that I knew nothing about. All of the pictures are not captioned but basically all the frogs are poison dart frogs of one kind or another and them and the snakes which are also poisonous reside on the Caribbean side of CR. Enjoy...... read more