Blogs from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 15

Sunday Quiet here in La Fortuna except for the 5am rooster! Got a little more sleep, packed up, said good-bye to the cat, and walked to the bus station to catch the 8am bus to Tilaran, heading for our final destination of Santa Elena. Tilaran is a small town on the SW end of the lake, Laguna de Arenal. It is known as a regional ranching center. The ride from La Fortuna to Tilaran took about three hours, leaving exactly on time. Tickets cost $11 total. The bus goes around Laguna de Arenal, which is supposed to be one of the best wind-surfing places in the world. We drove past several metal structures, as well as some fancy hot springs, expensive hotels, and near-manions. The greenery was lush, with many horses and cattle. Then drove through ... 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

The song 'All by myseeeeelf' came to mind this morning as we went to the bus station by ourselves to get on a bus by ourselves to Manuel Antonio where we are now, by ourselves. It was very strange not seeing any of our group and not having Pippa to look after us but we managed okay and the bus was perfectly safe! Manuel Antonio has a beautiful beach and there is a very laid back and relaxed vibe. Annie prefers it to Roatan. We haven't done much today besides walk along the beach where we saw a few monkeys, and we did a little shopping. But tomorrow we are going to the National Park bright and early to see more animals and hopefully another sloth before heading back to the capital. We have uploaded some ... read more

We spent the day at and around the research station and the Corcovado national park. After a night of exhaustion sleep, broken by restless periods due to the heat, we started our first walk at 0430. This was pre dawn and the light built quickly. We were fortunate that few people slept at the station on the previous night, so there was nobody else on the trails. Wildlife viewing started almost as soon as we left the clearing around the station and entered the jungle. Nito was great at spotting wildlife or identifying places where the action might happen. He found: Tiny bats and frogs in strange places like under palm fronds and inside newly-opened banana leaves; Copulating lizards and huge cockroaches. Army and leaf-cutter ants and their nests. The Army ant nest was actually a ... read more