Blogs from San José, San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 34

Day 197: The second leg of the journey and my eventual arrival in San Jose The saying "Getting there is half the fun" became obsolete with the advent of commercial airlines. Henry J. Tillman The plane landed in Miami at about half-five this morning, and although tired, I was soon actively engaged in the faff required to pass through an American airport (despite just being in transit). After filling out my green card to confirm that I was not wanted for acts of genocide in connection with events in Nazi Germany, involved in drug trafficking, or trying to snatch a child (who declares any of that stuff?!), I queued up to be finger printed and photographed, before being allowed to pass on to the next level, where a big queue for security awaited. Although I did ... read more

Well, what shall I say, I finished the Volcano Trail and am back in San Jose. The Volcano Trail was an organised Tour by GAP Adventures. The plan was to cross 4 countries in 15 days, starting in Antigua, Guatemala via Honduras and Nicaragua back to San Jose passing lots of Volcanoes on the way. I initially booked this tour, because I thought it was easier to see a bit of every country in a short amount of time. And, yes I did indeed! It only meant that I was sitting on a bus for days and hours and hours at a time to accomplish this mission. Anyway, the tour was fully booked, so I was quite excited about travelling with 15 strangers back to San Jose. Something I didnt anticipate was a group of 12 ... read more

You can imagine that we were quite relieved to be getting out of Parismina the following morning so I was trying to ignore what appeared to be (yet another) dodgy tummy. We managed to time our walk to the dock in order to avoid the still intermittent rain but this did mean that we were waiting there for a little while during which I began to feel even stranger. The boat ride to Caño Blanco was only about 15 minutes but we had nearly an hour to wait there for the bus. The sun had (finally!) come out but this just meant it was really too hot to be standing about outside. And I was beginning to feel pretty awful - exhausted and achy. Meanwhile, we could see the bus, in a car park a little ... read more

San Jose Ganz anders als Havanna ist San Jose. Wir brauchten einen Tag um uns daran zu gewoehnen, dass hier keine Oldtimer durch die Strasse cruisen und dass nicht an jeder Strassenecke Salsa-Musik ertoent. Und es gibt Wolken! Dafuer ist die Luft besser. Bei unserem ersten Rundgang fielen uns die vielen Kuehe auf - an jeder Ecke steht eine andere; und jede sieht anders aus. Bekannte Kuenstler durften Kuhplastiken gestalten - die Cowparade. Inspiriert davon und sehr hungrig, goennten wir uns am Abend ein saftiges Steak begleitet von einem guten Glas chilenischen (?) Rotweins. Am naechsten Tag machten wir einen Spaziergang durch das ehemahlige Villenviertel und entdeckten einige Schmuckstuecke (das Foto zeigt die Casa Morisca; es wurde Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts erbaut). Es gibt aber noch viel zu renovieren. Der Unterschied zwischen Arm und Reich ist ... read more

Hola de nuevo desde Costa Rica, rica, rica. La Suiza de Centro America. Es probablemente el pais mas desarrolado de Centro America. Entre otras cosas porque es el unico pais del mundo sin ejercito. Su defensa en caso de conflicto depende de EEUU gracias a un convenio de colaboracion firmado con ellos. Gran parte del dinero que se ahorran del ejercito va destinado a educacion y de ahi su mayor desarrollo. De hecho los costarricenses no se consideran centro americanos sino meso americanos, para diferenciarse del resto de paises pobres de Centro America. Es este desarrollo la causa de que halla mas de 2 millones de nicaraguenses (nicas) por estas tierras, siendo el numero de costarricenses (ticas) de 4 millones. Quien dice que la inmigracion en Europa es un problema?. Tras esta pequeña introduccion, al grano. ... read more