Blogs from Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 458

We had a flight booked to head out to Tortuguero at 5:45am, which meant being at the airport at 5am, which meant getting a taxi at 4:30am, which meant getting up at 4:15am - hooray! We had decided to stay another day in San Jose to try and get my camera repaired, since I didn't want to lug it around if it was no use. We tried calling the airline to see if we could change the ticket but had no luck, so we just caught the taxi out to the airport anyway to change the flight if we could, or, catch the flight if the ticket could not be changed. Fortunately the flight was easily changed and we headed back to the hotel, checked back in and went back to bed! We got up later ... read more

We had a delightful series of flights to Costa Rica, with a flight to San Francisco, a 3 hour stopover, a midnight flight to Houston, another 3 hour stopover, and then a flight to San Jose at about 6am. It was great to arrive in the humidity and heat of Costa Rica's captial, San Jose - a nice change from the dryness of Calgary! We caught a taxi into town and checked into the Colonial Hotel. We had a full day of exploring the city, which was a lot nicer than we expected. The town was a mixture of really run-down places and some old colonial buildings that were still kept in good shape. On our first trip out we got caught in one of those tropical downpours and bought some small umbrellas from one of ... read more

First of all...our monitor died at my house--we think it got hit by lightning, so I won´t be on as often. And I wrote this entry on the 5th. Be prepared for a long entry! My family here is awesome!Not that I don´t miss mine back home, but...I got very lucky. I live in San Juan Norte. My host dad, Arturo, is a farmer, and my host mom, Nani, stays at home. I have two sisters--Cindy, 20 and Yuliana, 16--and two brothers--Jorge, 14 and Yeisson, 8. Families are huge here--in both size and importance. Everywhere we go, they point out hou7ses of aunts and uncles. Yuli told me that Nnai has 8 siblings and Arturo, 14. And I thought Karen had a big family! I had a tour of the farm the secodn day I was ... read more

Now that summer vacation is upon us, we have a chance to look back at the school year that was. (Last Friday, June 30, was Ellie’s last day of school and Ari’s was the week before that.) It is hard to believe that the whole school year has gone. In some ways it flew by so quickly it hardly seems like a blink. In other ways, the beginning of the school year seems like it was a very long time ago. It is quite a paradox and I can’t seem to put it into words - but I’m sure you know what I mean. In the works of the Grate philosophers, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” The year started off normally enough -- Ari started the second grade at Quarry Hill in Mrs. Lowe’s ... read more

5 Juillet 2006 Encore un autre petit morceau d’aventures qui n’est pas le dernier mais qui n’est pas loin de l’être !!! Snif, snif…  Comme d’hab, il y a eu dix mil trucs qui se sont passés depuis la dernière fois. Pour enchaîner un peu avec le dernier « francophones » il faut dire que le w.e. après avoir marche sur les arbres à Providencia de Dota, j’ai…finalement réussi à aller chez les Bribris !!! He,he. Je suis partie avec une consultant de la Rainforest Alliance pour faire le diagnostique de deux structures d’hébergement d’ACTUAR. El Yüé, un ferme agroecotouristique, et…Casa de las Mujeres, dans la réserve Bribri de Yorkín, à côte de la frontière avec le Panamá. Le boulot était très intéressant, et les rencontres…terribles. En fait, je suis très contente d’avoir réussi à ... read more