Blogs from Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 521

I love this place and I´m never coming back!! Today was awesome. I took an 11 hour highlights tour and it was incredible. Especially the boat ride down Rio Sarapaqui. Our boat driver, Ronny, was incredible. He truly does have eagle eyes. He´d spot something, pull in closer and it would still take us a minute to find what he´s spotted while moving down the middle of the river! We saw iguanas, baskilisks, howler monkeys, a caymen, a crocodile, little blue herons, kingfishers and I´m sure I´m forgetting something. At a lodge in the rainforest, we saw poison dart frogs, spiders and birds. We heard the howler monkeys, but after navigating a river via a very bouncy suspension bridge, we found the other side to be locked and couldn´t go any further into the rainforest. We ... read more

Random observation: (1) There are no addresses here. No house numbers, no street names/signs, nothing like that. All directions are give by landmarks and meters (one block equals 50 or 100 meters…depending). That also means that no one gets mail delivered, everyone picks it up at the post office. (2) Fast food such as KFC cost more then a meal at a nice sit-down restaurant. Kind of crazy. So yesterday I had an amazing time white water rafting…it was like nothing I had ever seen before in our area (New River). Jeff, correct me if I am wrong, but I think that Costa Rica is one of the top white water rafting areas in the world. Regardless, my trip yesterday was pretty intense. I met up with the group at about 7 in the morning (I ... read more

Well I have made it...right now it is 6:45 in the morning (why did I get up so early...i think I might have to invest in a watch...although, you all know I couldn't sleep in anyway). I am at a hostel in San Pedro (San Jose) Costa Rica. So I only have one thing to report so far. While sitting at Dullus airport I ment an older group of people (in there 40's) who are all rafters and kayakers (bye the way....I'm screwed without a spell checker). So I made friends, and end up getting invited to meet them in some town called Turrialba for some white water rafting..aparently on of the guys has some room on his raft (which he actually brought as luggage). I am definitely going to try to met up with them ... read more

A lot has been happening this week, although it has been mostly dominated by one thing Mount Chirripo and to those not in the know (I didn’t know beforehand) it is the highest mountain in Costa Rica and the second highest in Central America.... now let me just digress here for a moment... While here I have had time to reflect on things and this was true for this matter... At school I usually got good reports, you know, intelligent(ish), hard working, etc, but I always got let down by the comment 'easily led into trouble' and on reflection of this week, things just haven't changed. For example, Sarah a beautiful Canadian girl I met says "hey, do you fancy climbing Mount Chirripo?" "Sure", I say, and 3 days later we are on a bus with ... read more

OK so after 24 hours of traveling I have eventually made it here to Costa Rica. I have booked in with a Spanish school in Playa Jaco and have decided to go the whole way and book in with a family stay as well, apparently it is the best way to learn and as my family is made up of Miriam the mother and her 4 daughters (of which only 1 speaks English) you can appreciate I am catching on pretty fast. Also as the family owns a Soda (small outdoor local café) I have been meeting and talking to a lot of local people which is really cool as I feel I have really immersed myself in the Tico (Costa Rican people) lifestyle and culture. One example is when I went to a Latin ... read more