Saturday, May 17, 2008
Monteverde
This will be quick, because I am leaving in a couple of minutes but I just wanted to let everyone know I arrived in Monteverde safely. Now I will be leaving soon to go on guided night hike to see nocturnal animals!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Monkeys, Tucans & Lava
Yesterday on the way to the volcano I saw my first monkey! It was a howler monkey and he wasn't too happy with everyone staring and pointing at him. Then a few minutes up the road there were tons of Tucans flying tree to tree. We took a wonderful hike through the rainforest where we made rubber in our hands and saw the stregnth of leaf cutter ants. Those things are crazy creatures! I wouldn't want one of those to bite me, that's for sure. After our adventerous hike we spent the rest of the night relaxing in hot springs. There were 28 different pools and we hit almost everyone of them.
Now we're going to catch a taxi and check out a couple ridicuosly good looking waterfalls and spend some time swimming in the pools that surround them. Tomorrow I'll be saying good-bye to La Fortuna and hello to Monteverde!
* I will be staying at Sleepers Sleep Cheaper Hostel: http://www.sleepershostel.blogspot.com/
Now we're going to catch a taxi and check out a couple ridicuosly good looking waterfalls and spend some time swimming in the pools that surround them. Tomorrow I'll be saying good-bye to La Fortuna and hello to Monteverde!
* I will be staying at Sleepers Sleep Cheaper Hostel: http://www.sleepershostel.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
La Fortuna
After 5 hours on a crowded and humid bus ride I've made it safe and sound to the little town of La Fortuna. It was actually an okay ride, since I got to practice my horrible Spanish by trying to make converstaion with locals. An old guy that sat next to me was very nice and told me the names of all the cities we went through. The ride was beautiful, twists and turns through mountains covered by rain forests. I really feel like I am in Costa Rica now.
The hostel is pretty nice, but I almost didn't get to stay even though I had made a reservation. When I booked it through hostelz.com it asked for my approximate arrival time, which I said would be about noon, so when I showed up there at 1.30 he had already gave my room away and the place was booked. He told us we could wait around (at this point I met some Canadians on the bus) incase someone else didn't show up exactly on time. Luckily some other people cancled and we got into our rooms.
Didn't do a whole lot today. Spent time laying in a hammock staring at the clouds I know, my life is tough. I booked a tour for tomorrow through the hostel which will take us on a hike around Volcano Arenal and then afterwards we will go soak in the hot springs at Baldi.
http://www.arenal.net/baldi-hot-springs.htm
They also have night trips to go look at the hot lava flow, but I decided to not do that tonight since it looks too cloudy to see it anyhow. I will probably check it out on my third night.
The hostel is pretty nice, but I almost didn't get to stay even though I had made a reservation. When I booked it through hostelz.com it asked for my approximate arrival time, which I said would be about noon, so when I showed up there at 1.30 he had already gave my room away and the place was booked. He told us we could wait around (at this point I met some Canadians on the bus) incase someone else didn't show up exactly on time. Luckily some other people cancled and we got into our rooms.
Didn't do a whole lot today. Spent time laying in a hammock staring at the clouds I know, my life is tough. I booked a tour for tomorrow through the hostel which will take us on a hike around Volcano Arenal and then afterwards we will go soak in the hot springs at Baldi.
http://www.arenal.net/baldi-hot-springs.htm
They also have night trips to go look at the hot lava flow, but I decided to not do that tonight since it looks too cloudy to see it anyhow. I will probably check it out on my third night.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I´m here!
I'm here in San Jose now. It is actually a really nice day out. There were clear skys and I could see everything from the plane. I got a bird eye's view of big craters and smoking volcanos. I haven't ate all day and now I am waiting for my Casado (prepared plate of rice, beans, plantians and salad) to cook at the hostel's resturant. I've already gone over my daily budget! I did not sleep at all last night and only got 2 hours of sleep on the plane so I am ready for a nice long nap.
Flight info and such
Yikes! I can't believe I am getting ready to leave in 4 hrs! Still packing, so I'll make this short. Just basic info on where I will be.
Here is my flight info:
DELTA CONFIRMATION #: 28EIXW
TICKET #: 00621620950053
Bkng Meals/ Seat/
Day Date Flight Status Class City Time Other Cabin
--- ----- --------------- ------ ----- ---------------- ------ ------ -------
Tue 13MAY CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV PHOENIX 500A **
LINES 1656 AR HOUSTON-INT 928A
Tue 13MAY CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV HOUSTON-INT 1130A **
LINES 1446 AR SAN JOSE COS 205P
TA R
Thu 03JUL CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV SAN JOSE COS 645A **
LINES 1485 TA R
AR HOUSTON-INT 1127A
Thu 03JUL CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV HOUSTON-INT 230P **
LINES 1672 AR PHOENIX 316P
The first hostel I will be staying at in San Jose is: www.hostelpangea.com/home.html The telephone numbers for that hostel are: +506 221-1992 or +506 396-0364 That hostel has it's own shuttle so they will be picking me up from the airport.
I will be staying there only one night and getting up early to catch the bus to La Fortuna at about 9:30am. There I will be staying at the hostel that I listed in the previous post.
I still can't believe I am going! I'm sure it will sink in after a day or two.
Love ya all!
Here is my flight info:
DELTA CONFIRMATION #: 28EIXW
TICKET #: 00621620950053
Bkng Meals/ Seat/
Day Date Flight Status Class City Time Other Cabin
--- ----- --------------- ------ ----- ---------------- ------ ------ -------
Tue 13MAY CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV PHOENIX 500A **
LINES 1656 AR HOUSTON-INT 928A
Tue 13MAY CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV HOUSTON-INT 1130A **
LINES 1446 AR SAN JOSE COS 205P
TA R
Thu 03JUL CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV SAN JOSE COS 645A **
LINES 1485 TA R
AR HOUSTON-INT 1127A
Thu 03JUL CONTINENTAL AIR OK G LV HOUSTON-INT 230P **
LINES 1672 AR PHOENIX 316P
The first hostel I will be staying at in San Jose is: www.hostelpangea.com/home.html The telephone numbers for that hostel are: +506 221-1992 or +506 396-0364 That hostel has it's own shuttle so they will be picking me up from the airport.
I will be staying there only one night and getting up early to catch the bus to La Fortuna at about 9:30am. There I will be staying at the hostel that I listed in the previous post.
I still can't believe I am going! I'm sure it will sink in after a day or two.
Love ya all!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Game plan
Only 5 more days until I leave, which only gives me 4 more days to get ready! I started soaking some of my clothes in permethrin (which wards off mosquitoes) and almost ruined them. I wasn't thinking and I put a dark pair of green pants in the same bag with a very light colored pair of pants and a shirt. Dumb, I know. So the pants and shirt came out with blotchy blue spots all over. Steve looked up a "home remedy thing" of how to get colors out that have run, which worked pretty well. You boil a big pot of water and once it hits boiling point turn the stove off let it cool for a second and then insert clothes. Had to do it a few times and it helped fade the blue spots to the point I can almost not see them. Oops.
I only have a very generalized game plan so far. I am staying in San Jose a night and first thing in the morning catching the bus to La Fortuna for a few days. This will be the hostel I am staying at: http://www.arenalbackpackers.com/home.html. Looks pretty wicked! Can't beat a hostel with a view of an erupting volcano and a pool with a wet bar. Then I will take a jeep-boat-jeep trip over to Monteverde, which is a cloud forest.
From there the plans are a little more foggy. I will head north to Liberia and then up to Nicaragua for a few days, maybe about a week. I'll be staying in Granada which is the oldest colonial town in the Western hemisphere, a place not to be missed. Then I will be staying a few nights on Ometepe island, which is a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the 20th largest fresh water lake in the world. But, get this, the only home to the only fresh water shark in the world! Can you believe that!
After seeing the wonders of Nicaragua it is back down to Costa Rica. Then I plan on just working my way down the pacific coast starting out on the Nicoya Peninsula. I would like to make it all the way down to the Osa peninsula and stay near Corcovado national park, which national geographic famously described as "the most biologically intense place on earth." The only problem is there are not a lot of budget places to stay at and some places you need to take a boat to get to, which isn't always cheap.
Next back to the central valley and over to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, which is described as "what Jamaica used to be like." It has a very laid back Caribbean vibe, with amazing white sand beaches. I will head down towards Panama and spend some time in Cahuita and Puerto Viejo. May to August mommy sea turtles are laying their eggs and baby sea turtles will be hatching and making their way to the ocean. During this time many non-profit organizations are looking for volunteers to help the turtles out. I've found a place latinamericanseaturtles.org that I would like to volunteer at for a week.
After that back to the central valley to get prepared to go home. I will most likely check out Vocano Poas and maybe a coffee bean farm. Now, all of these plans aren't set in stone. They could change completely depending on if I meet a group of travelers at a hostel that I would like to tag along with, or if I love Nicaragua and decide to spend more time there. If I have a lot of time left at the end I may spend more time volunteering with sea turtles or even spend some time in Panama. I want to be flexible and not worry too much about staying on a regimented schedule, but I still want a plan to fall back on.
I only have a very generalized game plan so far. I am staying in San Jose a night and first thing in the morning catching the bus to La Fortuna for a few days. This will be the hostel I am staying at: http://www.arenalbackpackers.com/home.html. Looks pretty wicked! Can't beat a hostel with a view of an erupting volcano and a pool with a wet bar. Then I will take a jeep-boat-jeep trip over to Monteverde, which is a cloud forest.
From there the plans are a little more foggy. I will head north to Liberia and then up to Nicaragua for a few days, maybe about a week. I'll be staying in Granada which is the oldest colonial town in the Western hemisphere, a place not to be missed. Then I will be staying a few nights on Ometepe island, which is a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the 20th largest fresh water lake in the world. But, get this, the only home to the only fresh water shark in the world! Can you believe that!
After seeing the wonders of Nicaragua it is back down to Costa Rica. Then I plan on just working my way down the pacific coast starting out on the Nicoya Peninsula. I would like to make it all the way down to the Osa peninsula and stay near Corcovado national park, which national geographic famously described as "the most biologically intense place on earth." The only problem is there are not a lot of budget places to stay at and some places you need to take a boat to get to, which isn't always cheap.
Next back to the central valley and over to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, which is described as "what Jamaica used to be like." It has a very laid back Caribbean vibe, with amazing white sand beaches. I will head down towards Panama and spend some time in Cahuita and Puerto Viejo. May to August mommy sea turtles are laying their eggs and baby sea turtles will be hatching and making their way to the ocean. During this time many non-profit organizations are looking for volunteers to help the turtles out. I've found a place latinamericanseaturtles.org that I would like to volunteer at for a week.
After that back to the central valley to get prepared to go home. I will most likely check out Vocano Poas and maybe a coffee bean farm. Now, all of these plans aren't set in stone. They could change completely depending on if I meet a group of travelers at a hostel that I would like to tag along with, or if I love Nicaragua and decide to spend more time there. If I have a lot of time left at the end I may spend more time volunteering with sea turtles or even spend some time in Panama. I want to be flexible and not worry too much about staying on a regimented schedule, but I still want a plan to fall back on.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
New blog, new plan
So here we go, I'll try this again. I wasn't too thrilled with travelblog.com. I didn't like all the stuff on the top and it wasn't that simple to use, so I decided to use good ol' traditional Blogger. But not only do I have a new blog, but I have a new plan! Originally I was thinking about traveling Costa Rica for 2 weeks and then working there for 5 to save money. Which would include working at a hostel 5 hours a day/5 days a week in the city in exchange for a free stay. Then I got to thinking, is money worth more than time? Hostels are only $6-10, so by working for 5 weeks, I would only be saving $350 max, which I could make working here in the States within 2 weeks or less. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I want to be able to enjoy myself and see everything that Costa Rica has to offer! So, I've decided to drop the whole work idea and instead just travel the country for all 7 weeks.!
I've been starting to get ready little by little. I began my Malaria medication yesterday and it made me sick to the stomach. I will give it another week or two to see if the side effects go away. More common though, is Dengue Fever and there is no medication or vaccination that can prevent it. The mosquitoes that carry Dengue Fever actually hang out during the day in urban areas, which is the complete opposite of the mosquitoes that can carry Malaria. I bought a I mosquito net yesterday to put over my bed at night. I set it up in the living room and I felt like a was in the rain forest already. Since it is the rainy season (or as some like to call it, the "green season") there will be a lot of mosquitoes!
I've been starting to get ready little by little. I began my Malaria medication yesterday and it made me sick to the stomach. I will give it another week or two to see if the side effects go away. More common though, is Dengue Fever and there is no medication or vaccination that can prevent it. The mosquitoes that carry Dengue Fever actually hang out during the day in urban areas, which is the complete opposite of the mosquitoes that can carry Malaria. I bought a I mosquito net yesterday to put over my bed at night. I set it up in the living room and I felt like a was in the rain forest already. Since it is the rainy season (or as some like to call it, the "green season") there will be a lot of mosquitoes!
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