Friday, March 26, 2010

Canopy pt. 2

Right before the last zip.

Adam on his way down just kicking back.

Coming in closer.

Braking.

Ben following behind.

Ben barely surviving with his glove stuck in the zip pully. I must say he reacted perfectly and guided himself in with his left hand braking.

Getting some air gather fruit.

MYSPACE.

Donde esta su pies?!

Post canopy relaxing.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Where the sloths hang out



I didn't realize how many pictures there were from the canopy tour. It is wonderful. (Thanks Alison!)


On our way up to the start of the canopy tour. We are riding in the back of a truck.

A view from out the back of the truck.

Our ride.



Lots of these looking up pictures. Alison had her camera secured to her belt loop.



Steps leading up to one of the platforms.

Just a fellow companero zipping in.

Looking off the edge of a platform.

Ben zipping off into the abyss of trees.

Adam zipping off after Ben.
Alison, being the rebel she is, taking a picture mid-zip.

Alison coming in on the zip taking a picture of a guide and me heading off.

 Alison coming in for a landing.

A group on a platform waiting to do the Tarzan Swing.

Ben mid-swing.

Tickled pink and full of awesome-ness.

Trees!

 I will post a Part 2 at some point. The internet is beginning to slow down a bit.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Feels like home

03/13/10

Orosi began my adventure and now it shall bring it to a close.
I arrived in Orosi at about noon today. There are quite a bit more people here than last time. Well, so it seems so far. Tonight I will be in the hostel, but at 11 tomorrow morning I will meet my host family for the upcoming week. I'm slightly anxious about it. I've heard great things about the homestays in Orosi. Many say that it does wonders for their Spanish and the cultural experience is great. Never have I heard negative things about it, but I have heard some people say their families weren't terribly interactive and/or they didn't get what they expected out of it. I will be with the family for one week. If I remember correctly, breakfast and diner is provided by the family. After this week I will be in a dorm-style room for the remaining 1 ½ weeks I am in Costa Rica.
I start my language classes on Monday. 3 hours a day and five days a week.

03/16/10

Second night with my new family was pleasant as well. By the end of this week I am going to have put on some pounds. My mom is feeding me ridiculously well. Rice and beans are always on the plate, but there is also at least one other thing. There are quite a few people in my family. Quite honestly I am still trying to figure out who is family, friends, boy/girlfriends, etc. I have the important immediate family down though (I think). At last count though there were 8 people living in the house.
Spanish class is going well so far. Completed a good chunk of the first book yesterday. It is all review, but always good to get more practice. I have a different teacher this time than last. She is the newest of the teachers I believe. It has been very interesting to see which things have changed about my language since I first took classes here.
As usual the community at the hostel is very diverse. We have a German, an Austrian, two Canadians, an Irish, a Tico, some French, some Gringos, and others that are coming and going.
I'll be home in a little over two weeks time.

Pura Vida.

La Semana Pasada

On our way to Volcan Poas. Not the volcano here, but just a view of the mountains.

Standing at the edge of the crater.

Looking off into the crater.

Pre-assaulting the Policia.

Sorry...No post pictures...

Waiting for the cloud cover to clear.

Casi.

Que lindo!

Striking a pose in her corner.

Beautiful path heading up to the lagoon and a perfect tree for Ben.

Kicking back for a rest on the way up to the lagoon.

 Que perfecto!

Los tres.

Plenty more pictures to come. Some including very high places, serpents, and breakfast.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Hostel Take Over...

MUAHAHAHAHAHA

I have taken over and will replace Adam for this entry. He is...unable to complete this post due to a rope binding his hands to the bed...not really...We are currently in Cortez Azul, a quaint little hotel with lots of interesting art.
 This is the hotel that started our journey and will end it tomorrow...not Adams...ours...

Sooooo, this is how it went....sort of....

We arrived at the San Jose airport after a 2 1/2 hour delay (blegh) and we are pretty tired. Luckily, Adam had internet and could check the planes arrival time. Customs was a joke really, probably because it was so late; it took about 30 seconds....Then we see Adam through a glass wall with a big smirk on his face like this :D

 Obviously...or maybe not so obvious...but probably...or not...ANYWAY we had to get a taxi. Lets just say our first taxi experience was...interesting...to say the least. We quickly found out that stop lights don't mean stop - they instead mean honk your horn to make sure you don't hit a car on the next street.

Then Cortez Azul with lots of talking and catching up and hugging and such...and BED....We woke up and got breakfast from the supermercado - doughnut thingys and a yogurt drink. We tried to catch a bus to the volcano then, ending in failure - so we caught a taxi.

The view was spectacular to say the least, a wonderful start to our first day in Costa Rica. Once we got to the top a van of three people offered to give us a ride down after we were finished - so we took the opportunity. We then went to see the crater only to see clouds...BORING...But then as if to say - "here's a little glimpse just for you!" - the clouds parted and revealed an awesome crater with green water and an incredible amount of sulfur pouring out of the crater in the form of a continuous white cloud.

After Alison took 300 pictures or so, we walked uphill to see the lagoon. Pretty darn awesome....Alison lost her jacket. Then, once we saw everything cool, we walked down and traveled back to Alejuela. Woot! We ate pretty awesome Italian food that night...yes we ate Italian in Costa Rica...it was the only thing open!

We got up uber early the next day to catch a bus to Cahuita....which we failed at also. We just missed the 6 am bus, so we took the 10am. Cahuita looked a bit dismal upon arrival because it was raining and we had to carry our luggage about a mile (eeewwww). However, once the rain cleared - it truly was a sight to see. The Caribbean coast is extraordinary.

We had awesome fruit drinks with every meal - made with fresh fruit of course. It was quite funny really - we could tell whether Alison would want to eat at a restaurant by the drinks it served. She has a severe craving for all things watermelon. So - dinner was awesome too fresh fish on the coast YUM.

The nest day we did a canopy tour with some crazy guides, it was a ton of fun! Loooong Ziplines through the rain forest with a gorgeous river underneath. Sigh......That took most of the day. After that we ate dinner in Puerto Viejo, which was slightly more commercialized than Cahuita - and then caught a bus back.

The next day we felt like a beach day - so we had one! We went to swim in the ocean - Adam and I went body surfing out on a sandbar and we eventually brought Alison out there. After that we were pretty much burnt out - on many levels - literally and figuratively.

By the way, breakfast was awesome that day. We had banana pancakes and gallo pinto - yummmmy. The view was nice too ;)

 The next day we did white water rafting on the most beautiful river, the Pacuare (I think that's what it's called). Our guide was hilarious and also very very good at his job. We learned loads about butterflys and sloths and the water and rapids and more and more and more. There really aren'y words to get to the core of how awesome it was.

Today, we roamed the Cahuita National Park, with lots of wildlife. We saw Monkeys and snakes and beautiful water and and and....there will be pictures...

Anyway the bus was long and now we are tired...

The End

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Alajuela

 
Poster in our room at Hotel Cortez Azul.

 
Cabo Blanco Reserve
Emperor Pheasant

Golden Orb Spider. If the web catches the sunlight just right it shines like gold thread.

Simon, our Variegated Squirrel. So friendly.

Anti, the Anteater.

Felis, our Collared Aracari. Basically a type of Toucan.

Good Bird, our Keel-Billed Toucan.

Looking out at the gulf and Cemetery Island.

Cemetery Island.

Doodle upon my head.

Doodle on my shoulder.

Pictures are finally uploading. Hay mas fotos en el futuro.

Going to hang out and get some dinner with Maria shortly. I am then off to the airport to meet Ben and Alison. As of now their flight is on time at 9:50 pm. Vamos a ver.