Costa Rica Pictures

You can click on any of these for a full size photo.




















This is the view of Jaco Beach from a viewpoint on Mistro Mountain.






















I'm standing on the beach at Manuel Antonio

















I'm about to jump into a waterfall just outside of Uvita.















This is probably my best picture. I'm jumping into San Luis Waterfall in Monteverde.

Heading Home

At times I thought this trip would never end. I have missed home more than I thought I would, but I guess that is a good realization to have. It did go fast, but not too fast. I am ready to head home. Two weeks seems like a long time but I barely accomplished half of what I wanted to do. I never made it to Panama and I didn´t even make it to the Caribbean coast!

At times I wished I had all kinds of money to throw around. It would have been nice to rent a car for these two weeks, stay in private rooms, and do the fifty dollars a day tours. I guess I can do that when I am old and retired and I will definitely enjoy it. I have just been roughing it down here. Most of the showers I have had are cold. Surprisingly I feel pretty good and only smell a little. I have at least managed to brush my teeth consistently while being here.

I went to the frog pond in Monteverde and got to see a bunch of frogs and toads. My guide even found a poison dart frog out of its cage and let me hold it! I was surprised how small it was, maybe half an inch in length.

Yesterday I caught the bus back to San Jose from Monteverde and today I just took it easy and relaxed. I used the internet a lot to catch up on my news and even got a little Fox News and CNN in.

Monteverde, Costa Rica

There was a huge earthquake in Peru that spurred tsunami warnings all across the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. I was close to the coast when it happened but we did not have to evacuate like the towns I had just been in did. It was quite strange. The locals were all excited and running up and down the street spreading the news in traditional fashion. Apparently one never hit but the article in the paper the next morning said the response was good.

Now there is a hurricane to the east! When will mother nature give the tropics a break? I am not too worried about it at all.

I am staying in a nice hostel in Monteverde, which is a wonderful little mountain community originally settled by Quakers who left America. It has a pretty interesting history that I won't bore you with.

Today I hiked up to San Luis waterfall. It is definitely the best waterfall I have been to yet. I have some great pictures of myself that a guy took that I will post when I get home, but until then hasta luego!

Pura Vida

For all you Gringos out there who do not even speak Spanglish, pura vida means the pure life and Costa Ricans are living it. I am quite fluent in Spanglish and enjoy speaking it. Some of the locals might call it broken Spanish but I am not sure. I know ten or twelve verbs, how to conjugate them in the present tense, and I can count to a million.

I find myself thinking about a lot of things I should be writing on my blog while I am travelling around, but they never make it on. I have to be in a certain mood to write, namely a good mood. Recently I have not been able to get online and write when I feel it, but have been forced to write around other schedules and I have therefore left out quite a bit.

I have met more people than I could write about and more people than I will remember. Nothing beats these diez y seis mil colones a noche hostels, or 8 bucks a night dorm rooms, where globe trotters from all over gather. I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of solo travelers I have met.

Certainly traveling alone makes one lonely, but it also reminds one of how special and important family and friends are. For all those people out there who like to go camping because of the hot shower when they get home, think about this. Travelling alone gives a person a much more realistic and pleasant view of their own family and friends in the same way that camping makes one appreciate a hot shower.

Uvita, Costa Rica

I'm finally in a place that is my style. Uvita is a small village accessible only by dirt road on the southern Pacific coast. San Jose, Jaco, and Manuel Antonio were all big cities or heavily touristed. This town is very quiet and has very few people. I love small towns, what can I say?

This trip has gotten nothing but better as I've become more comfortable in the boots of a solo backpacker. It's definitely an experience that takes getting used to. I can totally comprehend why a lot of people wouldn't enjoy it.

My Austrian friend and I went to Manuel Antonio National Park on Tuesday and had to stand in line for about an hour. I was flabbergasted, but apparently that is normal. They only let a certain number of visitors in at a time, a good idea. I was convinced we wouldn't see any animals because of the large amounts of humans but boy was I wrong. We saw a snake, two different kinds of monkeys, a rodent the size of a small dog, a raccoon, countless lizards and iguanas, and a sloth! I was simply amazed to see all these animals in their natural habitat.

Not only that but the beaches are totally undisturbed. It was quite pleasant. If you really care all that much all you have to do is google image manuel antonio costa rica.

We decided to hike up to the waterfall but it was seriously weak and not worth the tromping through tropical streams that it took to get there. I am all about waterfalls and so I was a little disappointed but I knew I would have other chances to find a postcard waterfall and boy did I ever!

Today I got up and jumped on the bus for Uvita. I checked into this great hostel and then started hiking to the nearest waterfall. The nice American owner pointed me in the right direction, "Follow the dirt road up the hill until you get to the graveyard then take a left and it's up on your right. Two Germans own the place and built the trail and will charge you 300 colones." I was drenched in sweat and extremely hot when I got there so it felt amazing to dive in where the water was falling. It was a small stream completely surrounded by rainforest. The water was the perfect temperature. I have pictures I'll post when I get home.

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Well I never did surft in Jaco. I didn´t really like the place all that much. It was just too expensive and too much of a party town. The guy that was going to come over never did but I met this Gringo (American) named Ed in Clarita´s. We had a good time talking and then went downtown Jaco to see what we could find. Had to pay three dollars to get in to see this band and then it was just terrible rock music. I couldn´t believe how bad it was. Then went to another bar where they had a DJ and then called it a night.

The next day I caught a bus from Jaco to Quepos and then grabbed a taxi to Manuel Antonio, which is a little town with a good beach close to Manuel Antonio National Park. I met this guy from Austria who is also backpacking alone on the bus and we decided to get a place together. Ten bucks isn´t too bad for a night. Unfortunately Monday is the only day of the week that they close down the park, so we have to wait until tomorrow to do our hiking and imitations of Bear Grills.

Since I wimped out on surfing in Jaco this Austrian guy and I decided to surft today. Ten bucks for an hour isn´t too bad. It was my first time ever obviously and I was terrible obviously. It was too much fun though and I think I might try it again sometime. I was only able to actually surf for about three seconds, max.

I have to admit that in Jaco I was missing my family and friends and I was wondering why I chose an entire two weeks to spend here. I am feeling much better about it now though and I´ve been making solid decisions so that is good too.

Jaco, Costa Rica

I've been advised not to walk around by myself but I've done quite a bit of it lately. I walked all around San Jose this morning looking for the notorious Coca-Cola bus terminal, ran into the Teatro Nacional and Plaza de la Cultura on one of my circles, and barely figured out how to buy a ticket. With that ordeal over I was free to enjoy the bus ride.

I never really thought of it this way until just today but I think I'm kind of testing myself. I'm seeing how far I can push my limits. I mean seriously I have never done what I'm doing this instant and definitely not by myself. Not only am I wondering if I even can do this, I'm wondering how much I'll be able to enjoy myself, because quite honestly I don't know. I still don't.

I am having a great time and everything is going off without any glitches, so far so good.

Soon after arriving in Jaco I met an alcoholic. I bought him a couple of beers and walked around for a while. He spoke broken English. He even invited me to stay at his house! I had to decline because I just wasn't sure, but now I'm wishing I had accepted his offer. This Cabina Clarista place is listed at having rooms for $9 a night. Apparently it is $35. I have a slight suspicion I have been ripped off, but Lonely Planet is probably just flat out wrong.

Anyway this town is basically just one main road all along Playa Jaco. It's about 3 km. Walking around with David, the alcoholic I met oddly enough, I kind of got a feel for this place. He greeted about ten people just walking one length of the street. I've seen a town of people just greeting each other and then moving along. There is a lot of foot traffic here so that helps quite a bit. Everyone knows everyone, to use a cliche.

I stopped at this roadside "soda," I think they're called. Ordered up a chicken taco. It had this homemade salsa on the side with extremely fresh herbs and spices. Cilantro and another herb that was also in a shrimp cocktail my mom and I had in Mexico, maybe she remembers. It had a huge mound of cabbage on the side to help calm down the salsa.

One of David's friends and I got along well because he speaks English and so he said he will swing by and show me the "Monkey Bar" and "Jungle." Then tomorrow I'm going to rent a surfboard and try to surf. I'm wondering if I should get lessons.

Well those two things are about as far as my plans go right now. Hopefully I don't wimp out!

i´m actually in costa rica

I am so far outside of my comfort zone right now it is not even funny. I´ve been nervous and apprehensive all day long. I seriously wanted to just be here so bad so I could stop worrying about how things are going to turn out. The plane rides were miserable because of this.

Its a good thing though because I can just feel myself growing as a person. I can see my horizons expanding right before my eyes. There have been times that I regretted making the decision to come here because I was unsure, but now that I´m here things are starting to work out alright.

I barely got my hub on my car replaced in time to drive down to Salt Lake City. Which after gas and parking it would have cost about the same to fly out of Bozeman and it would have been a lot less of a pain in the butt. I´ll remember that next time.

The four hour layover in Atlanta was uneventful. I bought ¨The World Is Flat¨by Thomas Friedman so I would have something to occupy my mind other than worrying about myself. I was seriously questioning my better judgment a little.

Anyway I landed here in Costa Rica about two hours ago now. My bag actually made it so that was a plus, and getting a taxi went off without a hitch. The driver was really nice and actually knew of this place I wanted to go called ¨Tranquilo Backpackers.¨ I got a bunk in a dorm here for nine bucks, a couple of beers for four bucks, and free internet! There are people roaming around all over here and I haven´t met any yet, but I´m not worried about that, I will.

I actually felt a little weird driving to Salt Lake by myself. I felt alone, but then I thought, ¨I have the best and most supportive family a person could want, I have the best and most caring friends a person could want, and I know a girl that seems to care about me!¨ It was all better.