So I lost Anne the Quebec but found two other really cool Americans on the way to the Tarzan Swing, I still didn't find my underwater camera there but c'est la vie. After the swing we took a long hike to a huge waterfall then the long hike back to eat some delicious food at a restaurant here called Just Good Foods. Rick the tour guide and the owner Mike were there and telling us about fun things to do today; $10 for a boat trip to an island for some good times, then later the two cool Americans I met will join us for a trip to the free natural hot springs 8 km away. When we came back to my hostel the Quebec girls were there (3 of them all traveling together and staying in the same room as me) and we talked and laughed until midnight. They have rented a car and invited me to go with them to a city called Monteverde (Green Mountain) but I already made the plans to enjoy one final day in La Fortuna and don't feel like need to travel 3+ hours to do more zip lining although a bungee jump there does entice me a bit.... We will see what the girls decide on doing and I will hopefully meet them in a beach city tomorrow!
But then again, I am from WA and am quite used to the green, I am wanting more of the white sand beaches. And maybe some large turtles!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Costa Rica
And the journeys continue. I left Spokane for Costa Rica last Monday, November 28th and will travel around this country (and maybe Panama and Nicaragua) until December 3rd when I fly to Mexico City for a week to visit my friend Amber from college who is teaching English there. Then a few days back in Washington followed by a week in Hawaii with the whole family, then back to Korea for another year or two of teaching. Good, now we are up to speed:
I was supposed to be coming here with my friend John that I met while traveling in Europe four years ago. He has lived in Costa Rica as a SCUBA instructor but after some delays in the US before our trip he ended up getting his dream job working for the Dept of Defense. So now I keep calm and carry on alone. I booked four nights in San Jose and per usual didn't do a ton of research about what it is like but rather like finding it out for myself first-hand. And what I found out is that San Jose can be a dangerous place, it is as you would imagine most capital cities in the US: just a big big city where life carries on as usual, not too many amazing cultural tourist sites but the usual stuff (I went to a bank museum which talked about the history of Costa Rican currency). It was on the second day there I met two new backpackers from North Carolina and they convinced me in taking the city buses to La Fortuna. Since this was city buses it took a very long time on twisting and turning roads through a very very pretty countryside. We were the other foreigners on the bus full of schoolkids, farmers, and other various local Ticos (Costa Ricans).
By the time we got to the city we were all a little road-weary and happened across Rick, an American who has made Costa Rica his home for the past 7 years who showed us some good places to eat and signed us up for a river rafting trip/organic farm tour, as well as helping us plan our journeys around the country.
Rafting was awesome, class 4+ and 5. Definitely worth every penny. After rafting we headed to one of 11 hot springs/resorts in the city and had some AWESOME buffet and relaxed in the hot springs and rode some pretty insane speed slides. Then the day before yesterday I took a semi lazy day and went to a tarzan swing over a river with a kid in the hostel names Cam. I had my recently purchased underwater camera with me ($100 from Huppins on N. Division, Spokane) and had wanted some pics so i should "Hey Cam, toss me the camera but make sure you throw it ahead of me so it doesn't get lost in the fast moving current". And it was a great toss, just a few feet ahead of me........ and that was the last I ever saw of that camera..... Why I thought it would float is beyond me. I wasn't even mad when it happened, I just kinda laughed and said "Oh well, this is life, and I still have my better point and shoot with me, there just won't be any underwater pictures from the rest of my trip." It wasn't Cams fault and maybe a should have thought it through more but c'est la vie.
Yesterday I went ziplining which was a whole other experience with much fun to be had. Check out the video on my facebook as well as all the other pictures thus far.
I will head off now and do some laundry and get some food. Then maybe back to the tarzan swing with a friend i just met in the hostel (Anne from Quebec).
Hasta Luego,
Pura Vida.
I was supposed to be coming here with my friend John that I met while traveling in Europe four years ago. He has lived in Costa Rica as a SCUBA instructor but after some delays in the US before our trip he ended up getting his dream job working for the Dept of Defense. So now I keep calm and carry on alone. I booked four nights in San Jose and per usual didn't do a ton of research about what it is like but rather like finding it out for myself first-hand. And what I found out is that San Jose can be a dangerous place, it is as you would imagine most capital cities in the US: just a big big city where life carries on as usual, not too many amazing cultural tourist sites but the usual stuff (I went to a bank museum which talked about the history of Costa Rican currency). It was on the second day there I met two new backpackers from North Carolina and they convinced me in taking the city buses to La Fortuna. Since this was city buses it took a very long time on twisting and turning roads through a very very pretty countryside. We were the other foreigners on the bus full of schoolkids, farmers, and other various local Ticos (Costa Ricans).
By the time we got to the city we were all a little road-weary and happened across Rick, an American who has made Costa Rica his home for the past 7 years who showed us some good places to eat and signed us up for a river rafting trip/organic farm tour, as well as helping us plan our journeys around the country.
Rafting was awesome, class 4+ and 5. Definitely worth every penny. After rafting we headed to one of 11 hot springs/resorts in the city and had some AWESOME buffet and relaxed in the hot springs and rode some pretty insane speed slides. Then the day before yesterday I took a semi lazy day and went to a tarzan swing over a river with a kid in the hostel names Cam. I had my recently purchased underwater camera with me ($100 from Huppins on N. Division, Spokane) and had wanted some pics so i should "Hey Cam, toss me the camera but make sure you throw it ahead of me so it doesn't get lost in the fast moving current". And it was a great toss, just a few feet ahead of me........ and that was the last I ever saw of that camera..... Why I thought it would float is beyond me. I wasn't even mad when it happened, I just kinda laughed and said "Oh well, this is life, and I still have my better point and shoot with me, there just won't be any underwater pictures from the rest of my trip." It wasn't Cams fault and maybe a should have thought it through more but c'est la vie.
Yesterday I went ziplining which was a whole other experience with much fun to be had. Check out the video on my facebook as well as all the other pictures thus far.
I will head off now and do some laundry and get some food. Then maybe back to the tarzan swing with a friend i just met in the hostel (Anne from Quebec).
Hasta Luego,
Pura Vida.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
waiting....
Check this link for pictures from Siem Reap.
So im at the same hotel ive been all week but i just checked out this afternoon. paid my bill for 6 nights of stay, 2 drinks at the bar, laundry service, and a bus ticket to Sihanoukville.$134.25. No complaints whatsoever. I really like the feel of Siem Reap but its time that i move along and my mind has been wondering, i feel the need to do some wandering. I have already met some great people but have done most everything i want to do in this city and want to go meet some other people that are hopefully going to stick around the beaches a bit longer. I might even make my way to Thailand now, though im not sure. Its incredibly easy to find cheap travel around here by bus.
So quick update about what i got up to here was visiting an orphanage a short distance from the town center (this town is quite small). I went in and helped teach some of the English classes and absolutely fell in love with the students. They were all so eager to learn and very playful. There was one girl in a very low level class that was working on her ABC's in a book and would not follow the rules to making her R's and just dray the leg of all the R's on the page first and then make a straight line like an l on all of them and then finish them all off with a half circle. I played with her and told her to not do it that way and instead to follow the picture given and she was getting it and i was cheering her and smiling really big and she would giggle at my show, but then she would start to do it the other way again, i think the first couple times were an accident but then she just loved to see my "no, no, no! do it the correct way" reaction. I went to the hotel after classes ended to get some food and came back at night to see all the kids put on a traditional Khmer dance. IT WAS AMAZING! young young kids that you would imagine would be cute if they were making cute mistakes, but it was incredible. After it was after my moto-bike driver was waiting for me so i started walking to the gate but the girl who i was helping with her letters ran in front of me and starting writing letters in the dirt in front of me the wrong way and i started yelling at her and freaking out in my funny way and she wouldn't stop laughing. I stayed for another 30 minutes playing with a bunch of the kids.
As you can see, cute kids. I may come back here and teach again for a while when my contract is up.
I like my way of travel, without making any plans, without reading hardly any reviews of places to stay or booking anything in advance. It is really freeing, and i always end of having a good time. I would want to come back here again with a travel partner to get more off the beaten path of things.
Oh geez, i forgot to mention the airplane ride.... anyway, it was awesome as well. i did go for the hour and it was more expensive than i thought, but still very good. check out the pictures at the link at the top.
I am very anxious for tomorrow to get here.... I am ready for the new scenery and beaches, and i am also waiting to hear from a friend of mine in Korea (hint hint)....
So im at the same hotel ive been all week but i just checked out this afternoon. paid my bill for 6 nights of stay, 2 drinks at the bar, laundry service, and a bus ticket to Sihanoukville.$134.25. No complaints whatsoever. I really like the feel of Siem Reap but its time that i move along and my mind has been wondering, i feel the need to do some wandering. I have already met some great people but have done most everything i want to do in this city and want to go meet some other people that are hopefully going to stick around the beaches a bit longer. I might even make my way to Thailand now, though im not sure. Its incredibly easy to find cheap travel around here by bus.
So quick update about what i got up to here was visiting an orphanage a short distance from the town center (this town is quite small). I went in and helped teach some of the English classes and absolutely fell in love with the students. They were all so eager to learn and very playful. There was one girl in a very low level class that was working on her ABC's in a book and would not follow the rules to making her R's and just dray the leg of all the R's on the page first and then make a straight line like an l on all of them and then finish them all off with a half circle. I played with her and told her to not do it that way and instead to follow the picture given and she was getting it and i was cheering her and smiling really big and she would giggle at my show, but then she would start to do it the other way again, i think the first couple times were an accident but then she just loved to see my "no, no, no! do it the correct way" reaction. I went to the hotel after classes ended to get some food and came back at night to see all the kids put on a traditional Khmer dance. IT WAS AMAZING! young young kids that you would imagine would be cute if they were making cute mistakes, but it was incredible. After it was after my moto-bike driver was waiting for me so i started walking to the gate but the girl who i was helping with her letters ran in front of me and starting writing letters in the dirt in front of me the wrong way and i started yelling at her and freaking out in my funny way and she wouldn't stop laughing. I stayed for another 30 minutes playing with a bunch of the kids.
As you can see, cute kids. I may come back here and teach again for a while when my contract is up.
I like my way of travel, without making any plans, without reading hardly any reviews of places to stay or booking anything in advance. It is really freeing, and i always end of having a good time. I would want to come back here again with a travel partner to get more off the beaten path of things.
Oh geez, i forgot to mention the airplane ride.... anyway, it was awesome as well. i did go for the hour and it was more expensive than i thought, but still very good. check out the pictures at the link at the top.
I am very anxious for tomorrow to get here.... I am ready for the new scenery and beaches, and i am also waiting to hear from a friend of mine in Korea (hint hint)....
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