Wow!!! I was just looking outside the airplane window and and there in the sky were contrails from another plane that must have flown by recently. It looked very cool and I had never seen any from the air before. I hope the pictures came out okay! Yes, I know it doesn’t take much to excite me :)
Contrails are the cloudy streaks that an airplane sometimes leaves behind in the sky, right? That’s what I saw, even if I got the name wrong. Continue reading
Posted in Costa Rica 2008
Tagged airplane, Contrails, Costa Rica, dictionary, MacBook, photos, WOW
So the first thing I head this morning as the alarm went off was all about the icy roads in the Detroit area. Specifically between me and the airport. Not a good sign, especially since I didn’t have that much extra time allocated since it was a morning flight and I didn’t know about the weather before had. But all was fine, a little slow on the roads but I got the airport fine. The airport was dead, I’ve never seen it so quiet there.
Got checked in, got me a morning McSandwich and got to my terminal with just a few minutes to spare. Someone took the seat next to mine so I moved to the back row, no reclining but i’ll live. I’ve got an empty spot next to me, an adorable little 8 month old boy on his Mom’s lap that I was pretty excited about, he had been pretty friendly the few times I had run into him. I thought he was going to be a lot of fun but he passed out a few minutes into the flight (boring!).
It’s beautiful up here in the clouds. We’re just above them and the sun is lighting them up perfectly. Looks like snow, maybe more of how I’d picture it in Antarctica (or some other vast snowy land). My cell phone photos just don’t do it justice at all; should have pulled out the real camera.
Bonus! They just brought us a bowl of cereal (Total) and a banana, don’t know if I’ve ever gotten that for a non-international flight. I’m a much happier flyer if I’m snacking and staying hydrated, it really makes the flight more comfortable for me. On a side note, I can’t believe the number of people drinking mixed drinks already!
Posted in Costa Rica 2008
Tagged airplane, airport, bad weather, clouds, Costa Rica, Detroit, McBreakfast, photos, travel, Weather
I uploaded a album of sunsets to FaceBook. These are from my last two trips to Costa Rica. There are a few dozen and I think all of them are labeled where and when they are from.
If you are a member of FaceBook be sure to add me as a friend while you’re there. Just click on “Gary’s Profile” at the top and then “Add as a Friend”.
(I didn’t realize that these public links to Facebook photo albums expire, I’m not even sure how long they last. That’s annoying, I’m glad I only used them for a few albums…)
Posted in Costa Rica 2008
Tagged Costa Rica, Facebook, Mal Pais, Playa Junquillal, sunset, Sunsets, Tamarindo, web sites
So I like this town, it’s a tourist town so it’s missing some of the remoteness of some of the other towns, but it’s got every thing you might need. Lots of restaurants and hotels, a beach with surfing so it’s a got something for everyone. The beach could be bigger, especially since the tide comes up pretty high but I’ve never been very far up or down the coast from to see what else there is, maybe the next trip.
Since it’s a tourist town, it’s got lots of parking so it’s generally not a problem parking right where you want to be. This is a big bonus if there’s a huge downpour (or you’re really sick).
A lot of the people in Costa Rica scoff at Tamirindo because it is a big tourist town (especially the smaller towns on the coast some of them are just rude about it) but it’s completely different from the smaller towns so (to me) it shouldn’t be compared, you might as well as compare it to New York City; but if you’re looking for surfing NYC isn’t the place and if you’re looking for theatre Tamarindo isn’t the place, so the question is “what is it that you are looking for?” and this might be it…
Here’s the Tamarindo Photo Album I put together. I’m trying this with the MobileMe service, so if it doesn’t view very well for you let me know and I’ll put it in the old format. 
Notice the buttons at the bottom of the photos for Grid, Mosaic, Carousel or Slideshow; be sure to check out how they work.
So I enjoyed the San Jose area on this trip. Next trip I plan to spend a little more time in the city area to check it out more. It seems many people who relocate move to the middle of the country; while that seems anti-intuitive to me, the coast seems more obvious, there are a lot of conveniences there that I need to consider.
When I was in San Jose, I chose my first restaurant based on a few things: It wasn’t an American chain, it wasn’t Chinese and it had hightop tables (had I known they had WiFi I might have gotten my laptop and factored that in too). It was a local little sports bar with food so I thought I could get a feel for some local “stuff”. But the people who ran this place spoke English so well I have to assume they weren’t locals. Even some of the people who appeared to be regulars conversed in excellent English with each other so it wasn’t really the experience I was looking for.
But since the food was delicious and they wrapped the napkins around the bottles all cute and fancy it was worth it.
Most of these photos are from the park but that’s because I was busy during most of the daylight hours while I was there. I’ll get some more next time. So here are the photos from San Jose at the La Sabina Park.
Posted in Costa Rica 2008
Tagged Costa Rica, Jose, La Sabana Park, San, San Jose, WiFi
So I keep saying I was trapped in Liberia, but it was a really nice town. When I started to build this album I thought I had taken more photos, but I guess I didn’t, so it’s kind of a mish-mash. Here’s a map of Liberia, the place I stayed (the El Punto) is just south of the Santa Rosa Mall.
Next time I fly to Liberia I’ll definitely be spending the night and checking out the town some more, the nearby African Zoo and the Rincon de la Vieja volcano (which I had gotten a recommendation for).
Here’s some photos of Liberia that I took.
So when I got trapped in Costa Rica for the few extra days I ended up staying at the El Punto B & B. It turned out to be an excellent place, it only has five or six units with a theme of colors, it might be the cutest place I’ve ever stayed. My unit had A/C, a ceiling fan, a very hot shower (but I never could get that much heat from the two sinks), two beds, two tables, three chairs and something I’d call a kitchenette but there wasn’t a way to cook anything but coffee (had a sink and medium refrigerator). I had found huge very comfy towels and a washcloth, made me feel very civilized. Outside I had another chair and table with a hammock. There was free internet but only up by the office and they also had what appeared to be a community area with couches, chairs and a television. There was also a nice double-sided page with info about the area (such as suggested restaurants), how to access the WiFi and useful info that all hotels should mimic.
Breakfast was amazing! A mini loaf of bread with jellies and jams and watermelon and pineapple and eggs with coffee and juice. My only real complaint is there just isn’t enough space to unpack (but I have that complaint quite often).
Here are some photos of the room at El Punto and of breakfast (breakfast included coffee and OJ which didn’t get shown in the photos).
It’s right around the corner from a nice outside mall, across from that is a Burger King/Papa John’s/Church’s Fried Chicken and down the street a bit (easy walk) is the downtown area. I’ll stay there again sometime (on purpose). I think they’re pretty close to the Zoo (that’s supposed to be excellent) and a nearby Volcano that was also recommended to me. Plus if I’m flying out of the Liberia airport it’s pretty convenient (I think during the busier season they might provide airport transportation?) and a cab was about $15.
Posted in Costa Rica 2008, food + drink
Tagged B & B, Bed and Breakfast, Burger King, Costa Rica, customer service, El Punto, Liberia, Living, WiFi
So my favorite ice cream bar to get in Costa Rica is ChocoMenta by Dos Pinos (Twin Pines). It’s is good sized mint ice cream bar cover in chocolate on a stick. It’s a generous size, especially when you consider the price, they were generally only about 75 cents! You can see in the image (click it) that it’s a decent sized stick, and I think that helped the ice creme to not fall off the stick in the heat and humidity (not that I had a lot this trip).
Occasionally, I couldn’t find them so they were a welcome treat when I found them. At at 75 cents it was an awesome treat!
And for my older readers: “Milky the clown says, ‘What’s the Magic Word?'”…
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