Category Archives: Costa Rica

Costa Rica! My most often traveled vacation spot. I usually stick along the (north) Pacific coast, usually in Montezuma.

Sunrise in Montezuma

Of all the days I’ve ever been in Costa Rica I don’t think I’ve gotten up for a sunrise (and it’s probably over 80+ days over 10+ trips) . Beautiful! I might even try it again since it was a little cloudy today. But here’s a photo and a video clip…

sunrise-montezuma-IMG_2617.jpg

Both of these were taken on my iPhone, I’ll try to upload higher quality ones at some point later.

You can watch this sunrise in 720p HD.

Good night, I’m going back to bed!

Music on the Ferry Ride

We had a nice ride on the ferry as the sun set and we had some impromptu music from some of the passengers.

And you can watch it in 720p in HD.

It was such a nice ride with lots of room, it was SO packed when I was there at Christmas time…

Jumping in at the Upper Waterfalls in Montezuma

I got some other traveler I’d been talking with to use my camera to video me jumping in at the upper falls in Montezuma. I’m guessing this is 30 feet(?) up, I worked out the people behind me are about 40 feet up (did some GPS based calculations a few trips ago), so maybe a little higher than 30 feet.


Watch in HD.

The water really hurt my face when I went in the water. I guess my head is tilted a little forward but I’ve jumped from the higher spot (where you can see the people) a few times before and never noticed anything. But then I can see it took me longer to come up than from the higher spot (which makes no sense either).

He tracked me pretty good for a fast as I was going and he’s way zoomed in, here’s some other video of the upper waterfalls in Montezuma.

upper-falls-IMG_1630.JPG
This isn’t the most exciting photo of the upper falls
but you can see the whole falls and the ledge where I jumped from
(the ledge on the right that looks even with the top of waterfall).

Someone else in his group got a picture of me with the SLR, but she never e-mailed it to me, which isn’t a huge surprise, but since I actually got him jumping in on hidef video I thought they’d at least e-mail for that…

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Have a great Valentine’s Day everyone. You might not be with someone, but there’s still someone out there looking for you.

Beach Couple Ylang Ylang
A couple in love on their honeymoon…*

At least I’m hoping there’s still someone out there looking for me…

* I have no idea if they’re on a honeymoon, but it’s what I choose to imagine for today!

New look for the blog (sort of)

So the my blog host was acting up a few days ago, but it made me look around a little bit. Tried (again) to speed things up and make the pages load a little faster; I tried some stuff a month ago, but it might have slowed it down (but then I’ve been posting a lot more photos, so who knows?). I think it’s faster, but who knows.

Sunset-ish on Montezuma Beach
Sunset from Montezuma Beach

So I removed some of the things from the sidebar, I never got the feeling a few of the things were being used. I changed the banner (it’s a snippet from the above photo) and shifted it way up, I don’t know why I never thought of moving it up before. It’s another sunset picture, but it fit well (with the title and search box), so it’s not a drastic change.

My secret view of the Montezuma Coast

Okay, so maybe it’s not a super big secret, but it’s a really nice view; two views actually. When walking back down the hill from the upper waterfalls you walk right past it (see the end for specific details on finding it).

HPIM0035.JPG
Looking south-west down the coast.

Before turning right to get the above view, you could have continued straight and to the left a little (through the brush) and you can see north-east up the coast. From the spot you’re at, you won’t even see Montezuma, you’ll be looking right over it.

Click for full screen or go watch the video on YouTube in HD.

secret-path-IMG_1698.jpg

So as you come down the big hill, either from the upper waterfalls or from the Mariposario Butterfly Gardens, after you pass the private bridge to the really big house (you can’t miss it), keep your eyes to the right shoulder and about 50 yards (or 50 meters) past the bridge you’ll see the grass on the incline is a little worn (see picture) climb up there and head left.

When you get near the end on the right you’ll see south-west down the coast, towards Cabuya and Cabo Blanco; if you veer towards the left you’ll see north-east. It’s a really nice view in either direction! The north-east view is a little hidden, but just take a minute and you’ll find it.

There used to be fencing there so watch out for barbed wire. And keep in mind, it’s not a public park, so tread carefully…

UPDATE! This isn’t such a secret now and it looks like someone is going to start building (April 2011).

Immersion Heater for Warming Water

So one of my essentials for travel is an Immersion Heater, I stick it in a glass with some water and in a few minutes I’ve got hot water. It’ll boil water if you want, there’s no moving parts and it’s really easy to use. I think it’s just for water, some bad reviews talk about other liquids, but I’ve never tried it with anything but water; I’ve never considered anything but water.

You can use it for heating up water for tea or coffee or whatever. NORPRO 559 Immersion Heater for Warming Liquids NorproI initially got it for heating up water for my Netty Pot, sometimes the hot water when traveling isn’t warm enough (or I don’t want to use tap water if it’s somewhere I wouldn’t drink the water).

But since I’ve got it with me, sometimes I’ll use it for heating up some instant soup or Ramen-in-a-cup for a snack when traveling. I’m trying to think of what else you can just add boiled water to: instant oatmeal(?), instant soups + noodles, instant potatoes (but that sounds boring), Mac and Cheese (I think Kraft makes a just add hot water?) and if you had a fridge to store them, you could probably boil an egg.

You’ve got to remember to unplug it before you remove it from the cup of water or it’ll burn out (or something) and watch it when you’re using it because if it boils all the water away it’ll stop working permanently. The one I’ve got has lasted a long time but I’ve let it boil down pretty far before when I’ve forgotten about it; I actually travel with a spare, just in case.

Moon over Montezuma

Before I went down to Costa Rica last month I knew they eclipse was going to happen and I knew the Moon was going to be full. But I forgot all about the fact that the do some horse rides down the beach in the moonlight; I knew that from the last trip and forgot all about it. While I don’t really like horses (they’re big, scary and I don’t know how to turn them off or reboot them), down the beach during the full moon sounds pretty cool.

moon-over-montezuma-IMG_1313b.jpg
This was the full moon lighting up the beach,
it’s really hard to show how bright it really was.

moon-over-montezuma-IMG_1310.JPG
It’s completely night out, but it was just so bright.

moon-over-montezuma-IMG_1302.jpg
This one came out a little brighter but it’s a little washed out.

They might have come out better if I’d had a tripod. I think it was brighter the next night (less clouds?) but my pocket camera just doesn’t appropriately show how it really looked. I don’t recall even thinking it was really bright this night, I was actually just scoping out the sky to see if the eclipse would be viewable.

And now I see someone is doing Full Moon Moon-Rise Yoga on Montezuma Beach, how cool would that be?!?