This is me jumping of a BIG rock at the lower falls in Montezuma Costa Rica. It’s not very high, but you really need to get out past the rocks below (and the water is WAY deep).

Watch in full screen HD!

My videographer (German tourist) shot a bit of the falls after, [...]

I went to Cobano to go to the bank and wanted to get some lunch but I also wanted to be closer to the bus, so I got lunch to go. Here’s my story…

View the HD video at YouTube.

And the chicken (as usual) [...]

I always feel like these stacks of rocks are something the aliens left behind; you know, like they did with the pyramids.

When I went to the waterfalls in Montezuma, I saw the aliens had been very very busy…

Also viewable in HD (of course).

Actually, later I did notice a few people adding [...]

Just kind of beast crawling around making a lot of noise on the roof. At first I thought it was someone (I say “he” in the video) up there fixing a leak or something (it’d just been raining). But a little while later I spotted this. The video is a little slow [...]

I like the Friday Question #98 for this week: What hobbies would you pursue if money was of no concern?

The first thing I thought was “Does travel count as a hobby“? But since KIm listed travel as hobby I figured it was okay to use…

So I’ll talk about travel as my [...]

I hope everyone has a great 2010!

Next year I’m hoping for a few things:

An Apple Tablet of some sorts.
A trip (or 3) to Costa Rica – It’s only been 8 months but it seems like years.
Better blogging – I really plan to post better/often next year.
More snow – We haven’t [...]

Would you rather live somewhere where the you see significant changes in the seasons throughout the year, or where it pretty much stays the same? What is your ideal daily temperature? from Friday Question #91.

I like the changes in weather. While I’d rather have winter shorter, Michigan weather isn’t too bad, but [...]

I was looking at the Montezuma Beach web site the other day and I found the best map of Montezuma that I’ve ever seen. The town is mostly just those two blocks at the center of the top. Montezuma really isn’t that busy, it’s the names of all the places that [...]

Are you friends with your coworkers on Facebook? Have you found this to be beneficial (fun) or detrimental (annoying)? From Friday Question #83 at ilaxSTUDIO.

I think that generally when someone at work has friended me on social networks that I have accepted. I don’t really blog/complain about work, so this [...]

The Lens Day Challenge for this week is Traffic.

People in Costa Rica barely look at the stop signs. Do they really think someone is going to read this one? This is a pretty busy sign, no matter where you are. And just in case you aren’t sure: Alto [...]

So I’ve got a new theme. I figure I have to mention it because if you just read the RSS feed, you’ll never see it.

It’s pretty much the Simple Indy theme by India Fascinates. It really reminds me of a few other themes out there, but [...]

So when I was last in Costa Rica I saw this guy wearing shoes similar to these.

I thought they were pretty cool so I asked him about them. They are called Vibram Five Fingers. I got these because they had the strap across them so they won’t fall off in [...]

Heard there was another earthquake felt in San Jose, Costa Rica. Actually, I saw a tweet from The Tico Times when they felt it. USGS reports that it was a 5.7 about 175 km (110 miles) SSE of San Jose. I was kind of worried after the [...]

So since the last time I looked the temperature has jumped from -8° F to -9° F but the “feels like” has stayed at -26° F!!!! And yet it still says “fair” on the report. But at least they are changing the “WInd Chill Warning” to an “advisory” until 10 AM tomorrow.

At least [...]

It’s been a week since the 6.2 earthquake in Costa Rica (Jan. 8, 2009) and while I’ve been updating my original post with info I thought I’d post another entry.

The death toll is at 23 people with 11 missing. Over 2000 people living in shelters and abut $100 million in estimated damages. [...]

Costa Rica had a huge earthquake yesterday (Thursday, January 8th, 2009), 6.2 on the richter scale (I’ve seen reports that say 6.1). Just north of the San Jose area. This is the biggest one that I’ve heard of in Central Valley. The Tico Times has a lot of

It was kinda gloomy out and I didn’t want to hike far and get trapped in the rain. I saw a few people gathering for the bus so I asked what time the bus was, I was told 11:30 so I grabbed my stuff from the hotel and went back to the bus stop.

I’m [...]

Hello, I’m Gary LaPointe.

I’ve lived in Michigan all my life, I grew up in Berkley (Detroit) and have spent most of my life there, 11 years in Lansing/East Lansing and in Dearborn since ’99. My family and most of my friends are still somewhere around the general area somewhere.

I love rollerblading, movies, music, [...]

Taking a break from riding the scooter all over. I’m somewhere south of Jaco but north of Quepos, Costa Rica. Looking at a map, maybe somewhere near Parríta. Just a beautiful ride and a great day! I think I did about a 120 km and it was a blast.

Watch the [...]

Just some photos of some of my meals from the lower Nicoya Peninsula. I thought they looked and/or tasted nice.
Sesame Chicken (Chicken dipped in Lime and Honey and rolled in sesame). La Narango resurant in Montezuma, Costa Rica. $7.50-ish

Big breakfast from the Soda Monte Sol in Montezuma, Costa Rica (2200 colones, just under $4). [...]

So Cobano is a nearby town of Montezuma it’s about 7 km away. It’s kind of the centralized place for the bus transfers, a few more restaurants, way faster Internet and some larger stores. Also it’s the nearest bank, ATM, pharmacy, gas station, hardware store, appliances, bicycles, etc. Even with all that, [...]

So riding the bus in Costa Rica is cheap and it’ll take you anywhere. The problem is figuring out when the bus is going to be running.

In the bigger cities this doesn’t appear to be a problem, if you miss a bus another one will be by soon and if it’s not the right [...]

So I think part of what makes Costa Rica (and other places I’ve traveled to in the world) so interesting to me is the learning that’s going on. Just going into a restaurant is a new experience, almost like when your parents let you order your own food for the first time. And [...]

Here’s part two of the video from the waterfall video from last Saturday (Nov. 22, 2008). This is the view from the top of the falls taken a few minutes after the first video. I’ve since learned that the waterfalls are named El Chorro (and the adjacent beach is called Cocolito).

Here’s the

Does anyone know where the Official Bus Schedule for Public Busses in Costa Rica is? A million sites list bus schedules but they’re all different (and mostly wrong).

I understand the busses don’t run on time. But there isn’t any reason for me to be at the bus stop at 11:30 if the bus [...]

Haven’t been doing much the last few days. I’ve been experiencing the other Montezuma so I’ve been under the weather. Here’s a few recent photos all from the Montezuma, Costa Rica area.

This was my view from where I sat and had my lunch.

One of the water outlets to the Pacific Ocean.

I always like [...]

So one of the many sites I read is the Costa Rica Blogger. It’s humorous, has great tips and interesting reads. In particular, today I read a post titled Legal Ages in Costa Rica which lets you know the legal age is for drinking alcohol, buying cigarettes, etc. [...]

So here’s a photo of me at the waterfalls North of Montezuma, Costa Rica. The walk to get there is to walk along the beach of the ocean (maybe this is technically the bay?). I’ve since learned that the waterfalls are named El Chorro (and the adjacent beach is called Cocolito).

Tags: [beach, Cocolito, Costa Rica, El Chorro, Montezuma, photo friday, Waterfall, Waterfalls]

So I’d really been looking forward to the fire dancing in Montezuma. I haven’t seen it done as much the last few trips and I knew it was on the schedule as entertainment for the Film Festival. It wasn’t the local group that I’ve seen do street shows before but they were excellent. [...]

It was just to be photo ID for a charge card purchase but it was better than pulling out my passport or US driver’s license.

But I was excited that I got to use it…

Just a couple of photos from around San Jose, Costa Rica.

So I scheduled a shuttle bus (a large van) from San Jose to Montezuma. Last night I confirmed all the details:

8:20 pickup at my hotel. I guess they don’t pickup at all, but they pick up at mine.
I’m going to Montezuma
Approximate arrival time. She said 3 PM, which seemed really late, so I asked [...]

This is trickier than it sounds. Imagine trying to open an account in the US without a Social Security card and without a mailing address…

I got all my paperwork in order:

They normally two letters of reference from banks that I normally do business with (seemed very old fashioned to me). I ended [...]

So went to get my driver’s license today. What a bureaucracy! The only plus was that it wasn’t very busy.

I knew this was going to be a hassle so I hired ARCR (the folks that did the relocation seminar) to take me there and work me [...]

I’ve posted a photo album of various animals that I’ve taken here and there (Zoo, Costa Rica, London).
Some came out really nice and some are just okay (but I needed a few more to make an album). I uploaded them to my FaceBook photo album section, feel free to

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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! [...]

Made it! Way early and on time. It’s so hot here, I’m only paying for Internet since I want to hang out in this air conditioned room (I’m standing at a terminal in the gift shop).

And they didn’t charge me a $150.00 change fee for my flight!!! I didn’t even get a chance [...]

So I left Tamarindo with more than enough time to spare to get to the airport. That’s it. The rest of the story pretty much writes itself doesn’t it? It’s clear I don’t make my plane but why? There’s the obvious like car problems and the not so obvious like I was abducted [...]

Severe flooding kept me from getting to my flight today. They closed the bridge heading towards the airport and said it was going to be closed overnight (maybe until manana afternoon); please note I did say “the” bridge and not “a” bridge; I think it’s the only way to get to the airport from the [...]

Something just happened. I’d say a huge semi-truck or two just drove by too fast and went through the crazy potholes (or something) but that’s not really possible where I am let alone it would have had to had been a 180 wheeled truck since it lasted a bit. It really [...]

Here’s a very short movie of the Waterfall in Montezuma! Click for the higher quality Montezuma Waterfall version. But people always have problems with the movie files from my Dimage XT camera for some reason so here’s an YouTube version too…

I don’t have much more to say (other than it [...]

It’s raining out today, pretty hard actually, but I’ve got my covered porch and my high-speed internet so I’m okay from an entertainment standpoint. I’d much rather it be sunny but it’s rainy season and I knew that before I came here. It’s nice and cool out so I don’t need to even [...]

So except for the last trip I’ve never had any “stomach issues” and on that trip it was very minor and passed in few days (no pun intended). This trip the same thing happened for a few days and by Friday I was feeling fine. But then Saturday came…

I think it was the [...]

Sorry, I’ve been off-line lately, I haven’t had ‘net access or felt well enough to do it (I’ve been really really sick the last few days), but I’m feeling much much better today. I’ll give you the scoop on my experiences with the CR medical system later.

I’m in Tamarindo the next few days, I [...]

Here’s a random batch of photos from the past few days in Costa Rica. These mostly have some titles or captions to go with them.

Just an assorted few that I enjoyed and I hope you will too!

One of the things I’m doing this trip is attending a seminar by the Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR). They offer this the last Thursday/Friday of every month (but December) for only $65. I’ve had this on my to do list for a while but it just [...]

I have some photos from the ferry ride from Paquera to Puntarenas uploaded.

The proper name of the hotel is Occidental Torremolinos (Occidental owns a bunch of hotels, but I’m not certain if it’s a “chain” or what) it’s a two floor hotel built in a square (hollow in the center) with an outside pool/hot tub and some tables outside in the middle. [...]

So I heard that the ferry from Paquera to Puntarenas was at 12:30 PM and but I also heard 1 PM so I decided I should get there by 12:30 just in case. The ride was taking me a little bit longer than I thought but I knew (unless it was full) I was [...]

So this rain is making me a little crazy today. It’s been pouring on and off all day. I’d use it as a day to stay inside and catch up on the internet but it’s satellite and the rain goofs up the signal. So needless to say I’m a little bored today.

It’s [...]

One of the bad things about Montezuma is it’s on the east side of the peninsula so you don’t get any sunsets. So last night I dashed over to Mal Pais to catch the sunset; remember when I say “dashed” it might mean 5 miles an hours over some of the treacherous roads. [...]

So I tried to open a bank account today. Why? Because bank access in the southern Nicoya peninsula is very limited and the one bank they do have never lets me use my ATM so I thought an account might be useful. I was just thinking a few hundred dollars for emergencies and [...]

The weather was amazing all day. Sunny and warm but very humid. We didn’t get any afternoon rain at all.

But, regardless of the wonderful weather, the first thing I did this morning was find a new hotel, the other one wasn’t that great but I was too tired to look around any [...]

For some reason I was really thinking Costa Rica was only an hour off from Michigan right now. It’s actually two hours off so that might my flight feel much much longer since I had it in my head wrong.

Not the most exciting thing to tell you, but I keep noticing my clock on the [...]

So my Mom got me an early birthday present, it’s a portable Garmin eTrex Vista HCx GPS. This has been on my Costa Rica to do list so she asked me what I wanted at just the right time. Obviously, it’s a specific model [...]

Normally when I travel I like to stay put for a few days (at least a few days) and not keep repacking and moving to another place. I personally don’t find that very relaxing and that’s generally the point of vacationing, IMHO.

This past spring when we went to Costa Rica we (my friend Mark [...]

The Tico Times is the english weekly paper from Costa Rica. For the last eight months I’ve been subscribing to the paper edition of The Tico Times. I’ve mentioned my Tico Times delivery issues before, it usually takes [...]

I’m about 17 days from needing to complete my 101 in 1001 list, I haven’t been working on it much so it’s time to revisit and cross a few things off. I’ve only completed 52 of my items. Looks like I’ll complete about 6 more. As resolutions go I’m still [...]

So I’ve had thoughts for a plan for Costa Rica, I’ve had it for a while but haven’t specifically verbalized it very much. I think maybe the closest I’ve gotten to verbalizing it is in my 101 in 1001 list, the item that says “Decide if I might actually want [...]

I knew Costa Rica didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day on the same day that we celebrate in the U.S. but I didn’t know why. It’s celebrated on Assumption Day the day when the Virgin Mary (Jesus’s Mother) was “was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”. Antwerp [...]

So I’ve got a few things I’d like to do this weekend:

some spring cleaning
some bicycle riding (if it warms up enough this afternoon) too chilly, I just went for a short one.
Speed Racer the movie (fans say it’s almost as good as Iron Man)
Play with the (semi) new WordPress I’ll [...]