Gary and Mark in Manzanillo

So on the left is my buddy Mark, I think I've been on four vacations with him and I think this is only the second picture of us at a destination. I'm pretty sure this is in Manzanillo, Costa Rica on the Pacific side of the Nicoya Peninsula (if not, it's pretty close to there); it's the fourth town from the southern tip.

I used my cool new QuikPod to take the picture. Last time we got Carla the waitress to take the picture; it was in a little bar in Jaco that doesn't exist any more. Since there was no one else around, QuikPod to the rescue. It's a kind of a stick with a tripod mount and a little mirror so you can take pictures of yourself.

Technorati Tags: Costa Rica, Manzanillo, Manzanillo, Costa Rica, QuickPod, QuikPod

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica - It's not my paradise

So Santa Teresa is supposed to be this beautiful place in Costa Rica (I'm referring to the town in the southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula) and while the beaches are beautiful (it is just sand on the ocean) so are a million other areas along the coast. The beaches are great for surfing too, that's really the appeal for some people. I think there is a few surf camps and lots of lessons when we were on the beach.

But the town is mostly just a bunch of spread out stores spaced out along a very very very dusty road. You can see from this Santa Teresa Map how everything is spread out (that main road is a "city block" or two from the beach).

We stayed at the Beach Break Surf Hotel, nothing fancy on the inside (2 beds, A/C , TV and a bathroom) but perfectly clean and functional with a nice porch (I think we got it at a good rate), I'd definitely go back. This was the hotel with the great staff that came around with flashlights when the power went out in twon. Actually, the only reason we stayed in that town was it was the day we had to backtrack because we hit the river that we didn't know how to cross ()read that as we didn't know where to drive to get across the river).

I'm sure there are a few more hotels on the beach if you drive down a driveway, but I need a town (even if it's a tiny one) to wander over to to eat and do some people watching. Some people love Santa Teresa but so far, it's just not for me...

But I will give it another try next trip, it is just "around the corner" from Montezuma....

Technorati Tags: Beach Break, Beach Break Surf Hotel, Santa Teresa, surf

More Than a few Power Outages

So on day one, we had just checked into the hotel and headed out to dinner and the power went out. The restaurant put out some candles, the stove was gas (probably propane) and they were ready to go. Twenty or thirty minutes later it was back on.

I know they have some power problems in the country but that was the longest one I've ever experienced (at least at night). I've never seen anything last more than a few minutes. But we had a few more as the trip went on, a few short ones and a really long one (a hour or so?). Everyone just rolls with it, it's semi-expected, but still inconvenient (especially if hot) and as I said, I've been pretty lucky on my previous four trips.

It gets really dark out there when there are no city lights even in the distance. I always keep a mini-flashlight in my travel bag, but for places where I want to be outside at night (like CR) I take a few with, so it wasn't too much of a problem for us. The small hotel we were at did knock on doors and pass out flashlights to the rooms.

Technorati Tags: Costa Rica at Night, power grid, power outage

Monkey See, Monkey Doo-Doo

So driving along the side of the road somewhere in the vacinity of Playa's Lagarto and Pitahaya (I think). There were some money's alongside of the road. There were a dozen or so at a time but it's really hard to see them. Here's an animated movie of a monkey with a baby on it's back (if that does work, try this MPEG-4 version). I've sen a few computers that couldn't load the previous two options, here's a YouTube link. I'll animate a few of the others when I figure out a better way.

I never knew what kind they were; they're were darker than other monkeys that I've seen down there before and didn't have the white fur on their faces.

Why the silly title of this post? Because one of us got pooped on (and it wasn't me!).

Technorati Tags: baby monkey, doo-doo, Monkey

Sunday already!

I had such good intentions on getting more Costa Rica blogging done (especially some more photos) the past few days and it didn't happen...

And here I am getting ready to head out to East Lansing to catch a performance of Avenue Q so I expect I won't get much done today either...

I'm home!!!

I made it home! Flights were fine, but it was really really rushed between flights in Charlotte, NC.

I just hit send on a bunch of posts that I wrote while I didn't have access (or finished while in flight). I'll try to get more stories and photos up this weekend (and possible add some photos to some older posts).

I miss Costa Rica already, but I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. Good night...

Sand Castles

So there was a Sand Castle Festival in Manzanillo, we knew about it a few days in advance but we couldn't find a single piece of information on it, looked in the newspaper and on-line. If we hadn't seen them building stuff (platforms / shelter) for the festival a few days before, we never would have known about it (we hunted around and saw a single banner).

We only made it for the first day, which it turns out was kid's day, they said it'd be busier the rest of the weekend but we couldn't make it then. Different sand structures were built by local school's teams (I think the team was the whole school). There were only a dozen different structures but it was fun, they kids had volleyball and soccer (and the ocean) to play with too.

But the whole advertising thing was very strange. Even when we were there it was hard to find out more information on it. It was sponsored by one of the major banks and still was no info (this was actually a bank we went into on the trip and saw about it). There was no information in any of the local towns as far as I saw. BTW, the bank sponsorship was why there was a kid's day, previously the sponsor was a beer company.

Feeling great while traveling.

So I was feeling pretty great while I traveled this trip. The allergies weren't too bad (even with all the extra dust and strange plants) and I slept great but never long enough (even the nights when I had my own room).

But the part I really noticed was:

ATM Machines in Costa Rica (or 'A banking adventure')

So the Automatic Teller Machines have been when I generally use for ca$h when I travel. Travelers Checks have always been a hassle. Charging always works well too, I never seem to get any related fees (or the little fees I get are pretty minimal). And the exchange rate is usually really good on the charge or ATM cards.

But the only ATMs in the southern Nicoya Peninsula appear to Banco Nacional and they don't like my card (they list my network). But it might just be their machines, since those machines are pretty inconsistent: sometimes it asks me for the language, sometimes it still gives me Spanish, sometimes the network just times out and other times it gives me a useless message (like 'you can only take out between $10 and $200 per day', but that's all I was trying to do).

So going inside the banco is a trip, guards with shotguns and you walk into a decompression-type chamber (closed in while they x-ray you, and then they open the second door, imagine walking into an ultra-secure government facility). Then it's kinda set up like the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and you wait and try to communicate what you want. They have this neat system that you can phone in for live translation for English/Spanish, and when I say "neat" I mean if it worked. So after several tries, we determined that their ATM system was so crappy no one could say if it did / would / could work with the US.

So we decided to do a cash advance instead, we didn't know what the fees would be but we needed some more cash; not everyone takes charges and many charge premiums (and I think some discounts are because the money never gets reported somewhere down the line). This still took a while and they do everything in triplicate down there but I think it'd be hard for people to cheat the system since there are so many checks and balances.

Once we got much more north the other ATMs took our cards just fine (I had a problem in Jaco once and I think it was the same bank but I just went to a different companies machine and it worked fine).

Here's the problem: Being curious of the fees of the Visa cash advance, we got on-line to check and discovered that the advance was done twice on the card, the fee was done twice and since it went over the card limit, tacked on another $39 fee. FYI, the cash advance fee was only $12.58 for $400 (and the back charged a dollar). The bank's already been e-mailed and it'll probably be fine from here.

Dinner was never so tricky

Traveled for almost 6 hours today, just to stay at a hotel near the airport for the flight out tomorrow. I'll still keep posting Costa Rica tidbits over the next few weeks, I've got lots of photos and stories.

But trying to find a restaurant near the hotel is tricky, the roads are kinda bizarre around the airport (once we got on the road I remembered). The resturant across from the hotel is a Denny's and it's the anchor restaurant for the casino attached to it (how strange is that?) and we didn't want to eat there.

So we drove and "tried" to get off the expressway and eventually at local little bar. And the airport we got back to was a different one. You'd think foreigners asking the gate guard where the other aeropuerto was wouldn't be so tricky (even without understanding Spanish). Once he understood, we got understandable Spanish directions.

Plus, at the restaurant I dropped my keys and when I bent down I hit my forehead on the back of the chair next to me (it was really dark), I'm sure it's gonna leave a mark (it even bled a bit). So when you ask about the bruise and I say "I got it at the bar", you'll know what I mean...

Technorati Tags: aeropuerto, airport, Denny's, directions

North of Samara

So all the little towns north of Samara aren't really my kind of vacation spot, not much of a "downtown", it's all spread out. Generally not as spread out as Santa Teresa but no real central location. Now, we didn't drive down every street so we might have missed something. But that seems to be more of the norm around here. Garza was a little town right off the ocean, there was a big Fut Bol (soccer) game going on, but it wasn't a tourist place at all.

We did get to cross a pretty wide river in our little 4x4, I would have been a little hesitant but the littler BoGo 4x4 in front of us made it so we knew we could. Although we're pretty confident the woman in the passenger seat wasn't sure they'd make it (and they waited to make sure we made it). In hindsight we should have taken a picture of the river.

I thought Nosara would be a place I really liked but it was spread out a bit, but there seemed to be a lot there, a lot of "side streets", a lot of isolated hotels (some really fancy looking ones). It was off the main "highway" so that was really nice this town might require some more exploring.

But the cruise "up the coast" really wasn't the case, it was a lot of side roads that you had to take down to the water so you never know what might be down there: public access, a home, a hotel, a farm so that was a little tricky.

Found a nice little restaurant north of Nosara, in the town called Oxtional, just called "Tony Resturante". I think the ocean is just behind here but you can't see it. Nicely shaded, celling fans and just overall clean and nice (especially since they aren't far off a semi-dusty road). I had a delicious "Arroz con Camarones" (rice & shrimp) and Mark had some kind of Thai-ish Chicken entree (Pollo Tailandes) that he loved. And they have Coca-Cola and Fresca is glass bottles (that were mucho frio). They do have a translated semi-English menu if you ask (we couldn't translate Tailandes).

It's not dusty where we are eating, but we've passed a but of "health / dust warning" 20 KPH signs in various towns along here. Overall it hasn't been too dusty today, I think the rain helped.

Technorati Tags: Arroz con Camarones, Costa Rica, Nosara, Pollo Tailandes, Samaa, Tony Resturante

Samara, Costa Rica - Part 2

So it's a beautiful morning, went for a swim on the beach and it was dead, now the beach is getting busier. Nice little restaurant on the beach for breakfast, they only serve a limited breakfast/lunch menu and are only open from 7am-11am. That's the life, assuming it's their only business. The name of the place is "Restaurante Sheriff Rustic", that's because it's next to the Policia Station on the beach.

We'll hang out here for a few more hours and drive up the cast and hope to find another nice town. The two attached pictures are from this morning on the beach.

I like this place, it's bigger than Montezuma, but way smaller than Jaco, still pretty touristy though. (I think Montezuma is still my favorite and a few other people that we've run into on this trip seem to agree.)

In the time that we've been sitting here for breakfast, it's really gotten busier on the beach.

FYI, for anyone traveling down to Samara, they've got great internet access at Samara Computers, big "internet sign" by the soccer (Fut Bol) field (no wireless but they have spots to put your laptop if you have a wired connection).

Technorati Tags: Costa Rica, Playa Samara, Samara

Costa Rica 2008 - Montezuma Falls (Photo Album 2)

I originally posted a bad link to the second photo album. It's now corrected.

Here's another dozen photos (with descriptions). It's mostly up by Montezuma Falls.

The photo to the right (click to enlarge) is me jumping through the falls (from climbing behind them). This photo actually makes it a Baker's Dozen.

Technorati Tags: jump, montezuma, puppy, Waterfalls

We're in Samara (Costa Rica)

So after a very long ride today we made it to Samara. It just starting raining (it'll stop soon, it generally does) so we popped into this internet cafe. And here's some info on Samara Beach (boring site). I really like the town so far, it's like a big Montezuma, although the beach is facing south so no sunsets here either (I'm really cheating myself on this trip).

We indulged on a fancy Villa, two rooms, two bathrooms, ceing fans (inside/out), pool, kitchen and all sorts of other $tuff we won't use. The hotel is called Villas Kalimba (nice site). That's all for now...

Cafe Azucar

So in Cabano at the Cafe Azucar having an air conditioned American breakfast. And to top it off, I've got access to some WiFi, very civilized.

If you're in the lower Nicoya Peninsula you'll probably be in Cabano at some time so you should stop by at the Cafe Azucar. It's in the blue building behind the Banco Nacional. We had lunch there the other day and it was delicious then too. As an extra bonus, they make their ice out of bottled water so it's okay to drink.

Note: I don't think the WiFi is theirs so no promises on the WiFi...

Technorati Tags: Cabano, Cafe Azucar

We didn't make it as far as we thought.

Well, we didn't make it as far as we hoped. We made it to the sand castle festival in Manzanillo (that's a different story) and tried to head up to Coyote (because someone mentioned it as a close town we could get to). We followed the "maps" and we were going the way that we thought and we eventually hit a stream that was a good 30 meters across and we probably could have crossed it, except that they was no road on the other side of the stream (the photos are of the stream)! So we tried a few other roads but no mater what roads we headed north-ish on, we couldn't get much father. So we back tracked to Santa Teresa and grabbed the first hotel with A/C and crashed there for the night

Later, we did find out that the stream was the correct way to go. But I'm not sure our little 4x4 would have made it (I think so) but we didn't even know which way to go.

We did get to catch a sunset here, Montezuma is on the other side of the peninsula so that's the first on this trip. It was really nice even thought there was cloud cover over parts of it.

Today we're going to head back north, but the very very long way around. So we probably won't get near Coyote (we'll end up way north of it) and see what's way north of it.

Later: I did find out that was the correct way. But I'm still not sure if it would have been east or west. And you're supposed to do it at low tide. Maybe next time.

Technorati Tags: 4 x 4, 4x4, river

Check out my Speedos!

So i understand how the locals do it, they've got feet like a hobbits on the bottom. But it's the tourists that I don't understand how they walk around without shoes on. Even in the rocky areas they don't wear shoes but sometimes I see them hobbling along.

I need my beach shoes to get around, rocks and cement and stuff don't work for me. I had to get some fancier ones this trip since some of the other ones I get don't work when jumping off at waterfalls; it's no fun to be up in the mountains and loose a shoe. These are a little comfier than some of the other ones I've had in the past (and they haven't fallen off yet).

Technorati Tags: beach shoes, shoes, speedo

So access is really sparse and slow

So I'm throwing up a few more posts while I've got access, we're heading north (after we check out the Sand Castle Beachfest) on the Nicoya Peninsula and I'm not sure how access will be after today...

The place I'm at now is in Cabano, and they've got pretty good speed but it's really busy so it's still not super.

Technorati Tags: interenet access

Costa Rica 2008 - Photo Album 1

Had a lot of trouble getting photos up and on-line. Internet is not the best here...

Here's the first few photos (with descriptions).

I'll try to get more up later...

Made it to Costa Rica

Well, we made it to Costa Rica! Found an Internet cafe so I wanted to hop on-line quick. A few e-mails and posts queued up but not much to post yet (sorry).

We've done some traveling by 4x4 and some mini-adventures trying to get some cash. He's a photo of the beach (form Mal Pais?) click to enlarge. I'll post more later....

Unknown Photo from 30,000 Feet

I thought this was really interesting looking but I don't know where it actually is. Does anyone have an idea? And I thought the photo came out pretty good too!



It's along the path from Charlotte, NC, USA to San Jose, Costa Rica. It's about 2 hours from landing time and at 500 miles/hour, and factoring in landing and disembarkation, I'm guessing it's about 700-800 miles north(ish) from San Jose.

Technorati Tags: photo

Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica - Where should I go...?

So far I've only explored the southmost point of the Nicoya Peninsula and stayed in Montezuma. I want to explore more of the Pacific coast next trip (later this month).

I'm looking for tips on where to travel and places to stay. As requirements for places to stay go: walking to beach distance, hot showers and air conditioning (not fancy, cheap is better). There was a pullout section of the TicoTimes a few weeks ago but it only seemed like it covered the ultra fancy hotels and resorts.

I just want to wander around the towns and the ocean and find some waterfalls and stuff like that.

Technorati Tags: Costa Rica, Nicoya Peninsula, travel, Vacation