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…
I lug a lot of stuff on vacation, before I left my Mom asked how much stuff I take on vacations but don’t use. I tried to pay attention this trip:
So I took along my XO Laptop with me and didn’t use it all (this is the durable OLPC kids laptop I purchased recently). We were running around more than usual (I usually try to stay in the same place for more than a few days), so just relaxing outside and typing never really happened. The reason I purchased this computer was because it’s screen is designed for outside use and I’m tired of sitting inside in the summer when I have things I’d like to type or edit.
I didn’t use my video camera at all, I usually don’t use it that much but I do use it a little. Once again, never sitting still for very long I just didn’t get the opportunity to pull it out.
Even though I didn’t use them the most useless large item I brought were a regular pair of sandals. I just didn’t get around to wearing them very much. They’re heavy and take up space and I just really didn’t need them. These and the few magazines I never read could have been left behind.
There were probably some adaptors / connectors, medicines and other little things but nothing very large (but they probably added up). The problem in Costa Rica verses traveling in other places is that you might not be able to get somethings that you might need if you don’t have it.
Tagged Costa Rica, OLPC, travel, XO
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 (but 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.
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…
Posted in Costa Rica 2008, food + drink
Tagged aeropuerto, airport, Costa Rica, Denny's, directions, road, trip
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).
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.
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…
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