Manuel Antonio- Day 7

So yesterday was quite awesome.  I journeyed to Manuel Antonio park fairly early in the morning after having a tipico breakfast of gallo pinto and eggs and coffee.  I love waking up at 630 and the sun being out!  And predictable warm weather is nice as well.  The park was a bit expensive-- $10 for entry and then I took a tour which was $20, but our guide pointed out white faced monkeys and toucans and lizards and two and three toed sloths.  After the tour I found a nice spot to hang my hammock and then swam in the ocean a bit.  I didn't actually spend a whole lot of time in the direct sun but I still managed to get a little burnt.  I did a lot of reading in my hammock and finally left around 3p.  Next time I go on a trip I'm bringing goggles and binoculars.

my hammock setup

the view from my hammock

I know you jelly.  

Last night was uneventful.  I wanted to find a restaurant and watch the sunset but didn't feel like going alone so I stayed at the lodge and made myself a salad and drank white wine.  Due to the wine, I ended up falling asleep at 8 and then woke up at 10 thinking it was morning.  Nope!  Went back to bed at 12 and woke up this morning at 6.  I definitely caught up on my sleep.  Coffee and yoga and breakfast and now I'm going through my pictures to post some more.  At 130 I'll be going on a snorkeling and sunset tour, and then I guess I'll be headed back to San Jose tomorrow.

Manuel Antonio- Day 5

So, I'm here at Backpackers Manuel Antonio near  Qupeos.  It feels quite a bit warmer and muggier than San Jose, so my first order of business after checking in and exploring a bit was to find some cerveza.  I asked at a couple restaurants if they serve beer, and the answer was no, but the friendly cook/owner/waiter at Los Amigos restaurant across the street said I could buy some at the grocery down the street and drink it at his establishment.  Sold!  First beer I tried was Golden Monkey, which is an orange flavored beer, which I atd with lunch - casado con pescado which consisted of rice, beans, fried plaintains, a dallop of potatos and salad as well as fried fish.  Now I'm back at the hostel sitting in a hammock and trying a Kaiser.  I'm not impressed but then again, it is a little warm.  Has more flavor than bud at least.  As I've always known, my Spanish is a lot better after a beer.  I really should have kept drinking from the time I landed in San Jose.  

So, what am I missing...?  Day 4!  Yesterday Ramon and I were supposed to go to the botanical gardens but discovered that the direct bus going there doesn't run on Sundays so instead of trying to figure out another way to get there we went to a couple museums instead.  And I'm drawing a blank on their names.  One was the old fortress in San Juan and had a butterfly garden (which I took a million pictures trying to get one of the bright blue butterflies on film but pretty sure I didn't succeed) and the other was an underground Bank of Costa Rica museum.  I liked the first best.  Between the two museums we had some tasty chinese, and coffee and dessert after.  Pictures will follow.  There are some definite gems in this batch!

And finally, the journey here to Manuel Antonio:  woke up at 530 to catch a bus and taxi to the bus station, then waited a couple hours for the bus.  Bus ride was 3.5 hours I think.  Most of the coast we drove past was pretty flat so i had the idea that my hostel would be on level ground.  Nope--its's on a hill about a mile from the ocean.  It's 3pm now and the sun sets around 530 or 6 so i'm thinking I may stay up here and hop in the pool and then plan to spend most of tomorrow at the beach. I may also go to "ladies' night" tonight with some of the girls staying here.  I'll probably stay here Wed as well, but I think I'd like to make plans to do an excursion of some sort.  

Aight, time for a siesta!

Heredia, day 3

So many new things! granizado -- made with shaved ice and Kolita syrup, condensed milk and powdered milk.
Chancleta -- chayote fried in egg-- tastes like potato with a little bit of corn in it.  I also tried caimito (star apple), granadilla (a passionfruit variety), maranon(cashew fruit), and nispero zapote (fruit from gum/chicle).  The caimito was my favorite, and it's so pretty too!  The nispero zapote was good but almost cloyingly sweet.  I also had a guanabana drink at lunch on friday when I went with Ramon and some of his coworkers to Big City pizza.  I had a calzone, which I learned means underwear, which became an instant joke :)

I need to figure out how to make accents and enyes so I can spell these things right.

So, quick run down.  Didn't do much friday except lunch and making plans for the weekend.  This morning we went to the farmers' market where we picked up tons of different fruits, then after breakfast went on a Britt coffee tour at their plant which is within walking distance of Heredia.  Then more food and resting and Ramon's bf Alejandro came over and cooked a light dinner for us.

Soon I think we'll be heading to Puchos (which means joint) to watch some gay male strippers (lots of nica (Nicaraguan) dick, according to Ramon)

So I have a few pictures which I posted on FB.  May or may not post them here.  Vamos a ver. (Update: added pics to google + as well if you want to see them there)

Oh  yeah, and me waking up and miraculously speaking Spanish didn't happen.  Que lastima. My brain isn't nearly as fried as it was Thursday tho.  

Also, I like Malbec over Carmenere wine.  Just sayin.

San Jose/Heredia, Day 1

I'm currently sitting in Ramon's sunny and spacious lab/office while he's doing some work.  The weather is sunny and warm, maybe around 73F this morning and near 80 or so now.  Ramon cooked eggs and beans and rice (gallo pinto aka spotted cock) for breakfast and now I'm digesting lunch from Cafe de Flores.  I think lunch was about $6 and included a tasty tamarind drink (tamarindo) and dessert.  After we went and got me a cheap cell phone so I can call Ramon or make local calls.  I think that ended up being $46- 20,000 colones for the phone and 3,000 colones for the minutes.

My Spanish has been fair so far.  Most people speak English somewhat, so I switch between English and Spanish to have any sort of conversations. It's been faltering more as the day has gone on, though.  I'm hoping by some miracle I'll wake up tomorrow morning and my brain will be able to understand Spanish better.

 I am sooo utterly tired.  I'm not sure if its from the travelling yesterday or the new climate and pollen or lack of sleep.  I was going to go to the gym tonight but I'll skip that.  .

Ramon lives above Taqueria Fatima in Heredia.  The apartments are very pretty in a unique way.  Lots of skylights or traigaluz (swallow light).

So, let's see... the second leg of the journey yesterday-- had a few more free mojito samplers then a burger and redstripe at the airport bar.  Was seated next to 2 teenage brothers on the plane who lauged at me for wearing my face mask.  They just jelly.  Although the looks I got on the 2nd flight were more "omg is she contagious?!" and less "hmm, I wonder why she's wearing that?".

Oh yeah.  And I am drinking the water here.  Keep your fingers crossed.

And finally, tentative plans:
Tonight-chill.
Tomorrow- breakfast out, university, get in touch with a travel agent, lunch w/ Ramon's colleagues, ...?
Saturday-Farmer's market, breakfast, Lankester botanical garden, lunch, ...., gay strip club.
Sunday- Poas volcano?

Aaaand that's all I got for now.
Hasta manana!

Bienvenido a Miami!

Well I got lucky; the seat next to me stayed vacant and tho my other seat mate was a squirrelly, fidgety skater guy who I think is planning on hitchhiking from Mexico to Columbia, he had a copy of lonely planet he let me leaf thru. 
Note: take the sky tram in Miami international.  I'm staying in the same concourse for my flight but I swear I walked a mile to get to my gate. On the plus side, there's a hot chick giving away samples of Bacardi mojitos right outside my gate. Four hour layover.  Yippee.

Mania!

On the plane. This morning had been crazy! I still feel stressed out and last night I was feeling really tired like the start of a cold. I am prepared though. I have enough drugs for a pharmacy and I'm even wearing a surgery mask. It's actually really comfortable. Window seat for the first leg of the journey. Wish me luck on the flight and my seat mates  :-P

I feel like such a freak with this mask on. ThoI bet must people who see me in it wish they had one. I make this shit look good!  ;-)
Signing off.

The Trip Home (pt 1)

Hopefully I'll be spending a few days in San Francisco :)

Mon, Mar 19, 2012 Depart: 01:10 pm Arrive: 05:40 pm Singapore, Singapore (SIN) Taipei, Taiwan (TPE) Eva Airways, Flight 226 Economy   Class  1 Stop - change planes in Taipei, (TPE) Connection Time: 2 hrs 10 mins  Travel time: 4 hrs 30 mins Seat request: 49C

Depart: 07:50 pm Arrive: 03:50 pm Taipei, Taiwan (TPE) San Francisco, CA (SFO) Eva Airways, Flight 18 Economy   Class  Total Travel Time: 17 hrs 40 mins Seat request: 56K

Semi-World Tour!

Okay, so it may not be a World Tour.  While travelling around the world appeals to my sense of balance, there are a couple negatives to my planned itinerary.  For one, Amsterdam and London will be a lot cooler than Costa Rica and Singapore this time of year.  For another, chances of splitting costs and/or staying with someone on the 2nd part of the journey seem to have become slim to none.  I'd still like to spend a week or so in some other exotic location, like say Australia or New Zealand, but, well.... I don't have friends in those places either.  I have some friends of friends, which might work, but suffice to say I'm waffling a bit.

If anyone has any advice on the matter, or on travelling in general, please let me know!

One piece of advice I've gotten:
http://www.reidsguides.com/t_pa/t_pa_packing_list.html

World Tour! Get your T-shirt now!

The purpose of this blog is to let my friends and family see what I'm up to while I'm out traveling the world.  I will try to update frequently so everyone knows I'm safe and sound and doing cool awesome things.  And so everyone will know where I am.  I've got 3 flights booked so far and plan on booking another four as soon as I finish making lodging arrangements.  Here are the three flights so far:

The first leg of the trip will be: 

Wed, Feb 22, 1:22 pm RDU to Miami AA Flight 729  (4 hour layover)

Wed, Feb 22, 8:10 pm MIA to San Jose, Costa Rica AA flright 2141

Wed, Feb 22, 9:55 pm Arrive at SJO

Next:

Sat, Mar 3, 7:05 am SJO to Denver, CO Frontier Flight 87 (9 hour layover)

Sat, Mar 3, 9:25 pm DEN to LAX Frontier Flight 419

Sat, Mar 3, 10:54 arrive at LAX

And then:

Tues, Mar 6, 11:50 am LAX to Beijing Air China Flight 988 (6 hour layover)

Wed, Mar 7 4:40 pm PEK to Singapore Air China Flight 975

Thurs, Mar 8 5:50 am arrive in SIN

To summarize:

San Jose, Costa Rica. Stay here 1.5 weeks 

Los Angeles.  Stay there ~ 2 days.

Singapore.  Stay there ~ 1 week.

then I'm going to do a few days in 

Amsterdam

London

NYC

and I should be home around March 25.  

I'm nervous and excited and starting to try to pull things together since I only have a  WEEK LEFT!!  My next post may be simply my packing list.

Wish me luck!!