Ecoplaya Escazu

... my good-byes at the orphanage, I have to say good-bye to the other volunteers that I have met here. While I am not leaving until Sunday morning, some volunteers are leaving tomorrow morning and other volunteers, who are staying longer, are leaving this afternoon to go away for the weekend. I am not fond of good-byes so I think I will keep them short and sweet. I really hope to stay in touch with many ...

... occupy two little boys, Armando, age 4 and Jose, age 7. Both boys were very sweet and were very excited to play with me. Armando is very bright and speaks fluent Spanish. I think I am going to learn alot of Spanish from this 4 year old! Jose has a language problem so he often doesn't use the right words for things. Ah, we have something in common!<br> The boys colored page after page of coloring sheets and loved it. We ...

... the New Zealand and Australia leg of my travels) and materials for my upcoming English teaching, at Tranquilo Backpackers hostel, it made sense to stay the night there. I spent the afternoon wandering some more of San Jose (not that there was much to see that I hadn't seen already). Had any electronics or photo shops been open then I might have picked up a replacement digital camera, but today is Sunday, so no such luck.

... was even the secretary of the Kodaikanal Boat Club. (For any of you Kodiaites who were in Kodai in the '60s, if you remember this man and have some stories about him to share with his grandson . . . that would be great!) Raymond is planning to live in Costa Rica, has purchased property here, and making plans to build his house. For us, this kind of mini-cosmic event is much more interesting than the Super Bowl. Oh ...

... so like many backpackers I opted to spend more time in Nicaragua and Panama where I could get more bang for my euro. While the rural areas are spectacular, the capital San Jose is far from beautiful or serene and is thankfully only an overnight stop.

... for being old (I) really don't act like it (per Sofia)." Natalia loves the band "My Chemical Romance" and I have learned more about them in 4 days than I ever expected (or wanted) to. She wants to come visit me in Pennsylvania because she looked it up on a map and it's right next door to New Jersey where the members of the band live. She thinks New Jersey is the epicenter of the world and daily bemoans the fact that the lead singer is married. Susan ...

San Jose was big and pretty uneventful. We did a really cool zipline tour in the foothills over looking the city and went to see a play in the beautiful theater there. Admission wasonly $5 so we decided why not? I'lll tell you why not someday. Anyways, we spent three nights in the capital, rented our car, and we were off.

Well I slept ok. The noise on the street settled down. I woke up and saw the time a few different times then went back to bed. I turned on the tv at 5:30 a.m. which is really 6:30 am. when I normally get up. I laid around watching the Today Show. The funny thing about this all is the ABC, NBC and CBS are all from Denver. IT seems like a strange city. Around 7:00 I showered - that was really nice. I went for breakfast - not enough for someone who hasn't eaten in 24 hours. I had ...

... given space in one of the large commercial refrigerators, and cupboard space for groceries. There is an excellent food market with everything from you could want only an 8 minute walk away. Within the same distance, there are several excellent restaurants. Getting around San Jose is cheap, so for a few bucks, you can get anywhere in a cab 24 hours a day. In the back of the house is a Japanese looking ...

... own down a river on my back between two lush mountains comming together making a thin 30ft gap. Birds, flowing of water, mixed sun and rain and perpetual smile, that yes, I am here. =) Ok, Im off to the spa to get a massage (yes, that right I'm going to indulge)! Ok, spa was great except I forgot to learn the basics....´´too hard and too soft.´´ Cut my beard and hair and now Im clean cut again.