Hotel El Velero Playa Hermosa

... of which i got to see at the beautiful beach, where many Tico (local Costa Rican) families came to play on the weekends.

But really, i spent a very small amount of time at the beach...often, while my co-volunteer sarah
(who came too) was soaking up the rays, i could be found laying on the bed doing little but watching TV or reading....it was wonderful. I also enjoyed a couple of HOT showers....of course making it just a little bit harder to ...

Hola, just got back from an Argentinian BBQ and open mic night at some bar..which was really cool Brendan sang Social Distortion Ball & Chain one of my favorite songs. A weird nite out though...very funny, Brendan, Sean, Mia, Anna, Raf and myself walked back to the hotel..telling crazy stories...let me just say, the Dirty Pelican and David Copperfield came into conversation...lol...good times. I laughed so much ...

... and making walking slightly difficult. After the national park we started our drive towards Quepos on the Pacific Coast, which should have taken us from 2 to 3 hours, but some of things we have discovered in Costa Rica are: - They hate road signs, so they are normally not there - When there is a road sign it indicates a direction, but then does not warn that you should turn on the next turn So our trip expanded to 6 hours of lovely mountain ...

... follow. This was worth more than $5. The couple got me through the Nicaraguan Red tape and then left be at the back of the huge Costa Rican Passport queue. He had a card that he kept flashing around that let him Queue jump. But when he showed the officials my passport I was made go back to the end of the queue. So I waved him goodbye and said thanks for getting me this far. When I finally got my passport stamped I looked around for the buses to take me else where ...

... smoothies, and banana pancakes. Mmmmmmm. Some days we'd walk the beach, on others we'd lounge by the pool reading, swimming and relaxing. We spent many hours in the hammock on our balcony that overlooked the surf. Late afternoon the waves cleaned up again so the last few hours until dark I was back out there. We ate mainly at the restaurant at Las Olas, BBQ ribs, coconut encrusted mahi mahi, and lime and garlic pork chops and more. We also managed to find the local pizza ...

... untouched by mass tourism. I chose to go to this place because it's considered one of the windiest places in Costa Rica from November until May and yeah ... the statistics were right! It blew from the day I got there to the day I left and probably it is still blowing strong today. For those of you who are new to this blog and are wondering what I'm talking about here's a little confession ... My name is Philipp, I'm an addict, I'm a ...

... 4 a week) but usually only for a couple of seconds whereas last night lasted about an hour. After a while everybody went outside because it was too hot inside without a fan running (sweated buckets sitting still!). Spent the rest of the time chilling on the porch staring at the sky - it wasnīt completely dark even though the sun had gone down 2 hours before. It feels like the sun goes down really early at 6pm because itīs so ...

My Friend the Ocean - by Simon Dunne The Ocean is my friend. I swim in it and it makes me feel good. I like to bring my board with me sometimes but the ocean doesnīt like that. It sends waves to punish me. I donīt like being punished. But sometimes the waves are my friends too. Sometimes they even let me stand on their backs and ride. I like to look down from their backs into the friendly ocean. The water is clear, like it isnīt even there. I can see the oceanīs ...

As usual I woke up early and took a walk around town and along the beach. I checked email at the office at Pasatiempo (free for guests). They now also have free wi-fi for guests as well. After the wife woke up we had breakfast and then got ready for the beach. On the way to the beach we stopped at the Super-2000 to pick up some beers and snacks. In the store we met a Tica who had been ...

... Honduras, abstinence is your best bet. The Hondurans brew the horrid Salva Vida. I think that loosely translates to "Applause of Life". A more appropriate name would be Petroleo y Vinagre - oil and vinegar...motor oil and vinegar. Marc, a French Canadian from Sherbrooke owns the place we're staying at on Hermosa Beach in Costa Rica. He's very much an environmentalist who works tirelessly to protect the natural habitat of Hermosa. Marc's place is kind of like a mini jungle. There's a ...