Hotel Villa del Sueno Playa Hermosa

Thank God we are out of San Jose. It was a fun city, but damn, we had one of those "Dude Where's My Car" moments. San Jose was a bustling city and the nightlife was great, but we came here to see what the beaches of Costa Rica were all about. After falling asleep at 545am, we were awaken by a phone call. It was our surf guide Christian calling to let us know that he was downstairs waiting for us. We ...

... Flash and Johann the instructors came out tonite sas well..lol..they got bombed with us..they are so hilarious...on the van trip over to the restaurant, we had to make 2 trips on our 2nd trip Ben the Bullrider aka johnny knoxville and Johann had to sit in the back of the van with the hatch door open..lol...on costa rica roads....insane. We all had a good time....there is more to tell but im too tired to explain it ...

... National Park, up and down the flat, muddy spread of Tempisque River bordered by trees, howler monkeys, whiteface monkeys, iguanas, herons and cattle. Crocodiles and fish were plentiful and we were lucky to see a Jesus Christ lizard. For lunch we ate at a quaint restaurant with excellent food, and the day was topped off with ice cream at a local shop.

... legs and some brown marks (no comment there) - the toilet did not work and when it did brown water came out (same as with the tap!) - the air conditioning sucks out air from a sewage next the hotel and makes the room stink stongly Anyway...being tired we still took it, but didnt actually sleep too well. Steffi´s toilet practices didn't help either! We did enjoy a good dinner at the Jungle Bar. They make an excellent Tuna Teriyaki...worth trying.

... huge queue to buy a bus ticket. I am standing in this queue when a taxi guy offers to take me to Liberia for US$40. I say no thank you. He walks away and comes back and say $30. At this point I should have said $20. But I did´t. My stomach was in control and it was empty. So I escaped the queue and ended up in a town I never heard of before. I find a bed and have a big meal straight away. I must remember to fill my stomach in future or it will cost me a fortune.

... park that are home to more white faced monkeys that are very good at stealing visitors lunches from there bags when they are swimming or not paying attention. They seem to have a plan as a few come down out of the trees to distract people and then the others sneak down to go through the bags when no-ones looking. We also saw more iguanas, a racoon, a rat looking thing, and a sloth. Sloths are cool! Still no toucans though. We left Quepos to head for another beach called Esterillos ...

... and I live for the wind and water! In Bahia Salinas I found a natural wild beach, fairly warm water, great conditions for kiteboarding, and most importantly awesome people! I met great people from all over the world from Europe, the USA, from Central and South America and we all shared the same passion - kiteboarding! I met a great couple from New York, Alina and Gene, who are good friends now, shared a house with them right ...

... so it feels like it should be summer and hence late nights. I guess the sun rises pretty early because its already full daylight by 5.30 and have yet to peek earlier than that! Off to Nicaragua on Thursday for 4 days so really looking forward to that so maybe no new updates for a few days. We will be heading to Monteverde cloudforest on my birthday for the last week of Spanish school so will use the weekend as an excuse to celebrate ;)

... my friend Lorea. I ate the best Tuna ever. I will go back just for this meal. And when I have visitors we are going. There actually were not that many Ticos. A lot of South Americans, Venezuelans, Chileans, Brazilians. On that note, Jaco on the other hand was a little disappointing. It is just a dirty little americanized city with lots of hookers. We all had a good time and bar hopped in Jaco but you would probably have to drag me back. Tomorrow is more teacher ...

... to Tamarindo. The road around the lake was mostly well paved with only a few rough spots. We made it to Liberia in good time and the good road continued to Belen but after that the road condition really deteriorated the rest of the way to Tamarindo. Once in Tamarindo we were horrified with all the changes since our visit last June. Lots of construction and new buildings - mostly 5-6 story condominiums, a pizza hut, subway sandwiches, TCBY yogurt and a Burger King! After checking ...