Ost West City Hotel Samara

... road with a few shops, some restaurants, 1 ATM and police station. It is a tiny town but has lots of character from the surf crowd and the local Costa Ricans.

The next day we went to the beach again and I tried some more surfing since the school said I could use their boards free for a week after taking a lesson. I was on my own this time and still had some success but had more difficulty picking the good waves without the instructor. In the ...

... versuchte mir etwa an die hundert mal zu erklaeren, wie ich mich richtig in den Sattel setzen muesste, damit ich nicht die ganze Zeit hoch und runter huepfe, aber mein Pferd war die ganze Zeit so schnell, dass ich mich nur darauf konzentrien konnte mich festzuhalten. Dafuer waren die heissen Vulkanquellen in denen wir schwimmen waren Wiedergutmachung fuer die Anstengungen. Wenn man immer nur kalt duschen kann ist warmes Wasser ...

What can I say about my continued journey eastwards from my overnight stop near Star Oskol. Through Voronez and Tamba to Kamenka. 360 miles of rich black earth with birch tree hedges. More a touch of Wiltshire I think today.All day. I often wander around the supermarket and wonder where all that corn on the cob comes from. This is only one ...

... as in Kazakhstan nor the piles of rusty wrecked machinery. Not yet, anyway.
It was great to arrive in Samara - what a lovely modern city, with the old buildings well maintained. The River Volga running through the middle of town (a couple of blocks from our hotel) looked very inviting. Loads of people swimming, sun bathing on the beach and strolling along its banks.

Right now I´m back at the beach and regaining the tan that I lost during the 5 days spent in the rain and clouds. After leaving La Fortuna we went to Monteverde up in the mountains (ok not real mountains just hilly area). The first afternoon we went to the cheese factory and were a bunch of classy people showing up with our own wine and drinking right out of the bottle during the samples..lol then we bought a ton of cheese and continued the party back ...

Samara is not on the Trans-Siberian-Railway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samara%2C_ Russia http://wikitravel.org/en/Samara

Samara is not on the Trans-Siberian-Railway. It is far more south. More information: http://wikitravel.org/en/Samara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samara

... the country. It has been an amazing vacation thus far. Never did I imagine that we would have met so many people that I will undoubtedly remain in contact with for some time. It is still strange to me that I will soon start school and with it return the responsibilities that come along with being a student. I hope to upload some of the pictures I have taken throughout our stay here very soon. Until next time...

Good evening from a rather poorly bean.... No, don't worry, tisn't malaria or anything, but I have a stinking cold...Blame it on the arrival of the wet season and increased humidity along with constant exposure to costal/seaside resorts of late...grrrrr So, over the last week or so I have been exploring another area of Costa Rica - Nicoya pensinsula.. higher up on Pacific Coast.... It was a good job the last of us left on Monday as there ...