Hacienda La Isla Lodge Sarapiqui

... at the Tirimbina Rainforest Centre. The $20 cost seemed expensive and we almost changed our mind but we were glad we didn’t as it was really interesting. A short walk led us through to the small cocoa plantation and an outbuilding with seating. We watched as the guide talked us through the various aspects of chocolate making and the history of its first harvesting by the Aztecs and Mayans. The original white bean looked nothing like ...

... Belize by using Spanish. A group of 8 Norwegians (in Norway) switched instantly to English, of various high standards, when i joined their table. Israelis? Israelis usually don't bother.

Agreement on this is particularly apparent after speaking to Brits. Again, it's not something you observe in the UK as they're omnipresent, but on a multinational table where they're in a minority, they're the quietest, wait their turn to speak and only chime in to either cut ...

... nets are woven of such fine thread, it's almost impossible for bats to detect them through echolocation--when it's dry. Bats can also see quite well, albeit in black and white, but the nets are nearly invisible--again, unless beaded with water. In this kind of rain, we're pretty lucky to have gotten a male and a female fruit bat. The female had been lactating recently; her nipple was visible (halfway down her torso, on her side, of all places ...

... t to terrible because the bus had tvs and dvd players so we all watched Forrest Gump, and I had to admit I liked it more this time. When I got home I was so tired I just fell asleep. Today was actually a fun day of classes. We talked about random things like Facebook (in spanish of course). And I found out that I made an 87 on my presentation, which I was pretty excited about. In a little bit I think we are going to go find this outlet mall that we saw in San Jose.

... other travellers crossing at the same time and all split a cab to Puerto Viejo. Puerto Viejo is a well known destination in the surfing world for its world class surf (specifically the world class reef break right in the middle of town "Salsa Brava"), liberal additude towards the law, and a raging night life. What I didn't know was just how HEAVY this place was. IF your not ready to commit yourself to heavy tubing, bone crunching ...

... I stopped by Jimmy's store for about an hour and a half and I got to meet the whole family. I found out that Jimmy's wife's parents were killed about a year ago and nobody ever explained to his wife why her parents had to undergo autopsies. I explained the reasons and she seemed to feel much better at least in ...

... shaking her head. About fifteen minutes later, I was lost again. Nothing looked familiar. I found this ancient policeman locked in a cage about 10 X 20 feet with a large shed in it. I introduced myself as a visiting police officer and showed him my badge. Immediately he shouts "Walker, Texas Ranger!" I said, "That's my name, really!" And then, "Walker is not a good name to the people of Costa Rica." After apologizing profusely ...

... it: -Tsunami evacuation, Dominical: Just as we were closing up the van for the night on August 16, the owner of our campsite (which was just across the street from the beach) knocked on our window and told us something in Spanish that we didnīt at all understand but assumed was serious given his tone and body language. Eventually, we interpreted what he was saying to be: "There has been an earthquake and a tsunami is coming and you need to move immediately to higher ...

... t miss it. 6:12 I walk into a likely path, scream as I squelch through spongy grass, and promptly scrape my shins on barbed wire. Okay, so that wasn't the right house. 6:15 We are still wandering around looking for the house. 6:17 We double back. Maybe this pink house is it. We try the keys. Nope. Any minute we expected the family of the house to shoot us down for attempted forced entry. 6:18 We swallow our pride and go back for directions. 6:20 The lady gives us a ...

... rain forrest patches, not terribly exciting. The last 5km though were pimp ass, in the full on in the rain forrest. It rained the whole time, it was at the very least drizzling if it wasn't in the middle of a torrential down pour. We were soaking wet almost the entire time, but it was great, hiking in the rain forrest while it was raining. We were getting dirty by dunking our feet in alternating puddles of water and mudd above our boots ...