TravelStream™ news feed for member hgil on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/hgil en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:50:04 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hgil/1/1216332480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hgil/1/1216332480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hgil/1/1216332480/tpod.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:50:04 -0400 A summer in San Jose - mi ciudad, la capital!

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Arenal Volcano National Park, Province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica

We spent a night here, relaxing in the thermal waters of a volcano! These are the pools that are naturally at temperatures of up to 115 degrees. First we had a fantastic buffet at the spa, with really creative food presentations! We also found a shop across the road that sold large wooden figures-very unique. The actual hot springs were nice, but we definitely started off with the hottest one unknowingly and it was fine if you just sat, but moving around was almost unbearable! I imagine doing 1 lap around those pools would have probably been equal to about 20 laps in a regular cold pool in burning calories! And it opened up the pores really nicely.
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San Jose, Province of San Jose, Costa Rica

Hola a todos! I'm here in San Jose, Costa Rica and absolutely loving it. Honestly, I love the people. Everyone is super friendly and hospitable. The city itself is not so great, it's extremely dirty. My guidebook basically says the best thing to do when it comes to San Jose is get out of it as quickly as possible. It's not as bad as all that, though. Being in the city has its advantages, like everything I could need is right here in civilization. Plus, great bars and discotecas por la noche. And, theres this one street downtown called El Mercado Central (the central market) that has great shops and its one big street with no cars, only stores, restaurants, hostels, and tons of people. There's also this "cow parade" going on right now that I'm pretty sure originated in Switzarland and they're on tour. It's a bunch of big cows that artists painted any way they wanted. There are some really cool designs.

So that is the city, and down town. As for where I live, its about 7 blocks away from the university I'm interning at. I cross some autopista (highway) and go straight down the road. It's hard with addresses and directions here because everything is pretty much based on its location relative to some major place. Por ejemplo, my apartment address is 200 m south, 200 m east of this car dealership named Autos Bohio that everyone knows for some reason. There are little convenience stores here that all seem to be called "Super" something, like Super Zhen and Super Pacifico. They love the word super! And I have a bank down the road, and a little neighborhood bar called El Pescadito (the little fish) that is family owned and super cute, along with a bakery, a cheap bootleg DVD rental place, and chinese food. It's all quite fantastic.
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Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

This was our first weekend trip, and it was to paradise! It was a 5 hour bus ride from San Jose, through the beautiful countryside. We had to cross some bridges along the way as well that were extremely cool! One did NOT look sturdy at ALL, yet we made it over and there were HUGE trucks on the other side waiting to cross. At one point we stopped on a brdge to see the crocodiles floating all underneath. It's rainy season so water is abundant, there are mini waterfalls,water just flowing out of the sides of the mountain so beautifully.

By the time we arrived, it was dark and rainy, but we hit up a bar anyway after getting all of our stuff into the hotel. I was on the second floor, and in the morning when I woke up, the balcony was literally paradise. It reminded me of Peter Pan's NeverNeverLand. There was this long, steep, slightly dangerous flight of stairs to go up and down that were pretty but really awful after having to go up them a couple of times. My legs were burning! The woman who owned the hotel was also the cook and we got pancakes for breakfast before heading to the national park to take a hike. We passed the beach on the way there, and all we wanted to do was jump in the water, the Pacific Ocean! There was a little teaser walk before the actual hike that was flat and easy, but then I realized we hadnt even begun the hike. Once we did, it was up and down those makeshift costa rican stairs for about 45 minutes and I just about made it. definitely shelled out $2 for ice cold water at the end of it, I know the vendors make a killing every day! Then we finally made it back to the hotel (up the stairs even after that hike) to change into our bathing suits and hit the beach. The weather was perfect, not to hot, not too cold. All lot of our crew don't live close to the ocean, so it was really special to them. One guy had never been to the beach before! I can't even imagine that.

The second day was rinse and repeat- beach beach beach. And before we left we ate at this restaurant called "El Avion" where the foundation of the restaurant was a plane. SO COOL.
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