TravelStream™ news feed for member limehybrid on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/limehybrid en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:47:31 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1196197680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1196197680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1196197680/tpod.html Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:47:31 -0500 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Ok this weekend we went to Puntarenas. Puntarenas is the closest beach to San José. It's where the Ticos (costaricans) go for a weeked away. There isn't much to see there but it's a great place to find a cheap hotel with a pool and lay around. The beach is a little dirty and I refused to get in the water because it looked questionable but thats probably why they have pools at all the hotels. We just spent Friday and Saturday hanging out around the pool, eating in restaurants and reading in the hamock. We ate a lot of snow cones too. They put evaporaded milk and condensed milk on the snow cones. It's pretty awsome. Sunday we took a "tour" to Isla Tortuga (turtle island). I didn't see any turtles. Our boat left at 9 in the morning and it took us about an hour to get there. When we got there we set up the hamock and Jeff went swimming. After our guides finished climbing cocnut trees and playing soccer they made us a snack of fresh pinapple, oranges, bananas and my favorite, Coke. We layed around some more and then our guides made us lunch. After lunch we did some more laying around and swimming. Jeff and I took turns snorkeling while our guides took a nap on some picnic tables. At about 3 in the afternoon they woke up and we headed back. We ended up staying an extra night because we weren't done being lazy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194899400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194899400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194899400/tpod.html Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:58:07 -0500 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Friday we went to the carribean side of the country to a town called puerto viejo. It's nice, I think. I couldn't really tell what the beaches looked like because there was too much rain but the town wasn't too bad. They had some really great restaurants and I got to watch a dog pee 3 feet from my table so you know that's good. We stayed in a pretty sweet hotel with a hot tub but it didn't work so I was a little disapointed. But there were hamocks in front of our room so I enjoyed that instead. We went out one night and watched a band. I couldn't tell you what kind of music it was. On Sunday when we came back to San José our host family had a party for the youngest boy. He turned 3. All he's done since we met him is talk about how he was going to have a piñata for his birthday and that is exactly what he had. Go Diego Go piñata and cake and 12 kids running everywhere spilling things. It was lots of fun.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194293280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194293280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194293280/tpod.html Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:35:29 -0500 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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San Jose, Costa Rica

Hey this weekend was great fun. Saturday Jeff and I went to a national park I don't remember the name of and rode an airtram. The tram took about 40 minutes each way through a rainforest. We had a very informative guide and I may actually remember some names of things. After the tram ride we took a short walk with our guide. We saw a sloth with a baby, an anteater, tucans, humming birds, bullet ants, and a baby coral snake less than a foot away from us. I might be forgetting something. We saw a lot of stuff. I have pictures but I forgot the memory card at the house so you'll have to see them later.
Sunday we went to Volcan Irazú it took about 2 hours to get there by bus and it was very beautiful. Nothing too exciting we just looked at the volcano. The clouds and fog came in and out but we got a few clear moments. It smelled like sulfur.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194291480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194291480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1194291480/tpod.html Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:54:32 -0500 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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Bocas Town, Panama

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been awhile. Jeff and I went to Panama. It was pretty fun. We took a bus to the border, walked across the border, took a cab to a boat and then the boat took us to the islands of Bocas del Torro. We just hung out on the main island the first few days and then we went to a different island and stayed in a hut cabin thing. It was awesome. Love you.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1192999380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1192999380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1192999380/tpod.html Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:51:19 -0400 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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Zapote, Costa Rica

Hi everyone. It just rains and rains in this country. That´s it just rain. Nothing´s happening here. We go to school and hangout with our host family and Jeff invents reasons to leave the house. We´ve seen a couple of movies this week and we ate some churros. I think we´ll probably eat some more tonight. I bought some rain boots and an umbrella. I also enjoyed my first Dr. Pepper since leaving the United States. Well thats all the excitement here. I miss everyone.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1189525680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1189525680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1189525680/tpod.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:50:36 -0400 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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La Fortuna, Costa Rica

La Fortuna
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1189439160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1189439160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1189439160/tpod.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:47:16 -0400 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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Racuarito, Costa Rica

Río Pacuare
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1192392840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1192392840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1192392840/tpod.html Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:30:19 -0400 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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Jacó, Costa Rica

HI everyone. There´s not too much to report here. The last couple of weeks have been really good. Jeff is liking school. And I am not, but I´m starting to feel better about my spanish and my host mom says that I understand more than I did a week ago. I talked Jeff into going to dance class with me at his school. We´re horrible but it´s fun. This weekend we´re on a trip to the beach. It has rained since we got here. We´ve spent the whole weekend in our hotel room watching cable tv, in english, but that´s ok because we really like tv and our host family doesn´t have cable. We have left a few times in between movies to get food. This morning it did clear up for a few hours so we forced ourselves to leave tv land and go to the beach. The water is kind of gross looking and the beach was dirty because of all the rain, but we set up our hamock under some trees and we watched some guys surfing. There were huge waves and there was a great breeze. Then it started to rain again so here I am writing you. Well thats all. Love you.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1191442200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1191442200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1191442200/tpod.html Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:46:38 -0400 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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San Jose, Costa Rica

Okay I have lots to tell you. We went to the fortress of doom and it was a different kind of scary than I thought it was going to be. We took a cab to the top of a really steep hill where we found this so called fortress. It was covered in graffiti and there were teenagers just kind of hanging around. There were no other tourists, but we were there so we got out of the cab. Our "guide" came over and we paid him I think it was a dollar and we just looked around the outside. There were some amazing views of Masaya. Then we were led underground into a maze of concrete that smelled of pee. I was as usaul slightly freaked out because I just knew we were being led into some kind of trap. But we were just shown some small rooms where prisoners were kept and these tunnel things that were used for solitary confinement. That part was seriously creepy (the way I thought it was going to be). After that we went to the market. It was in a really cool building. In Nicaragua there are children everywhere asking you for money. In the market there was one who kept telling us he was hungry. Jeff offered to buy him some food and he kept saying to just give him the money and he would get it, but Jeff said no. When we started to walk away he finally said ok and he dragged Jeff by his arm around the corner to a lunch counter. We let him order what ever he wanted and then he had a friend come up and say he was hungry too so we let him order food too. We sat with them for a little bit and then we payed and let them eat their meal. That night there was some more kids asking for money and Jeff gave one the change from his pocket (which wasn't much) The next morning when we left our hotel they were asleep on the sidewalk. It was heartbreaking. They were probably only 9 or 10.

After Masaya we headed to the most peaceful place I have ever been in my life. It's called Laguna Apoyo. It is an extinct Volcano which is now a crater lake. We took a taxi there from Masaya and the ride down is nice enough but then we got to our hotel and were blown away. When you walk through the gates a calm comes over you. The hotel itself is very simple but its clean and the yard is neat (which seems to be rare in Nicaragua) On the back of the building there is a huge deck that over looks the lake. They had kayaks and intertubes and the was a little dock in the lake to jump off of. We spent a long time out on the water just floating around. We both got sunburnt. It seems sunscreen is the only thing we lost during our three weeks of travel. The water was perfect and it was so clear and blue. Every once in awhile something would hit your arm and it would be a piece of volcanic rock that had floated to the surface (they have air pockets). It was perfect I wish we could have stayed longer.

After we left the most tranquil place on Earth we went to Granada. We didn't really do much except walk around town. It's very beautiful. The next morning we took the Tica bus which is a bus that takes you from Nicaragua to San Jose Costa Rica. It's much nicer and easier than traveling on your own between the two countries, but it did take 9 hours.

Saturday we moved in with our host family. They are great! The mom and dad are very close to our age so it is really weird calling them my host parents. Their names are Cinthya and Alejandro. They have 3 kids, Manuel is 7, Marielle is 6 and Ismael is 2 almost 3 and he runs around all the time yelling. I'm very comfortable but I don't know if Jeff is used to it yet. We wake up at 5 or 6 every morning because that is basically when the sun rises and you can hear Ismael. Cynthia makes us breakfast. The first couple of days she gave me huge plates. I had to tell her I need less food because Jeff refused to keep helping clean my plate for me. We spend alot of time just hanging out with the family. Jeff has started school. Monday was his first day. We went yesterday and I signed up for classes and took a placement exam. I start next monday. When Jeff is around I don't get to practice my spanish very much but when he's in class I practice alot. No one in our host family speaks english. Alejandro does know a few words. I went with Cinthya yesterday afternoon to pick the kids up from school and I went with them to meet her family. And when I say family I mean family, mom, dad, brothers, sister, nieces, nephews, cousins, even an uncle. She has a big family and they all live close. Well I've spent along time at this computer. I put some pictures up so check the old blogs. Love you.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1190739780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1190739780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/limehybrid/costa_rica_2007/1190739780/tpod.html Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:43:27 -0400 Yeah traveling!!! I hope a jaguar doesn't bite my face!

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Rivas, Nicaragua

Hey! We´re in Nicaragua. Yesterday it took about an hour and a half in a cab/van/bus thing to get from Liberia to the border of Nicaragua. After that it took about the same amount of time to get our passports stamped, walk a kilometer between Nicaragua and Costa Rica (what thats called I don´t know) and get our passports stamped agian and get another cab. We are now in Rivas. Its not too exciting here but they have pedicabs everywhere and I think every place in the world should have this many pedicabs. We´ve taken 2 rides in them. The first ride we asked to go to a specific restaurant and the guy took us somewhere completely different. I´m not exactly sure how that happened. Maybe he didn´t understand us. I had a suspicion though that maybe Jeff and I were a little bigger than he was used to so he just got tired of pushing us around and left us where he felt like. Then today we took our second pedicab ride from our hotel to the museum of Rivas. This time we both also had our packs with us,(which is why I didn´t want to walk) mine is atleast 20 lbs. and Jeffs is around 40 and we had to go up a little hill. The guy was puffing and panting and sweating like crazy. I felt really bad. I told Jeff that next time we should get seprate pedicabs and we can race. But this time we did get closer to our destination except the guy took us one block past the museum. Well now we´re headed to some fortress of doom where people were tortured and stuff like that. It should be fun. Later.
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