TravelStream™ news feed for member rsb82 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/rsb82 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:31:09 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163869200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163869200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163869200/tpod.html Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:31:09 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Turrialba, Costa Rica

*We've posted pictures from most of the trip...so look back a bit.

Well, we finally made it down to Bocas Del Toro, Panama, where you have to pay 5 dollars to cross the border, 5 dollars per person for a taxi, and 5 dollars per person for the boat (an oven was our co-pilot) in order to arrive. The country is a pit hole for 5 dollar bills.
The hostel we ended up staying at (the spot Mr. Bloom is chilling) was run by 3 guys from the Bay Area whose final business project in college had been "Running a hostel in Central America." It's a good thing ours was a trout farm on Eddie's Ranch huh guys? Anyway, beers at this place were 50 cents and the bar was inhabited by two Canadian Loggers/Hunting Guides who were doing the "100 beer challenge." It's pretty safe to say that we hung around for awhile.
We did, however, get out to an island to The Pickled Parrot - a bar on the end of a pier that exclusively played the Jimmy Buffett live at Wrigley DVD. There was a bit of variety though; when Disc 1 ended, they would pop in Disc 2. No sense in just playing one Buffett disc.
The next day just happened to be Bocas Del Toro Day, the celebration of the independence from someone or other. Bottom line...there was a ten hour parade of people walking very slow and drumming. Slow walking drummers. Surprisingly enough, 10 hours of such a thing is pretty entertaining, with the right company and the right amount of beer. We did skip out for a bit to play some carnival games (the reject games from any normal such celebration). You could shoot a BB gun at barely inflated balloons with a busted sight for a buck (Emmett managed to hit nothing every time) or kick a soccer ball at a stack of milk bottles (Rory managed to whiff on this one on his first attempt). All in all Bocas day rocks. If you happen upon a random festival in a tiny group of islands at any point in your life, we highly recommend you stick around.

From Bocas we cruised back up to Puerto Viejo for what will go down in history as Scooter Day. Passing through on the way to Panama we had seen a 3 pack of liter bottles with one coozie for sale oddly close to a scooter rental shop. It seemed like the perfect combination, so we recruited Bobby and Kirk (the Canadians from earlier stages in the trip) and we celebrated our own little independence day. No drumming, just scooter and liters. Pretty much all we would do was scooter to a beach, drink a liter, scooter to the next beach and repeat. It was an amazing day.
But, like so many other adventures on this trip the tail end of an excursion was met with rain. Rain on a scooter hurts, but it couldn't hurt as bad as when Kirk laid out on a dirt road after getting a little fish tail action. The stud just bounced back up and got on his hog. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I would have laid there for awhile, maybe accepted death, before realizing I was ok and making a scene about getting back on the scooter.
All in all though, scooter day was a huge success. Another recommendation. Although watch out, because your coozies could just be plastic pieces of crap just like ours. Just a little heads up.


On our rafting trip the first week of the trip Emmett had noticed that all the guides had these kick ass river sandals. We assumed we could just pick them up at any shoe store in San Jose, but upon further investigation found out that we had to go to Turrialba and find a guy named Olman. Seemed simple enough. And after getting into town and asking around a little bit we found out all we had to do was find the house with the "crappy concrete ducks in the front yard, watch out for Olman's grumpy father" and walk around to the back once we had found said ducks. Seemed simple enough. It wasn't quite going to a shoe store, but we were sure we could manage the journey.
Luckily, after half a mile of walking a guy on a bike showed up and told us someone had called him and told him to look for 2 gringos. We were those gringo. Olman had found us and taken us to the house with the crappy concrete ducks in the front yard. A lawn gnome might have spruced it up a bit, but you can only ask for so much.
Two hours later we each had a pair of customized sandals and a business idea. If we can't run a hostel in Central America then we might just have to mooch Olman's sandals and start a little business in Seattle. Ohh...it's feasible.


And that's pretty much our trip. Thanks for hanging out through all the hiccups along the way. In about 3 weeks Rory heads off to Thailand to meet up with Triolo so there's something to look forward to as we all endure the winter in the States. Has anyone seen the month Seattle has had? Crap!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163779200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163779200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163779200/tpod.html Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:48:46 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163538000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163538000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163538000/tpod.html Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:43:04 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Bocas Del Toro, Panama


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163262600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163262600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163262600/tpod.html Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:29:02 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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San Jose, Costa Rica

It's been awhile since our last entry and at the same time it's been a very strange week. We began working our way away from the beach towns of Montezuma and Santa Teresa, moving toward Manuel Antonio; the second most visited National Park in the country due to the diverse wildlife and white sandy beaches.
As promised that is what we found in Manuel Antonio. On our first hike into the park we stumbled upon a pack of white faced monkeys jumping around in the trees above us. As we stood there in awe, taking pictures of the females with youngsters clinging to their backs, we noticed that the males had formed a perimeter around us. A very tight perimeter. The leader of this troop came within three feet of Rory, appeared to smile at him, and then furrowed his brow in a stern frown. Never before have either of us been so scared by something so tiny. It felt as though these cute buggers were about to jump us, Skid Row style (Can you picture a group of monkeys dancing their way into a scuffle? We certainly could at the time) or at least throw some pooh. Instead, they anticlimactically bounded off once the babies were clear. No war story here.
What we also found in Manuel Antonio was Montezumas Revenge had found itself a host in the form of Emmett´s stomach, putting him out of commission for most of the three days we spent in Manuel Antonio. It ended up not being too bad, as he got to read in the hammocks at the hostel while Rory spent time playing soccer with the locals on the beach.
We did manage to cruise down to a sweet restaurant converted out of an old contraband. Although, as many dinners have gone on this trip, it got a little weird as the sun began to set, the waiter lit some candles and we realized we were surrounded by young couples. That and our waiter brought us two spoons with Rory´s dessert (Can we get an extra straw for the Mai Tai?) Ahh romance.

The Oso Peninsula, on the southwestern tip of the country, is the least traveled and most wildlife filled region of the country. This was to be our next stop after leaving Manuel Antonio and a quick overnight stay in San Isidro. But Montezuma refused to leave Emmett´s system, so we made the executive decision to jump on a bus for San Jose and get it checked out. Even though it was a bummer to leave our plans for the Oso Peninsula behind us, checking into the hospital ended up being a fantastic decision because after a couple hours of tests the fine doctors at Clinica Biblica decided it was time to take out his appendix.
The bonus from this, of course, is that we were staying in our best accommodations yet - 2 beds, hot water, meals, A/C - and all it takes is a little surgery. I highly recommend it while staying in San Jose. The only downside, of course, was that Emmett got the pleasure of being introduced to a catheter, but it was all in the name of a good night´s stay.

We´re finally going to make it to the Bocas Islands in Panama, so it will be awhile until the next blog. All we´re going to have the energy to do down there is drink beer and lay in hammocks. So you all enjoy that fall weather back home while we enjoy the sun on our hairy and oddly shaven stomachs.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163525400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163525400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163525400/tpod.html Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:26:00 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Cahuita, Costa Rica


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163534400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163534400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1163534400/tpod.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:38:20 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Sixaola, Panama


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162953000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162953000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162953000/tpod.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:06:08 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162920600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162920600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162920600/tpod.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:56:07 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Cliff Jumping Waterfalls - Chilling in Santa Teresa

From the first couple of days that we arrived in Costa Rica we heard rumors about there being a cliff jump above a waterfall into a swimming hole. Naturally, we were intrigued and made it a point to seek this thing out.
Well, we found this waterfall in Montezuma, on the Nicoya Peninsula, and conquered the thing. At least we thought we owned it until the locals showed up and started swan diving the 40 and 65 foot drops of the first and second waterfalls.
We did end up throwing down some dives from about 35 feet (scary), but none of the gringos hanging out even considered hiking down to the 65 footer. It was, in a word: sketchy.

-We'll try to post a video of us jumping the falls when we get more time or preferably some free internet.

From Montezuma we headed down the coast to Santa Teresa, a surfing town Rory's buddy Steve lived in for a month. This place is so laid back that all we wanted to do was mellow out in hammocks, read on the beach, and walk up and down the muddy road (which made for some very acrobatic falls). We did give surfing a try, but got thrashed by the rocks, and quickly scampered back to the beach with our tails between our legs. But at least we gave it a shot.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162735200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162735200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162735200/tpod.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:48:35 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Montezuma, Costa Rica


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162515600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162515600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rsb82/costa_rica/1162515600/tpod.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:54:44 -0500 This is Emmett and Rory´s journey through Costa Rica. Come join us.

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Santa Elena, Costa Rica

So frogs are cool

Most people go to Santa Elena/Monteverde for the cloud forest, which is fun and all, but the Frog Pond is where it´s at. For ten bucks you get to adventure through a glorified fish tank with 30 species of frogs not once, but twice. If that´s not enough, your guide will perform the mating call of most of the species.

Here´s what we learned:

-The Gladiator Frog is bad ass. During the mating season the males use their wolverine-like fist blades to cut the vocal chords of their competitors so he can´t perform his mating call. This fun little battle usually ends in death.
The Gladiator whose vocal chords are still intact coerces the female back to his lily pad where a bed of his semen awaits. For the next couple of days the lady frog gets a deep tissue massage from her Gladiator.

-The Hourglass Frogs enjoy their courting. The males sit perfectly still for up to 50 days while performing their mating call non-stop. The females choose their mate based on the duration of the call and their sloth like abilities. The last man squatting wins.
After months of sitting still the male gets some exercise by massaging his lady for 3 weeks.

-The Red-Webbed Tree Frog is the lion of all frogs. This bad boy sleeps 20 hours a day only to wake up for an orgy.


So frogs are cool

*We checked the facts. It´s science.
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