TravelStream™ news feed for member sarah_brody on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sarah_brody en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:31:18 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1216404360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1216404360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1216404360/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:31:18 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Santa Teresa (Mal Pais), Costa Rica

Just in case we had you on the edge of your seats wondering if dinner worked out... it did! Quite well, in fact. Sarah made the meat sauce and Brandi made DELICIOUS garlic bread and we feasted (for about $3 each)!!!

The next morning we packed up, ate breakfast with a beautiful view of the rocks and ocean break. We grabbed a taxi to Santa Teresa and tried to find a place to stay. In the Lonely Planet guide book there were two places that sounded lovely. The first one, Tranquilo Backpackers, sounded much better than it turned out to be. We met a few people there who had been at our last hostel and found something interesting in the room they were going to take. Wanna know what it was? Someone had pooped on the bed. I bet you didn't guess that! Ewwwww! We pretty much turned around right then and had our taxi take us to the other option, Casa Zen. It was beautiful, looked clean and had a very nice vibe about it. Unfortunately it was booked until Saturday.

On we went and found the Beach Break. It turned out quite nice, except for the smell of sewage in the bathroom. It did have air conditioning. And... while brushing our teeth we heard the clicking noise of a gecko, coming from Karen's room. Her eyes were about as big as saucers! Brandi switched beds with her to help her feel more comfortable, but that place didn't last long, and soon The Funky Monkey was the destination. We've had dinner there twice so far and it was AMAZING! A little expensive, but it's a 3 course meal, so in the end, very worth it!

Our first day here was spent taking care of business. We had to walk about 1/2 hr to the only atm in the area. We enjoyed a walk on the beach, napped/rested and had a delicious dinner. No hard partying that night because our plan was to take some surfing lessons from our friend Blake early the next morning.

When morning rolled around it didn't go as smoothly as hoped because the surf shop where we planned to rent boards didn't open until an hour after we wanted to go out! We ended up starting our day a little later than expected, and it worked out alright. We got some good attempts in the water before the waves started getting a bit big and difficult to manage for beginners. Sarah got up on her feet the first try! She didn't get very far after that... It was a good time until we were walking out full of rocks and bruises. We ate lunch and rested for awhile before grabbing some dinner and heading out on the town.

It wasn't quite the bumping scene we were expecting, but it was nice to hang out with a bunch of nice people. We did get some dancing in, but ended up walking back home before long.

This morning the waves were much friendlier and we managed to get a good couple of hours on the water before getting tired of the rip current dragging us. We had some breakfast and seemed to all go our separate ways for part of the afternoon. It sounds like there's a big swell coming in so surfing might be out for us ladies - but at least we can say we did it! Sarah might try boogie boarding (and maybe drag Brandi in to try it!).

We're here until we leave to come home. There's a cheap direct bus that will take us into San Jose, but we also made friends with a nice Irish lad that has offered to drive us (since he's going the same day and leaves Costa Rica about 1/2 hr after our flight) so we're debating...

Needless to say Brandi and Sarah are very excited to come home, but we have had a FABULOUS trip. We've met tons of amazing people, some of whom we plan to travel to visit in their home towns! It has been a one of a kind trip.

Can't wait to see you :-)
xoxo Brandi and Sarah B
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1216164120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1216164120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1216164120/tpod.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:36:41 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Montezuma, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica

After an early bus ride (6am) we arrived in Puntarenas to catch a ferry. It was very hot in the sun and we had to wait in line to get our ticket and then wait in line to get on the ferry... we were a sweaty bunch! When the ferry arrived we found a table that was in the shade and waited for the ferry to start moving. Then the Karaoke started. Yikes! We were right in the middle of all the commotion and were worried we'd lose our hearing it was so loud! There was a little boy who did the first song and that was cute, for the first 30 seconds. Then we started to look for another place to sit.

We arrived in Paquares and needed to find a bus to Montezuma. We grouped up with four people from England who we met in Monteverde and a mom & daughter from Canada to get a taxi to save some time.

Ahhhh.... Montezuma. We arrived and began the search for accommodations. We found Hotel Lucy and were quite pleased. $10 a night per person, the room was clean (albeit missing mosquito nets) and it has a GORGEOUS view of the ocean. In fact, all you have to do is walk down the stairs and you're on the beach! At night you can hear geckos chatting and Howler monkeys calling. If you haven't heard a howler monkey, it is quite erie. All the more so in the middle of the night!

We're enjoying our few days here relaxing on the beach, working on our tans, and doing some activity sometimes :-) We walked to a BEAUTIFUL waterfall and enjoyed swimming in the quick current. It was quite a hike, half in the river and half in the mud. Well worth it, though. One night we went out to dinner and watched a movie! Lust-Caution. Good film, but a bit bizarre too. It was a delicious dinner and the movie was free... almost felt like home. We've also found a small restaurant called Organico that is cute, has yummy treats and even an air-conditioned room with pillows and magazines!

Tonight Sarah is going to attempt to make a nice Italian dinner - we'll let you know how it works out... Then tomorrow we're off to Santa Teresa. It is supposed to be beautiful! We're trying to make the most of our last week, can't believe it is almost here! We definitely feel lucky because some people only get one week to vacation, so we are quite grateful!

As usual, hoping you're all well!
xoxoBrandi and Sarah B
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215710100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215710100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215710100/tpod.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:35:05 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Monteverde, Costa Rica

Ahhh, after a smooth (well actually quite a bit bumpy) and easy jeep-boat-jeep ride from La Fortuna we've arrived in Monteverde. We rode in a small van to the lake and took a slow boat across the lake looking out at beautiful green mountains (they looked a little like Hawaii). After that we took another small van into town that dropped us off at Hotel Montelena. We didn't mind only paying $5 for a cramped, but tolerable room.

We relaxed during the afternoon and planned for a HUGE day on Friday. The weather here in the middle of Costa Rica is not cold by the standards of home, but compared to the humidity and heat of the beaches, it sure felt cold! So we set out to find a cup of tea and a brownie. Needless to say it was horrible, but we made up for it by having some yummy burritos for dinner.

Friday: We woke up early for a hike in the Santa Elena Cloud Forest. We dressed thinking we'd be doing a rigorous hike, but ended up standing around waiting to see the infamous Quetzal. Think cloud forest and think standing around... in the clouds... cold. brrrrr. Poor Karen's fingers were turning white and then blue... Our guide REALLY wanted to see the Quetzal, we didn't care all that much! The coolest part of this area was the huge amount of hummingbirds zooming around our heads... There are supposed to be 60 species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica and about 20 or so in Santa Elena.

We grabbed a bite to eat and rushed to our next tour - a guided walk over suspension bridges. Amazing. Our guide showed us owls, trees, and even a TARANTULA!!! Yes, we looked at a tarantula holding on to her egg sac. Creepy, but cool at the same time. To go over the last bridge we actually climbed up the inside of a tree - a strangling fig that had devoured the tree inside and left a hollwed space we could climb through. We got some good pictures.

Then came the zip lines. WOW! We were both quite nervous but warmed up with the help of some very entertaining guides that manned the beginning and end of each zip line. We did 14 lines and a repel and the crazy but cool Tarzan swing. Definitely a great way to end a day that started quite cold and miserable.

We relaxed, ate, made some phone calls and checked email and then tucked in for an early night. We will ride a bus at 6am to go catch a ferry in Puntarenas to then head to Montezuma, a beach on the Pacific. We'll get to see a sunset, hopefully! :-)

with love and kisses,
xoxoBrandi and Sarah B
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215823440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215823440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215823440/tpod.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:12:07 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Our travels from Tortuguero to La Fortuna went quite smoothly. We paid the extra bit of money to get a minivan to take us into town from the boat rather than public transit. We saved ourselves a lot of time. Unfortunately we arrived to some bad news... our reservations (that Karen and Brandi made the day before) had been given away. It sounds like in the small print of the website there's some information that says if you aren't there by 4pm they have the right to give you reservation away - and it's a popular place!

The receptionist gave us a suggestion that she assured us of being "clean" and it was for a good price - $10 ea. Again, the unfortunate part was that reference was WRONG! The place was small, room was cramped, the shower didn't have a shower curtain, the toilet was gross and there was some liquid on the seat, and get this... THE DOOR DIDN'T LOCK! It had a lock on it, yes, but if you turned the handle and pushed, it opened right up! Poor Karen - this pushed her over the edge...and she's the one who always keeps her cool! We'd just come from an overpriced crap-hole and now had to stay in another one! The upside was there was free internet and breakfast included - and it turned out to be only $8 each.

We made a phone call and created a new reservation at the Arenal Backpackers resort. Tomorrow things would be better.

And they were! Next morning after a good breakfast, and we headed to our resort... First thing we did was get all our dirty clothes (which means pretty much everything we brought) and sent it to the laundry. That left us in our bathing suits having to sit by a nice pool for the day. Oh darn...

After that we met some nice people and headed to a *free* hot springs (ie: hanging out in the river that is a hotspring!) and then to watch some lava flow out of the active volcano, Arenal. A little anti-climactic, but still pretty cool to see.

Next day: White water rafting! Brandi's first time, she loved it! It was the best thing we've done so far :-) Very nice guides, we survived class 3 and 4 rapids, had a fresh fruit break, and were greeted by the oddest welcoming crew one could imagine at the end. Howler monkeys, a couple horses and a couple dogs. Very cool. The guides also offered us beer at the end! pura vida!

We ended the day with a not so great meal, but happy to have survived the flood of rain that fell in the afternoon. We're off to Monteverde tomorrow!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215487020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215487020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215487020/tpod.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:31:29 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Tortuguero, Province of Limon, Costa Rica

After a relatively sad goodbye to Puerto Viejo, Karen, Brandi and I made our trek to Tortuguero. We took a bus to Limon, and then a boat through the canals to Tortuguero. But wait! Was it really that easy? oh no... of course not! The bus ride went smoothly enough, but then we had to wait for 2.5 hours on gravel or cement in hopes of someone else coming to take the same boat as us. Petrol is expensive everywhere it seems. The boat ride was beautiful, we saw some monkeys, birds and even a crocodile!!

Exhausted we arrived in Tortuguero, hoping to find a place to stay. It was a full island and we followed the advice of our lovely guide book to Miss Miriam's. The nicest thing about this place was they gave us clean towels. Nothing else seemed very clean, but it was bearable.

We booked a canoe tour for 5:30 am to see the wildlife in the National Park. AMAZING! We saw 3 types of monkeys (white faced, howler, and spider), a cayman (smaller version of a croc), TONS of birds, a river otter, a sloth, and yes... quite a few mosquitos. Definitely worth getting up so early and paddling with awkward paddles.

Sarah is reeling from a cold and massive bug bites so she slept most of that day while Brandi and Karen enjoyed some reading and planning for our next stop.

In the evening we had dinner with a couple of girls we met at breakfast - Sarah and Melissa. Great food at this restaurant (we ate there twice!). Toward the end of dinner as we were winding down it just so happened that Sarah mentioned she's a Sarah B. Not just a Sarah B, but a Sarah BRODY. Yes, we met a second Sarah Brody. Crazy. Weirder still is the fact that for Karen, that is her 3rd Sarah Brody that she now knows!!

Around 9:30 we headed to our turtle tour, a little worried because the earlier groups didn't get to see any turtles. After a long walk in the dark, waiting awhile after checking in with our guide, we heard word that a Green turtle had come up on shore. The shuffle began! We ended up running and saw a beautiful turtle laying her eggs, covering them up and heading back to sea. Amazing. We actually felt we were in an IMAX film because if you looked away from the turtle you could see a sky full of stars! There also was some lightening in the distance. Beautiful.

It was a late night (home after 12:00 having woken up at 5am!) but well worth it. Off to La Fortuna next to see a volcano!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215219900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215219900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1215219900/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:15:01 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

We're finally starting to get some color! We've spent a couple days lounging on the beach that is 2 blocks from where we're staying (Sarah burned the entire back of her legs pretty badly the first day! good job!). In between such lazy days we took a 13 K (note: MASSIVE!!!) bike ride.

Now, at first you might think, wow... what a nice trip to take through some jungle and local cafes. However, imagine doing this on a banana bike cruiser, with little padding on the seat, practically no air in the tires, over an INCREDIBLY bumpy, pot-holey, gravely road. With a few hills that scared the crap out of us going downhill not knowing if we could trust our brakes, and were incredibly hard to go up without walking the bike. Good time? well, actually it was quite nice. The ride there was beautiful. Our end destination was definitely less than we hoped for. On the way back to town we saw... Howler Monkeys!! They were making some really erie sounds, but we got to see them jump from tree to tree and sitting enjoying the view. We wanted to see something exotic (the conversation had just been about jaguars...) and then it happened!

We've frequented our favorite restaurant in town, Bread and Chocolate, a couple times already. In fact, to celebrate the fourth of July we are having dinner with the owner (and ex-pat from Maryland) named Tom. He's very nice and going to help us find some crack-a-lackin' place to hang out tonight.

Tomorrow we're heading North to Tortuguero and hoping to catch some turtles in action. Keepin' ya posted always :-)

We love you and hope you are all having a safe and eventful 4th of July without us :-(
xoxo Brandi and Sarah B
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214960940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214960940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214960940/tpod.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:20:04 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Puerto Viejo, Province of Limon, Costa Rica

Here we are, sadly having left Bocas on our way back through Costa Rica. We arrived in Puerto Viejo this afternoon. We feel like we're getting eaten alive, so many bugs!! The air is so thick it almost looks like mist. We're right by the ocean in a pretty massive sized hostel. There are 3 options for sleeping: hammocks, tents, or dorms. We're in a dorm for some privacy. This must be the hostel to attract smokers, because they're everywhere - along with their smoke!

We had so much fun in Bocas we're now wondering why we left! We're having our bouts of homesickness right now - missing all at home. It might be the overcast weather, or relatively unfriendly people, or perhaps the lack of good sleep for the past couple of nights.

Last night our hostel had its first private beach party. Bikinis were required, and many drinks were had. Shots were taken - both alcoholic and photographic. We met some really great people in Bocas, it's bizarre to think we may not see them again. It was such an amazing four days! We'd definitely recommend it to anyone who would want to visit. It felt super safe and welcoming.

Tomorrow we may try to find a different hostel. This one just doesn't quite fit us, though it is cheap. Hopefully we'll find some interesting things to do in town before we head off to our next destination.

Hope all is well wherever you are :-)
xoxo Brandi and Sarah
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214789160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214789160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214789160/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:39:07 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Bocas del Toro, Panama

Hello all!

Not a lot to share at this moment, but we have definitely been enjoying ourselves in this fine town! Today we went on a boat tour of some nearby islands. We got to see some dolphins, lots of fish at a snorkeling spot, and a couple of red frogs at Red Frog Beach! Seriously, those frogs were pretty amazing, they look just like the ones you can buy in the stores, but cooler!

We ended up at the beach, a beautiful beach! Our friend Karen and Sarah enjoyed swimming through the surf - meanwhile getting lots of sand and seaweed in our bathing suits. Then we all enjoyed the sun!

Happy Hour with $0.75 beers are treating us well at night :-) Of course, it isn't a huge stretch to pay the full dollar when happy hour is over. Ladies Nights are pretty much every night, free tequila (Sue) and other treats keep things interesting.

Hoping you're all well, missing you!
xoxo Brandi and Sarah B
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214612940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214612940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214612940/tpod.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:49:10 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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Bocas del Toro, Panama

Where to start!!?? Since we last left you in San Jose, we've been to two new places! Cahuita, Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro, Panama. While we were at our hostel we met 3 other teachers. Funny enough, that was one of the last things we found out about each other... strange coincidence! One of those is Karen, our friend from Ireland. She has traveled with us since San Jose. As our first venture into San Jose we were trying to get to the bus station to leave for Cahuita... CRAZY SCARY streets! It's true what you hear about traffic in Costa Rica. We had to cross the street to get to the bus terminal - sprinting with our heavy backpacks - but we made it in one piece.

On our way to Cahuita....
We took a long bus ride (3.5 hrs - not that long) and saw much beautiful scenery. It was lucky we even had seats on the bus because it was about to pull out of the station when we were walking toward it. Our seats were in the back, and we each got our own double seat. Room for us and our backpacks. Apparently, that wasn't enough for Sarah. Thanks to Sue, Sarah's embarassment in barfing while on the bus was diminshed because we had extra large plastic baggies. Yum.

We made it to Cahuita in one piece and without any more dispelling of body "deposits" (Tony). Next job - find a place to sleep - Cabinas Jenny. Beautiful view of the ocean, it was only about 20 feet from the building! Between the hammocks and mosquito nets we felt like princesses.

At the white sand beach along the Cahuita National Park we found some sun, sand, water, and crabs. Lots and lots of crabs. Sorry Frank, you missed out! They were everywhere and quite courageous, popping out of small holes in the sand all around us. We were probably closing some into their cabins with our towels on the sand. The sand crabs were only one part of the adventure on the beach. The tide almost swept us away a few times. Thanks to Karen we saved ourselves and our towels from getting absolutely soaked.

Here's the craziest part of our day. Among cats, dogs, and geckos roaming streets and inside restaurants, we happened upon a fallen sloth. It is one of the strangest things to see a sloth moving along the ground, kind of like a new-age alternative dance move. A little doggie almost followed Brandi home from the restaurant - he kept licking her calves, but he was a bit too stinky and mangy for us to hang out. He'd be adorable with some TLC.

Morning came and we found ourselves on the way to Bocas del Toro, Panama. Sarah got her first bug bite - eek! There was a little confusion with some men trying to get us to take taxis frustrated both of us, but we still ended up where we wanted for about the same money. Our hostel is nice, very "Rasta" and full of surfers. It is a very laid back atmosphere here and we're looking forward to exploring more of what it has to offer...

sending love to y'all!
xoxoBrandi and Sarah
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214372040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214372040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah_brody/1/1214372040/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:45:50 -0400 Brandi and Sarah's adventures in Costa Rica

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San Jose, Costa Rica

¡BUENAS NOCHES!
After over 24 hours of traveling, we´re FINALLY here in Costa Rica - staying at a cool hostel with lots of friendly travelers. We are SHARING a bed tonight, but got our room free because of a mixup. We´ll stay tomorrow night to get our bearings in this new place.
Surrounding the hostel is barbed wire and we drove through lots of Stop (Alto) signs...don´t worry parents. As we approached a wall, our driver honked and the doors opened to let us in this little commune. It´s awesome.
Spanish is sticky, but we´re helping each other quite a bit. Sarah knows a ton more than Brandi - thank you very much.
Bottom line - we are here safe, and are very excited for what´s ahead.
Love you all!

Sarah B. & Brandi
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