Go Overseas

A few months back I stumbled upon an awesome website called Go Overseas. Obviously, I'm interested in seeing a few sides of the world in my lifetime so the articles caught my attention!

Before I knew it, I was applying to be a part of the Writing Corps. So here it is- my first contribution- a San Jose, Costa Rica city guide! It is my desire that it will help encourage aspiring teachers with a hunger to reach the world.

Teach English in San Jose: A City Guide 

(Look to the left section of the page, titled, "About Teaching In San Jose" so see info from yours truly!)

P.s. I have been playing Ben Rector's new album, "The Walking in Between", on repeat for the past 2 weeks. Enjoy one of my favs from the new album while reading my article! ;)

adventure, aventura, avontuur!

Buenas, chicos! It's been a little while since I've updated you on my escapades around Costa Rica!

Since April, I have been traveling around with a group of crazy kids about my age, figuring out what this place has to offer. We are all expats living in/around San Jose, working or doing internships.
Most of the people in the group are leaving in June so they've been trying to get as much traveling done as they can before they go. 

It started out as just a few cool kids who worked & lived together and now the group just keeps getting bigger! In one weekend, the dinner table is likely to be filled with as many as 6 languages (English, Spanish, Dutch, German, French, Swedish). Whoever we meet one weekend is free to join us the next. Really, the more the merrier. 

The next few blog posts will my experiences and tips about the places we've visited! 

1. La Fortuna

I almost missed out on this adventure- it was Friday afternoon and I had a 10 page essay due on Saturday. Fortunately, Suzanne convinced me to take my computer along and finish this essay on the 5 hour bus ride to La Fortuna and just submit it when I arrived. I was a little more than hesitant to do this but I'm definitely glad I did! Here's why:

Even though I had already been to La Fortuna, I still had a perfect weekend filled with new people and new memories.

We stayed at the nicest hostel that I've visited yet: Arenal Backpackers 5 Star Hostel.

The only down side was that there was no kitchen- usually at hostels I like to make dinner to save a little bit of $$$.

We visited (and swam in) the La Fortuna Waterfall.

This was an easy-medium hike. You follow steep steps down the mountain until you reach the waterfall! The hardest part are the steps on the way back up!

It's a frequently traveled/high tourist attraction.

We got to enjoy a cloudless view of the Arenal Volcano.

Even though Arenal hasn't erupted in quite a few years, it's still just as beautiful as ever! 

Suus just getting a better view of Arenal!

We had a magical evening in the hot springs at Tabacon Hot Springs.

We chose these hot springs because they were natural hot springs (rather than the man made pools at many other resorts). It still had a resort feel but I could tell the difference between these rivers & the other man-made hot springs that I had visited previously. 

We had such nice, fun, & relaxing time!

Plus, the trip was really not too difficult. To get to La Fortuna, I would suggest taking a bus from San Jose to Ciudad Quesada. Then, catch a bus to La Fortuna from there.

On the way back, I actually took a different route (thanks to a suggestion from a nice Tica lady). I took a bus from La Fortuna to San Ramon. Then, I connected with a bus to San Jose from there.

Both ways were pretty simple. The only problems on the way home were: 1. I just had to ask the bus driver on the first (La Fortuna-San Ramon) bus how to get to the San Jose bus station in San Ramon (a 1 min walk) & 2. The San Ramon-San Jose bus didn't drop us off at the San Jose Coca Cola Station so I really wished that I had gotten off a few stops before at La Sabana Park.

The girl that I sat next to on the bus from San Ramon-San Jose
gave me this card as a present!
(The lizard is made out of real butterfly wings-super cool.)

2. Montezuma 

This was another favorite weekend that I've had since I've been in Costa Rica. Montezuma is pretty much a one street town on the Nicoya Peninsula that has a cozy friendly feel. During the day, you can explore the nearby waterfall, enjoy the beaches, and take many different exciting tours. At night, there is one bar right on the beach that gets packed out. They have the works: music, street fire shows, dancing, etc.

These crabs were everywhere.

Our group was so big this weekend that we had to stay at two hostels. My half of the group stayed at Luz en Cielo. 

This was one of the smaller hostels that I've been to but it included breakfast so I was pleased, nonetheless.

First, we risked our lives climbing in and around the Montezuma Waterfalls. 

Warning: if you are not someone who is readily up for adventure- this may not be for you. 
The Montezuma Waterfalls encompass three different levels of waterfalls that pour into one another. We had the frightening privilege of starting at the bottom and climbing our way around to the top. 

We didn't have per-say a "guide" the whole time, but we sort of followed the locals ahead of us. This may have been a bad idea since they were the ones who were crazy enough to jump off the waterfalls from seriously ridiculous heights. Nonetheless, we survived- barely- by carefully watching our step as we climbed up steep rock faces without as much as a harness. 

Since I LOVE rock climbing, I had a blast! But if you decide to go, don't wear flip flops. 

yep, that's me!

The next day, we relaxed a little and took a boat tour to Tortuga Island.

The boat tour included lunch, drinks, snorkeling, & a complimentary dolphin sighting! We laughed the day away on this gorgeous beach- splashing in the water and playing beach volleyball in the sand! I think I still have sand in my things from this day.

We saw dolphins!

I still can't believe it. Way too cool.

There were so many!

That night, we danced the night away at Chico's Bar- located right on the beach!

Fire dancing in the street!

This trip required a little bit more effort. On this particular weekend, the majority of us had Friday off because President Obama was coming into San Jose  and all the roads would be blocked. Crazy that one person can have that much effect- I know- but we chose to make the most of it! 

First, we took a bus from San Jose to Puntarenas. Once we were in Puntarenas, we took a taxi to the ferry port and hopped onto a ferry (after buying a ticket of course) that took us to Paquera. There we were supposed to take a bus from Paquera to Cobano and another bus from Cobano to Montezuma...but somehow we ended up opting for the easier and quicker options: a taxi. Split between all of us, the taxi was only just a few dollars more.

On the way home, I took the less economic but much faster route because I had a bad stomach ache and needed to get home. I took a taxi boat from Montezuma to Jaco and a bus from Jaco to San Jose (but they let me out early in Santa Ana!). This trip took about the half of the time or less than the alternate route.  

While we're on the boat theme, I'll leave you with a quote that I painted a while back...

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." 

Next up, Manuel Antonio & The Crocodile Man Tour in Tarcoles! Check back tomorrow for more pictures and good old Costa Rica lovin'.

When love came to town (part 2): Granada, Nicaragua

Granada, Nicaragua. 

This is a trip that I will never forget. 

As you may know, many traveling Visas that are given when entering a foreign country are for 90 days. Mine was not the exception. So as the end of my 90 days quickly approached, I figured out a game plan. The best option that I could think of was taking my Visa trip while McCray was in town. This would not only be the first time that we were out of the USA together but also the first time that we were traveling across countries together. So he was lucky enough to visit two new countries all in one week (uh, best Spring Break ever)! 

As I mentioned in my last post, we were scheduled to leave at 4:30AM Monday morning for our Nica trip. So we loaded the bus at TransNica in San Jose in the dark and headed on our way! An ominous 9 hot hours in this same bus lay ahead of us.

About half way through the trip we finally made it to the border of Nicaragua! My Spanish is only “mas o menos” so both of us did our best to decipher what exactly we were supposed to do. We got on and off the bus a few times, gave our passports to the driver a few times, took our bags off the bus once, stood in the parking lot for about 30 min, and then re-board the bus again. Finally- we were across the border with some new shiny stamps in our passport!

Crossing the Border

I’ll spare you the boring details of the next sweaty 5 hours and skip right McCray’s first hostel experience- Certainly a monumental moment! We quickly discovered that our roommates were from Australia and had been traveling for 9 months already! But McCray was mainly excited about their really cool accents.

Hostal Mochillas

Never a dull moment.

He is so fun.

Another awkward hostel pic.

 Finally, we got settled in and roamed the town. Granada is sort of an antique town- not quite as modern as Costa Rica. It is also much cheaper (for example, $6/night hostel). All of the buildings are bright colors (as well as the currency) and horse drawn carriages and bicycles are the most popular modes of transportation.

Central Square in Granada

While we were there, we saw many of the Catholic Holy Week (Semana Santa) festivities- including many parades and structures being built in front of the Cathedrals. We didn’t figure out what everything signified but it was still pretty neat either way.

We also had the opportunity to go on an AWESOME $20 boat tour on Lake Nicaragua that included a DELICIOUS lunch, too (like I said, definitely cheaper).

Where we ate lunch!

Did you know that people actually live out on the islands (“Islas”) in Lake Nicaragua? I was shocked to see that there is a whole community living out there!

Soon enough though, we were ready to head back to our home base in good old Santa Ana.

Something we learned about ourselves: I don’t think that we could ever go on a 9 month back packing trip like our Australian mates. Lets be real here, our short backpacking trip was exhausting. From beautiful pictures and fun stories, a trip like that seems glamorous. In reality, that’s just because you’re seeing the highlight real and missing all the bloopers and behind the scene struggles.

Like most things in my life, I like a good balance. As much as “traveling the world” has this delicious appeal…I don’t think there’s anything wrong with appreciating the blessing of having a home to call your own. It’s moments like that when I realize that this little bungalow and my Costa Rican town have become my home.

Just so that I wouldn’t end up rambling on for far too long- I’m cutting this adventure into 3 parts. Last but not least will be the trials that we faced while making our way back to the place I call home. 

(Click here to read the next post!)

Apparently Nica Women don't have arms