Day 15...Back in San Jose
Back to school again. Today is the 18th of the month, and I've been here for 15 days now. I really don't feel my Spanish is getting much better, but perhaps it is. I need to attempt to do less in English, and do more in Spanish. This past weekend was a blast. We went to Manual Antonio, which as I'm sure I've said before is a town on the Pacific Coast. It was a wonderful trip, but my Spanish was non-existent because everyone spoke English.
We left from school at about 4:00 on Thursday to go catch a bus and ride the 4 hours to Manual Antonio. Having traveled by bus in Mexico several times, I was telling my traveling partners what the buses were going to be like, and what to expect. When the bus pulled up, I found out that traveling by bus in Costa Rica, and traveling by bus in Mexico are a tad bit different.
One difference-The price. A bus from Laredo to Monterrey, MX costs like 20 bucks or so. It's a 3 hour trip (sometimes longer). The bus fare from San Jose to Manual Antonio wound up being less than $5. Nice 'eh? Gotta love Costa Rica...
At least until you see the bus...
People always asked me why I traveled on buses in Mexico with chickens. I would reply that the buses in Mexico that I took were way better than any bus I'd ever seen in the States.
Second difference-Quality of buses. Mexico has nice big comfortable seats, air conditioning in the bus, at least one movie during the trip, adequate (not quite enough) leg room, and a clean restroom. Costa Rica has small uncomfortable seats, no air conditioning (unless you count the windows that opened (and let rain in )), no entertainment, enough leg room for a newborn, and no restroom.
It's the company that counts I guess though.
Third difference-sane drivers. Mexico has professional drivers, who wear a suit and greet you as you get on and off the bus. Costa Rica has drivers who wear a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. they jump on the bus when it's full, and wisk you away to your tropical paradise.
It's not all bad though. While the ride wasn't smooth, it was enjoyable being able to see the sites of such a beautiful country. I think I also figured out that you can take private buses here too, and get the same treatment that I'm used to in Mexico. For the price difference, I'll take the cheaper of the two.
The way there, it was dark, so I couldn't really see too much. I did know that we crossed several one way bridges that crossed over some rivers, or valleys. I was looking forward to the ride back though so I could see everything.
The first bridge that we crossed left about a foot for error. I looked down out of my window (air conditioning) and could see through the slots in the bridge that the water about 100 feet down was going by very quickly. The second bridge left about 6 inches for error. It was a bit unnerving, once we crossed you could see the relief in everyone's face, but the driver (at least all the Gringos were happy). San Jose is up in the mountains, so you have to make the trek upwards from the coast. The views were amazing. Everything is so green and full of foliage. The drops without guardrails were quite interesting as well. I think there were several of them that we'd still be dropping down right now 24 hours later!
Enough of that. Manual Antonio is a beautiful place. The views from the hills are amazing. The first day we walked down the road to the beach. It turned out to be like a 5 mile walk, but the sites were amazing. When we finally got the beach we walked down to one end where we pretty much had it to ourselves. We swam for a while, and I got a little sunburned. It's so much prettier than any beach I've ever seen before. Out in the water several hundred meters out there are huge rocks that have trees growing on them. I have pictures that I'll put up whenever I figure the best way to do it from here.
The truth is, that words can't really explain the beauty of the place. Evidently (from what I heard) they shot a big movie in the Manual Antonio national park where we were. They were saying Jurassic Park, but I thought that was filmed in Hawaii. Regardless, they could film any movie here, and the viewers would enjoy the beauty of the place more than the actors acting.
Manual Antonio the town is also a neat place. There's a public beach where the majority of the people are. We were at the private beach in the park itself. On the public beach though, there are vendors selling all kinds of things. There are restaurants that dot the road, as well as surf shops and other little souvenir shops. We went to several of the restaurants and were very pleased with their food. I miss my Tex-Mex though.
We stayed in a Hostel. It was the second time for me. I stayed in one in Vienna for new years a few years ago, and now this one in Manual Antonio. The view from our hostel was great. There was a porch that overlooked the pacific. The sunsets were phenomenal. I've got pictures of those too. The hostel was really nice. It was comfortable and clean, but it was loud. I prefer having my own bathroom (or shared with folks I know). I also like being able to go to sleep when I want and not having to wait on others to be quiet. Friday night we were all up late, playing card games and enjoying a few Imperials. Saturday though we all wanted to go to bed a little early, but everyone else at the hostel wanted to party it up. It was loud, but luckily I had my I-pod so after a while I finally got to sleep.
So my thoughts on hostels, I'd rather pay a little more for privacy!
We saw monkeys, we saw iguanas, and we saw a lot of other things I've never seen. I'll definitely be making the trip back when Chuck gets down here! I'm also looking at planning a trip to Arenal Volcano.
So that in a extremely condensed nut shell was the weekend. We went to a bar a couple of nights and had a good time dancing to the American music they were playing. The beers I think are a little bigger than the 20 oz bottles we have in the states, so that was a plus as well.
I also did a canopy tour. Which was awesome. They strap you in to a harness, and you fly from tree to tree by using cables. One of the cables was around 900 feet long. I imagine I was like 300 feet up or so. Absolutely amazing, and breath taking. I'd love to do another one in another part of Costa Rica. The guides were all telling me that I was going too fast and I needed to break more. I told them that I'm big so I got way faster than anyone else. They said, ayy, si, pero necisita usar sus frenos. My frenos are my brakes. My Brakes were the padded gloves I was wearing. So the more brakes that I used the hotter my gloves became. I got a couple of pictures, I'll put them up when I get a chance!
Uhh yeah..That's a long one, I'll quit there with the trip...
I'm pissed Tech got beat by TCU. I don't like TCU, they weren't good enough to join the Big XII. Evidently though, they are good enough to beat Tech. How disappointing!
Until later all! I hope everyone is doing great!!!
18 days till I return to the states...It'll be a bittersweet day!
We left from school at about 4:00 on Thursday to go catch a bus and ride the 4 hours to Manual Antonio. Having traveled by bus in Mexico several times, I was telling my traveling partners what the buses were going to be like, and what to expect. When the bus pulled up, I found out that traveling by bus in Costa Rica, and traveling by bus in Mexico are a tad bit different.
One difference-The price. A bus from Laredo to Monterrey, MX costs like 20 bucks or so. It's a 3 hour trip (sometimes longer). The bus fare from San Jose to Manual Antonio wound up being less than $5. Nice 'eh? Gotta love Costa Rica...
At least until you see the bus...
People always asked me why I traveled on buses in Mexico with chickens. I would reply that the buses in Mexico that I took were way better than any bus I'd ever seen in the States.
Second difference-Quality of buses. Mexico has nice big comfortable seats, air conditioning in the bus, at least one movie during the trip, adequate (not quite enough) leg room, and a clean restroom. Costa Rica has small uncomfortable seats, no air conditioning (unless you count the windows that opened (and let rain in )), no entertainment, enough leg room for a newborn, and no restroom.
It's the company that counts I guess though.
Third difference-sane drivers. Mexico has professional drivers, who wear a suit and greet you as you get on and off the bus. Costa Rica has drivers who wear a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. they jump on the bus when it's full, and wisk you away to your tropical paradise.
It's not all bad though. While the ride wasn't smooth, it was enjoyable being able to see the sites of such a beautiful country. I think I also figured out that you can take private buses here too, and get the same treatment that I'm used to in Mexico. For the price difference, I'll take the cheaper of the two.
The way there, it was dark, so I couldn't really see too much. I did know that we crossed several one way bridges that crossed over some rivers, or valleys. I was looking forward to the ride back though so I could see everything.
The first bridge that we crossed left about a foot for error. I looked down out of my window (air conditioning) and could see through the slots in the bridge that the water about 100 feet down was going by very quickly. The second bridge left about 6 inches for error. It was a bit unnerving, once we crossed you could see the relief in everyone's face, but the driver (at least all the Gringos were happy). San Jose is up in the mountains, so you have to make the trek upwards from the coast. The views were amazing. Everything is so green and full of foliage. The drops without guardrails were quite interesting as well. I think there were several of them that we'd still be dropping down right now 24 hours later!
Enough of that. Manual Antonio is a beautiful place. The views from the hills are amazing. The first day we walked down the road to the beach. It turned out to be like a 5 mile walk, but the sites were amazing. When we finally got the beach we walked down to one end where we pretty much had it to ourselves. We swam for a while, and I got a little sunburned. It's so much prettier than any beach I've ever seen before. Out in the water several hundred meters out there are huge rocks that have trees growing on them. I have pictures that I'll put up whenever I figure the best way to do it from here.
The truth is, that words can't really explain the beauty of the place. Evidently (from what I heard) they shot a big movie in the Manual Antonio national park where we were. They were saying Jurassic Park, but I thought that was filmed in Hawaii. Regardless, they could film any movie here, and the viewers would enjoy the beauty of the place more than the actors acting.
Manual Antonio the town is also a neat place. There's a public beach where the majority of the people are. We were at the private beach in the park itself. On the public beach though, there are vendors selling all kinds of things. There are restaurants that dot the road, as well as surf shops and other little souvenir shops. We went to several of the restaurants and were very pleased with their food. I miss my Tex-Mex though.
We stayed in a Hostel. It was the second time for me. I stayed in one in Vienna for new years a few years ago, and now this one in Manual Antonio. The view from our hostel was great. There was a porch that overlooked the pacific. The sunsets were phenomenal. I've got pictures of those too. The hostel was really nice. It was comfortable and clean, but it was loud. I prefer having my own bathroom (or shared with folks I know). I also like being able to go to sleep when I want and not having to wait on others to be quiet. Friday night we were all up late, playing card games and enjoying a few Imperials. Saturday though we all wanted to go to bed a little early, but everyone else at the hostel wanted to party it up. It was loud, but luckily I had my I-pod so after a while I finally got to sleep.
So my thoughts on hostels, I'd rather pay a little more for privacy!
We saw monkeys, we saw iguanas, and we saw a lot of other things I've never seen. I'll definitely be making the trip back when Chuck gets down here! I'm also looking at planning a trip to Arenal Volcano.
So that in a extremely condensed nut shell was the weekend. We went to a bar a couple of nights and had a good time dancing to the American music they were playing. The beers I think are a little bigger than the 20 oz bottles we have in the states, so that was a plus as well.
I also did a canopy tour. Which was awesome. They strap you in to a harness, and you fly from tree to tree by using cables. One of the cables was around 900 feet long. I imagine I was like 300 feet up or so. Absolutely amazing, and breath taking. I'd love to do another one in another part of Costa Rica. The guides were all telling me that I was going too fast and I needed to break more. I told them that I'm big so I got way faster than anyone else. They said, ayy, si, pero necisita usar sus frenos. My frenos are my brakes. My Brakes were the padded gloves I was wearing. So the more brakes that I used the hotter my gloves became. I got a couple of pictures, I'll put them up when I get a chance!
Uhh yeah..That's a long one, I'll quit there with the trip...
I'm pissed Tech got beat by TCU. I don't like TCU, they weren't good enough to join the Big XII. Evidently though, they are good enough to beat Tech. How disappointing!
Until later all! I hope everyone is doing great!!!
18 days till I return to the states...It'll be a bittersweet day!
posted by Sancho at 11:43 AM
1 Comments:
Sounds like you had such a fun weekend away!! I can't wait to see picts. The game this weekend was horrible!!! Tons of Tech fans at the game and then we stink it up! So not cool!
Enjoy the last half of your stay!
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