Trevor's CR Trip Report Pt. 3 the real thing
Aug 22nd, 2004, 09:32 AM
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Trevor's CR Trip Report Pt. 3 the real thing
August 9th
We all woke up, and went to breakfast. Today we would go from Neta's to Manuel Antonio (Villas Nicholas. Oscar left a message with Neta, that he would not be able to pick us up due to the gasoline car problem, and he would send somebody else. So we were introduced to Juan Luis, a nice man, anyways.. we said our goodbyes to Neta and Arbel, and headed for the next destination. We stopped for a good lunch with Juan Luis, and then were back on the road to Manuel Antonio. We finally arrived, the landscape was very nice. Everything was nice. EXECPT the american lady who worked there. She was real nasty, and we were almost hesitant to ask for he help, because she snapped at us. All the ticos and natives that worked there were very helpful. In our room, there were millions of ants. They were actually in the wall! My mom was skeeved out by this. At least they werent in the beds!
There was something about Villas Nicholas that just wasn't up to par with Villas Kalimba and Neta's.
August 10th
Today we were to go to Manuel Antonio Park, and when waiting for a bus, almost decided to not go because it was raining! We hiked with Flander. There was a lot of wildlife, and interesting things to see. So after this hike we decided to hike on our own, to this high point that looked out at the ocean. No it was supposed to be a loop. but the 2nd half was a heck of a lot longer than the first! I wanted to go down the way we came up, because it looked like it was getting ready to storm, but noooo Joyce says we should do the loop. (mind you, all vacation every choice she has to make, she said " why do i have to make all the decisions?" so i made my descision and she didn't listen! arggg... So we're hikeing and hiking and its starting to lightning and thunder, and out of no where, we hear this loud sound that sounds like a huge gorilla!. Now up until that day, we had never heard a howler monkey, so we didnt know thats what they sounded like! Man, I think all 3 of us used some choice language in that hike. Oh yea! I forgot to mention it was like straight downhill in mud and we were slipping and sliding alllll over the place! I forgot to say that before we did do this hike, we had some nice time on the beach. The monkeys all came down from the trees, and people were taking pictures. All of the sudden, this monkey runs out of a tree, over to somebody's towel, and opens a styrafoam lunch tray. It then unwrapped a lunch from tin foil, and got back in the tree, all in a matter of about 5 seconds! It was hilarious. Well. We made it back out of the park, only to find that we had a $20 USD and no colones for the bus back. So we had to buy a coke just to break the 20 and get change. what a day...
August 11th
We had booked Flander for the mangrove tour but he could not make it, so the president of the organization had to do it! (this is a good thing) Flander was a real good guy, but Miguel, was even better. The tour was really good, I found it very relaxing and cool to see how it looks in the mangrove. Then the monkeys came and were jumping all over the boat. THAT was cool. My dad got some great shots. They will be posted in the picture site. That afternoon we walked to a local beach which felt like forever! On the way back I was walking ahead of my parent and a car full of what appeared to be stoners pulled up and asked if I wanted a ride! It scared me quite a bit, since they just sat there for like 20 seconds as I slowly said no and backed away from their car. sheesh. Went back to the hotel and cooled off in the pool.
August 12th
this morning Oscar was supposed to pick us up but his car was STILL not ready from the mechanic, so Juan Luis picked us up, and we drove from Manuel Antonio to Orquideas Inn in Alajuela. It was a very nice place, and I did enjoy my last stay there. I was sad the trip was coming to an end though.
August 13th
We went into Sarchi, check out Joyce's Trip report for details
August 14th
We went rafting! Juan Luis was supposed to take us, but instead he sent somebody else! So in our 2 week vacation to Costa Rica, we had 3 drivers. The rafting was a lot of fun for me, but my mom was a bit scared. Since our boat had a lot of experienced people in it, and the other boat didnt, they made the people switch around because the people in other boats were falling out. We saw birds, poison dart frogs, monkeys, and just beautiful surroundings. It was a great way to end the trip. After that we had lunch with Mauricio (the driver) and we headed back to Orquideas. We stopped at the super market though and picked up 13! bags of coffee. We went back to the inn. said our goodbyes to Mauricio.
--------------------------------
We packed that night, had some food and played the last game of rummy (as u read in my moms report). We went to bed and woke up next morning, and got our things together for the flight. Reality was kicking in sayin we have to go home. but i didnt want to! The ticos were soo nice and outgoing, everyone is nice, besides the Americans who work there. haha. We got all checked into the airport, did some last minute licquor shopping, then started to board the flight
We made it into Philly 20 minutes early! but there were no open terminals so we waited half an hour. So the connection is at 9:40pm and we got off the plane at 9:30. We still have to
1) go through immagration
2) get bags
3) customs check bags
4) recheck bags
5) go through security
6) go to the gate!
we had to try to do that in 10 minutes! So we get to immagration along with the other 400 people and wait a good 20 minutes, then go get bags for customs, recheck and go to security. We wait another 5 minutes and they made my parents take their shoes off. So we were soooo late, (heres where they both deserve a medal) they ran through all of philidelphia airport with NO shoes on, only in socks!! And it wasnt a short run either, that is one big airport. Since so many people had the 17minute connection flight from Philly to NYC, the flight waited and didnt take off till 10:30. We made it fine, and now I miss Costa Rica. I'm really really interested in going back and staying a month next summer to get fluent in spanish, so if anybody has any recomendations for spanish programs for high school students post away!
i will post the picture site in a new topic when the site is ready, or add it to this one.
We all woke up, and went to breakfast. Today we would go from Neta's to Manuel Antonio (Villas Nicholas. Oscar left a message with Neta, that he would not be able to pick us up due to the gasoline car problem, and he would send somebody else. So we were introduced to Juan Luis, a nice man, anyways.. we said our goodbyes to Neta and Arbel, and headed for the next destination. We stopped for a good lunch with Juan Luis, and then were back on the road to Manuel Antonio. We finally arrived, the landscape was very nice. Everything was nice. EXECPT the american lady who worked there. She was real nasty, and we were almost hesitant to ask for he help, because she snapped at us. All the ticos and natives that worked there were very helpful. In our room, there were millions of ants. They were actually in the wall! My mom was skeeved out by this. At least they werent in the beds!
There was something about Villas Nicholas that just wasn't up to par with Villas Kalimba and Neta's.August 10th
Today we were to go to Manuel Antonio Park, and when waiting for a bus, almost decided to not go because it was raining! We hiked with Flander. There was a lot of wildlife, and interesting things to see. So after this hike we decided to hike on our own, to this high point that looked out at the ocean. No it was supposed to be a loop. but the 2nd half was a heck of a lot longer than the first! I wanted to go down the way we came up, because it looked like it was getting ready to storm, but noooo Joyce says we should do the loop. (mind you, all vacation every choice she has to make, she said " why do i have to make all the decisions?"
so i made my descision and she didn't listen! arggg... So we're hikeing and hiking and its starting to lightning and thunder, and out of no where, we hear this loud sound that sounds like a huge gorilla!. Now up until that day, we had never heard a howler monkey, so we didnt know thats what they sounded like! Man, I think all 3 of us used some choice language in that hike. Oh yea! I forgot to mention it was like straight downhill in mud and we were slipping and sliding alllll over the place! I forgot to say that before we did do this hike, we had some nice time on the beach. The monkeys all came down from the trees, and people were taking pictures. All of the sudden, this monkey runs out of a tree, over to somebody's towel, and opens a styrafoam lunch tray. It then unwrapped a lunch from tin foil, and got back in the tree, all in a matter of about 5 seconds! It was hilarious. Well. We made it back out of the park, only to find that we had a $20 USD and no colones for the bus back. So we had to buy a coke just to break the 20 and get change. what a day...August 11th
We had booked Flander for the mangrove tour but he could not make it, so the president of the organization had to do it! (this is a good thing) Flander was a real good guy, but Miguel, was even better. The tour was really good, I found it very relaxing and cool to see how it looks in the mangrove. Then the monkeys came and were jumping all over the boat. THAT was cool. My dad got some great shots. They will be posted in the picture site. That afternoon we walked to a local beach which felt like forever! On the way back I was walking ahead of my parent and a car full of what appeared to be stoners pulled up and asked if I wanted a ride! It scared me quite a bit, since they just sat there for like 20 seconds as I slowly said no and backed away from their car. sheesh. Went back to the hotel and cooled off in the pool.
August 12th
this morning Oscar was supposed to pick us up but his car was STILL not ready from the mechanic, so Juan Luis picked us up, and we drove from Manuel Antonio to Orquideas Inn in Alajuela. It was a very nice place, and I did enjoy my last stay there. I was sad the trip was coming to an end though.
August 13th
We went into Sarchi, check out Joyce's Trip report for details
August 14th
We went rafting! Juan Luis was supposed to take us, but instead he sent somebody else! So in our 2 week vacation to Costa Rica, we had 3 drivers. The rafting was a lot of fun for me, but my mom was a bit scared. Since our boat had a lot of experienced people in it, and the other boat didnt, they made the people switch around because the people in other boats were falling out. We saw birds, poison dart frogs, monkeys, and just beautiful surroundings. It was a great way to end the trip. After that we had lunch with Mauricio (the driver) and we headed back to Orquideas. We stopped at the super market though and picked up 13! bags of coffee. We went back to the inn. said our goodbyes to Mauricio.
--------------------------------
We packed that night, had some food and played the last game of rummy (as u read in my moms report). We went to bed and woke up next morning, and got our things together for the flight. Reality was kicking in sayin we have to go home. but i didnt want to! The ticos were soo nice and outgoing, everyone is nice, besides the Americans who work there. haha. We got all checked into the airport, did some last minute licquor shopping, then started to board the flight
We made it into Philly 20 minutes early! but there were no open terminals so we waited half an hour. So the connection is at 9:40pm and we got off the plane at 9:30. We still have to 1) go through immagration
2) get bags
3) customs check bags
4) recheck bags
5) go through security
6) go to the gate!
we had to try to do that in 10 minutes! So we get to immagration along with the other 400 people and wait a good 20 minutes, then go get bags for customs, recheck and go to security. We wait another 5 minutes and they made my parents take their shoes off. So we were soooo late, (heres where they both deserve a medal) they ran through all of philidelphia airport with NO shoes on, only in socks!! And it wasnt a short run either, that is one big airport. Since so many people had the 17minute connection flight from Philly to NYC, the flight waited and didnt take off till 10:30. We made it fine, and now I miss Costa Rica. I'm really really interested in going back and staying a month next summer to get fluent in spanish, so if anybody has any recomendations for spanish programs for high school students post away!
i will post the picture site in a new topic when the site is ready, or add it to this one.
Aug 22nd, 2004, 10:45 AM
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Great report, Trevor. I can't wait to see the pictures!
Sounds as though you guys got to see lots of monkeys. We didn't see any on the beach in MA, though we did see them on the mangrove tour. They are so much fun to watch!
Sounds as though you guys got to see lots of monkeys. We didn't see any on the beach in MA, though we did see them on the mangrove tour. They are so much fun to watch!
Aug 22nd, 2004, 11:21 AM
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Trevor, I'd highly recommend for your Spanish study, the C.P.I. school. It has 3 campuses--San Joaquin (a wonderful little town, 5 minutes by bus from the town of Heredia), about 30 minutes from Las Orquideas; Monteverde; and Playa Flamingo. They have excellent instruction and the homestays are a fantastic experience! You may also have seen the school in Manuel Antonio. They are all over the place. I have a friend who spent no small amount of time researching about 98 of these schools in Costa Rica alone, and he selected CPI over all the others. My guess is most all of them are probably very good.
Aug 22nd, 2004, 12:25 PM
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Trevor, I really enjoyed reading your report! You are a great story teller. We just returned from CR and absolutely loved it. We had the same problems you did with our return flight to Boston! Arrived late at Miami, raced thru immigration & customs, then they delayed our flight home 2 times. We finally arrived at our home at 3:30AM. But it was worth it.
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