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Alajuela Costa Rica
Costa Rica is strange in terms of public transportation. The streets aren't named and neither are the bus stops. In fact, the bus stops are nothing but a yellow line on the pavement in some places. The vacation rentals we stayed in had one of two problems: either the furniture was hard and uncomfortable, or it was soft and stinky from the damp, humid air. Another important thing to consider when booking a ...
Since we’ve been to Costa Rica, we’ve stayed in two different vacation rentals, one in Alajuela, one in Atenas, and a small hotel in Tortugero. I have opinions about all of these places, but I can’t seem to bring myself to rate any of them. I have an ongoing moral dilemma that plays out in my mind about writing reviews about vacation rentals. I know it would be potentially helpful to people to hear our ...
So. In two days, we’re moving to a new location. I cannot wait. No longer will I be required to listen to the mournful yowling and yipping of the neighbor's dog. No longer will I be required to watch bad children’s programs of TV with the neighbors. No longer will the lawn chair I call my own be of great matter. No longer will these things be. And, at least after you walk down the hill from this new ...
I am uncomfortable. The chairs are hard and the rice is…well, bland. I miss soy milk, the Prius, and wind. I am in at least 50% denial about these things most of the time. My emotions are like a heavy fog that lifts only momentarily before descending again to cloud everything up and give every item in my world a cold, wet, slippery feeling. Yes, I put myself in this situation. It’s like I sent myself to ...
Last night was our first dance class in Costa Rica together as a family. It was a private dance class consisting of basic Merengue and Salsa dance steps, and surprisingly, I enjoyed it, though I didn’t think that I would. I was exhausted and sweating afterwards, much like my parents, and did suppose that when we went home now that I would finally be able to enjoy the “comfort” of my chair. Instead, we went ...
Last night we took our very first Latin dance classes ever at Merecumbre in Alajuela. It was a private lesson and we have another one tonight followed by an hour-long group lesson. I was nervous last night, but I expected to be less nervous for our classes tonight having done a class already. But I’m not less nervous. Because tonight, we’ll be dancing with a whole group of other people who understand Salsa ...
The distinction between traveling and tourism is an important one and it’s easy when you’re one or the other to get caught up in what’s happening on the other side. No matter what, when I travel, my experiences become the fabric of my daily life, but traveling or touring is meant to elevate me somewhat out of the patterns that are familiar to me. The fact that my experiences traveling become woven into what ...
In Costa Rica, information about safety is rather scanty and seems to consist primarily of lighthearted warnings in travel guidebooks. It would be impossible to write a guidebook for a location like Costa Rica that consisted entirely of warnings because no one would buy it or be interested in going to the place unless they were a humanitarian worker or a journalist. So the warnings are lighthearted and ...
I missed a few days of writing because we’ve been either busy or really exhausted from being busy. Finding our way in and out of Alajuela for our classes takes quite a bit of energy right now. We’re still working with how to make our way home from the classes safely. If we take the bus from downtown Alajuela (which cost the three of us about $1.60 USD), we have to walk about 30 minutes up the street with ...
So today at lunch, something rather strange struck me. I was homesick. Here I am in Costa Rica, taking classes I’ve never taken before in my life, learning Spanish through my mistakes, and enjoying the beautiful plants, and I’m homesick. Before we came here, right after we booked the tickets, we were given an offer online of travel insurance. This travel insurance is where if you decide to leave later, come ...
In Costa Rica, yoga is a big deal. Apparently, because Costa Rica is a mecca for surfing, yoga has taken hold. The connection between these two sports only makes sense after seeing a few photos of people doing yoga on surf boards on the sand. Apparently, surfers do yoga to get better at surfing, which is what has brought the practice to Costa Rica, even in the Central Valley, which is where we’ll be ...
Seven days after we arrived here in Alajuela, Costa Rica, I finally tracked down a place to take classes. Taking classes in a new place is one of the very best ways to get to know people and feel like we’re actually a part of something, and, in this case really living in Costa Rica. Whenever we would move in the states, I would always enroll Lydian in new dance and gymnastics classes, which seemed to ...
Today we decided to pursue calling the Mind Body Zone again. We called two times, and left messages both times. Finally, close to the end of the day, the place called us back. They were going to be open tonight and nine o’clock Saturday morning, when their next class was going to be. When we decided that if Francisco (Our driver person that picked us up from the airport when we first got here) could drive ...
In my mind, when we came here, I thought it would be a lot like Mexico…only better. But, Costa Rica is not Mexico. It is like Mexico in some ways: people speak Spanish here and they hang out around the house sleeping in hammocks during the hot part of the day. But this place is very different from the Yucatan where we spent 6 weeks last year. I’m still trying to put my finger on it.Today we made our way ...
This morning, as far as I knew, the original plan was to get up, work on my homework (work, in the case of my parents), work on some Spanish, eat lunch, work some more on my homework and on Spanish, maybe talk to my friends, play my guitar, and whatever else I could do.Well, that plan didn't work out.As we walked out the door, I had already anticipated that today would go by slowly, and at the end ...
We did in fact make it to Walmart and back. We had to walk a little over a mile to a bus stop and then wait with the chickens and several other people for about 30 minutes. This forced “time-out” of sorts is one of the benefits and drawbacks of travel. I am always amazed at how patient people at bus stops can be. They are not reading or writing or getting out their laptops to try to get ahead. They’re just ...
I woke up about thirty minutes ago to loud music. I had just so happened to be having a rather nightmarish dream at the time, so when the eerie music seeped into my dream as I woke up, I automatically started to have thoughts about haunted houses, as eerie things seem to do to me. In the beginning, I thought maybe there was an awesome young female singer living right next door (maybe she played an ...
Today was our first official day in Costa Rica. We woke up here, in our little vacation rental. It is a Friday, so all of us had work to do. John programs for the web, I am a writer, and Lydian is doing classes through the University of Nebraska high school homeschool program. Yesterday we endured three flights to get here over the course of 10 hours: Denver to Dallas; Dallas to San Salvador, and San ...