Today they say summer has finally come. What we have had until now is called spring. wooosh. Today we had +33C and sun was BURNING. I mean it was not fun to be outdoors today.. Well.. at the swimming pool maybe. hehe.

I woke up this morning and had breakfast with Mami, Lorena and Federico around 7am. After doing all my laundry I got a call from my friend John witch I really appreciated. It was a good call and even though I do not wanna go home to Norway it made me miss my friends a good deal. Its only ONE more month left. Time flies by and home date is getting CLOSE.
I went to do some arrands again in the morning and bought myself some clothes. Sun was burning bad and It was not fun to be outside. Therefore I decided to bring Natasha to the swimmingpool with me and we went after lunch. Mami did not wanna let us go without having something to eat. Then they wanted us to wait for an hour by swimming after the food. In this heat... We made it for 25 minutes.. It was great... Nice temperatures in the water.
We played shark, horse and Bull. Strangely enough I had to be the shark, the horse and the Bull and Natasha was riding my back and trying to escape the shark. It was a really great time. I am also working a lot on my tan these days. hehe.
We had a second lunch in good hobbit style (Get this one dudes: I am actually reading Tolkiens The Hobbit in spanish for the moment) and then hit the pool again but this time we only managed ot wait for 10 minutes before hitting the pool.
We were in the water for most of the time and left around 5:30pm to go home. We walked up towards Liberia Park and stopped in several stores on our way. Didnt buy much but at least we had fun. When we got to the park we got a cab home.

At night I spoke to my cousin Paola and I finally have someone to go to the Ricky Martin concert with febuary 19. WEEEEEE. Fantastic. I am thrilled about that. Ill go with Paola and my other cousin Jessica. They are both great !
I also had a long chat with Carlitos. Paolas brother and my little guide around Liberia 14 years ago when he was 11. hehe. It was really good speaking to both of them.
At 9:30pm I went to Hotel Guanacaste with Federico, my brother, and met up up with Coco, an old friend of mine. The Hotel Guanacaste bar has a Karaoke set. Really cool haha. Especially when listening to a load of drunken dudes trying to sing. They sounded more like cats and dogs howling towards the moon. Not good. But suuuuuper fun. Federico took of and went to bed early since he was going to work tomorrow. I stayed out until more or less 1am and had a fun time.

You know it is hot when you are lying on you bed not moving and sweating your hair wet and you dont have a fever. +33C today as well and no winds. No clouds.

Woke up around 8pm today and did not feel too good at all. Payback for staying out late last night I would reacon.
I babysat the house again today. GOD I WISH WE WILL HAVE A NEW MAID SOOOOOOON !
If they could only ask me to do stuff where I could lift and move and be in action. NOT that fun to sit alone in the house. Not at all. The morning was pretty ok. I packed a lot of stuff in boxes and prepared for moving them over to the new house but then in the afternoon so much of the day had passed without action that I kinda was in the non-initiative mood and before I got to get ready to go they had all left again and I was alone in the house again. OUF. Well. What else to do than to sleep. I slept good but it was so hot that even though I got to bed newly showered I woke up grossly sweat. New shower at 4:30pm when I woke up again. Papi just got in from the Finca and I left the house pretty fast to not have to spend more time there today. I love being there when the other people are there and we are having fun together. But just sitting there and watching out for robbers? Boring.

I ended up at Cibermanias internet cafe again and stayed here chatting with some friends.
After that I went to meet Manuel (his birthday was yesterday so I wanted to take him out and have a nice time) and we went to Las Tinajas to have something to eat and around 10pm my friend Bryan entered town and we went to see him for 5 minutes while he waited for his ride home from the bus.
I got home and sat down with my family to watch a movie. Mami was half asleep but I had a nice chat with Lorena while half watching Pearl Harbor (with Ben Affleck). As the movie was still not over by midnight and all the others had gone to bed I turned off the TV and headed that way myself. It is not like I havent already seen the movie anyways.

Great weather today. Sunny and +33C. Anyone annoyed by my weather forecasts? Sorry folks. Its not me. The weather is just like that here. For this season.

I woke up around 7am today by Papi and Jaime working in the garden. Jaime is the working boy that helps Papi doing guy stuff concerning the house moving. Only God would know such a sin it is to put a girl to work hard outside the kitchen. hehe. Papi is not the least concerned about when people sleep and not to wake them up. But that is not the only reason. Morning is the best time to get work done. Midday is way to hot and in the evening it gets dark around 6:30pm. That is way to early to get work done in the afternoon. hehe..

But anyways. 7 am is a good time to get up. That way I have breakfast with the gang and some time to get my laundry done before heading to the streets. If doing the laundry in the morning all clothes are dry by midday at this time of the year. Warm sun and wind helps a lot.
I also spent a good time with Lorena and chatting to her before I went to Bryans house at 10am where I woke him up to take him to the swimming pool. He was up and ready to go in short time before Paola called him and needed some help for the bachelor party we are throwing for Alfredo tonight. Bryan and I headed down to Supercompro where I met "El mudo" with his son. What a great looking kid. Very cute. Bryan and I split. I headed towards El Sitio and Bryan went to help Paola. I did stop a couple of times during my path and Bryan actually managed to get to El Sitio before me. Embarrassing. hehe

Prices has rised to use the swimming pool at El Sitio again. And by again I mean they just rised the prices before christmas and then now they doubled them again. From the original 1000 colones the prices are now up to 4000colones (almost US 9$) That is drastic. And only because they have added a jacuzzi with hot water. It looks more like a bath tub at a motel and is nothing fancy at all but the hot water feels good though.

We stayed at El Sitio until around 4pm and got a great deal of coulor by the end of the day.
Before heading home we had to stop at PeriJumbo to get beers for the partya and then we realized we were running late and headed straight home. It was about time to get ready and choose party clothes and get the hair done and all that stuff. Therefore B accompanied me to my house before going back to his house and preparing for the party there.
Aldo Mainieri picked us up around 9, The party started at 8 so that was a good time to come. We actually hit a prosession of cars. Around 4 cars arriving at the same time. The party was held at Eddy Alvaros moms house. The fun part about this party is that ALL the guests are from my class when I studied here and It was also like a class reunioun party. Truly fun. The party attendants were Alfredo and Yancy (the bride to be), Aldo, Gabriela, Paola, Marcela (with bf), Cinthya, Erick Johan Castillo, Luis E?, Eddy, Bryan and me. We had a great time. The party was great and it was a lot of fun to see them all again. Some of them had not changed at all and others had changed so much I would have never ever recognized them even if they would have payed me to do it. Hehe.
We barbecued, danced, had drinks and the gift openings around 1am. As people started to split I got a ride with Marcela and the bf that luckily lives close to me in the same barrio.
I was home at 2am.

Still nice sunny with +33C and mild winds.

Got up at 11 today. Wonderful to be able to sleep in. Cooked myself a couple of eggs and had some rice to go with it. I helped mami washing some clothes before heading downtown to update blog and reply emails. As I got home around 5 I watched TV till Federico got home and had a chat. Mami and Papi was out a couple of hours to go to church and have some dinner. We all watched Supernatural together and then Blade. It was great with a Lazy sunday. Not staying home because I had to but because I wanted to.

Weather reports: Ongoing nice, warm weather. +33C and mild winds. No need to change that a/s/a/p.

Got up around 6am and had breakfast before washing clothes and helping mami in the kitchen.
I am also spending a lot of time getting ready for housechanging and my trips. I now have great plans for the future. hehe. Ok .. the very nearby future.
Tomorrow I will Leave for Canas, then Nicaragua (Managua and Granada), then back to Liberia for the weekend. I hope my brother will take me to the beach and on sunday I will meet Ana (a friend from Venezuela that is making some clothes for me) to test if my clothes will fit.
Monday I will head to San Jose and then Tortuguero on the 13th. That is on the caribbean side.
Ill get back to San Jose on the 15th at night and then stay there until after the 19th that is the day I have my eye consultation and the Ricky Martin concert. Ill head back to Liberia and hopefully the next weekend (around the 23) Ill go to Manuel Antonio national park.

Then we have the Village parties in Liberia that lasts for a week. This life is great.

Well. This day I have been running around and searching for boxes, tape, some souvenir stuff, cut my hair, and ordered the ticket to go to Tortuguero.. And all that before lunch. Then I have applied for a couple of work posistions as I am soon going home to Norway.

At night I tried saving my pictures to CDs so that I could clean up some of my memory cards but as I was doing that I managed to erase about 150 pictures from Monteverde and Fortuna, San Carlos. That was devastating. My friend Cyril tried helping me out to recover the files over the phone but since they were deleted from the SD card and not the computer hard disk they were not accessible. I got to bed pretty depressed that night.

Liberia has some wonderful +32C degrees today. Pretty wild winds though. The fresh feeling. haha. When it blows like that we need to sweep the floors about 10 times a day (OK, Maybe 2). The air is filled with dust from the dry earth roads.

Still pretty devastated about my pictures that I deleted yesterday I did not get up until 8am. Stayed in bed listening to moody music on my iPod. Mami had made me breakfast and I packed the rest of my stuff in my suitcases, boxes and stuff ready for moving. I went out to run some arrands and write e-mails to Simon, Kate, Barbara and Marcelle from Monteverde/Fortuna to ask if any of them could send me copies of their pictures. Then I changed my ticket for my flight home. My new date is now the day after the civic parties in Liberia ends. It is only changed for about a week from feb 27 to march 06 (Ill be in Norway on March 07 at 9:30 in the morning). I got home for lunch and my mood was a little better even not that much but I got good food and when mami left to run arrands, Natasha and I stayed in watching TV waiting for Celia to call so that I could go to Canas with her.

Celia and Julio picked me up around 4pm and we went to get our tickets to Managua, Nicaragua for tomorrow at 8:45am. We will be in Managua by mid-day according to the plan. Then we went to Canas where Xinnia, Laureano and David waited. We had a nice chat and then around 7pm we had dinner. After dinner Laureano and Julio took me out for a walk in Canas downtown. It is not a big city so we were done in about 20 minutes and then went for the local football (soccer) stadium where we watched a game between Portugal (no idea who they were) and Argentina (Canas veteran football team). I think Argentina won. hehe.

As we got home German stopped by to say hello and after that it was time to hop to bed.

Moving around all day means different weather but not at all that different from Liberia. It is around +33C in Managua today and partly cloudy. No hard winds though.

Due to trailers crossing by the Interamerican highway I slept light and woke up around 6am. I slept pretty good though through the noise. I am impressed by that. I had breakfast with Xinnia and Celia and David and we made the sandwitches for our trip, packed the drinks and checked out the internet for hostels and pensions in Managua but we did not find too much information about the prices so we decided to check it out closer as we got to Managua instead.

At 8:45 we headed for the bus stop and was picked up at 9am by TICABUS. For US 12,5$ they take you all the way from San Jose to Managua (but it is the same price no matter where you are going within that strech as well). The TICABUS buses are sooooo much better than the Pulmitan buses. Man... WOW. There are huge nice seats, enough space for your legs (or more correctly said: MY legs) and they have TV with DVDs running. NICE. ME LIKE.
The first movie we got to see was "The Island" and then "Attack Force" (with Steven Seagal).

We reached the border in just 1,5 hours and headed for the exit file where we had some luck in getting in first. What was not so cool was that a bus from TransNica got in straight after us and since some of the people on our bus werent as quick as Celia and I to get into the exit lane.... We had to wait for almost an hour to get everyone into the bus. The good thing here was that there was not luggage check.

When everyone was on the bus, except for one man that had tried to change money with one of the local dudes (against the bus drivers advice) and got robbed for almost US 200$ and wanted to stay there to report the incident to the police and catch the next bus, we took off to the next stop. Crossing the Nicaraguan border we had to line up for a luggage check. There we got our luggage out and ran to get first in line to stand in file.
In comparison to the Panamenian border where every single persons luggage got checked we got to press a button connected to a light that seemed much like a traffic light. If the light turned out green you were free to go. If the light turned out red you had to get you luggage checked. Both Celia and I had a lot of luck and got the green light. Then we headed straight for the duty free stores. The light thing was funnier.

The bus drive from the border to Managua took us about 2 hours. We passed Lake Nicaragua and the smaller cities of Granada and Masaya before getting to Managua. We were taken straigt to the TICABUS terminal and when getting out of the terminal area we were soon surrounded by taxi and accomodation sharks. We went with this blonde girl to a hostel close by "El Hotelito". Remember this name dudes. IT is not even worth thinking of. If was lousy! There was no safety. The bathroom did not have a door. We turned in the door as we saw the conditions and headed back to the Ticabus terminal. They have a hotel at the terminal and thats where we logged in.
For US 33$ a night we stay in a room that has a private bathroom and 2 huge beds. NICE.

As we had summed ourself we found a taxi and went to a bank at Plaza Inter to pay for the documents Celia came here to get. Then we went to la cancilleria to get some other papers done before we went to Plaza Metro to shop. We stayed for a couple of hours before going back to Plaza inter where we continued before having dinner.
Celia got herself a couple of new shoes. I think I must have been tired because I did not buy anything in either place (except from the meal of course). To move around we taxied from and to everything and even though it was cheap it was probably a robbery. We had a Tonita (one of the local beers) before heading "home" and went straigt to bed at the hotel.

+33C and partly cloudy, Managua was a bit misty today and no winds.

The day started off pretty good... We woke up early, got ourself breakfast and called Don Antonio Tacsan, the Costa Rican embassador at the Embassy in Nicaragua, and he came to pick us up at Hotel TicaBus and left us at the Costa Rican Consulate. My first impression was amazing. Celia had told me that many Nicaraguans wanted Visa approval to get into Costa Rica but I would have never expected lines that were more than 3 blocks long of people wanting to get in ...

It belongs to the story that Don Antonio is a neighbour of Celia and her mom Xinnia from Canas. It also belongs to the story that Dona Xinnia was the embassador at the Embassy of Costa Rica in the Nordic and Baltic countries for the last 4 years (ending period in may 2006) and that Celia herself has been a Costa Rican consul in Russia many years ago before she studied in Moscow. The reason we were actually in Managua today was to get her school papers validated.

Don Antonio, a very nice man indeed, presented us for the Mario Charpentier that presented us for the Consul, Mr HP Victor Lascares, before he left for a reunion. We presented the papers that Celia wanted validated and Mr Victor told us to go get copies of all the papers. He sent us off with one of the employees of the embassy that worked as our driver. He left us at a copy place and took me to Plaza Inter to search for accomodation in Granada and to search for official prices for validating the documents Celia had to get validated. He also took us for a small driving tour of Managua and down to the Managua Lake to check out the view. Don Mario called him on our way back wondering where we had ended up since he needed a ride to TicaBus to go to CR at mid-day.

Our driver left us at the Consulate and from there on we waited for Don Victor that was out at "La Cancilleria" with some people with Visa problems.
One hour and a half he was STILL not in and we decided to go out for lunch. We were back at 3:15pm and we were attended about half an hour later. Celia got out just in time to close the deal (the office closes at 4pm).
While waiting the receptionist was helping us out to find accomodation and a ride to get to Granada. She called her boyfriend, Don Pedro Lacayo, that not only helped us finding an accomodation at Hostal Oasis Granada, but also covered us about US 35$ from Managua to Granada (45km). That included the drive from Granada in the first place, the waiting time before we were ready to go, a stop at a market place in Masaya with artisane products.
Driving out of Managua I felt relived to be gone even we had a pretty good time as well. Every time we stopped for a red light someone was trying to sell us stuff. Everything from food and beverages to live turtles and birds. I almost bought a turtle because he was just soooo cute but what the H... am I gonna do with a turtle?

On our wayt to Masaya we saw a couple of grass fires and suddenly a great phenomenon caught my eyes. A lot of smoke coming from some hills at our right side. We had reached the Masaya volcano and it was throwing a lot of smoke. I had to stop and get pictures. I also decided to go there the following day hiring Don Pedro as a driver. COOOOL. Looking fwd for that.
In Masaya we payed entrance fee at the market place. That is not common. They only charge on thursdays because they have their special night: "Noche de Verbena" where they have live bands playing and traditional dances. Not only was it the regular "Noche de Verbena". It was the 8th anniversary of the party. The best dancers were the caribbean side dancers dancing with hot movements. It looked impressive. But the kids and the devils were amazing as well.
There was TV coverage and childrens groups dancing and performing in costumes. IT was really great.
While watching the show we had dinner and a couple of beers before we continued our peeking around at the artisane shops. We found some pretty nice stuff and some just weird stuff.

Don Pedro took us all the way to the hotel and checked that we got logged in and all was good before he left. He would pick us up tomorrow at 8am.
Celia and I logged in and immediately had to turn on the aircondition. IT WAS WAY too hot to sleep in that room. After an hour with air we were freezing our buts off and had to turn up the temperature. Hehehe. Never happy. We checked our e-mail and had some tea before going to bed.

Weather has been great. Around +33C (as every day) and sunny. We have moved around a bit and therefore been to areas with wind and areas without wind.

We got up around 7am and had breakfast at the Hotel before we met Don Pedro. He took us for a tour around Granada, we looked at old traditional houses and we took pictures. Oh. I will not lie. Only I took pictures. Hehe. We also got our return tickets to Costa Rica so that we knew that we would have that part of the trip ok. TicaBus had no available seats for tomorrow so we decided to go home with TransNica instead. From what Don Pedro tells us they should be just as good as TicaBus and they will take off even half an hour earlier. That might get us through customs a bit earlier as well.
After the touring around in Granada downtown Don Pedro took us to Lake Nicaragua where we had ordered a boat for a tour on the lake. The 3 of us and the boat driver (that also functioned as a guide) enjoyed a great tour around the archipelago of islands that the lake is, for about an hour and a half. We saw turtles, spider monkeys, lots and lots of bird including blue herons, white herons, and a lot of birds I have no idea what are called, beautiful houses on the islands and marvelous nature. It was the first time ever I have seen spider monkeys. They lived on a tiny island where their diet must consist mainly of mangos and cocunut, becuase there was no place for other trees on the tiny island and the monkeys are afraid of the water.

Done with the Lake we went to Esters boutique to check out the traditional embroidery that is typical for the region, before we continued to "Dulceria de la Miel" to buy cajetes made of coconut, papaya, nance, pinolillo and I dont know all the different flavours they had. I bought some for my Costa Rica family and I hope they will like them.

We headed for Masaya again and had lunch at NicaPollo, a traditional restaurant that had really good food. Delicious. We invited Don Pedro (as in payed for his meal) since he is working a full day for us for US 35$ and that includes all the driving and working as a guide. He has been an angel though.

After lunch we headed for Volcan Masaya national park.
It was 70 Cordobas to get into the park and then we went uphill to the crater. Masaya Volcano is a highly active volcano, although it does not throw lava down its hills every 20 mintues like Arenal volcano in Costa Rica, and in its crater you can see the lava boiling at night.
We could not see it during daytime today since it was spitting out smoke. That was pretty impressive though. It was a HUGE crater with clear layers from previous explosions and you can see layers of sulfur in different parts of the crater.
We went uphill and got to a mirador to check out the view. At that point we noticed that some of the smoke that came from the crater must have had some kind of strange stuff in it because we all started coughing. Hehe. No other reactions though. I also went up to the closest crater that was about a 5 minutes walk from the other crater. That is a "sleeping" or dead crater full of vegetation.
As a part of the safety instructions (that we, of course, read until we were heading downhill) there was a lot of advices not stay at the crater area for any longer than 20 minutes a day, park the car nose downhill (in case the volcano has an erruption) and if it starts throwing rocks - hide under the cars ! Do not breathe too much of the smoke and leave if you feel dizzy or nauxious.
There is even a story from the last time Masaya had an erruption throwing rocks this Gringo dude had rented a car and one of the lava rocks landed on his rented car. All the people scared to death running downhill while the gringo starts taking photos of the rock in the front of the car and he ended up taking the rock with him home to Gringoland (USA for those of you who did not know). The park rangers had gas masks with them at all time but as they said. That might help to put on so that we can get away but not to protect us to stay up here.
On our way down we stopped at the visitors center to check out the history museum they had in the park. I even got a couple of post cards.

Next stop was the market in Masaya again. I found a couple of cool things but I dont need to get in there ever again. All the small shops were located WAY too close to each other, way too many shops and too much of the same stuff. At 5:15pm they started packing their stuff together to close because at 6pm the fumigador car would pass. Fumigar is to smoke out all the nice mosquitos to hope they get rid of the mosquito that gives us dengue fever.

At this point we were pretty tired and wanted to go home to relax. Don Pedro left us at Hostal oasis Granada again at 7pm and we went in to relax before going out for dinner. Celia and I went to a tiny local cafe 4 houses down the street. It was great. Beans and Rice and egg ! What more could I ask for after a day like this one !
Then Celia went for a shower and I wrote this masterpiece for rememberance (and entertainment).
Have fun folks. Im off to bed.

Nice sunny weather with smooth winds too cool down the +32C that we are having. I just LOVE being here.

We got up at 5am today and got ready to get out for breakfast at 6am. The nearby restaurant / cafeteria opened at that hour and we ordered gallo pinto with scrambled eggs and cheese.
We were done by 6:15 and went back to the hotel where Don Pedro waited for us. We checked out and he took us to the TransNica bus terminal. There he waited with us until the bus let us go in. The first thing I have to comment is: Im going with TicaBus next time ! The seats were less comfy and no Movies rolling on the screens. Actually there were no TV screens at all.

Apart from that the drive went pretty great. We got to the border in 1,5 hours and the bus drivers had collected our passports and got them all signed and checked and back to us within 20minutes. No luggage check at the Nicaraguan side and Celia and I just HAD to visit the tax free. Celia got a bunch of stuff but I was pretty moderate myself.
Then we headed over to the Costa Rican side of the border and there we had to check our passports ourself (stand in line and wait at the counter). After the passport control we had to get our luggage and bus checked. Following the tradition we took out ALL the luggage and waited for the customs to check the bus. As they checked the bus we all lined up and had to open our luggage so that they could go through it. I had luck ! Being the only white person they was not that interested in what I brought from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. They were a lot more interested in what the Nicas could bring into the country. Celia opened up all hers to let me off the hook faster. And GOOD was that !! hehe. Especially since I dont know if the stuffed turtle - playing guitar - is something they would appreciate me taking out of the country or not...

We didnt stay more than 1,5 hours at the border and that beated the hell out of TicaBus that lasted 2,5 hours (because some people didnt hurry in line and had to wait for 3 other buses to go through customs as well). But as we got out of the border area we realized aircondition was dead ... OH NO. What to do next ... We were melting. It felt like a sauna. Haha.
After about 20 minutes the bus stopped again and we had to wait for another 20 minutes while the bus driver and another dude fixed something with the motor or changed a wheel. I am not sure. I was listening to music and trying to enter dreamland.
On our way to Liberia we got stopped 2 times to check passports and legal documentation (In hope to catch all Nicaraguans trying to enter illegaly - poor things). I arrived Liberia at 11:30 and said good bye to Celia before hopping off. I got home in time for lunch and moved my stuff into my old room. We are still not in the new house. I am trying to get ready for my next adventures on monday and packed everthing out of the suitcases. It all looks like a mess right now. Hehe.
After lunch I slept a bit and then in the afternoon went to the new house with Mami. She showed me around and even the house is really nice the old house will be missed.

Diego called me and we had a nice, long chat before me heading to town to try to get a bus ticket for San Jose at noon Monday. Ticabus office was closed so I had to get a ticket with the Pulmitan buses. Oh well. I will survive.
I then called Ana to plan a schedule for tomorrow, Angelica to plan a schedule for tonight and then went to Cibermania to check out a bit about tours that I can do in San Jose.
I already got the 3 days in Tortuguero ordered but for the week of the 19th to the 23rd I need to fill my time with productiveness and not just hang around.

I got home from my online arrands around 7:45pm and got ready to go out with Angelica and one of her friends. We went to Bar la Julia in Bo San Roque and had some beer and bocas, then we went to LIB where we met several other friends of Angelica. We had a good time and had a lot of fun. We went home around midnight.

Beautiful sunny weather. +32 C and nice smooth wind. A day to enjoy.

I got up at 7am and started sorting out what clothes needed to be washed before my big trip to the caribbean side of Costa Rica. I am supposed to be away for about 2 weeks now so that makes a difference concerning how much clothes I need to bring.

I went to Anas house around 10 am to try on the clothes that she is making for me. One pirate shorts is already done and the others will follow soon. I stayed at Anas for about 3 hours watching her work on my stuff and trying on the clothes every now and then as she was finishing up a new part. Then I went home around 1pm and waited for mamis friend Consuelo to pick me up at 2pm. We had made lunch planes for the day with Dona Zedy. Both Zedy (Dona Xinnias sister - the ex embassador for CR in Norway) and Consuelo (Zedy and Mamis best friend) has been to Norway and came to see me at my house in Norway.
After picking up another of their friend, Ledia, we headed off towards Playas del Coco. The beach is nothing special but it is still nice to be on a beach on a sunday in Febuary.

We went to a beach restaurant and ordered some beer to start with and patacones with black beans. Patacones is fried cooking banana. Delicious. As we were eating that Dona Zedy came with a friend of hers, Patricia, and we could order our food. The 4 ladies had fish and I had bistec. It was a great meal and definately wonderful to have lunch with the beach view.

Another great thing was that as we were having our food I found out that more people I knew had the same idea about going to the beach. Ericka Espinoza and her boyfriend was sitting on the table next to us and we had a hearty little chat and exchanged phone numbers and e-mail adresses. Ericka is my friend Espens host sister from 1993 when we lived in Liberia. She showed me pictures of her brother, Alexander, and from his wedding. He just got married. COOOL. I got his phone number as well so that I can meet him when in San Jose. He is living in Alajuela now. We also had some pictures taken and as the ladies wanted to head home we split and decided to meet up when I was back in Liberia. Before going home I got to check out the souvenir shops that are all over in Playas del Coco. I bought some souvenirs and gifts so that the folks at home will be happy to have me back as well. Zedy and Patricia went home in their car and Consuelo, Ledia and I went home around 5. They let me off downtown Liberia and I went up to Anas house again to check out what she was done with until now. I got to go home with my new grey shorts and my red shorts. and God knows I need more shorts. The 2 I brought here when I came are worn out !!! I also will get my lilac shirt by tomorrow morning.

I was home at 9:30pm and had a nice chat with Mami before I got to bed ! Exhausted.

Beautiful sunny weather. Fantastic Summer. +30 C in Liberia, San Jose somewhat colder +25C but still nice.

I got up early, around 6:30 and spent the morning packing my stuff that now was clean. We have a new made again !!!. I like her. She is not as good as Johanna but she will do. She is nice. She brought me drinks and cleaned my room. Hehehe. I like having a made.
I split around 9am and went to the internet cafe CIbermania where they all know me by now and checked e-mails, charged my iPod, updated my homepage.
Then I went home to finish up my packing and have some lunch. I stayed home until Consuelo picked me up. She is letting me drive with them to San Jose today. And as we set off I remembered that I had to pick up my new shirt on the way. That way I found out that Consuelo lives right next to where Ana works.

Driving in Costa Rica
I could write page up and page down about driving in Costa Rica. Costa Ricans are dangerous drivers. They like to drive drunk, not use seatbelts and they like to pass other cars when they dont have a clear view. Especially in curves or follow the car in front of them if he tries to pass a slow driver. This is mostly because the huge trailers that cant go fast uphill wont let the smaller cars pass them. We drove past 2 minor accidents in 4 hours and witnessed maybe 3 close-to-be accidents. Although our driver was great, you never know who you will meet coming in the opposite direction.

Costa Rica has VERY high death numbers by car accidents every year and the MOPT (Ministerio de Obras Publicas y de Transportes - Ministry of Public working and Transport) has a campaign going on called COSEVI (COnsejo de SEguridad VIal - Road Safety Consulting). The campaign is mainly to make people aware of the responsability they have for other drivers, for their own lives and for driving more carefully in general.

From the COSEVI pages I found that CR has serious injuries due to traffic accidents every 10 days, 89% of the victims are men, 42% the driver, 23,5% walkers. From the year 2000 to 2005 2211 people died instantly in an accident. Check out the statistics here - (in spanish only)

One of the ways they make themselves visible is by the COSEVI campaign. They have TV commercials and they are also very visible on the roads. Every place where someone has died due to a car accident they paint a yellow heart, like the one on the picture at the left, with a seatbelt. When you drive past 15-25 yellow hearts on the road in just 30 minutes it makes you think.

I got to Moravia at 6 pm and was picked up by cousin Francisco and we drove around picking up a aircondition motor (his work) and towing a friend of his car from one place to another since the engine broke down.

At night I went out with Francisco and a friend of his to a bar called Ricuras but it was no good so we went to a Karaoke bar called Caddillac. Although shabby clients, we had a wonderful time. Francisco even sang a couple of songs. Hehe.
Around 10:30pm I went to El Cuartel de la Boca with my Couchsurfer friends; Cyril, Fabian, Erin, Alejandro, Oscar and Sunita. That was even better and Oscar and Sunita gave me a ride home at 2am.

Beautiful weather. No complaints. Almost the same temperatures as in Liberia (+28C) but with 94% humidity it feels a lot hotter.

I got up at 5:20am to get ready for the BIG day. I had ordered a trip with Jungle Tom Safaris to go to the Jungle for 3 days. I went down to pick up place and was there at 6am and waited for the bus. Outside the hotel I started speaking to Thomas from Germany. It shows he was going for the same trip and we talked a lot before we were picked up at Hotel Aurola Holiday Inn in San Jose. The bus was supposed to be there at 6:20 but did not get there until 7am. On the bus there were about 9 other travellers. Amongst them norwegian Hanne that I spent the whole morning talking to. There was also 4 french ladies and some gringos. We headed out from San Jose towards the caribbean and first amazing view we got was driving through the Braulio Carrillo National park. I need to go back there. The view was great and the national park is also where the first Jurassic Park movie was filmed. We drove past the river that shows in the movie where there is one river arm, coming down from the Irazu volcano, that is all yellow, while the other river arm is green. The yellow river that comes down from Irazu is dirty and full of sulfur and volcanic dirt. The other river that is green is fresh and alive.

We had breakfast in Guapiles, a nice traditional rice and beans breakfast with egg. I was lucky and sat next to Hanne, the norwegian girl and we started speaking. It was so relieving (but also difficult in the beginning) to speak my language after having spoken almost only spanish for 2,5 months. We had a great breakfast before we were heading towards Sarapiqui where we stopped to check out the "Del Monte" Banana plantation where we got to see how they sort and pack bananas that go to the local market and for exportation.We also got to see a strange beetle with horns. It has a kind of a furry, brown coloured shell. From there we drove past the Earth University that is the most expensive University in Costa Rica.

We arrived Cano Blanco around 10:30 to abandon our bus and embark on the most exciting part of this tour: The boat trip into the jungle on the CARIBBEAN CANALS to the world famous TORTUGUERO NATIONAL PARK.
Covering 1.800 hectares, TORTUGUERO is a coastal park situated on a flood plain and it is one of the most important nesting sites for Chelonia midas, the green sea turtle, whereas its forests and waterways are home for such endangered mammals as sloths, monkeys, agoutis, coati mundis and manatees. There are also abundant birds, such as toucans, trogons, egrets, herons and anbingas, as well as crocodiles, turtles and countless colorfull butterflies, including the beautiful blue morpho and the boat trip offers a chance to see many of these rare animals up close.

We were taken up the Reventazon river and after a boat trip for about 40 minutes we changed boat and left the day-trippers behind before the stay overs was taken over an hour further into the jungle to our hotel close to Tortuguero village. We left Thomas at his hotel and the 2 gringos at theirs. The 4 french ladies and I were left at Monkeys Lodge that is located just 50 meters away from Evergreen Hotel where we are going to have all our meals. We were welcomed by a very nice and hearty lady Rosemary, also known as "MONA". She took us around to show us the property and our rooms before she took us over to Evergreen to use the swimmingpool and have some lunch. Delicious food in tropical surroundings. Weee. I like it here.

I had a shower before I sprayed myself with the perfume of the caribbean (Insect repellant) to avoid being the popular girl with the sweet blood. Then I went down to the shore where the other ladies were waiting. Mona introduced us to Tosty - the domesticated Caiman - and at 3pm we were picked up by our tour guide and the other tourists to go to the town of Tortuguero. We were taken to the visitors center to watch a movie from 1996 witch in the end noone wanted to see before we were taken straight to the beach to see turtle nests (even turtle season is between july and october). Then we walked around in the tiny town that is no longer than 700 meters with houses on both sides of a walk-way before heading to the beach again.
We had a meeting hour at 5pm to be picked up and I got some souvenirs in the only souvenir shop in town.

At the hotel we got ready for dinner by waiting in the bar. Drinking umbrella drinks and beer and chatting to the bartender watching the american tourists dance merengue with their guides. hehe. Some sight. Fantastic. Dinner was at 7pm and we had delicious Fish with mashed potatoes and lots of fresh vegetables. We had one more drink after dinner and then walked through the pitch dark path back to our hotel with no torches. EEEK.
The frenchies stayed outside of their rooms on the veranda for a while but I was far to popular even due to the insect repellant to wanna stay out. I got to bed instead. Exhausted from all the interesting experiences of the day !

Beautiful nice weather, +25C and not one single cloud to spot. About 90% humidity.

I woke up at 6 am and and immediately went on a frog hunt for the Strawberry poison-dart frog. Incredible creatures of the size of a finger nail painted with a red back and blue legs. Highly venomous of course but it looks GREAT on pictures. They are also called blue-jeans frogs. Inmensly proud of spotting small red things (on the size of a human finger nail) hopping around on the ground between the cut grass I took a couple of pictures before I had to head for breakfast. I showed the other ladies my pictures and after breakfast I took them to where I found the frogs and showed them too. They were also impressed by the size and wondered how I had seen them at all in the grass. Well. One fantastic thing about red things hopping around in the grass... The grass is green. and you do see red things moving in the green grass. They are extremely difficult to spot when sitting still though.

The trip on the Tortuguero River
We were picked up by our team at 8am to enter the Tortuguero National park and our first stop was at the town of Tortuguero to get our tickets. Thomas and I had already bought ours yesterday, valid for 3 days, as we tried hiking to the beach through the national park as we were exploring the town of Tortuguero, so we did not need to buy new ones now. (I also learned something then. It is not legal to enter the trails unless you have high rubber boots (both because of the possibility of meeting poisonous snakes and the wet mud in the trails. Luckily our hotel borrowed me some so I could bring them with me.
Weeee. Let the adventures begin.

It was a fantastic trip. We were taken up the Tortuguero River and entered Cano Jarol. A nice river that was amazing to tour. We got to be the lucky tourists that got in close contact with the trees hanging over the river as our tour guide, Gilber - popularly called Chito, decided to start cutting down the branches with a huge machete. Justo the driver, is nicaraguan and both of them are really nice, good tourguides.

Animals I have spotted during the day
Howler Monkeys, Caimans, Three toed sloths, Norhern racoon, lizards including the Jesus Christ Lizard, iguanas, Herons, turtles, basilisks, toucans and macaws.

When the official program was over around 10:30am we could choose to be taken to the hotel of the village. Thomas and I went to the village and we had our second breakfast at a bakery. Banana bread and Tres Leches. YUMMY.
After the small food stop we went to the end of the village and showed them the boots and the tickets to enter the park. We hiked up and down the paths looking for strange animals but had no greater luck on that today. We saw lots of lizards and spiders and heard a great orchestra of birds, but no really amazing strange animals.
So we decided heading out towards the Tortuguero beach and it was beautiful. We walked up the beach for about 15 minutes before entering the forest again and went back to the ranger station.

After the walk in the forest it was GREAT to take the rubber boots off and sit down and have some lunch. We both had a great heart-of-palm lasagna with fresh vegetables and lemonade. It was great. A wonderful choise. Thomas even mentioned that that particular dish is even mentioned in the Lonley planets guide to what is worth trying to eat when in Tortuguero.
At the same restaurant that we had lunch they had internet and I sat down for an hour trying to
update blog and respond to some e-mails i had recieved. Jungle called and I left internet pretty quick heading down towards the shore to find a taxi home.
Taxis in Tortuguero is a chapter of its own. They are cool !!!. They are not cars but boats !!! hehe. Taxi Jairo took me to Monkeys lodge and by this point of the trip I was pretty tired and I felt dirty being sweat, full of insect repellant and dragging around on those ugly rubber boots.

I was met by Mona and the 2 remaining french ladies (Paula and Jeanne) - (the other two just came for one sleep over) and they were having lunch late. It seemed like they had been to the Nicaraguan border on a private tour that the petrol station man had given them being a friend of Mona. They had a wonderful time. I went in and showered and Mona called Taxi Jairo so he could take me around. He showed up about 15 minutes later and took me for a private tour into one of the canals where we watched the sunset and listened to the orchestra of birds and monkeys going to bed before the nocturnal birds started their orchestra. We saw heaps of glow-worms in the grass around the canals and Jairo was cute. A nice way to spend Valentines day. Though, the dude had to continue working and he left me at the hotel at 7pm so I could have dinner with the other ladies. We had a great dinner with chicken. We stopped in the bar for a little while and I must admit I went early to bed tonight as well. Exhausted but content !

Not one single complaint nor about the temperatures nor about the weather. It is just gorgeous ! Still humid but no problem when travelling here and there in boats on canals !

Natures orchestra
Today I was woken up by the most amazing symphony of the nature. Howler monkeys howling and Capuchins screaming, Crickets doing their thing, Birds with all kinds of strange colours welcoming the morning with their song. It was marvelous. I have never heard such a fantastic orchestra right outside my door before.

Frog hunting
I woke up at 5 and it was still dark. I was a little disoriented due to the early hour, but as soon as it got a little lighter I went out to go for a frog search just like yesterday morning. Mona (the hotel lady) borrowed me a torch and off I went. I was searching for the famous Strawberry poison-dart frog to see if I could get any good pictures. I saw about 4-5 of them hopping around on the grass until the whiteface monkeys got close.
White face monkeys or Capuchin monkeys, as their scientific name, are actually very agressive. The alpha male showed me clearly that he did not like me taking pictures of the members of his family and went up on 2 feet and showed me his teeth with a threathening grin. I distanced myself from the group at this time but it was a bit hard since they were everywhere; in the trees, on the ceiling and on the roofs of the houses. The hotels cat did not like the fact that the monkeys entered HER area so she started running after them and chasing them away. That was an awesome sight. Haha. You should have seen that !
I did get a lot of great shots of the monkeys and I had a wonderful time out in the early morning hour.

At 7am we (Paula, Jeanne (France) and I) had breakfast at Evergreen Lodge consisting of Pancakes, fruits and egg. Wonderful. I went to pack my luggage since we were checking out at 8am, to travel the canals again and then head back to San Jose, and got ready just in time for the boat to arrive. As we were waiting we called for Tosty - the domesticated Caiman at Monkeys Lodge. As the boat arrived we said our goodbyes to Mona.

Our driver, Justo from Nicaragua, and our guide Gilber, also popularly called Chito, had already picked up Thomas from Germany and we were set to go. We stuffed our luggage in the back of the boat and set off to the Penetencia river where we watched animal life at its best. We passed Volcan Tortuguero, that is the only volcano in the caribbean side of CR but it has been dead for very many years and after about 30 minutes we drove in to Cano Palma, a smaller river in the canals. There we stopped to fish but we did not have our great luck and we had to return empty handed. Though we had a cool experience with the whiteface monkeys. We met two competing tribes. Each one on their side of the river that were pretty anxious to fight. hehe. Though the monkeys are smart enough to understand that it is not a good idea to jump into the water to swim over to the other side and actually start the fight - since monkey meat is one of the favourite dishes of the Caiman ! So they kept to each their side and screamed and yelled at each other from there.

As the smaller tour finished we had to return up the creek and start heading down the Reventazon river to get to the meeting point where we were supposed to have lunch. We stopped at Tortuguero town to buy souvenirs and have a bathroom break before we started the more than One hour long trip back to the restuarant where we were gonna meet up with the day trippers and have lunch.

The south end of the park
We said goodbye to our guides at the restaurant and welcomed our new guide. The guides that had followed us these 3 days were going back into the jungle with the new groups that was going to stay over.
We had a wonderful chicken lunch before we set off for the last part of the official program before going back. A visit to the south end of the national park. Our new guide, Ethel, first took us up and down the canals to search for crocodiles. Which we found 5 of, oh no.. that is wrong. We actually found 7 including the 2 5 month old babies. One of the crocs was approximately around 3 meters long. EEEEK.

On the snake hunt
Then we made a stop to go for a walk in the dryer forest close to the beach side. When Ethel asked if anyone wanted to watch snakes Thomas and I volunteered. We started walking very slowly watching the tree branches and suddenly we had lost the rest of the group of 9. Not exactly. We actually had one of them with us, Italian Massimo. The poor thing had snake phobia and when he heard that we were going on a snake hunt and realized that his girlfriend had left the path ahead of us, and was nowhere to be seen, he found that it would be safer to stay inbetween me and the guide (that were searching the path on each side of the road). The guide was equally bad as I was and we told him that there are not only snakes on the path or attacking from the branches. They also have one, the parrot snake, that attacks from above. He did not dare to go fwd nor bwd without us and Thomas searched in the front. Me and Ethel on each our side and we were both dissapointed when we did not find any snakes at the end of the path. Ethel told us that she would normally find up to 5-6 snakes in one day on the same path and we decided to go back the same way.
And suddenly Mr. Phobia attacks Ethel embrazing her hard and screaming purple purple and we made no sence and saw nothing so we could but laugh. Finally he told us he did see a snake and it was the wonderful OROPEL or in English: Eyelash pitViper. We took pictures and as we were running late we hurried back to the boat and got ready to go home. The boat drove with full speed to get to Cano Blanco in time.

Animals I have spotted during the day
Howler Monkeys, Caimans, lizards including the Jesus Christ Lizard, iguanas, Herons, turtles, basilisks, toucans, a yellow Eyelash pit viper and lots and lots of fishes.

We reached Cano Blanco at 3:15 pm and had a minor bathroom break there before we borded the bus on our way back to San Jose. We also had a minor break in Guapiles to get some snack and toilet and I must admit I was incredibly tired and fell asleep. We reached San Jose as expected around 7pm. I am going to stay at Franciscos place tonight but he was still not home from Quepos so Thomas and I went for dinner. We went to Cafe Mundo and had delicious dinner before splitting up and going to each ours.

As I took the taxi home I called Fran and luckily he had reached the house if not I would have had to stop by his girlfriends house, Hazel, and had her open up for me. Fran and I chatted a little bit before I went to bed. I was dead tired. I just know I was sleeping before 10pm.

The weather today was wonderful like the latest days. Warm, around +25C and hardly any clouds on the sky.

Got up at 7 today. I had breakfast with Fran and the made before I took my shower and called Roberto around 9am. We had made plans to meet up and we had to decide on what to do. He wanted to go to some hot springs and so we decided to do. I packed my bag with my bikini, tanning lotion and towel and set off for the internet cafe since he was still gonna wait for another hour and a half before picking me up.
I finished the internet business before going home to meet Roberto and he arrived about 3 minutes after I did. We set off and headed for Cartago where the hot springs are. Though as we saw the beautiful weather and that there was no clouds over Irazu volcano we decided to go there instead. A good choise. We bought Strawberries and Cantaloup melons and set off. At a Petrol station we washed the strawberries and I asked R if it would be smart to fill the car with gas. The brave words of "No, this car has more than enough gas" ! Would be the fun of the day.

Because as we had gotten 10 km away from the mountain top the car suddenly stopped. Very fun. NOT at all. It was soo empty that we had to wait for someone to sell us gasoline. Really fun hehe. The even funnier part was that the car did not wanna start with the new gas and we had to roll down all the way to the gas station to get some more gas. The bad thing was that Roberto did not wanna change the filter and he only filled gas for 5000 colones. Ergo... The car worked fine for a while and then stopped. Then we had to wait for 10 minutes to cool down and then drive another few km before stopping again. Fantastic. This went on the whole way up to the top. At least we got a few good stops at los Miradores (the lookout posts).

The even funnier part was that in 1999 when I went there we also ran out of gas and had to get help with the car. It seems to be a curse following me on this volcano !

As we entered the national park we left the car and walked the rest of the way. It was about 2 km uphill.

But I must admit - as we finally got up there and got the great view of the green sulfur lake in the crater. It was so wonderful. The sight from up there is great. And the smell of sulfur is refreshing. Walking in the sunwarn pyroclastic sand - fantastic. We took a lot of pictures that are gonna be great. As we walked down the mist started coming in as the clouds were embrazing the volcano. It was a good time to go home. We drove downhill and as the car was not as good as it should we stopped to fill more gas and guess who worked as it was supposed to !!!!.

Roberto dropped me off at my place and luckily because I was tired. I went to check on Fran but he was not home so i decided to go for an Internet cafe. I headed towards the location where aunt Daisy has her shop and found her an Paola. Paola took me home to show me how she lives. It was really nice. Then she dropped me off at Daisys house and I got to meet Carlitos again. That was great !
I stayed until 9pm and then Daisy was an angel and dropped me off at my house so I could go sleep.

went to tia Daisys house to use internet..

Today we had a wonderful sunny day. +25C but no clouds at all. I love days like that.

The gold museum
After having breakfast with Francisco I went downtown to explore the city and I took a bus down to Plaza de la Cultura.

"The land is full of gold. They wear it to adorn their heads, feet and arms. Their chairs, chests and tables are all decoreated with beaten gold. They evven place it in the graves of their dead rules". These and similar reports from Columbus and his men, awoke the Spanish greed for gold and the desire to conquer the "Rich Cost" that was Costa Ricas first name given by the conquestadors in 1493.
There I entered the Gold Museum. It was great to visit that again. I went there in 1993. There has been a lot of changes. And the museum has wonderful treasures to be shown.
The details of the gold figures are wonderful, everything from head adornaments to tiny frogs, bats and other animals. The indians used these figures to connect to the spiritual world and for protection. They believed that the spirits would help them when they had beautiful figures shaped like them.

After the gold museum I did some downtown walking and ended up checking out la Casona. I found out they still had the wonderful painting I have been thinking of for a month and as I did not like the price they wanted for it I managed to lower it to 50% of the original price. IT is still expencive but I think it might be worth it. I told her Ill think of it and then come back.
I did not get much stuff at all today but at least I had a wonderful day.

I stopped at an internet cafe around 4pm and I pretty much stayed there till 9pm updating my blog and responding e-mails I had recieved and chatted a bit. I had forgotten to eat lunch and dinner and as I started to become forgetful Lucy (50 first dates) i decided to go home. I was really tired and Fran was asleep as I got home. He got up and we went for a bite at a bar close by. We had a couple of "Bocas" each before we went home. I was dead tired and went straight to bed.

The morning started out great with wonderful sun and +24C but as the clock approached 4pm it got really cloudy and we had some rain at night.

Ojo de agua
During breakfast one of Franciscos friends called and wanted us to go with them to the swimmingpools in the Alajuela area - Ojo de agua. We decided to do so and called Hazel, Franciscos girlfriend to see if she wanted to come. She brought her kid, Sebastian, a really nice kid around 6-7 years old. We loaded the 3 seat car with stuff and 4 people and the kid had to hide whenever some traffic police would be around. We got to Ojo de agua around 11am and MAN it was crowded. People everywhere. Though at least we got to tan a bit and enjoy the swimming pools, even though I must admit it might be a bit cold. Even for me being a norse and all. We went home around 3pm and Fran let me off downtown to pick up desserts and check if the painting I want was still there. No probl. about the painting. The store was closed. I picked up som 3leches for all and then headed home.

Carne asada
Carne Asada means barbecue and we had a barbecue party in my house when I got home. It was with Hazel, the kid and Frans 2 friends from the pool.
The meet was great and I think we all enjoyed it. The 4 dogs (Coky, Tiffany, Princesa and Florida) were sitting like lit candles around us hoping that we would feed them and Coky even puked because he overate.
Then I decided to go for a search to find an open internet cafe but I only found one that closed 15 minutes after I came there. The dude was nice though and gave me 30 minutes. Not that that helps to do 5 days of blog entries.. I must admit. I am not updating my blog every day although I go back and update every day.

As I got home we watched a movie - Kindergarden cop with Arnold Schwartzenegger before going to bed. Man I am tired these days.

When I woke up it was around +24C and some clouds. During the day we had some moments of beautiful sunny weather and at night it was raining a bit.

Shopping downtown
The day started out at 8am and I had breakfast by myself (and Franciscos dogs that sat next to me as I had food like lightended candles waiting for a bit to fall down on the floor). I went downtown to do some shopping and to get some souvenirs. I bought an acrylic painting of a rainforest with a river. It is soooo nice. I have thought of if for more than a month now. I am just so glad they had not already sold it. I also got a couple of hooded sweaters before I went home to leave the painting at the house, pack for the night and set off for the Eyedoctors.

Appointment at the Eye doctors
I took a cab up to Rohrmoser from San Francisco. Of course I had to remember the wrong adress in Rohrmoser and went to Plaza Rohrmoser instead of Plaza Mayor where I should have gone. Anyways the two malls are withing walking distance of each other so I just walked the resting 500 meters. I got there with a very good time and went to an internet cafe so that I could do some updating of my webpage.
As some of you remember and already know about I had my eyes operated with LASIK surgery 4 years ago here in San Jose. I am scheduled today to do a check-up after all these years so that the doctor can see how I have progressed. I had my appointment scheduled for 2:30pm and as the good Norwegian I am, used to get somewhere with a good margin, I was there early. For nothing. I was told as I got there that yes. "You will get in right after the lady over there". "And how long will it take?" I asked. "Well, around 30 minutes because it is her initial check". Ok. Then I have the time to go get some lunch I thought. Oh well. I went to have some lunch, I did some shopping and got back within my 30 minutes to realize that she still had not been let in. OH MY G.. What to do. Well. I sat down and watched TV. They had Gilmore Girls and the OCs on. And notice this ... I saw both shows before I was called in to my check.
It was the same lady that checked my eyes 4 years ago claiming I had been lost for so many years. HA!. I know where Ive been. hehe. What was wonderful is that my sight has not changed in these 4 years. Fantastic sight still.
She also dripped my eyes with a liquid that would open my pupils completely to do the remaining checks done by the DR. Perdomo himself. I still had to wait for about 30 minutes. Concerning I was supposed to meet my friends to get good seats for the RICKY concert at 4pm and it was now 4:30pm I was starting to get stressed. But well. What can you do. Costa Ricans are NOT exactly good in working efficiently. I finally got in to the doctor and although 2,5 hours later than the appointment was scheduled to. For what the tests showed him and what he could see from his tests my eyes are still in a perfect 20/20 sight with no changes and the results are very good after the operation. Fantastic !!!!

The Ricky Martin concert
I had a couple of phone calls with Paola, Jessica and Sunita and took a cab directly to Tibas where Estadio Ricardo Saprissa is located.
And there were people everywhere. Ricky Martin is very popular in these countries and the propaganda and comercials have been very visual and good.
I talked to Jessica and then I went to stand in Line to get good seats. I also got a ticket for Sunita that did not have one yet. The lines were long. About 500-700 meters long and luckily Jessica cought up on me so I did not have to wait too long by myself. Paola showed up as we closed in on the entrance but no sign on Sunita.
I decided to wait outside and I waited for almost an hour for her to show up. She did show up in the last minute because the guards were gonna close the gates at that moment. Luckily she did get there in time. Now the only problem was that my cell was completely out of battery. No possibilities and we had no idea on how to find Jessica and Paola. So we lurked around looking for them but no signs.
The stadium was FULL. Maybe 10-15000 people had shown up. As the warm-up band showed up the lights went out and made it no easier to find my cousins. Well. Sunita and I decided to sit down somewhere and after the warm-up band the lights went on again. Luckily Paola was on the search for us and I spotted her as she was searching for us. I was glad to be united with them again. I was also very glad I had 2 hooded sweaters on. It was cold (around +18C) at the stadium and wind was blowing.
Suddenly music starts and the crowd went alive. Screaming, yelling and the common shout was RICO RICO RICO for Ricky (RICO means - good looking). As Ricky entered the stage to a spectacular light show with great music - well I have never witnessed a crazier crowd. The full show was fantastic. Great music. Great RICO and a great crowd. As they all sang with him on the most well-known songs. Fantastic. The crowd was alive. Man, what a great experience.

El Cuartel de la Boca
As the concert ended Sunita and I decided to go to "El cuartel" to meet up with the other couchsurfers. Paola drove us there and mondays are womens night. Free entrance and a live band. The band that played tonight was a great band with reaggae music and great dance music. We soon found Cyril dancing with a couple of friends all in front of the stage where we stayed dancing a while as well before we went searching for other CS friends of Sunita that had said they were going to be there.
We found Miami Marco with a friend, Jonathan, and we settled with them. They were a lot of fun and really great company. We danced and talked until they closed and then we went to "El Pueblo" that was mostly closed. Some of the bars were open but not many. There we decided to go to San Pedro and stop at TicoBurguesas to get something to eat. When they closed at 4am we were bound to end the night and got cabs home. Thanks folks for a great night out.

Not nice weather today. I am missing my Guanacaste. +22C and no sight of blue sky at all. Brrr. It actually poored down at several occations. This is why I prefer Guanacaste.

I woke up around 10:45 by a phone call and found that was a reasonable time to get out of bed. I had my shower and then I headed downtown. I went to Cafe Digital Internet cafe to do the entries in my blog. I felt the urge to be updated because it is so much to update and do during a day that if I dont I will forget so much. I pretty much spent most of the day doing that. At 5 I met Sunita and we walked from downtown to Rohrmoser to Oscars place to make some brunchinner (breakfast/lunch for me. Dinner for Sunita) before she had to go to job #2.
From there I went to aunt Daisy where I had Dinner a little later. As we were eating viewing the news and info about the Ricky Marting concert that was actully given the credits as the best pop-concert that had ever arrived Costa Rica.

I could also read in the papers that 6 people died in a Car accident yesterday. That means 76 until now this year. Compared to Norway where 242 people died in traffic accidents during the whole year of 2006.
After dinner I went home to Franciscos house and his girlfriend, Hazel, with the kid, Sebastian, and a friend of his + Frans mom, aunt Aracelly, was there. They were having a small party with nice food but I was in no shape of eating more tonight. hehe. Got to bed around 10:30pm

Today weather was nice again. A little warmer than yesterday. Around +25C and few clouds. No winds nor rain.

I woke up with a bad headache. Most surely from not sleeping too much lately. Doing a lot does not help either. I managed to sleep in and got a ride from Francisco and William to Heredia to go visit Lorena. Lorena is my other sister. I have Roxana and Federico in Liberia and Lorena in San Jose area. Fran left me at a strech where I could walk directly to her house. Though I did not do that in search of an internet cafe and the knowledge that she was not going to be at home before in another 30 minutes. Suddenly she called me, she had gotten home way earlier and then she came and picked me up. We had lunch and a great talk before she took me to Heredia downtown where I could get the bus to San Jose before the dark set in. The bus drive took me more than one hour due to the rush hour. Boring !!

From there I went to Telefericos offices and bought the tickets to go to Braulio Carrillo tomorrow. Weee. Then I took a cab up to my aunt Flor and cousin Jessica and we had dinner and talked for several hours before they left me in Guadalupe and I took a cab home. The cab driver was very nice and we had a good conversation before I got home, went in and got to bed. Very tired. I need to relax a bit soon. hehe.. NO TIME for that.

We had wonderful weather, around +27C today and no winds. Few clouds.

I got up at 4:30 today and must admit that the shower did more damage than good since the water was way too cold and I was way too tired. I got through it though and then got a bus downtown to the pickup point for my Braulio Carrillo tour. I was picked up at 6 am and the HUGE group of 2 japanese tourists and I, oh - lets not forget about the tour guide, Roger, and the bus driver, headed the 45-50 minutes drive towards the Limon province, through the national park and stopped at the Rainforest areal tram area. The first thing we did was to have a nice walk in one of the park paths before going down to the ranger station.

Did you guys ever see the movie Gorillas in the mist? Around 60% of the movie was filmed here.Or did you see the first Jurassic Park movie? Parts of that one was also filme in this area.
Well, the tropical rainforest of Braulio Carrillo National Park in Costa Rica looks very similar to the setting of these movies. This flora and fauna sanctuary is an emerald-green mass of vegetation, a saturation of tropical plants, waterfalls and trees that are heavily laden with orchids and other plants that cling to their branches. Even if someone has witnessed the splendor of a virgin rainforest before, no one that visits the Braulio Carrillo National Park can avoid feeling a sense of awe because of its beauty and magnitude.

Braulio Carrillo is located only 20 kms. Northeast of the capital city of San Jose. The park was founded in 1978 in order to save some of the area that was being opened up by the Guapiles Highway, and it was named after the third president of Costa Rica who ruled in the mid 1800s. The steep slopes are covered with thick cloud forest and beautiful waterfalls and can be seen from the road. The park consists of magnificent 46,000 hectare park and is one of Costa Ricas largest national parks. It is home to three kinds of monkeys, tapirs, 557 bird species and more than 4000 different species of plants.

At the ranger station we were expected with breakfast. The traditional dish with scrambled eggs and gallo pinto. We also got to see a three-toed sloth moving around. That is pretty rare since the sloths sleeps 19 hours a day !!! God, what a wonderful life. Sleeping 19 hours a day ! We also saw a small snake again, of the pit viper family. And this was before we started our tour. It seemed to be a good day, despite all the american tourists yabbing around talking as they were in the big city. When we finished the breakfast we went to see a movie about the Braulio Carrillo area and finally we headed to the areal trams and mounted them.
It took us about 1,5 hours to finish the tour and it was cool to drive through the rainforest in trams and not walk hehe. Considering my newfound information about the 37 venomous snakes that lives in CR and venomous frogs I am not too fond of walking through unfinished paths. hehe... We saw red bellied trogons, whiteface monkeys and huge amounts of butterflies. Among them the beautiful blue morphos.
After the tour in the trams we were taken to the souvenir shops, the serpentarium and the frog/butterflygarden. That was cool ! The serpentarium had a huge boa constrictor that hissed strangely. At least if I ever see a Boa in the loose I will recongnize that sound. I also learned that our beloved Fer de lance snake can become up to 3 meters long instead of the 1,5 I had thought it to be. EEEEEEEK.
Bite me !! NOT
But in the butterfly garden they had a lot of the small poison dart frogs and we got to take pictures and watch them on a close hold. There was also heaps of blue morphos in there and they are sooooo beautiful.

As we headed back towards San Jose the Japanese dudes fell asleep and so did I for a short while. Though I got to take a lot of pictures of the park and Rio Sucio. This River was in the 1st Jurassic Park movie !
I was left at the Telefericos office and headed towards the regular Internet cafe where I use to go at Cafe Digital about 50 meters from Plaza de la cultura in San Jose downtown.
I stayed there until Sunita showed up and then we went shopping for her lunchbreak. I also went to Pulmitan de Liberia to get a bus ticket for Saturday before I went to visit Turid and Alfredo Delgado in San Pedro. I stayed there for a couple of hours and Turid and I had a really nice long chat before I had to move on to the meeting point of where to meet Karla.
I have not seen Karla since 1999 ! That is a long time. We met the first time living in Montreal when we were there in 1995. She is the same old good friend I always knew. It was cool to meet you again Karla !
We went to have dinner at an Italian restaurant and I had pappardelle with salmon ! yummy. We had a great time. Sitting down I realized that I am in no shape to continue the party after dinner and I had to cancel on Sunita for going out tonight. Karla drove me home and I was far away in dreamland by 9:30pm.

Today we have had about +27C in the capital. The night temperatures are down to +15C in San Jose. ME NO LIKE. Sunny but with some clouds.

I woke up around 9 today. I slept almost 12 hours. WONDERFUL. I was still tired though but probably from oversleeping. hehe. I got up and had breakfast with Francisco, took a shower (warm water this time) and headed out. The first thing I did was to pop in at Tia Daisys office to hand over the Norway gifts I had for them. I stayed there chatting for a while and then headed to the bus stop to take the bus downtown. From downtown I realized I was running late and took a cab to Multiplaza Escazu to meet Ivannia for lunch. And I found out that they have Cinnabon at Multiplaza: Yummy. But my body was in no mood for sugar today so I did with just one !

Ivannia and I shopped a bit before having lunch and we found a lot of cool stuff at Zara, Qiuque and Mango (not European MNG), We updated eachother of what had happened in our lives and after lunch I headed from Multiplaza to Moravia to check out If I could find any other cool stuff to take home. Not much I had not already seen so I went downtown and headed for Internet cafe again where I stayed for a couple of hours. Heading home Francisco was asleep so I started packing my suitcase. When I was done I woke him up and we went for dinner at a place in San Francisco called La Fiesta Mexicana. GREAT FOOD and great entertainment. A sister and a brother was singing tradicional rancheras (ranch songs). It was really cool. We stayed for several hours before moving to the next bar. Actually we left the car at Frans house and went to the nextdoor bar - MAR Karaoke - where we stayed till 4 am. It was a great party with a lot of fun and I dont know what happened but suddenly I had like 3-4 guys hanging around me. Unfortunately cousin Fran was playing bodyguard and did not let me misbehave. Though. I hope he meets Jeffrey (If that was his name) from Deamparados again and sends him to Liberia next weekend for the finale of the Fiestas.

Salud dirá mañana si hay fiestas en Liberia.

Finally. Some heat to warm up my body after all the lousy San Jose weather. We are up to +32C again. NICE.

I woke up at 10 am and had breakfast with Fran. I felt a little hungover from yesterday but that quickly faded as I had my breakfast and lots of water. I got my shower and got ready for travelling to Liberia. The day has come where I will not see my friends for a while. Who knows for how long I will have to wait before coming back to San Jose again.
Fran dropped me off at the Pulmitan de Liberia bus station where I had tickets for the direct bus at noon. I spent most of the bus ride asleep. Luckily the bus was far from full and I had two seats for myself. WEEEEE.

When I got home at 4 I had to go to the new house. We no longer live in the old house and I was impressed to see everything in there. I actually kinda likes it a lot. I am also happy I was here for the change because it has been a bit sad to leave the old house. Hehe. All my childhood houses are now out of the family. Though the changes to the new house to make it livable are great. So much has been done just in two weeks and It looks great. I have a bigger room as well.

I had lunch and unpacked my stuff before going to the fiestas with Angelica and Mauricio, one of Angelicas friends. We also met Elisa (another of Angelica and Maurys friends) and had a great time there. I got home early. Too much parties, travels and meeting people lately.

Calorcito Fiestas encienden la pampa,

Today was another one of those gorgeous days with sun from blue sky and a mild breeze. +33C and waves breaking towards the beach. How much better can you actually feel?

I got up around 8:30 and called Angelica to go to the beach. Then I packed and got ready to head over to hers. I stopped by at Cibermania to check for an adress online and then headed towards my friend Jenniffers (from Canada 1993) host parents. I dropped in quickly to give them a couple of pictures from Canada and send them the best regards from Jen. From there I headed to Angelicas house and we went to fill the car with gas and get fruits and something to drink at the beach.
As we drove towards the beach we listened to Reggaeton music and had a really nice time.
We got there about mid-day and it was really hot. The sand is all black and it was almost painfull to walk in the sand even with the sandals on. Though, why worry about minor problems when you can jump into the +28C degrees hot water to cool off?
We had lunch and talked to some people from Grecia that sat next to us and they gave us fresh sugarcanes to chew on from their farm. That was tasty. We also walked along the beach as they looked after our stuff, went for swims and I had a picture session as well with the cliffs and the water crashing against the rocks. I found some strange creatures in the water pots as well. In spanish they are called babosa de mar. I think they might be some kind of a sea snail or something but it had antennas and looked strange.
We also spent the afternoon swimming, looking for shells and burying eachother in the sand. It was a great afternoon. As we headed home we stopped at Playas del Coco to have an icecream and walked around there to relax a bit more before going home. On our way back we stopped at Rozys house and I fixed her computer. We agreed on going together to another beach on Wednesday. Fantastic. As I got home it was already 9 and I watched some TV with Mami before I went to sleep.

Another wonderful day with +33C and sun from blue sky. No wind what so ever.

I woke up around 9 and got a phone call from Norway today. That was great. Thanks John for calling me.
I had breakfast and as I prepared my breakfast I realized we have workers in our garden. One of them is really handsome ! Wondering if I am staying home today? NAHHH.

Ana called for me to come over to hers to try on the clothes so that she can finish her work and I got over there and 2 pants were too small and 2 too big. Some adjustments has to be done then. No p. hehe.. We also had a great chat and we went downtown together.
I stopped by internet to finish up the blog for the last 3 days. I have been good though and I think I have remembered to put most of what I have experienced in my diary.
I have also noticed I do have some faithful readers out there because every now and then when I have not had time to write too much I get worried e-mails whether I am still alive or lost in the jungle. Thanks for caring guys and I hope you are enjoying my public letters :)

As I have also told you before Liberia is in Civic parties season and that means a lot of parties all over....
The civic parties are a 10 day long party with Bull fights, concerts, artisan markets and lots and lots of cultural happenings. This happens every year in the end of Febuary in Liberia.

I went to Marta and Renees house to use the swimming pool and that was great in the hot weather. I think that was the better ways I could have spent the day. I had lunch with Marta and Rene and I left when the sun was going down. On my way downtown Diego called me to meet up for Dinner. He wanted to see me just in case it could be the last time. Diego is sweet. I am so glad to have him as my friend !
I went home to change clothes and I went downtown to the park to meet him at Tinajas. We had dinner and talked for hours. When they closed at las Tinajas he drove me home.
I also had a nice chat with Mami before I went to bed.

Weather today has been a bit varied since I have been to several different regions of CR. Liberia had the same wonderful sunny weather as previous days. +33C and no clouds. Although in Fortuna the weather was cloudy and it even rained a few drops. Throughout the day the weater cleaned up though.

I got up at 4am this morning to get the bus at 5 to Puntarenas. As I walked down towards the bus station I enjoyed the quiet dark morning before I reached the bus station where I got a sandwich and something to drink before hopping on the bus. It was early and I thought; GOD i just hope nothing happens with this bus so that we dont miss the bus from Canas to Tilaran.
And what happens? OH Yes. Dont you doubt it. One of the tires went flat !
We all had to deboard the bus and stress rushed towards me since I knew we had to get the bus from Canas to Tilaran. The fact that I did not know if the bus from Tilaran to Fortuna leaves from Tilaran at 7 or at 8. I needed to get the bus from Canas at 6am. I just had to.
I found this other lady from the bus and we hopped on the first bus that passed from Liberia to Canas. In Canas we found out that the bus just left so the lady and I took the first cab we found and payed him to press his foot on the speeder. Finally after about 15 minutes in the cab we reached the bus and I was happy. All was good again.
I could not help but thinking that it could be that I wasnt supposed to do this trip today. No matter what I was going to Fortuna ! I had to do it today cause it was my last possibility.
I just had my mind on getting JorunnS a gift I hope is good for her.

The good thing about getting to Tilaran at 6:45am was that I realized that one of the 2 buses that goes to Tilaran leaves at 7am and the other bus leaves until 12:30. It does not leave at 8 like some dude told me in Liberia. Another proof that one should not always believe anything that a common Tico tells you. hehe. Ticos does not like to be wrong and will not admit that they dont know things.

Finally we did get that bus at 7 and was so happy to get the bus I had planned for. I sat down with the lady I had gotten to know on the trip to Tilaran. She quickly dug up her Bible from her bag and started studying it. I dont normally sleep when travelling alone but I seriously felt confident that she was gonna watch out for me. An hour and a half into our trip we had a stop and some people went off. I jumped on the opportunity to get a double seat just for ME. That felt good considering the seats of the buses always are too short for my legs.

We arrived Fortuna at 10am and I walked around a bit before I got my return ticket to Liberia. I could not wait for the regular bus to go at 5:30pm so I headed for the greyline company like I did last time I was in Fortuna. The greyline bus is scheduled for 1pm so at least that one will be back in Liberia about the same time the regular bus leaves Fortuna.
Then I took a cab up to Hotel Montana de Fuego where the souvenir shop I had been searching all day was located. OK it was not at Montana de Fuego but on the other side of the road. I went in there and looked through the souvenirs to see if I found a suitable gift for my friend. I will not say here what I ended up with since it is supposed to be a surprise for someone.

After choosing the gifts I went over the streets and had lunch at Acuarela restaurant. I had a wonderful tropical chicken with a mango/pineapple/passionfruit/peach sauce topped with strawberries, peaches and avocado. It was served with rice and beans and it tasted delicious !!!
I had an amazing view towards the Arenal volcano and the better thing about it all was that the clouds lifted up and the view towards the volcano was amazing. The sound of Lava rocks falling down the mountain hills, the damp from the hot rocks as they cool down towards the mountain. Those are views to remember. The amazement I feel as I look towards one of natures true wonders.

The greyline bus picked me up at the hotel and I was soooo tired I almost fell asleep waiting for it. Though I managed to wait until I was on the bus. I fell asleep almost immediately but the bus driver woke me up to show us all a coati family along the road. They are so used to tourists and beeing fed by people that they put on a show. They are amazing and they make strange sounds. They almost sound like some strange birds. I had bananas that I fed them with and they were almost fighting about the food. Cool animals.
After getting back on the bus I slept for another hour and a half. We had to make a bus change and after the change I spent the rest of the time talking to Klemens from switzerland. He was an AFS student in the US 04/05 and has been in CR 3 months like me. We had a nice chat and I hopped off the bus in Liberia while he continued to Tamarindo.

As I arrived Liberia I stopped at the internet cafe before going home. I didnt stay long though. I was dead tired and went home to sit on my bed for an hour or two before I finally went to bed.

Were back to sunny world again. +33C and that wonderful dry weather. No clouds. I love this place. God I wish I could stay here forever.

After my long trip yesterday I was exhausted and I slept in. I did not wake up until 10am. Havent slept that long in months. I soon headed downtown and stopped by Salon Allan to say hi to Ana. It was amazingly hot today and I realized I was not too happy about walking around too much. At least Ana and Allan had aircondition hehe.
I also had a stop at the local internet cafe in front of the park Cibermania to check on e-mails and I was very happy when Irene from Rex Cargo had written me. I had not been able to locate her because she was out of the country this week. Great. I need to send my stuff but at least I will contact her on friday so that we can plan how to do with the stuff I am sending. That relieves a lot of worries.

I headed home and got ready for the beach. I packed bikini, towel and cookies and headed for Angelicas house. We picked up Rocio and filled the car with gas, picked up fruit and drinks before we headed towards the 4 seasons resort where we parked our car. Since we are not allowed to enter the 4 seasons resort in our own cars unless we are guests at the resort they have a shuttle service that you can take to go to the beaches of the area. This is also because the beaches is located too long away to be in a walking distance from the parking lot and the hotel area.
As we arrived to the beautiful beach area we had to walk down a wooden path and we heard howler monkeys on our way towards the clearing.
The beach was great with white sand and clear water over the white sand. Since it is wednesday it is hardly any people at all. Mostly tourists. We had to try out the water pretty soon and it is so delicious. A couple located close to us had found two dead fishes in the water that they threw away. A good thing with this beach is that 4 seasons has a lot of garbage bins placed all over and it is actually kept clean. Many Ticos (and tourists) are great pollutioners and leaves their garbage wherever they can seem to want to leave it. This beach is wonderfully clean and I like it a lot.

To truly enjoy the day we tanned, swam and got buried in the warm sand to leave all worries behind. I cant have been much worried because I quickly fell asleep and when I woke up it was time to head out in the water to get cleaned up and welcome happiness and joy into our lifes :) Life is GOOD !
With the sunset we left the beach to go home but we got some great photos of the 4 season area first. It is wonderful but so expensive. It is about a 100$ just to dine there. This Four Seasons hotel is the only one located in central america though and it is a great place for the locals to work since they pay well.

We got back to Liberia just before 6:30 and we were all in a hurry to meet up in the park again since we all wanted to see the concert with Voces ancestrales and Gaviota.
Voces ancestrals means ancient voices and it is a University drama group that focuses on making plays to show the ancient cultures of the local area. Guanacaste used to have a many indians tribes and the drama group showed us a great performance with the history of our ancestors interpreted with the eyes of the youth. It was a great show and they had great music to accompany it.
After Voces ancestrales we went to Las Tinajas with Angelicas mom, Auxiliadora, and a couple of other friends of A (Ivannia and Alicia). Service was a little slow today since it was packed with people and we missed the first part of the Gaviota (costa rican group) concert. Though, missed it is maybe an exageration since we could see the scene from the restaurant since Tinajas is located just in front of the park where the concert was held. I also ran into Karina Alejandra and her mom and some of their friends. It was great to see them again. The concert was great and the park was packed with people.

I got home around 10 because I suddenly remembered I did not have a key to the new house and mami was going to bed early to go to San Jose. She and Papi are going to pick up their new passports so they can go to Guatemala on the 6th.