the other beaches (more photos)

so here are a bunch of photos from the beaches we traveled through and to after the course ended. (when in theory i should have been looking for a job).

somehow this is the only picture i have of our house in quepos... i thought about taking some pictures when we first moved in, but never did. this is me the morning of our departure from quepos, still dressed from the night before, packing my bag and preparing to run to the bus station.

our first beach destination: montezuma. the building you can see (yes, the one right on the beach) is the hostel we stayed at. downstairs there was a restaurant and upstairs were the rooms. there was also a balcony area where we could sit and stare out at the ocean. before we found out that we could light fires on the beach.

this is the waterfall we hiked out to see in montezuma. hike is maybe too strong of a word... there was a short path and then we were pretty much walking along the edge of this river/stream and climbing all over the rocks. eventually we came to this waterfall - which was beautiful and spent some time there diving off the rocks into the pool and just kind of chilling.

here we all are, camped out on the beach in front of our fire one night. this was before we had the brilliant idea to dig out these little recliner shapes in the sand and cover them with the sarongs. we also had progressively bigger fires. as you do.

it may not look like much, but this was our super great snorkeling spot at playa ocotal. there was one beach (play ocotal) and another nearby beach (the name of which escapes me now) and between them was this rocky bit sort of jutting out into the ocean. there was this little sort of sheltered area where we got in. we saw a blowfish, some other crazy fish i don't know the names of, some stingrays... all very cool.

our last beach destination. since we didn't really spend that much time lying on the beach while we were at playa del coco (we were snorkeling and tooling around on the scooter), i spent a good deal of time in tamarindo trying to top off my tan. and here is one of the fabulous sunsets that finished off a day at the beach.

so very soon i'll be headed back to costa rica. though i'll be living in san jose and might not be able to get to the beach as often as last time, i'm still looking forward to it. i know everyone's been saying how mild the winter has been here in the northeast, but i've been freezing since i got back. in fact i'm shivering as i type. looking forward to more temperate climates. i may put up one more set of photos before i go... the couple days in the mountains and the volcano. but we'll see how the rest of my to do list goes...

*our* beach - manuel antonio

so pretty much every saturday and sunday most of us went to the beach. and why not - just a 15 minute bus ride away is the town of manuel antonio - where there is a nice public beach and a beautiful national park. and it only cost 105 colones (about 20 cents) to get there. the ultimate cheap weekend trip. plus lots of beach side restaurants and bars with 2 for 1 happy hour specials. :)

here i am surfing. it was my second attempt ever (i had tried it in hawaii too) - but it was a little bit different. in hawaii we were out kind of far and i actually had to paddle quite a bit and then was assisted with a little shove from the instructor. in manuel antonio we were about chest deep in the water and basically we were just lying on the boards and when the wave came the instructor would shove us off and tell us to stand up. kind of strange, but still fun. i definitely got more bruises on this attempt - but my arms and shoulders weren't as sore after.

this is one of the beaches inside of the national park. i actually only went to the park on one day (it cost $7 to get in!!!) during the whole time i was there. but the beaches inside the park were even nicer than the public beach. and the waves were a little gentler so you didn't have to swim out as far to not get knocked over while swimming around.

this is the group that i hiked around the park with - left to right: ryan the lion (there was more than one ryan), me, lesley, mark, and matt. basically all we were doing was hiking through the trails and finding beaches. every time we found a new beach we stopped for a while, had a swim, sat in the sun, and then moved on to the next beach. i did get a little sore from all that hiking around - i'm clearly not in the shape that i used to be and it's been a while since i've done any hiking. but the beaches were worth it.

this is one of the animals that was wandering around the national park. i'm not really sure what it is. it kind of looks like a raccoon and lemur mix. i can't remember what it was called in spanish. but it's not something i'd ever heard of before. kind of weird.

and here is a sunset on the public beach. what more can i say... :)

the mountain of zuma (montezuma)

so the end of the course was a bit of a rush and everything was crazy. people were losing their minds (myself included) trying to get all their lessons planned and approved and making posters and visuals and oy vey. then there was all the paper work we needed to hand in.... but i'm happy to say that i finished the course, i have my certificate and a letter of reccomendation from the school. sigh.

had a bit of a crazy night the last friday. first there was our free graduation dinner - which was really good. mahi mahi and wine and champagne. then the plan was that a small group of us were going to do a little traveling together. actually the original plan was to go down to panama for a few days - boca del toro or something - and do some snorkeling. after that some of our friends were flying to equador and the rest of us were going to work our way back to san jose.

but then they weren't going to be able to fly out of panama, they would have to fly out of san jose. so it didn't really make sense to go all the way down to panama (a very VERY long bus journey) just to have to make the same trip back. so instead we were going to go south from quepos and hang out on the osa peninsula. and so that was the plan. until friday night after dinner about 6 hours before our bus was supposed to leave (at 5:30 am)

then we get to thinking - getting to the osa peninsula is still a lot of bus riding and still a long way back to san jose. so why not just go somewhere a little closer. so the new plan was to go north on the pacific coast to the nicoya peninsula, find some beaches, and do some snorkeling. and that bus didn't leave until 7:30am - so then the great debate, to sleep or not to sleep. it seemed to make a lot of sense not to sleep when the bus was at 5:30, but 7:30 seemed like it merited at least an attempt at a couple of hours. there were mixed opinions. so some of us stayed up and some of us opted for a little shut eye (can you guess which group i was in? the sleeping one).

however. as nice as it was to get a little shuteye we ended up sleeping past the 7:30 bus. oops. so we sent out a spy to find out when the next bus was - 10:30. no problem. a little more sleep, a long bus ride, and a ferry and we actually managed to catch up with the rest of our group. we all rolled into montezuma around 5:30pm and found a place to stay. after dinner we pretty much crashed out after the long travel day.

sunday we did a little (half an hour) hike to this waterfall near here - which was beautiful. we wandered on the beach, worked on our tans, and made ourselves a bonfire in the evening. the hostel we're at is actually right on the beach, so that's pretty much where we all meet up in the morning. today some of the boys are attempting to do some spear fishing. some local guy told them it might be possible to catch lobsters! if that actually happens i would be pretty happy. (i'm not holding my breath)

tomorrow some people are heading to the airport and the ones left will likely move on to some other beach. possibly to the arenal volcano and hot springs.

oh yeah. montezuma. that's where we are. :)

beach saturday + beach sunday = no sunburn

had a very successful weekend at the beach. :) after a marginally late night on friday (but not as late as last friday) i slept until about 11 on saturday and then caught the bus to the beach. lots of people were already there, even those who had been out later than me! so there was lots of lying around in the sun, some swimming, the more athletically inclined played volleyball and frisbee.

had a quiet night on saturday. went out for pizza at an italian place in town. it was actually really yummy pizza, nice light crust and fresh toppings. i only finished half of it so i took the rest home with me. sunday morning i packed up my leftover pizza in my bag and headed out for manuel antonio national park. met up with a couple others heading to the park on the bus.

i had been warned that when you get there the tide may or may not be up and you either have to wade through the water or pay some guy to give you a ride in a boat across. the tide was low, so we really only had to wade through a small stream to get to the park entrance. inside the park i was a little nervous about the sorts of wildlife we might encounter.... (i think you know what i'm getting at here) but there was no problems.

we did see some crazy raccoon kind of looking things (except they had really long tails), some iguanas (kind of creepy), a couple of monkeys, and a sloth. and besides the wildlife there were hiking trails and *stunning* beaches. basically what we did was hike for a bit. find a beach. go for a swim. sit on the beach for a while. have a snack. hike for a bit. find a beach..... :)

i had to do a little work last night for my first class today - which went okay. i was actually the first teacher of the first class today - which was not a big deal. i had a small class of 4 hair salon employees. my lesson was talking about time and making appointments. i think they were struggling a little in the beginning and i was trying to follow the "paradigm" lesson plan that we were supposed to use for our first class... so i think i could have been more helpful. but mostly i'm happy to have the first lesson done. i don't have to teach again until wednesday night so in the meantime i'm trying to get ahead on my lesson planning and observe some other classes.

hang loose redux

i've long since recovered from the frustration of losing my post at the shipboard internet center... and i'm not really 100% sure of what i was planning on saying anymore. so instead i'll just post a few more pictures from hawaii as a reminder to "just hang loose".


towards the end of the cruise there was a shift change for some of the crew. and we finally got a cabin steward who knew how to make towel animals. which of course is one of the more amusing things about cruises. we also got a bunny. but out of a 7 day cruise, 2 towel animals does not an extra tip earn.


the zipline in kauai was probably one of the cooler things i've done in my life. here's meg en route across the zipline. the guy in the blue shirt works for the zipline company. but he was once a mere vacationer who never went home and found this job. he's my hero. plus he's from nashua and says he would like to open a zip course in north conway someday. i'm so there. :)


on the last day of the cruise we did some "scenic cruising" past the napali coast on kauai. which was amazing and beautiful. and perhaps due to the proximity of the bar to our viewing spot on deck i took about 100 pictures that all look relatively the same. but none-the-less it was cool.


the sunset on waikiki beach. sadly it's never really an *amazing* sunset in hawaii because as the air gets cooler the clouds pretty much always move in or something. so no crystal clear sunset, but still really nice.

hawaii is definitely somewhere i could see myself being happy for a while. it's beautiful, warm, there aren't any of those bad things that i hate, and the people are nice. but alas - i'm off to costa rica in less than 2 weeks. hopefully i have a similar reaction... and hopefully my spanish improves.

maui wowie (but not what you're thinking)

today was our second day in maui. it's been absolutely amazing, so beautiful. yesterday we took a trip to molokini, which is a crater island off one of the volcanoes of the island. from above the island has a crescent shape which shelters a great spot for snorkeling. we spent the morning exploring this spot and we have tons of photos.... which unfortunately are on the underwater camera and therefore NOT available for our immediate viewing pleasure (who knew digital cameras would make me so impatient?).


turtles!
after we left molokini basically we did some cruising around. and our pal captain doug opened up the bar.... the open bar.... :) i managed to ruin my careful tanning system by standing on deck in my suit drinking free vodka cranberries for a couple of hours... but what are you gonna do? we did get to see some turtles swimming near the boat - above is my best picture (which is admittedly not that good).


maui downhill bicycle
today meg and i did the downhill biking safari. now many of you might know how i feel about bikes.... for those of you who don't - i don't like them. living in japan and riding my flippin bike to work every day sort of turned me off of them. but this was an opportunity to ride a bike down a VOLCANO. (almost) no pedalling required. and the views were amazing - they said we had one of the clearest days that they've had in a while. but it was still a little bit scary.... careeening around those hairpin turns... trying not turn too far left (into oncoming traffic) or too far right (over the edge). it was exhilarating and beautful and i'll never do it again.

i'm quite excited that tomorrow i will try surfing for the very first time. i imagine in my mind that i will be quite a natural at surfing and possibly join the pro circuit in leiu of a traditional job. but we'll see how that goes. my immediate goals is to not get too badly sunburned the day before my massage. :)

aloha cousins!

i am in hawaii, cruising like a millionaire (except that i'm staying in one of the practically underwater cabins, but whatever) and having a blast. :) today is our first full day on the ship and we are docked at hilo on "the big island".

we arrived in hawaii on thursday evening after a long LONG day of traveling (i had two stopovers, the rest of my family only had one). it was all we could do to stay awake through dinner (hawaii is 6 hours behind the east coast). but i did make one great discovery at the ubiquitous "abc" stores (there's one about every block in honolulu) - they carry onigiri, which are these fabulous japanese snacks, basically rice and some sort of filling (salmon, tuna...) wrapped in seaweed and absolutely delicious.


waikiki at sunrise
friday morning was probably the earliest i've ever woken up on vacation... i was awake from about 3 or 4 am - dozing when i could. but we all got up and decided to head down to the beach for sunrise. unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the island to actually see the sun rising up over the ocean, but we still had a nice view of waikiki and diamond head.

we hit the beach pretty early and started the tanning (burning) process. i'm happy to say that i'm NOT sunburned (yet) and am well on my way to a deep, dark hawaiian tan (hopefully). by noon time we were pretty much done on the beach (we were there by like 8am) so we had some lunch and did some relaxing.


germaine's luau
friday night we went to germaines luau. basically a huge buffet of traditional hawaiian foods - such as the roast pig and poi and lomi-lomi. then there was a fabulous show of many different kinds of island dances. we saw some from hawaii, tahiti, new zealand (who knew?), and samoa. oh, and did i mention the drink tickets? ;P tropical (and your average run of the mill drinks as well) drinks and both meg and i purchased the souvenir germaine's glass (which only cost one ticket to refill - the same as the little cups). good times had by all.

saturday we hit the honolulu zoo which was nice. and then it was down to the port to board the ship. our rooms are actually really cute and the beds are super comfy. this morning i even woke up at a somewhat normal time (not normal for me, but there are people who wake up at 5:30am, right?). so before i know it i'll be on hawaii time... and looking tan like a native... maybe...

scotland photos

here is but a wee sampling of the photos i took in scotland... i may have gone a little crazy, but i love castles and stone buildings.


edinburgh castle - this is just one of about FORTY photos i took of the castle. most of them nearly identical to this one. i just love how it's perched on the cliffs. and the sun is shining in this one. not that it rained every day... just most of them (at least a little).

william wallace cow - there was some sort of art cow exhibition going on all throughout edinburgh. everywhere you went there were cows, painted with maps on them, painted to look like a feild of flowers, etc. they were everywhere. some of them were cool, but this guy was by far my favorite: perched high upon mercat cross in front of st. giles cathedral. william wallace. cow.

edinburgh palace - i didn't actually get to go in to the palace. the day we went down there it was closed off for some kind of award ceremony. i couldn't even really get a good photo. this one is the view of the palace from the top of calton hill.

greyfriars bobby - at first i thought this was such a cute little statue. and the fact that he had his own bar (pictured behind the statue) was kind of cool. but the (abbreviated) story is that after his master died he stayed by his grave until he also died (which was a long time after). such a cute story. and a cute statue... i was mildly obsessed.

me and jill at uruqhart castle on loch ness - since we were at loch ness with jill's parents, i have lots of pictures of the two of us there. it turned out to be a beautiful day after we waited out the rainstorm that began on our way to loch ness.

uruqhart castle - so amazing. of course i love castles. and even though this one is pretty skeletal (though not compared to elgin castle), it is probably my favorite that i saw on this trip. plus there are lots of stories about saints and picts and crazy highland folk. such a cool place, and all on the edge of the famed loch.

elgin cathedral - i'm told this cathedral was the reason that elgin was granted city status, though it's not so big a place. it's quite old and it was destroyed not by some large enemy, but by some feuding scotsmen. watch out - they're a wild bunch. i just wish they had restored some of the stained glass...

rosslyn chapel - of da vinci code fame. i was fascinated to see this place, which the book describes as being filled with intricate carvings and varied pre-christian, christian, and masonic symbols. it really was quite cool, and though filled with tourists (some of the annoying and irritating variety) i had a good time. took many pictures, none of which really do the place justice.

bits and bobs part 1

since i didn't get many chances to post while in scotland, i decided i would just tell a few short little stories:

royal pain in the arse airlines
or sometimes also called "royal dutch airlines" - KLM. after an overnight flight where i never really slept (like i said before, there were good movies) i had a short flight with them from amsterdam to edinburgh. well, it should have been short. we were all put on the plane, which wasn't very crowded. i had an empty seat next to me and an emergency aisle, the responsibilites of which were explained. then we waited. the captain came on and announced that there were low clouds in edinburgh, which meant that they didn't want planes coming in too close together. so we would be delayed about 30 minutes. we were served juice and pretzels. then we began to pull away from our gate. but before we got too far the captain came on again. this time there was a problem with the electricity on the panel. so we pulled into another stand and waited for the electrician to come on board and check it out. so we waited. eventually some repair was made and we were ready for takeoff *again*. but then.... the captain came on *again*... and due to the weather in edinburgh we wouldn't be able to takeoff for another 55 minutes. fortunately we actually got to take off this time, i was sure there were some surly businessmen who were near mutiny. and my concern was that i had no phone number to call jill and let her know even if i did have a phone (which i didn't). but when we arrived in edinburgh 2 and a 1/2 hours late she was still there. what a peach. :)

monster mash
after a couple of days at less than my normal (giant) appetite, we went to monster mash for dinner on friday evening. and it was sooo good, especially on a cool and rainy night. basically a british diner, the specialty is sausages and mash. there were sausage specials for the day (and vegetarian sausage specials as well) and mashed potato specials. one of the sausage specials was a beef, ale, and stilton sausage - which both jill and i got. then you pick your mash - plain mash, mash with spring onions, mash with neeps (turnips). i chose mash with spring onions. the final step - gravy - i went with the classic gravy. when they brought this food out i was completely enamored with monster mash. a giant bowl of mashed potatoes - giant like i would make for myself when i'm at home and eating nothing else for my meal - topped with my two sausages, and a pitcher of gravy on the side. once i dug in, i knew it was love. monster mash and i were meant to be. a truly perfect meal on an slightly cool summer night. after the short walk back to jill's flat it was all we could do to sit on the couch and have a cuppa tea. soooo good.

castles
i do love castles. and really, stone buildings in general, which edinburgh is filled with. my first glimpse on this trip was of edinburgh castle at the top of the royal mile (literally the mile long road between the castle and the palace). i snapped a quick photo while some fellas in kilts marched about. the first castle i went in was on loch ness, urquhart castle - if you can really call it going "in". maybe explored is a better word. but anyway, what remains of the castle sits on the banks of loch ness and is quite beautiful (minus the tour groups milling around). then there was elgin castle. or rather the spot where elgin castle once stood and now lies a pile of stones and a tall monument. but a nice view of the town. i spent part of my last full day in scotland wandering through edinburgh castle, which compared to my other castle sightings on this trip is very well maintained and dramatically perched on a now extinct volcano. i was actually a little obsessed, taking millions of photos of the walls coming right up out of the cliffs. so cool. (pictures coming soon)

my favorite letter is RRRRRRRRRRR!

got to see the new pirates movie last night. which was very exciting, and of course is sort of jill and mine's film. (we were a bit obsessed in japan - how can you go wrong with johnny *and* orlando?) we got to sit in the posh "gold club" seats. :) all in all a very exciting evening.

yesterday seemed like my first real day in edinburgh, since my plane arrived 2 and 1/2 hours late on wednesday, and i was in despareate need of a nap.... there were some good movies on my transatlantic flight... i never actually got to sleep.

so thursday we got out bright and early (around 1pm) and did some wandering in edinburgh. walked the royal mile, which is the road between the palace and the castle. saw the castle and the palace (from the outside only....) saw a man dressed as william wallace taking photos with and axe and tourists.

it is really a lovely little city, which jill claims is easy to navigate, but i don't quite agree. everytime i think i know where we are or where we're going i find that i am mistaken. but i do keep ending up at places i recognize, i'm just not sure how we got there.

so for the weekend we're going up to elgin, where jill's mum and dad live, for a visit. i think we'll also go to loch ness. and i may be treated to a meal of "haggis, nips, and tatties" (which is haggis with turnips and potatoes). i'm wiling to try the haggis, but i'll have to say no to the turnips....

i think our plans for the rest of today involve a bit of shopping and more likely than not some food. :)

mis fotos

(that's "my photos") i know i haven't posted in a while, i do have a spain wrap-up post planned - but i don't have my notes with me today. so that'll have to wait a little longer. instead i offer you some of my photos of spain. enjoy.

cat's hostel in madrid was probably the most beautiful hostel i've ever seen. everything was so clean, the key system was so high tech (each person gets a wristwatch type thing which is used as an electronic key to the front entrance, the room entrance, and your locker), and the courtyard area was amazing. the perfect place to relax after the craziness of the city.

i did not intend to get anything at burger king, i was merely there for the company. but how could i resist a beer at burger king? and just when i thought i couldn't be more amused, said beer was delivered in a plastic cup with the burger king logo on it. priceless.

the alhambra in granada was perhaps my favorite place in all of spain (that i saw, anyway). the tile work, the carvings, the beautiful gardens - and of course the history of it all - were fabulous.

i was prepared to love sevilla, from everything i'd read it sounded so great. well, it did not live up to my expectations. but the flamenco show i attended was above and beyond my wildest dreams. absolutely phenomenal - my photos do not do it justice.

toledo is a quaint and historic city. though a little boring. mostly i just wandered through the winding streets looking for non-weapon souvenirs. throughout the city i saw many artists painting and drawing away. in the right hand corner of this photo is a man painting the scene.

holy toledo!

visited toledo today, which was cool. one of those wall type cities perched on a hill. it was very beautiful, but easy to get lost in. which, i'm obviously very good at by now. :) but now i'm back in the place where it started, cat's hostel in madrid. i don't have anything on my to-do list, except maybe a little shopping.

this whole trip has been a little too whirlwind for me, i've been moving every 2 days or so. i think my next adventure will have to be a more base camp approach, where i stay in one place for a while and take day trips from there.

i'm glad to be on my way home, as i've been getting sick. stuffy head, runny nose, that kind of thing. i also had some devastating news- we lost power at home on thursday and my vcr didn't tape ALIAS like it should have. the season premiere!!!! so the person who can provide me with a tape of the episode will get a special prize from spain! i know there's someone out there who loves me!

not too much to say today. on my way here from the metro i passed burger king and i am considering having my dinner there... it seems wrong, i've only been gone for a week and i rarely eat there when i'm at home, but for some reason it seems like a good idea. tomorrow i think i'll actually make the free breakfast at the hostel (i was too late my first night and left too early the second)

ole! vayamos!

so i woke up this morning, the sun shining brightly through my window, the smell of bread baking and hot coffee...

oh wait- no i didn't. there was the smell of laundry detergent wafting into my cell and suffocating me - that was what woke me. i managed to salvage my day yesterday after i was settled in a bit and more familiar with my surroundings. i bought a souvenir for myself and i purchased tickets to a flamenco show.

i chose the venue (there are many) based on it's proximity to my hostel - to minimize the chances of me getting lost *yet again*. my show was at 8 o'clock, and i was told to arrive a half an hour early. so i found a cafe that was actually serving food at 6:45 pm (not an easy task in spain) and ordered a tortilla espagnola knowing full well that there was no chance i'd last through the 2 hour show without having dinner first.

i was seated in the front row and my ticket included a drink (vino blanco, if you're curious). it was a small theater with a small stage and walls covered with paintings and photos of flamenco and bull fighting. after everyone's drinks were served the show began. the guitarist and a couple of singers took the stage. they played and sang a bit before a dancer in a full skirt came down the stairway onto the stage. and it began.

i was enthralled. it was an amazing show, the footwork, the costumes, the music, the castanets. i was so wound up after the show, that i could barely keep the smile off my face or the beat out of my head.

back at my hostel i opted to head up to the patio for some air and to see if there was anyone around. (there wasn't). i tried out a couple of flamenco moves and wrote in my journal. i went to bed feeling much better about sevilla.

today i'm on my way to visit sevilla's cathedral, which is the 3rd largest in the world, and the alcazar, which is the palace, where apparently spanish royals still live, when they're in town. hopefully tomorrow i'll be on my way back to madrid for the night, then spend saturday in toledo before heading home.

there's a band outside my balcony!

so yesterday after i left here (the internet place, that is) the sky was very gray and dark. there was some thunder rumbling. i made a quick phone call to my hostel in sevilla and just as i was finishing the sky opened up and it began to pour. i rushed to the nearest shop and stood under the awning, thinking it would be over soon. (we had a rain shower in madrid, it only lasted from the time i entered the metro to the time i left it). well, i stood there for almost 40 minutes. and it was really pouring, and there was lightening, and HAIL.

after it stopped i walked around some more, *carefully* - flip flops are slippery on stone sidewalks. poked in some shops and had an early dinner (by spanish standards, it was about 6:30pm). after my early train i decided i would have a relaxing evening in.

so i stretched out and read and wrote and as i was people watching out my balcony i noticed a gaggle of teens carrying instruments. they set up in the plaza right below my balcony and proceeded to play for nearly 2 hours. it was fabulous - sort of marching band/pep band style tunes, and some singing (you know how those spanish are, can't help themselves). so i got some major people watching in as well as live entertainment. until the policia shut them down.

today i visited the alhambra, a moorish palace/fort atop a large hill here in granada. it was magnificently beautiful, filled with gorgeous tile work and carvings in stone, wood, and plaster. i took so many pictures, as i couldn't possibly describe it well enough. there was also a great view of all of granada.

i had lunch at a "french" cafe (not like it didn't serve the normal spanish things, but it also had french style foods). very good, and a welcome break. the jury is still out on spanish food, i have some likes, but as a whole it's not that appealing (and that's saying something, for me to say that). well, my time is about to run out here, tomorrow i'll be on my way to sevilla!