Since the last time I updated, a lot has happened. The day after rafting, we took a van to the lake, took a boat across the lake, and then took a van to Monteverde. In Monteverde, we went straight to the ziplining place. We went all the way to the top, ready to zipline down a few miles, but a thunderstorm started and the guides wouldn't let us continue because the lightning was too dangerous. So we walked all the way down back to the base and had to postpone until the next morning. When we actually did go, it was really fun but a little bit painful because rain would hit our faces so hard it would sting.
While in Monteverde, we visited a butterfly garden, which was actually really cool. Don't question our manliness. There were actually a lot of bugs and stuff, not just butterflies. There were huge cockroaches and katydids and tarantulas (it takes lots of courage to get close to these things). We also went to a coffee plantation and learned about sugar cane and coffee and the processing procedures and stuff. We got to sample all the stuff they grew there too, it was really tasty.
From Monteverde, we took an indirect bus to Manuel Antonio. As soon as we checked into our hostel, we went straight to the beach. For the next few days we visited a few different beaches, all of which were really amazing. The first one was so secluded that we were literally the only people there. The water was too warm, though. It wasn't refreshing at all since it was as hot as the outside air. Everyday, we'd wake up and eat a little something and go straight to the beach, stay there for a few hours, eat again, relax in the hostel that overlooked the forest and the ocean, read, and do other relaxing things. It was great. Also, we ate dinner everyday at the same place because it was delicious and cheap. We had beans and rice everyday and I'm not sick of it. It's delicious! Oh, Yoontae obviously didn't get sunburned since he's already pure black, but I got burned by the time we left. That's the only bad thing about Costa Rica.
Today, we took a bus from Manuel Antonio back to San Jose (since we're flying out of San Jose tomorrow) and in the bus a baby barfed. Not only did it barf, but it barfed in the seat right next to us. Lucky Yoontae, he got a little barf spray on his leg. For the next 2 hours, it smelled like bile and rotten cheese (lovely, right?). Even with the window open, it was pretty repulsive. Yoontae was dying since he was sitting right next to the puddle of barf, so I saved the day! Being the sharp-minded, brilliant individual that I am, I devised a wonderful plan: using our stick of chapstick, Yoontae coated his upperlip. Since the chapstick was lightly scented, Yoontae could then pucker up and his nice smelling upper lip then blocked out the nasty smell of baby barf. I'm a genius.
Now we are in San Jose and it is pouring. We will leave tomorrow at noon, fly to Fort Lauderdale, then fly into LAX by midnight. South America trip is over!
Costa Rica Adventures!
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Yesterday, we hiked through a rainforesty little park place around the Arenal volcano. Apparently it is one of the top 5 most active volcanoes in the world. It was so green, so tropical, and so natural-feeling! No cars, no smog, no noise. Only the sounds of bugs, monkeys, and birds. So amazing. After our hike, we went to a volcano viewing area and waited for it to get dark. Once it was dark enough, we watched streams of lava flow down the side of the volcano. Very cool. After our indescribable little nature excursion, we went to Baldi hot springs.
I know I will get more crap for this, but it was pretty much a hot spring resort. We got to eat at a really good buffet (covered by the $45 we payed for the day's transportation and activities) and then went into the water. There are supposed to be 20-something pools of water with different temperatures. We didn't really feel like relaxing yet so we went straight to the waterslides. Yes, they even had waterslides. The slide we went on like 10 billion times was illegal by U.S. standards but it was SO FUN. The turns were so sharp that when Yoontae went down I could hear him jump from one side of the slide to the other and make loud crashing noises from hitting the sides. There's also a drop at the end that was really steep and I would always exit the slide a different way (one time I came out on my belly, I'm not sure how that even happened). After going down the slide too many times, we just relaxed in various pools of water. The Baldi hot springs are filtered so they don't smell like sulfur or chlorine, and it still feels heavenly. After the hot springs, we went back to our cheap cabina and found a huge dead cockroach that is still there because we are too disgusted to move it. Then we slept.
Today, we woke up at 6:35 AM. This was late, since we had to be at the adventure tour office by 7 AM. Yoontae didn't brush his teeth (I did, though). We made it to the office on time, got in the van, and went into a less populated area closer to the volcano. We got some rock-climbing harnesses and helmets, then followed our 2 guides and a dog named Chinga down a path. Lucky for us, nobody else booked for today so we got our very own private tour. We started following a river and rappelling down walls, hanging off of rope down hundreds of feet, and climbing/swimming down the river. The dog, Chinga, also rapelled down in our guide's bag and swam down the river too. Coolest dog ever.
We ended up at a big, secluded waterfall that we stood under to shower, then climbed back up a small path back to our starting point where we showered, changed to dry clothes, then ate a hot breakfast of beans, rice, and eggs. We went back to the adventure tour office where we got in another van that took us down to the river. Once at the river, they unloaded the raft and we got in along with 4 other people and 1 guide. For the next couple of hours, we steered through the rapids, swam down for a little bit during our break, and had an amazing time. Everything looked like the set of Jurassic Park. We even saw a few sloths and toucans along the way. At the end of our river rapid adventure, we changed and drove to a secluded little building and ate beans, rice, chicken, yuca, and salad. I ate twice as much as Yoontae and about 5 times as much as the white people we sat next to (not even exaggerating).
Our traveling has turned into an awesome adventure vacation. We're really living it up in Costa Rica, and it's so amazing here. The wildlife is beyond beautiful, I've never seen anything like it. I don't see how anyone can come here and not fall in love with nature. The people are really friendly since tourism provides 85% of the population with jobs, and activities are fairly cheap. Food isn't quite at Brazil's level, but it's still pretty bomb. The people are all very laid back and seem content here. Our hiking guide was even telling us, "Costa Ricans know that you only live once, so we are happy people." I think we can learn a lot from this awesome place. Top vacation suggestion as of yet: Costa Rica.
I know I will get more crap for this, but it was pretty much a hot spring resort. We got to eat at a really good buffet (covered by the $45 we payed for the day's transportation and activities) and then went into the water. There are supposed to be 20-something pools of water with different temperatures. We didn't really feel like relaxing yet so we went straight to the waterslides. Yes, they even had waterslides. The slide we went on like 10 billion times was illegal by U.S. standards but it was SO FUN. The turns were so sharp that when Yoontae went down I could hear him jump from one side of the slide to the other and make loud crashing noises from hitting the sides. There's also a drop at the end that was really steep and I would always exit the slide a different way (one time I came out on my belly, I'm not sure how that even happened). After going down the slide too many times, we just relaxed in various pools of water. The Baldi hot springs are filtered so they don't smell like sulfur or chlorine, and it still feels heavenly. After the hot springs, we went back to our cheap cabina and found a huge dead cockroach that is still there because we are too disgusted to move it. Then we slept.
Today, we woke up at 6:35 AM. This was late, since we had to be at the adventure tour office by 7 AM. Yoontae didn't brush his teeth (I did, though). We made it to the office on time, got in the van, and went into a less populated area closer to the volcano. We got some rock-climbing harnesses and helmets, then followed our 2 guides and a dog named Chinga down a path. Lucky for us, nobody else booked for today so we got our very own private tour. We started following a river and rappelling down walls, hanging off of rope down hundreds of feet, and climbing/swimming down the river. The dog, Chinga, also rapelled down in our guide's bag and swam down the river too. Coolest dog ever.
We ended up at a big, secluded waterfall that we stood under to shower, then climbed back up a small path back to our starting point where we showered, changed to dry clothes, then ate a hot breakfast of beans, rice, and eggs. We went back to the adventure tour office where we got in another van that took us down to the river. Once at the river, they unloaded the raft and we got in along with 4 other people and 1 guide. For the next couple of hours, we steered through the rapids, swam down for a little bit during our break, and had an amazing time. Everything looked like the set of Jurassic Park. We even saw a few sloths and toucans along the way. At the end of our river rapid adventure, we changed and drove to a secluded little building and ate beans, rice, chicken, yuca, and salad. I ate twice as much as Yoontae and about 5 times as much as the white people we sat next to (not even exaggerating).
Our traveling has turned into an awesome adventure vacation. We're really living it up in Costa Rica, and it's so amazing here. The wildlife is beyond beautiful, I've never seen anything like it. I don't see how anyone can come here and not fall in love with nature. The people are really friendly since tourism provides 85% of the population with jobs, and activities are fairly cheap. Food isn't quite at Brazil's level, but it's still pretty bomb. The people are all very laid back and seem content here. Our hiking guide was even telling us, "Costa Ricans know that you only live once, so we are happy people." I think we can learn a lot from this awesome place. Top vacation suggestion as of yet: Costa Rica.
Buddhist Monks and Costa Rica
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Coming out of Lima 2 nights ago, we pulled an all nighter. We went to the airport around 1 AM (to catch a flight to Bogota, Columbia), checked in around 2 AM, killed time until 5 AM when we boarded our plane, got off the plane around 6:30 AM without going anywhere due to technical difficulties, and waited. While everyone else was freaking out about their flight connections they were going to miss, Yoontae and I chilled on the tile floor. After about 30 minutes, we were approached by 2 small Asian ladies with shaved heads. They started talking to us in Korean, telling us that they were Buddhist monks and asking us for help since they understood neither English nor Spanish. This made it very difficult for them to understand what was going on, and they had a connecting flight to Mexico which they were probably going to miss. I helped them figure things out with the flight attendants and got them booked for an alternate flight that would take them to Mexico. I talked to the monks for a while, and they complimented me on my good looks (no lie, they were super nice) and told me that if I ever visited their area in Korea, I would have a free place to stay at their temple and they would also give me a tour and lend me free bicycles (random... but still cool). They gave me their contact information and then sent me back to Yoontae so I could sleep.
50 minutes later, I woke up and saw the monks again, only this time they were bringing us chicken croissant sandwiches. SO NICE! These sandwiches probably cost somewhere around 15 dollars apiece since it was in the airport, but these nice monk ajumas bought them for us out of the blue. They also brought us juice later. We talked some more with them and they commented on Yoontae's darkness and telling us again that we should visit them in Korea and they would buy us food and house us for free.
Around 9:30 AM, we parted ways and Yoontae and I left for Bogota. We got there, transferred to another flight and got to San Jose, Costa Rica by 4:30 PM. Then we took a taxi to the bus terminal, caught our $2.50 bus to Ciudad Quesada, took another $1 bus to La Fortuna, and checked into our hostel around 11 PM. After 1 day of nonstop traveling, we went straight to our beds and knocked out.
Today, we had amazing beans, rice, eggs, and tortillas with fresh juice. Best breakfast we've had on this trip, since we usually just eat free breakfast at our hostels that consists of cold bread, butter and jam, and tea. Now, we begin the adventurous segment of our trip. Just to give a brief overview... Today, we are hiking to a viewing point of an active volcano to see real lava, then going to some hot springs and relaxing. Tomorrow, we are waterfall rappelling down to a river, then rafting down the river rapids. Later this week, we take a van to the lake, cross the lake by boat, then take a van to Monteverde where we will go zip-lining and Tarzan swinging, then visit the butterfly farms. Other activity updates will come later!
50 minutes later, I woke up and saw the monks again, only this time they were bringing us chicken croissant sandwiches. SO NICE! These sandwiches probably cost somewhere around 15 dollars apiece since it was in the airport, but these nice monk ajumas bought them for us out of the blue. They also brought us juice later. We talked some more with them and they commented on Yoontae's darkness and telling us again that we should visit them in Korea and they would buy us food and house us for free.
Around 9:30 AM, we parted ways and Yoontae and I left for Bogota. We got there, transferred to another flight and got to San Jose, Costa Rica by 4:30 PM. Then we took a taxi to the bus terminal, caught our $2.50 bus to Ciudad Quesada, took another $1 bus to La Fortuna, and checked into our hostel around 11 PM. After 1 day of nonstop traveling, we went straight to our beds and knocked out.
Today, we had amazing beans, rice, eggs, and tortillas with fresh juice. Best breakfast we've had on this trip, since we usually just eat free breakfast at our hostels that consists of cold bread, butter and jam, and tea. Now, we begin the adventurous segment of our trip. Just to give a brief overview... Today, we are hiking to a viewing point of an active volcano to see real lava, then going to some hot springs and relaxing. Tomorrow, we are waterfall rappelling down to a river, then rafting down the river rapids. Later this week, we take a van to the lake, cross the lake by boat, then take a van to Monteverde where we will go zip-lining and Tarzan swinging, then visit the butterfly farms. Other activity updates will come later!
I Hate Lima
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Okay this title is misleading, but for the first time while traveling, I am truly irritated by our location. Lima is okay, I don't hate it, but I am very angry right now. We walked around for 2 hours looking for a cheap, delicious place to eat with no luck. This never happened ANYWHERE else. Not only that, but I'm getting really sick of the smog. It's worse than LA. It smells bad everywhere, even though we're right by the beach. Also, the traffic sucks. Not just the fact that its crowded, but EVERYONE AND THEIR MOMS honk for no reason. They're so rude and it makes me want to punch their cars. They don't just honk, but they hold their horns for up t0 30 seconds at a time (not even exaggerating). I have never been surrounded by such nasty drivers. While walking around today, some punk kid also threw water on my face from a passing bus, and as I turned to look I saw the kid laughing at me and pointing. I wanted to strangle his skinny little neck.
I just wanted to vent. Overall, traveling is going smoothly. We are off to Costa Rica (with a short stop in Columbia) in half a day and we are excited for all the adventurous things we are going to do there (hopefully waterfall rappelling, river rafting, and zip-lining). Now I am going to drown my sorrows in all you can eat Peruvian sushi, which is quite possibly the best sushi I have ever had in my life. Yes, we are going back for the second time. It's that good. And cheap.
I just wanted to vent. Overall, traveling is going smoothly. We are off to Costa Rica (with a short stop in Columbia) in half a day and we are excited for all the adventurous things we are going to do there (hopefully waterfall rappelling, river rafting, and zip-lining). Now I am going to drown my sorrows in all you can eat Peruvian sushi, which is quite possibly the best sushi I have ever had in my life. Yes, we are going back for the second time. It's that good. And cheap.
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