Rafting the Río Pacuare

So today has been awesome! The place I´m staying got us in touch with what I´m convinced is the best tour group that exists here in Turrialba. We spent the entire day rafting down the Rìo Pacuare through the rainforest, stopping for an awesome picnic in the middle. I wasn´t able to bring my camera (it was kinda wet), but we had a safety kayaker named Julio that took a ton of pictures then sold them to us. Unfortunately, I just spent 15 minutes uploading a few for you to see and then somehow managed to delete them all. I wish I could have taken a bunch of my own pictures because the scenery was so nice, but luckily Julio included some on the CD he sold us. Here is just an example of what I was looking at all day.

Okay I´ll add just a couple now so you can see me rafting :-)

You can tell we are all enjoying ourselves :-)

We also clearly go extremely wet, but it was warm out and so was the water, so no big deal. In fact, every time we had a long stretch of calmer, deeper water we would jump in and float along next to the boat for a while :-)

Standing up for the camera.

What our guide, Chalo, did to us while standing up: back us into the cliff so we all fell over. He was crazy! (In fact, the tour group we went with was called "Loco`s" and he liked to say he was crazy but not stupid). Other things he did that none of the other guides seemed to be doing (there are many, many groups rafting this river daily) included spinning around a bunch, getting us all to come to the back of the boat for one of the rapids, and waiting at the bottom of another of the rapids to ram into other groups coming through. It was so much fun! He also took us on a side trip up a little stream where we saw a bright red dart frog and a 6 inch x 1 inch caterpillar! At the end of the day they took us to a local bar for a beer with a view of Turrialba Volcano.

Speaking of which, I´m am staying in Turrialba for another couple of nights where Luis (the manager of our hotel) managed to get us 'the best' taxi to take us up to the volcano tomorrow. Apparently they drive us up and then wait there all day while we explore. It's great to be in such a friendly place and to have a couple of people to do things with and split some costs.

However, they are waiting for me now to get a bite to eat so I should run. Talk to you later!

Kaila

Turrialba on a Sunday

Hi!

So I haven't done a whole lot since the last post, but this internet cafe has a place for me to copy my pictures so I figured I'd share with you guys what I've been up to so far.

They used to do this to people's teeth on purpose! Then they would sometimes put in jewels like jade. I think it was a symbol of power or something. (Picture from the Jade Museum)
I still haven't figured out if Shaman's were more like the psychiatrists or the drug dealers in these civilizations. :-P (Also in the Jade Museum)
The restaurant that I went to with bundles of onions and mugs hanging from the ceiling.
This is in La Sabada, one of the many pick-up soccer (or I guess I should say futbol) games going on. I also saw a baseball game and a 'beach' volleyball game (looked more like dirt than sand, but was the same idea I guess).
The pond found in La Sabada, and also the first really good view of the mountains that I got.

Avenida Central, an entirely pedestrian street which seems to be the main shopping area of central San Jose. I do wish I had more pictures of San Jose, but walking around by myself I was already sticking out and didn't want to draw even more attention to myself by getting my camera out. It's not really all that beautiful but definitely unlike any city I've been to before.
San Jose's version of Toronto's moose or Halifax's lobsters. They were everywhere, and this isn't the most interesting one I saw, but it was the one where I had my camera out already. I saw one hanging from a tree pretending to be a zip-liner!
Unfortunately the only picture I took while in the hostel. Actually a picture of a Kiwi that I met jumping in the pool. This was also the only time I saw the pool being used (although the lawn chairs around the pool were often used in the morning for tanning).
And finally a couple of pictures taken on the bus ride from San Jose to Turrialba. The views were spectacular, I wish I was better at capturing them. I sat in the front so I could see everything, but that didn't really make it any easier to take pictures from a moving vehicle.


A quick update of what I'm up to. I almost changed my plans to go to Arenal and Monteverde (2 of the must-sees in Costa Rica) with an Israeli girl that I met yesterday, but she really wanted to spend a day in San Jose and while it was cool to see, 2 full days was enough for me and I was ready to get out and leave the city. But last night was fun. I stayed at the hostel and met a bunch more people (mostly Americans) some of whom are around for a while and I may get in contact with again if I end up near them (although they were all going to beaches and I wasn't really planning on heading that way since I'll be on the beach for a whole week when Stacey gets here). The bus was extremely easy to find and catch and now I'm in Turrialba, staying at a hotel owned by an american with 4 beautiful and friendly dogs and a 6 week old baby girl. I have booked a white-water rafting day trip for tomorrow with a couple of americans that are also staying there, and I can't wait! I'll try to come back here when I get back so I can add pictures of that too :-)

That's it for now. Today is Sunday, meaning mostly everything is closed, so I'm going to get a nice (hot!) shower, probably find a restaurant to go to for dinner and get to bed early so I can be well rested for tomorrow.

Talk to you soon!
Kaila

San Jose, Day 2

Hi Again,

So what I´ve learned (among other things I guess) is that it is rainy season and therefore we are going to get huge thunderstorms almost every afternoon. Later I think I´ll just suck it up and not mind getting wet, but for now I´m having a nice few relaxing days, which was greatly needed after my time in Toronto.

Last night I met some people at the hostel from New Zealand and Britain and we decided to check out a bit of the nightlife of San Jose (for those of you that are about to worry, we were in a group of girls and guys and stayed close together, so don´t). The bar we ended up at was fun with mostly (probably all but us) Ticos full with dancing that resembles salsa more than any kind of dancing you see out in Canada. We met a group of girls from around here, including one who is in school to be a lawyer right now. All in all a successful night.

Today I slept in a little and then headed out for some more wandering around San Jose. Explored Avenida Central which is a pedestrian only street which I guess is basically an outdoor mall. Another couple of kilometers past that there is La Sabada which is a huge park which I would compare to a combination of the public gardens, the commons and point pleasant park all in one (with a view of the mountains to boot). It is also where the Division 1 soccer is played, but they aren´t in season. I think there may have been some kind of concert going on in there, but I didn´t check it out.

Anyways, I made it back to the hostel about 10 minutes before it started raining, and am now sitting here listening to the thunder. I think I´ll just be hanging out here tonight, get to bed early so I can head to Turrialba tomorrow morning. My first experience with the local buses, wish me luck!

Kaila

San Jose, Day 1

Hello!

So I didn't really expect to be updating so quickly, but unfortunately we are getting some torrential downpour so I'm back at the hostel and figured, may as well! I finally got a good night's sleep last night and was up and ready to explore San Jose this morning. Had my day mostly planned out what I wanted to do, starting with the Jade Museum, which I have decided is going to be my only museum on this trip. Also wandered around part of San Jose, mostly in circles for a few hours. Not because I don't have a map, or because the streets are all that confusing, but because most of the streets are not labelled because apparently Ticos don't use street names for directions, only landmarks. But whatever, it was a good way to see the city :-)

Had lunch in a nice restaurant where my waiter invited me to go dancing tonight. Unfortunately (or not), I had to refuse. Following lunch, my day was done and here I am back at the hostel. Luckily, since just as I was arriving, it started absolutely pouring rain for the second time today (the first of which I was caught in, thank god I invested in an umbrella). If it clears up later I may head out for a bit longer to check out a market or something, but otherwise I'm just here hanging out, hopefully meeting some like-minded people.

Hope the weather is better where you are!
Kaila

P.S. I've changed the settings so that anyone can post a comment... now comment!

Anyone speak spanish?

So it´s been a long day already and it´s far from over. I´m in the Mexico City airport, have been for about 5 hours and will be for another 3 or so. I managed to find a restaurant to watch the soccer game, which managed to kill a few hours, but now I´m just exhausted, want to go bed, but won´t be getting to my hostel for another 6 hours... at least.

Some things I´ve learned or been reminded of in my short stay in mexico.

1) Even though we´re in an airport, very few people speak any appreciable amount of english. And they all speak spanish extremely quickly! Thank god I bought a phrase book, and I can see my spanish getting better exponentially in the next few weeks if this keeps up. It´s a little daunting right now though... especially since I´m having trouble thinking straight in english at the moment

2) People who work in bathrooms make me uncomfortable. I don´t need someone to rip paper towel for me... and them being there just makes me feel bad because I don´t have any pesos or any kind of small change even if I did want to tip them (which of course they are expecting)

3) When in Rome... I should NOT have tried to order a club sandwich in mexico... it seemed like a good idea at the time because I recognized it and didn´t have to worry about deciphering the spanish menu... little did I know it would be nothing like what i´m used to and not very good at all. Oh well, live and learn... at least the fries and corona were good. And I got to watch the soccer game :-) Debating whether to cheer for Germany or Spain in the final.

4) 8 hours is a LONG time

5) Foreign countries have their own currency... I know, how stupid could you be, right? But I just didn´t think about it and had american cash on me, which was fine. But I definitely took a double take when my bill came and it was $240! Since then I´ve learned that the peso is about 1:10 so really my bill was under $25... a little more reasonable :-)

6) It´s been exactly 3 years since I left for Europe (well not quite exactly... it was June 25th... but close enough right?)... learned that when I got my passport stamped. Fun! Where will I be headed 3 years from now?

Anyways, that´s all I can think of right now. Sorry nothing interesting to share with you. Hope everyone is having fun!

Kaila

P.S. Bad news, I was hoping to be able to post pictures as I go, but the one thing I managed to pack in my new apartment (that I´ve realized so far) is the cord to plug my camera in. I´ll get some up if I happen to find a computer with driver for my memory card, but otherwise we´re out of luck... sorry!

Welcome to my blog

Hello there!

You may very well be familiar with my blogging, but if you are new, this is where I keep everyone who cares about me up to date about what I'm doing while I'm away. I am likely to be updating relatively often while I'm by myself so that my parents don't think that I'm dead, and from what I've heard I will have full access to internet while I'm in Guyana but I don't know that there will be much of interest to write about seeing as I'm pretty much just working and hanging out. But we'll see.

Anyways, not much to add right now seeing as I'm still in Toronto. I'm in the thrall of doing way too many things in way too little time, but it'll all get done... mainly because it has to. Here's a picture of my apartment at the moment which may give you an idea of the chaos that is my life right now.



That's it for now! Stay tuned for something interesting! I will be in San Jose, Costa Rica on Thursday where I'm staying at a hostel with a rooftop patio, outdoor pool and mechanical bull!

Kaila