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Lake…BIG Lake!

Posted in Argentina, tagged , , , , on November 26, 2009| 1 Comment »

Bariloche. The Switzerland of Argentina, located in what is known as the Lakes District.  This was definitely one of my favorite cities we’ve hit so far.  This small mountain town is located right on Lake Nahuel Haupi, near many trekking areas and other ski resorts.  The lake is massive and one of the prettiest shades of blue I’ve ever seen. 

Lake Nahuel Huapi

 
We stayed at Bariloche Hostel which is known for their roof top deck and great views of the lake.  It was like a little bed and breakfast! So clean and neatly decorated.  We felt right at home.  Also, our friend Marianne from Norway that we met in Mendoza was meeting us there the day we arrived so we all got settled in and cooked dinner at the hostel.  I decided that it was high time for me to go out dancing and Marianne was happy to join me.  We grabbed a couple of boys from the hostel and we headed to a local bar called Dusk for some drinks and were totally surprised that there was no cover charge and they actually played decent music, not just techno like all the other clubs we had been to.  We had a blast!  Of course, we stayed up too late and didn’t quite get up when we were supposed to.  Sorry Kim. But it was worth it!  I’m pretty proud of myself for limiting my social outtings these days.  But hell, if I’m going out…I’m doing it right!
 

Before

After

Obviously we had a lazy day the next day, walked around town, checked out the main plaza, and discoved some of the biggest chocolate shops ever! We had heard that Bariloche was known for all of its delicious chocolate, but we were amazed.  Chocolate shops as big as a grocery store! We were very happy:)  We had another chill night drinking beers at the hostel. 
 
The following day, the weather was not so great.  It was raining a bit and really cloudy, but, we headed out anyway to hike through Llao Llao National Park.  Of course, our views were limited but we still saw some amazing scenery.  We decided to save the Cerro Campanario viewpoint for the following day in hopes of better weather.  It’s supposed to be one of the most incredible views in the world. 

On the trail in Llao Llao National Park

 

Kodak moment on our hike

Sure enough, it was worth the wait!  The weather was much better so we took the bus to the viewpoint and did the super steep, but fairly short 45 min. hike up to the top.  And everyone was right, it was breathtaking.  A 360 degree view of lakes, mountains, all of the surrounding towns…check it out.  However,  the pictures don’t to it any justice…
 
We spent some time up there, had some hot chocolate and our picnic lunch before we made our way back down and headed back to the hostel for a nap.  Life these days is pretty rough…ha! To celebrate our last night with Marianne, we went and had dinner at another wonderful parilla.  This time, a spread of lamb, chicken, sirloin, flank steak and ribs.  Um….yeah.  Of course a couple bottles of wine as well. 
 
We spent the rest of the evening at the hostel with a little more wine, laughing and watching you tube videos.  We had to share all of the Andy Samberg/Lonely Island videos with our new foreign friends.  They loved it! And I’m sorry, they never get old.  “I’m on a boat!!!”
 
Our last day in Bariloche, we hung at the hostel and played poker with some new commers from NYC before our 36 hour bus ride to El Chalten.  We had to say goodbye to Marianne, but we will be meeting up with her in Australia yet again! She is moving there to do a semester of med school, and just happens to be arriving in Sydney the same day we are.  So great how things work out sometimes!  Kim and I loved it here and definitely think its a must see if you are in Argentina.  Now on to El Chalten for trekking! Fitz Roy here we come!
Also, just a note that our flickr page hasn’t been updated very well…the internet in Patagonia is not the greatest, but we hope to get caught up in the next few days.
 

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Red Red Wine

Posted in Argentina, tagged , , , , on November 13, 2009| 3 Comments »

Mendoza.  Wine country!  With the friendly people, tree-shaded streets, lovely plazas, huge park, and tons of vineyards 20 minutes away, Kim and I could totally live here.  There are over 1,200 wineries in the Mendoza region, all specializing in Malbec.  We were in heaven!

After our 23 hour bus ride, we arrived in Mendoza on November 1st and checked in to our hostel, The Oasis.  This was another family-run, smaller hostel that offered amazing, cheap asados (BBQ’s) every other night with, hallelujah, unlimited wine!!!  Gaspar, the owner’s son, was not only our grill master, but a fantastic source of information for anything we wanted to do around town.  Not to mention, his English was perfect.  Yay for Kim!

Gaspar

Gaspar the Grill Master

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Dinner at the Oasis

We took the first day to get settled in and then headed to El Parque General San Martin.  Along the way, we had lunch with May and checked out the main Plaza Independencia.  The park was the biggest park we’d ever seen. Izzy would have loved it!!!  Tons of trails, open green areas, and a really nice lake equipped with a backdrop of the mountains.  It reminded us a little of Town Lake because there were tons of runners and a few rowers getting their workout on.  We even stumbled upon an awesome outdoor group aerobics class!  Ha!  It took a lot for us to not join in.  It was great hearing all the Spanish commands and super loud techno music.  Awww, we miss you Gold’s Gym!

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One of the trails in San Martin Park

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May and me in the park

The following day, Gaspar hooked us up with Mr. Hugo, a old man that rents out bikes to get to and from of all the vineyards.  What a fantastic day!  One of my favorite of the trip so far.  How can you beat riding around on a beautiful day, surrounded by vineyards and ice-capped mountains, with a group of fellow travelers??  We stopped at 3 wineries and toured the facilities, tasted a few types of their wine, had lunch and shared a few bottles with our new friends.  And to top off that amazing day, after the wineries close at 5pm, we headed back to Mr. Hugo’s for unlimited free wine!!  He and his wife literally just keep filling up your cup the minute you turn your head. Around 8:30 pm, Mr. Hugo personally escorts the entire group of 50 people to the bus and hugs and kisses them goodbye.   Awesome. 

Bike ride 086

Cruisin' through the vineyards

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Our biker gang at one of the wineries

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Wine Tasting!

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Classy

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Us at Mr. Hugo's, where the wine flows like water

We spent the next day recovering and chilling at the hostel with our new friends.  The following day, we signed up for an all day trek in the mountains of Vallecitos.  We headed out around 8:30am, took a 2 hour drive into the mountains, and started my first trekking experience!  Kim did Machu Picchu in Peru a few years ago so this wasn’t her first rodeo;).  

It was 3 hours straight up for 3000 feet, that’s right….straight up.  No switchbacks for you experienced trekkers.  Luckily our guide, Rodrigo, walked extremely slow and kept the group on the same pace.  Oh, and we had a couple from Israel in their seventies in our group!  It was so inspiring to see them still keeping up at that age.  That’s going to be us.  For sure. 

It was 2 hours back down, which actually seemed a bit harder due to the pressure on the knees, but still amazing. E very time it gets a little tough, you just look around and it’s all worth it.  Check out these pictures…

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My first trek!

trek 023 

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Us on the mountain

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On the way down

The following day, we rested our sore legs and butts, hung around and went to the park again for some frisbee action. We were supposed to leave the following day for Puerto Madryn for whale watching and penguins!!! However, we had a mishap with the bus company, Andesmar, and ended up letting our bus leave right in front of us. They failed to tell us that the bus’s final destination was a completely different city and it would say that city on the bus and not Puerto Madryn. They wouldn’t allow us to change our tickets, so we had to buy new tickets for the following day and are out $200. Screw them. If any of you plan to travel in Argentina, try to avoid Andesmar at all costs. On a side note, I was pretty impressed on how efficient I was at bitching people out in Spanish. Go me!

We headed back to the hostel and luckily they had two beds left for us to stay an extra night.   We also lucked out because they were having another BBQ that evening!  It was one of the best we had. Great company, some English and Norwegian drinking games, tons of wine….see, things do happen for a reason. Marianne and Carl, we’ll see you in Bariloche.  Mark, James and Dicken, we’ll see you in Manchester, Lisi and William in Austria and Doug from Canada will be in Hong Kong when we go!  Traveling is the best….now on to Puerto Mardryn!　

　

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Old Friends in New Places

Posted in Argentina, tagged , , , , , on October 26, 2009| 4 Comments »

It’s so great when the stars align and things just work out.  Staci, a wonderful girl that I met in my study abroad program in Barcelona in 2003, just happened to be in Buenos Aires for two days on her way to Chile.  She and her friend Gulzar would be visting a few companies through their MBA program.  We hadn’t seen each other since my going away party the second time I went to Spain over 4 years ago.  She had left Austin to pursue her career in DC and currently lives in Dallas while going to school. So random and crazy, but what a perfect opportunity to reconnect!
 
They arrived Wednesday afternoon and we made plans to meet up for dinner.  A friend of hers suggested The Standard, a restaurant that he comes to every time he visits.  Thanks Mike!  The empanadas, lamb and dessert were amazing, but the Rutini Sauvingon Blanc was the best white wine I’ve ever had!  Thanks to the recommendation from our cute waiter, Sabastian. 
Staci and Me

Staci and Me

We then headed out for a drunken night of debauchery at Congo, a nice quaint little bar in Palermo Hollywood.  We met some great guys that treated us to many cocktails and then headed home around 4am.  Kim was such a trooper! 
At the bar with a tasty mojito

At the bar with a tasty mojito

The next night they girls went to see a show at Hotel Faena in Puerto Madero.  Holy crap.  This hotel was the nicest hotel Kim and I had ever been in. It was absolutely beautiful!  Even the bathrooms were amazing!  And there was also this lovely little unicorn bar that Kim was freaking out about.  She was obsessed with unicorns as a child.  We met up with the girls after the show for a few drinks and then headed to a great little bar, Milian, in Recoleta.  We had such a great time!  Yet again, another late night.  Love you Kim!
 

Pretty Ladies

Pretty Ladies

Unicorn bar! Can you see their heads mounted on the walls?

Unicorn bar! Can you see their heads mounted on the walls?

Lobby entrance. This hotel was incredible.

Lobby entrance. This hotel was incredible.

We couldn't decide which camera to look at

We couldn't decide which camera to look at

The next day, the girls treated us to lunch before they left for Santiago.  We ate at Miranda, an awesome place in Palermo Soho.  Pumpkin ravioli, gnocchi….mmmm! Thanks ladies! 
Delicious gnocchi

Delicious gnocchi

It was so wonderful to be able to meet up with great, familiar people in a foreign place.  You just can’t recreate those kind of memories.  Staci…Gulzar, thank you so much and we can’t wait to reunite in Texas!!! 
the girls

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Dominical Days

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on October 12, 2009| 1 Comment »

Please note that Kelly is the author of this post, even though it is posted under Kim’s name.  Internet access DRAMA!

Oh Dominical.  What a great little beach town!  We said goodbye to our  friends at Vista Serena to head south to Dominical.   After a pretty painless hour and a half bus ride, we reached the Antorchas hostel, our home for the next 5 days where we waited for Yesenia and Andres.   She is friends with the owners and helped us get a hell of a deal…our room was $8/pp/night with a private bath.   Other than the thick stench of mold in the room, it was a pretty good set up since we only showered and slept in there so the smell wasn’t too big of a deal.  Plus, the beach was literally 75 yards from our door.   Awesome.

Outside of Antorchas

Outside of Antorchas

Playa Dominical is 25 km of open, amazing beach that is ideal for experienced surfers.   The water is crystal blue and the waves are huge!   It’s absolutely beautiful.   I’d also like to mention that we are so happy to be traveling in the low season.   There are so few people around, it’s really nice. The town itself is two streets; one lining the beach with a few sodas, bars and restaurants  and supermarkets on the other.   There are no more than 200 or so people living here.  Yeah…

The streets of Dominical...sorry, this one got cut off.

The streets of Dominical...sorry, this one got cut off.

Dominical beach around sunset

Dominical beach around sunset

Kim on the beach

Kim on the beach

We ended up running into a couple from Spain (Viva Espana!), Alan and Silvia, that we had met in Monteverde.  They stayed at Antorches too and we all spent the evening hanging out at the hostel in the great little seating area equipped with hammocks, TV, tables and chairs.  Christian, the crazy DJ/artist from Ibiza joined us as well.

The next morning, Kim and I went for a long walk on the beach.   The beach is so incredible in the morning.   Wow.   We then spent the day with Yesenia and Andres in Uvita, another beach town, even tinier than Dominical and about 15 minutes south.   We went to the marine park, Marina Ballenas, and enjoyed the empty beach.   Literally, other than one other family, we were the only ones on there.

On the beach in Marina Ballenas

On the beach in Marina Ballenas

Kelly and Yesenia

Kelly and Yesenia

I watched our things while Yesenia took Kim down a spot where two beaches collide and the waves break up against each other.  From a plane view, it looks just like a whale’s tail.   When the tide is low, you can walk down the length of the tail.   So cool!  We then went back to the hostel that night for some dinner and wine.

The next day, we all went back to the marine park for a whale watching tour for around $20, which included an hour or so of snorkeling, and another 2 hours of riding around and looking at whales, huge sea turtles and all the deserted beaches with rocks and caves.  They also gave us yummy pineapple, watermelon, and fresh coconut!   It was a fantastic day.

Us and Andres enjoying our fresh coconut on the boat

Us and Andres enjoying our fresh coconut on the boat

Sea Turtles!!

Sea Turtles!!

The following day, it poured rain and we just hung around at the hostel.  I spent some time with my new friend, Roberto, a local Tico that works as a tour guide in Corcovado National Park on the southern coast.   He knew so much about wildlife, surfing and everything Costa Rican.   Good times.

Roberto!

Roberto!

The day after was perfect for heading out to see a waterfall that everyone kept telling us about.  What an adventure…heh.   Again, the directions to anywhere in Costa Rica are crazy.   So after passing the waterfall by about 2 miles on a tiny gravel road uphill, Alan and Silvia got their rental car stuck in a small ditch!   Luckily we were near a house where a guy from New York was staying with his nice big Four Runner.   He had got stuck the day before and was more than happy to help us out.

Stuck Car

Stuck Car

After a few tries of some necessary pulling and pushing on our part, the car was out with no damage.   He then took us back to the house for some water, a great view of the ocean and then proceeded to take us down to the where the waterfall was.   All in all, it was worth the trouble.   The waterfall was beautiful.   After some climbing and swimming and my failed attempt at the rope swing, we headed back home for lunch and a relaxing evening.

Our reward after the car fiasco

Our reward after the car fiasco

At the waterfall

At the waterfall

Kim busted it on the rocks a couple of times, but finally got there...

Kim busted it on the rocks a couple of times, but finally got there...

Kim and I both really loved Dominical.   The morning walks, the numerous trips to the beach to watch the surfers, the sunset and the waves…it was perfect.  After some yoga on the beach for me and a quick dip for Kim, we decided to go ahead and make our way back to San Jose.   We could have spent a few more days there, but our Spanish friends had to leave.   They offered us a ride in their car (Woohoo! No bus ride!) back up to Manuel Antonio to crash at Vista Serena for a couple more days before we headed back to Yesenia’s.   We got to see a few of our friends from the previous week and also met an Australian couple who were 6 months into their around the world trip.   We’ll be hanging with them in our  upgraded private room. So nice!   Alex was going to have to split us up to make room for others, but instead he set us up for the same price in a two room “suite” with living room, TV, kitchen and private balcony with the Aussies.  Can we say good karma?

Sunset in Dominical

Sunset in Dominical

We fly out of San Jose on Thursday, the 15th to our next stop, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA! Stay tuned for a Costa Rica wrap up! PURA VIDA!

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While you were at ACL…

Posted in Costa Rica, tagged , , , , , on October 5, 2009| 12 Comments »

Kelly and I made some good friends in Monteverde, but were really looking forward to some quality beach time.  After a couple of relatively tame bus rides, we reached Manuel Antonio, a small beach town on the Pacific Coast and home to Manuel Antonio National Park, the most visited park in Costa Rica.

All of our new friends in Monteverde
All of our new friends in Monteverde

By the way, if you ever come to Costa Rica, don’t even think about staying more than 2 hours in Puntarenas.  It’s a dump.
 
We checked into our hostel, Vista Serena, which is run by two American guys, Alex and Conrad.  It’s set at the top of a ridge and has a huge deck with hammocks with a fantastic view of the ocean.  We spent all of our evenings sitting on the deck drinking Imperial and watching the sun sink into the horizon.  There is nothing to describe the sunsets here…all of them are extremely different and absolutely beautiful.

View from the deck at Vista Serena Hostel
View from the deck at Vista Serena Hostel

We planned to hit the beach on our first day, but we woke up to thunderstorms and pouring rain.  Kelly and I knew we were coming during the ‘wet’ season, but had only seen rain our first day in San Jose…we were wondering when the crappy weather was going to hit.  It ended up clearing up by the afternoon, so we walked down to the beach, checked out all of the shops and had a beer before heading back to Vista Serena to watch the sunset.
 
For dinner, we’ve been eating at a kick-ass restaraunt called Angel’s right down the street from the hostel.  We had an incredible dinner of fresh mahi-mahi, rice, au-grautin potatoes and salad for about $7 per person.  A plate of food like this in the U.S. would cost at least $20.

Mahi-Mahi dinner. It rocked our world.
Mahi-Mahi dinner. It rocked our world.

On our second day, Kelly and I checked out Manual Antonio National Park, which was really beautiful.  It has several walking trails, a handful of picturesque beaches, and a ton of wildlife.  We layed on the beach for a couple of hours and saw a sloth, a family of white-faced monkeys, birds, and had a couple of iguanas hang out with us on the beach.  We grabbed a quick snack and a beer before heading home and made it back just in time before the rain started.  Alex whipped up a fantastic dinner for everyone at the hostel (fresh fish, grilled veggies, and plantains).  Kelly and I nursed our sunburns and called it an early night.

One of the beaches in the National Park
One of the beaches in the National Park
This is where we spent our Saturday. It's a rough life.
This is where we spent our Saturday. It’s a rough life.
Happy Sisters!
Happy Sisters!
An Iguana that hung out with us for a bit
An Iguana that hung out with us for a bit
A sloth! These things are so cool. They move all slow and trippy-like.
A sloth! These things are so cool. They move like they are in slow motion.
A monkey! We want one.
A monkey! We want one.

Today is our last full day in Manuel Antonio and the weather is perfect.  We plan to take it easy, lounge on the beach for a couple of hours, do some laundry, and get ready to head further south to Dominical in the morning. We really enjoyed our time here and recommend Vista Serena to any of you that ever plan to head this way.  Just be ready to drink and smoke every night, because that’s pretty much the way of life here. 

We hope all of our friends had a great time in the rain at Austin City Limits festival.  Kelly and I were bummed to have missed it this year, but while you were rockin’ out to King’s of Leon and Pearl Jam, this is what we spent our evenings enjoying: (Mary, these are for you)

Vista Serena - Night 3 (It was cloudy, but still pretty)

Vista Serena - Night 3 (It was cloudy, but still pretty)

Sunset at Vista Serena - Night 2
Sunset at Vista Serena – Night 2
Vista Serena - Night 1
Vista Serena – Night 1
Our last night's sunset

Our last night's sunset

Goodbye Vista Serena!

Goodbye Vista Serena!

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Canopy Tours Are Awesome

Posted in Costa Rica, tagged , , , on October 2, 2009| 4 Comments »

Ahhhh. Monteverde. After a great time in La Fortuna, Kim and I took the “Jeep Boat Jeep” to this quaint little  mountain town.  Instead of a 7-hour public bus ride (due to the fact that you have drive around Lake Arenal), we opted to pay the $18 to ride 15 minutes in a private van, hop on a small, ferry-style boat across the Lake Arenal for 30 minutes, and then take another hour van ride into the town center.  It was perfect.  The weather here is cool and refreshing, especially after leaving La Fortuna.   I even had to break out the fleece at night.

Cruisin' on the Ferry

Cruisin' on the Ferry

The drive to Monteverde

The drive to Monteverde

We originally had reservations at La Pension Santa Elena due to many recommendations from our guidebooks and notes posted up at our hostel in La Fortuna.  We arrived to find that for $16 pp/per night, we had a private, not so clean room, with shared bathroom, a crowded kitchen and some rather strange rules to follow.   As we got out of the van, we were approached by Tony, a local Tico, who owned a hostel just down the street.   Kim stayed with the bags and I went to check out El Hotel Tucan.  We immediately left PSE, and headed to Tony’s place.   A private room with private bath for $12.50/pp/night.   Awesome.   And after our stay at Gringo Pete’s, this was like staying at the Raddison.   Super clean, free internet and wifi in our room, and free breakfast!  Too bad that at 10pm when Tony leaves, he turns off the server and we no longer get internet in our room.

 The afternoon we arrived, we headed down the street to El Kiosko La Flor, a small soda (restaurant) near the church downtown.   It was like we were sitting in Flor’s kitchen as she cooked us a meal from scratch.   We both had casado (a typical dish with rice, beans, either salad or vegetables, chicken, bread and fried plantains all for under $4) as we chatted with a really cute Tico from Limon.   Afterwards, we spent the evening relaxing at the hostel and playing with one of Tony’s three daughters, Monserrath, aka Monse, and chatting with the family over beers and freshly prepared empanadas de

Kelly and Monse

Kelly and Monse

queso.  We also met a nice doctor from California walking by named Luis.   He sat and talked with us for a while and offered to take us to dinner to celebrate the first week of our trip (he was extremely jealous of what we are doing, of course).   We went to a nice little restaurant called The Treehouse Cafe and had fresh sea bass ceviche, arroz con pollo (chicken) and mariscos (mixed seafood and both had plenty for lunch the following day.   Thanks Luis!!!  

The next morning we woke up, had our delicious breakfast consisting of amazing coffee, fresh pineapple, watermelon, and toast.   At 10:30am, we were picked up for our zip lining tour with Extremo Canopy.   Apparently it has some of the longest and highest cables in Costa Rica. Our package included 12 cables ( 2 that are 1km long!), 1 downward rappel, 1 tarzan swing (AWESOME) and 1 superman zip line. They strap you in by your chest and feet and you literally fly over some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen.  Mountain ranges covered in all different shades of green, trees, the open sky…it was breathtaking.   Literally for Kim!   She kept having visions of the cables snapping! Luckily, I had no fear since as I’ve gotten older, I’ve somewhat developed a fear of heights.   Not anymore!!!  We had a blast! 

All geared up for the canopy!

All geared up for the canopy!

Kim coming in on the zipline

Kim coming in on the zipline

That night we just relaxed at the hostel, checked email, made skype calls and uploaded pictures.  I got to see Izzy for the second time.   Skype rocks.   By they way, we would like to be updating the blog more often, however, since we are up in the mountains out in the country, the connection is very slow and it takes like 3 hours to upload 50 pictures.   So, we apologize for that.   But hopefully this won’t always be the case.   We also made our reservations for a hike in the Santa Elena Biological Reserve for the following morning, had some cheese, bread, mango and wine for dinner and hung out with the 3 new comers from Switzerland, Germany and California.  

Then next morning, we had a delicious breakfast once again.   Gallo pinto this time!!  MMMMM!   We then took our shuttle up to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve where we  hoped to see some cute little monkeys, but had no luck. We did however, enjoy two different hiking trails that took about 3.5 hours. It was so green!  Rainforests are amazing and full of life.  We saw a few small birds, a few really large birds and a neat little caterpillar. We expected to see a little more wildlife but were very happy with the experience (except for the few times we had to run from some crazy huge bugs buzzing near our ears!)

Trail in the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve

Trail in the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve

 Tonight we are going to have dinner with our new friends from New Zealand, Joe and Emma, here at the hostel.   They have been traveling for a few months and have another couple to go.   Fellow budgetors.  Nice.   We also just found out that there is some type of protest near Monteverde and there will be no buses coming or going tomorrow.    We are  “stuck” here for another day.   Darn!   We then plan to head south to Quepos/Manuel Antonio for some beach time.   Finally!    Chao for now!

Other observations of Costa Rica:

-Helmets do not exist.  People ride on motorcycles with their 3-year olds clinging to them with NO HELMETS.

-There are a lot of sweet mullets.

-The weather changes on a dime.

-Tico boys are HOT (don’t worry Morgan, Kim is not interested).

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And So It Begins

Posted in Costa Rica, tagged , , , , on September 25, 2009| 10 Comments »

After a long day of flying (two layovers…UGH) Kelly and I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica around 9 p.m.  My friend Leticia has family in Costa Rica, so her lovely cousin Yesenia offered to pick us up from the airport and host us in her home for our first two nights.  This was a great way for Kelly and me to ease into a new city and culture at the start of our trip. 

Yesenia and her son Andres live in Santo Tomas de Santo Domingo de Heredia, a small community outside of San Jose, surrounded by mountains and coffee plantations.  Our first day in Costa Rica, we got a coffee plantation `tour´ from Yesenia´s dad, ate a cheap lunch and played with Andres at InBioparque (a biological park),  had coffee and yummy pastries at a mountain cafe, and were basically spoiled rotten by Yesenia.  She served us a delicious breakfast of the typical Costa Rican tamale and made us ravioli and tomato sauce from scratch for dinner.  We hope all of the food is Costa Rica is this good! 

Kelly and Yesenia´s dad on the coffee plantation

Kelly and Yesenia´s dad on the coffee plantation

Our yummy lunch at InBioparque

Our yummy lunch at InBioparque

Kim, Andres, and Yesenia at InBioparque

Kim, Andres, and Yesenia at InBioparque

Us and Andres at the Cafe

Us and Andres at the Cafe

The view from Yesenia´s house

The view from Yesenia´s house

The next morning, Yesenia drove us to San Jose to catch a bus to La Fortuna.  Downtown San Jose is complete chaos.  After asking several locals for directions and receiving five different answers, a taxi driver graciously led us to the station.  Kelly and I would have been totally lost if it wasn´t for Yesenia.  We were so happy to have her as our guide. 

We then had a bus ride from hell to La Fortuna.  What should have taken 4 hours ended up taking 6 and a half because of some stalled cars in the road.  It was crowded, hot, and rainy and I swore we were going to plunge off the side of the mountain two or three times.  On top of that, an American that we befriended on the bus had his backpack stolen from the overhead compartment.     Fortunately, Kelly and I had a seat so we didn´t have to stand up the whole time and we did manage to make friends with 2 guys from DC and 2 Swiss girls. 

All of us ended up staying at the same hostel in La Fortuna, Gringo Pete´s, for less than $5 a night.  For a private room.  For both of us.  Awesome.  One of the DC guys made us a yummy chicken curry dinner (seriously, food has been handed to us since we´ve been here) and we spent the night drinking and playing games with everyone at the hostel.

Some things about Costa Rica that we´ve noticed so far:

-There are no numerical addresses here.  Their addresses are `the house at the end of the street, three houses from the bakery, next to the house with the green roof…´

-The coffee is delicious.

-It gets dark by 5:30 p.m. year round.

-There are bugs everywhere, but they are friendly.

-The traffic in San Jose is horrible and people drive CRAZY.

Today we are going to see the Arenal Volcano and take a swim in the hot springs.  We´ll bring everyone up to speed in a few more days!

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An Important Lesson

Posted in Pre-Trip, tagged , , , on August 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

As I was sorting through all of my junk and boxing up old keepsakes during my move, I came across my big box of photos where I’ve stashed all of my pictures from the past ten years or so. Thumbing through the photos and reliving old memories, I came across some of my favorite snapshots from my many trips to New Orleans.  

The first time I went to New Orleans, I was not impressed.  Two girlfriends and I made the long drive to spend a weekend there during college and much to my disappointment, New Orleans wasn’t nearly as great as everyone made it out to be.  Bourbon Street was filthy and smelled like trash and pee.  The French Quarter had charm, but was not worth exploring in the sweltering heat and humidity.  To make matters worse, the food (one of the main attractions I was looking forward to) wasn’t anything to write home about.  I’ve eaten better Cajun and Creole food at Popeye’s Chicken than at the restaurants we wandered into.  Seriously, why the hell would I drive eight hours for this?   I had no intention of ever going back. 

Me, Mary, and Nicole in the Quarter

Me, Mary, and Nicole in the Quarter

Fast forward a few years.  My friend Nicole invited me to go to Jazz Fest, an annual music and heritage festival held every spring in New Orleans.  I was hesitant at first, but a bunch of my friends were going and I didn’t want to miss out on the fun.  Nicole’s Godparents, Carol and Lionel, lived in New Orleans and were going to put us up for free in their home and show us around town, so I decided to suck it up and go. 

We arrived at Carol and Lionel’s after a long day of driving and were greeted with a feast of boiled crabs, crawfish, grits and grillades.  This meal with Carol and Lionel was the beginning of a surprisingly fantastic weekend, one which jump-started an annual pilgrimage to a city that I didn’t think I’d ever visit again. 

ChowinDown

Enjoying a soft shell crab po'boy at the festival. Mmmm...

Each year now, a group of us pile into Nicole’s car and head to the Big Easy for Jazz Fest.  We typically spend a day enjoying music, people watching, and stuffing our faces at the festival (think soft-shell crab po-boys, fried green tomatoes, crawfish pasta, jambalaya, gumbo…and that’s barely scratching the surface of the cornucopia of food choices available).  Throughout the rest of the weekend, Carol and Lionel take us to see our favorite sights.   This includes a stroll around The French Quarter, coffee and beignets at Café DuMonde, relaxing on the porch at The Columns Hotel, cocktails at The Monteleone’s Carousel Bar , hurricanes at Port of Call, and a drunken piano sing along at Laffites Blacksmith Shop.  After all that alcohol, you don’t even notice the funky stench on the street. 

New Orleans is a blast – but it’s having Carol and Lionel as our tour guides that has truly made our time in New Orleans memorable and caused me to do a complete 180 on my view of this city. 

Up until Hurricane Katrina, Carol and Lionel had lived in New Orleans their whole lives.  They know all of the short cuts, where to park, which restaurant has the best turtle soup, which bar

Care for some crawfish?

Care for some crawfish?

serves the strongest cocktail, and which lounge has the best jazz and blues.  They love to point out all of the local landmarks, take us to the places where they used to hang out as teenagers, show us the schools they’ve taught in, the first home they shared together, and the old cemeteries where their loved ones are buried.   We’ve experienced  New Orleans hospitality by their childhood friends at backyard crawfish boils and devoured one-of-a-kind tamales at a family restaurant after the doors have closed to the public.  These are moments that I could have never experienced as a regular tourist here. 

Obviously, I’ve learned a valuable lesson from Carol and Lionel that I hope to utilize on my trip around the world – get to know the locals!  They can help you experience a city like you never would as an outsider, which will change your perception of a place completely.   Thank you, Carol and Lionel, for showing me how exciting a city can be

when it is seen through the eyes of someone who has loved, lived, and called it ‘home’. 

Carol and Lionel

Carol and Lionel

I’ll miss the trip to New Orleans this April, but I know that while my friends are chowing down on crawfish ettouffee and boogying at the festival, Kelly and I will be exploring a strange and exciting city too, hopefully with a new-found local friend showing us the way…

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The Fab Four

Posted in Pre-Trip, tagged , on May 18, 2009| 1 Comment »

Best Friends.  There is no feeling like knowing you can truly count and depend on others.  My girlfriends and I (otherwise known as ‘The Fab Four’) have been each other’s backbone since we were fourteen.  This weekend Sarah, Leah, January and I had a very much-needed girl’s weekend at Galveston Island.  We were also joined by ReeAnne, January’s sister, who has become like family in the past few years.   We knew it would be one of the last times we’d all be able to be together before Kim and I leave.  

LeahBeenie

Leah stubbing her toe...again

After a brief look at our originally booked room at The Islander (a.k.a. The Bates Motel…EEK!), we promptly checked into the Galvestonian a few blocks down.  It was an early 90’s beachfront condo that had everything we needed for an amazing weekend of drinking, laughing and debauchery.    Not to mention a killer ledge leading out to the balcony that we all stubbed our toes on at least four or five times!  Leah took the cake with a whopping 10 toe stubs!! 

 The weekend included yummy mimosas from Millers, a local restaurant that opened after Hurricane Ike, sunbathing, and all of us attempting to skin board thanks to Sarah’s impulse buy of a board that morning. We all busted it.  Awesome!  Sarah and I kicked the other ladies’ butts in volleyball and then we headed to the pool for a dip.  Leah had a few too many cocktails and was the loud drunk girl stumbling everywhere, and I was the one passed out in the lawn chair cooking in the sun.  Despite the painful sunburn, what a great afternoon!  We then went to the hotel room for a mega munchdown on January’s homeade chicken spaghetti before we got ready for the night. 

We spent the evening playing drinking games and laughing until we cried.  Sarah took some great film footage that will crack us up until we’re old and wrinkled, peeing in our diapers!

On Sunday, we had brunch before we all headed back to Austin and the Golden Triangle.   We decided to make this an annual event until the end of time! 

Again, spending time with people that you share mutual love and respect for is priceless.  No matter what happens in our lives or how long we are away from each other, ‘The Fab Four’ will always be there for one another, never skipping a beat.  It is so important to have and cherish these types of relationships in life! 

Once again, I know when I’m away and need my backbone, they will all be there.  Always…

Fab4

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