Uvita, Costa Rica

Last sunday I travelled to Uvita to begin a 6+ week stay at Cascada Verde Eco Lodge. I had been looking forward to visiting this place since I read about it back in March. Unfortunately on the bus ride to Uvita I had my duffle bag stolen. My duffle contained my laptop, passport, credit cards, camera, and some cash. I broke a couple of standard bus travel rules that I had learned and adhered to on previous bus trips and paid for it dearly. This event along with 5 hours of bus riding and a 3 hour layover in Quepos made for one of the longest travel days of my life. Finally at about 9 pm arrived in Uvita. The bus let me off in the town center if you want to call it that. The town consists of a supermarket, bank, visitors office, and a few other small businesses. I now had a 1.8 km. uphill walk on a dirt/gravel road in a dark place I'd never been before. Fortunately there were 3 signs that were posted along the road that guided me to Cascada Verde. When I arrived I was met by some of the people staying at CV, Neela, Monica, Denny, and Houston. I told them about the events of my day and they couldn't have reacted with more kindness and compassion. They fed me and gave me a room to stay in with no payment required. My room was a simple, open-air loft space made of wood and bamboo. It included a comfortable bed with netting along with a chair and wood shelves. The open air feel in the heart of the jungle with sounds made by toads, monkeys, and various insects was simply amazing. Here's a look at building structure and surrounding vegetation.


Over the course of 4 nights and 3 days at Cascada Verde I got to hike barefoot up a river & help clean out the tanks for CV's water source, see a howler monkey swing from the treetops while practicing yoga, help plant new trees, taste several fruits I'd never seen or heard of before, hike down to and swim in the ocean, and participate in "Toss Your Salad Tuesday". Toss Your Salad Tuesday is not a contest to see who can drink the most Imperials, it is a night of great food and camaraderie including delicious salads made from various freshly picked greens from the garden.

More important than the beautiful jungle environment, open air sleeping, and amazing freshly picked foods I had a chance to get to know several people during my short stay. I got to plant trees with Evelina, hike the river barefoot with Houston, prepare dinner with Monica, hike to the beach and ocean with Denny, and carry on many interesting conversations with Neela who was particularly empathetic with my situation.

I had a great time at Cascada Verde but the stinger came with the realization that I would need to return to the U.S. to best handle business/work related issues stemming from the theft of my belongings. After getting a temporary passport at the U.S. Embassy in San Jose I flew to New York and am now visiting my brother and his family in Shelton, CT. I'll spend the holiday season with family but my long-term travel plans at this point are up in the air. Many options are up for consideration including a return to Costa Rica. I did receive some inspiring advice from my good friend Chris Gauer who said, "You must shed this minor disaster and use it as a springboard to begin the second half of your trip stronger."

Monteverde/La Fortuna/Jaco

Last sunday I took a 6-hour shuttle/ferry/shuttle ride from Santa Teresa to Santa Elena. The plan for the week was to travel with my friend Kurt. Since Kurt had just 1 week to spend in Costa Rica he had us on the go with outdoor adventure activities everyday. We kicked off the week by taking a guided night hike in a tropical rain forest. The highlights included seeing a mother and baby sloth, a tarantula, a huge ant mound, a 100-year old fig tree, and a variety of nocturnal insects including two stick insects that were in the process of mating.


We were lucky to get a couple of mostly sunny days while in Monteverde. We hiked through the Monteverde Biological Reserve which is a cloud and rain forest with well maintained hiking trails. The reserve is filled with overwhelmingly dense tropical plant and tree growth.


The same day we did a short but challenging hike to the San Luis waterfall. Colorful butterflies and birds, more interesting plant life, a scenic river, and several makeshift bridges led us to an incredible waterfall and pool.

In the same area we also did an afternoon of mountain biking. On this excursion we were handed a map and directions from a friendly Italian hotel owner and set off on our ride. We covered a lot of ground going down a steep trail leading past several farms into a small village. At times the trail was so steep and rocky we had to walk our bikes. Along the way we got a got a great view of the surrounding valley, saw a rainbow, a sunset, and an above ground cemetery. The ride might have been a bit longer than we expected as we didn't finish until well after nightfall.


Mid-week we drove to La Fortuna, an area best known for the Arenal Volcano. The volcano has been active since 1968 but because of continual rain and clouds we were not able to see it. We did get in another rainy cloud forest hike and also visited the Tabacon hot springs. The hot springs feature thermo-mineral rivers, soothing pools, and waterfalls set amidst tropical gardens. We soaked in the mineral wates for a good 2+ hours.


After spending most of the week in cool and damp locations Kurt wanted to end his trip with some warmer weather. We drove to to a beach town called Jaco. It was good to feel the sun and higher temperatures again. We checked out the town, did another bike trek, and cooled off afterwards with a swim in the ocean. The bike ride took us out of town down a dirt/gravel road that climbed a little ways into the nearby mountains. We found a river and waterfall to cool off in and thoroughly enjoyed the downhill return trip. It was a memorable week traveling with Kurt. Now it's time to catch a bus to Uvita.

Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

Last sunday I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica. The beginning of the trip was met with mostly feelings of excitement and a little bit of nervousness. I plan to spend 5 months in Central America and this will be by far the longest travel excursion of my life. My desire for the first week was to visit an ocean front area. I split the week between two beach front communities Montezuma and Santa Teresa. Both of these towns are remote, requiring about 5 hours of travel from San Jose. To get to Montezuma I took a bus, then a 1.5 hour ferry ride, and then another bus. The buses were air-conditioned, comfortable, and did not have any chickens on the roof. The ferry ride to the Nicoya Peninsula took place at sunset.

From the time I left the airport I started meeting other interesting travellers as well as several Americans and Canadians that have semi-permanently moved down here. My typical day the first week was to run, hike, or do a yoga class in the morning, work during the midday, go to the beach in the afternoon, and relax in the evening. In Montezuma I was fortunate to find Cafe Organico to eat and work. The typical Costa Rican meal which I've now had 3 or 4 times is called a cosada. A cosada consits of rice, beans, salad, and either vegetables or meat. It's usually a big plate of food often typically costing only $4 or $5. A Costa Rican cosada meal can typically be found at a roadside eatery known as a "soda".

In both Montezuma and Santa Teresa the roads are a mix if gravel and dirt with a lot of potholes. There are more ATV's and motorbikes used to navigate these roads than cars.


In Montezuma I stayed at a place called Hotel Lucy which had a back deck about 40 yards from the ocean. It was easy to sleep at night with the sounds of the waves hitting the shore in the background. In Santa Teresa I stayed at Casa Zen which was about a 200 yard walk to the ocean. The town of Santa Teresa revolves largely around surfing. There are several surf camps here for people with no experience surfing. I stuck to body surfing and boogie boarding which was plenty of fun.


Here's a picture taken for a yoga studio/cafe above the town of Santa Teresa. This place was partiucularly quiet and relaxing since it was away from the main road.

Lotus, CA Part II

I spent the last 4 weeks at my Mom and Harry's in Lotus, CA. Most days were a typical routine of working and biking or running at nearby Greenwood Creek. There were a few noteworthy activities and events over the last month. The first weekend I returned to Lotus I volunteered for the El Dorado County AAUW Green Home Tour. AAUW is an organization my mom belongs to that raises money for scholarships for women. It was my job to shuttle people from parking lots to two of the homes on the tour. Shuttling for 6 hours gave me chance to meet and talk to all sorts of interesting people from El Dorado County. The home tour was a success raising close to $5,000 and giving the locals a chance to visit some really interesting homes.

Other highlights included a canoe trip with my friend Karel, a couple of 5+ mile hikes with my mom, suprising Harry with a new used bike on his birthday, a visit with the Gilligan family in Davis over Halloween weekend, and an astronomy night up on Mt. Tam. I traveled with my Aunt Sue, Karel, and another amateur astronomy buff, Greg up to Mt. Tam for an astronmy night put together by the San Francisco Astronomy Club. There were 20-25 telescopes to look through and lots of different galaxies and constellations to learn about.

Sunday November 8th I'll arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica. If I can successfully negotiate the Coca-Cola Bus Terminal and get on the right bus I'll end up on Montezuma sunday night. Needless to say I'm very excited to begin my trip to Costa Rica. I'm looking forward to traveling around the first 2 weeks and then settling down at an Eco-Lodge in Uvita at the end of November. Stay tuned for updates from Costa Rica.