Vacation Travelers Group Blog

I’m floating in a natural hot spring under a black velvet sky sparkling with a million sundry stars. I’m savoring the luxurious feeling of the rich revitalizing minerals as they wash over me, relaxing and invigorating my mind, body and soul.

I can feel the occasional deep earthly vibration from Arenal Volcano’s rumbly tummy. I think to myself, “Is this real? This is perfect. This is living.”

The next morning I step outside onto the terrace to enjoy my morning cup of Costa Rican coffee while wild blue morpho butterflies float and flutter about the garden. Iridescent hummingbirds buzz around an array of exquisite flowers.

As I enjoy a delicious plate of fresh cut papaya, pineapple, and mango, I can hear monkeys playing in the nearby trees. I look up to see baby howler monkeys swinging from branch to branch in a lively game of chase while their parents watch from close by.

It’s time for me to return to my home in the city. As I drive back to the Central Valley, I promise to return to Arenal’s hot springs soon…but not too soon. First, I need to continue my goal of visiting new places in Costa Rica every other weekend.

Costa Rica is the land of biodiversity and microclimates and it’s possible to drive 15 minutes in any direction and experience completely different climates and landscapes. White-sand beaches, black-sand beaches, deserts, volcanoes, national parks, rivers, waterfalls, jungles…it has everything.

Even in the Central Valley, the most populated part of the country, you are never too far away from secluded nature. It’s easy to find yourself surrounded by lush green jungle, a kaleidoscope of flowers, and a menagerie of animals. You can have this in your backyard if you wish. For me, this is a huge part of the magic of Costa Rica and the main reason I chose to live and work here.

A second factor in choosing Costa Rica as my international home was the proximity to the United States, my previous home. Trips back to the southeast to see friends and family are easy, short, and relatively inexpensive.

In order to live in Costa Rica and afford this type of lifestyle, I teach English at a local university, 30 hours per week. I have no prior experience teaching English, but had no problems finding a job here in Costa Rica. I even found a company here who were willing to sponsor my English-teaching certification.

Most companies require certification to teach English in Costa Rica and some will even offer a work visa.

The average monthly salary for an English teacher in Costa Rica is $1,000. This doesn’t sound like much compared to a normal wage in the States, but it is 2.5 times the normal Costa Rican salary of $400 per month. For $1,000 a month, I get a nice place to live, groceries, transportation money, and a budget for frequent trips to the beach, hot springs, or other areas of the country.

For my next trip, I’m planning on going to the Osa Peninsula to explore Corcovado National Park and to swim with the dolphins.

Close your eyes. Picture yourself swinging back and forth on your own personal hammock, listening to the sounds of the rainforest. A toucan flies by and lands on a nearby tree, the buzz of the natural world is humming around you. You’re full from your completely sustainable, fresh homegrown meal, which included a perfectly cooked fish you caught yourself from a nearby pond. You’re remembering the hike from earlier when you felt water fall from a fresh waterfall…

If you want this dream to be a reality, you’re ready to plan your next vacation to Chachagua Rain Forest Hotel! Minutes from La Fortuna and Arenal, Chachagua is a beautifully manicured oasis of comfortable luxury. You will leave the property relaxed, inspired, and engaged with the world around you. Join us!

Costa Rica: Conserving Turtles and Our Sanity

Travelling is not always for the faint hearted. I found this out the hard way during my four month trip around the world last year with my friend Rachel. What follows is the first of my honest, not-found-in-Lonely-Planet accounts of travelling, detailing all we experienced on a single day as we journeyed through Costa Rica, from a hostel in the capital, to a sea turtle-conservation project deep in the Caribbean jungle…

After an early start one morning, Rach and I found ourselves hanging out in the hostel kitchen, packing up a highly nutritious breakfast/brunch/lunch/general daily food-ration of Pringles and Mediterranean herb crackers, in order to fuel us as we cracked on with our day of intense travelling.

The first part of our journey was a coach to Sixaola, a small village on the East Coast of Costa Rica which would take six delightful hours. For the most part this drive was fairly pleasant, interspersed only with a small and gratuitously angry man demanding to see our tickets literally about once every 10 minutes, as if we could somehow have leapt off the bus and swapped places with a ticketless hooligan in between times.

As the journey wore on, we began to pass through some highly questionable living arrangements, otherwise referred to as ‘towns’. This sowed a seed of panic in my mind, as we had been told to get a taxi from Sixaola to the beach itself – a mode of transportation which appeared very much absent from the ramshackle, rustic scenery that whizzed by. When we eventually arrived in Sixaola, my fears were proved vaild. We alighted next to a highly suspicious looking Panama border, standing in a dusty dirt track surrounded by bags, and a cellophane-encased pillow that Rachel had for some reason insisted on buying. Seeing nothing vaguely resembling a taxi in the surrounding area, we decided the best thing to do in the circumstances would be to stand still and argue. Presently, a kindly man cruised over and asked if we were looking for a taxi. Despite every morsel of information I had ever read about taxi caution and safety, we gladly confirmed that a taxi was indeed exactly what we desperately wanted. He seemed to acknowledge this, but then just wandered off, leaving us alone and confused by the roadside.

What felt like an eternity later, he returned with some highly jovial individual driving a pick-up truck. As much as this seemed like a well-seasoned recipe for mugging/general advantage taking, we slung our bags in the back, and clambered into the sweltering cabin. A few minutes of stunted Spanish conversation followed, which consisted mainly of the driver continually yelping ‘vamos Gandoca!’

Happily trundling along the track over hearty potholes and string bridges, the heat from the sun slowly melting the plastic covering on Rachel’s pillow onto my leg, we spied a large family waiting outside a dilapidated house by the roadside, waving the truck over. After an indiscernible conversation between them and the driver, they proceeded to clamber into the back of the truck with our bags and settle themselves down. The rest of the journey to Gandoca was spent in a concerned manner, constantly checking out the old rear-view mirror for any signs of bag-rummaging or valuable-stealing. Once they were dropped off we only had to stop for a large Iguana sunning itself in the middle of the path, which had to be forcibly shooed away by the driver with an angry yell.

After about a thousand hours, we arrived at what looked like a beach, but could see literally nowhere that vaguely resembled a conservation centre. Tired, hungry and overheated, we aggressively asked the man why he had not taken us to the address provided. He insisted that he had. This argument went on for several fractious minutes, interrupted only by me threatening to ring the language school who had organised the trip, and then realising there was no signal available whatsoever, until he sighed, flopped his considerable bulk back into the cab, and drove us about five minutes further down the road to some kind of deserted bar. Presently, a portly man in a G-Unit t-shirt bowled out, and informed us that the station was but 50 metres from where we had just pulled up. We then found ourselves jolted suddenly backwards by our jovial driver reversing at high speed back down the path.

Once we had eventually located the station and been met by Christine, one of the staff members, we were given some more amazing news by her – ‘Er, we didn’t actually know you guys were coming… you can share a room with Abby?’ And lo and behold, we were shoved unceremoniously into what can only be described as two bunk-shelves in the corner of someone else’s shed. After being left alone, we settled down on our bags, and wondered what on earth would become of us next.

After an angry and panicked conversation, Rach and I decided to make the best of a bad situation and headed cautiously over to dinner in the vain hope that we would not have to sit, surrounded by a fog of anxiety, on a lonely table. Dinner was rice and beans, something that would become pretty much the main feature of our lives as the days of turtle conservation passed by. Luckily, a sprightly young Dutch boy by the name of Elias decided to take pity on us at the dinner table and so our time was spent generally chatting to him and comparing English and Dutch culture.

Soon after this, Rach and I received our turtle-saving training and were then sent on our merry way to our first night patrol. Night patrol, a hellish ordeal disguised as a worthwhile, animal conservation exercise, comes in 4 hour shifts at either 8pm or 12 midnight. It consists of a group of volunteers/staff/locals ploughing up and down the beach in the wet, fly-infested sand mounds, until that hallowed moment when a turtle is spotted, flippering its cumbersome way up the beach to lay some eggs. I was put on patrol with our unwitting roommate Abby, and Jairo, one of the locals. After about a million silent years of trudging through silty textured sand dunes, Jairo spotted a tortuga. He instantly handed me a pair of latex gloves and a plastic bag and shoved me towards the nest with an encouraging grunt of ‘venga!’ At first, the task of bag-holder, watching as the turtle deposited her future offspring into my plastic sack, seemed like the most magical experience possible. However, as time wore by and the eggs kept coming thick and fast and my arms became less and less alive by the second, the awe was very much bleeding, slowly but surely, into intense pain. Only Jairo’s spindly weight leaning across me to grab the full bag caused me to snap back to reality from a pain-induced stupor, and soon we were back on the beach again.

By the time I returned, blistered, exhausted, aching and covered in sand at 4am, a nice clean bed was the only thing that could heal the pain. I then remembered that I had no such thing, and instead was forced to clamber in the dark under my shoddily erected mosquito net, on to a damp mattress that had become all the more uncomfortable due to the fact that the middle slat of the bed had fallen out, causing a dip in the mattress line for a delightful pile of sand to collect in. What tomorrow would bring, lord only knew.

By Emily Frost, WessexScene.co.uk
The complete versions of all my travel blogs can be found on http://idiotsgotravelling.blog.com

Costa Rica now has its very own John Lennon.

A statue of the Beatles star sits in a plaza in San Jose, reports the Tico Times. Designed by Cuban sculptor Jose Ramón Villa, the statue is titled “Imagine all the people living life in peace.” It was unveiled on Friday.

“It’s been said a million times that a city without culture doesn’t have a soul,” said San Jose Mayor Johnny Araya. “We’re working to attract tourists to more than volcanoes and beaches but also to our capital. Now people can come here to have their photo taken with John Lennon whose message of peace identifies with our country.”

Some people questioned why Costa Rica should build a statue that didn’t replicate a Costa Rican and that wasn’t designed by a local artist.

But that didn’t stop hundreds of Ticos and tourists from climbing all over the statue this weekend, reports the Tico Times, as their parents smiled and flashed peace signs.

Chances are… you’ve probably heard about, or you know someone that has moved to Costa Rica to retire. It’s not that unusual anymore, as thousands of Canadians and Americans are now living in Costa Rica full time. This amazing country is a mecca for nature lovers and people just wanting to have a better life. ‘Pura Vida’ the country’s motto simply translated, means “Pure Life” and the people living here are surely enjoying the freedom, beauty and celebration of life that living ‘Pura Vida’ describes.

This is a story of a couple that did just that, they moved to Costa Rica six years ago and are enjoying a dream lifestyle that would have taken many more years to achieve, if they had stayed in Canada. They both had busy demanding careers that were taking their toll, they wanted more freedom, more time for each other and just more… fun!They decided to search for a tranquil, rural area in a safe and affordable country with a great climate and after searching in a few different countries, they chose Costa Rica. Their names are Brian McLane and Mariel Castenada and they are now enjoying the comfort of their home and community in the mountains of Costa Rica and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

The name of their community is Altos de Antigua, it is located near the town of Santiago de Puriscal located 50 kilometers SW of the capital city of San José in the heart of the Central Valley. The Central Pacific beaches are 70 kilometers away, with three of Costa Rica’s National Parks (Manuel Antonio, Carara and La Cangreja) all close enough to visit on day trips. This central location is very convenient, as you can travel to the city for a day of shopping and trips to the airport — or take a scenic drive to the coast for a fun day at the beach.

Over the last 5 years, many of the lots here have sold, mostly through word of mouth and now there are only a few lots left. Because it was so successful, they decided to buy into another development, called Altos los Cafetales that is located in the same general area. This community was once a generations old coffee plantation and features wide open views of the valley, mature trees and small to medium sized lots at very affordable prices.

Both communities are mountain properties, where spring-like temperatures stay constant (in the mid 70′s), year-round. Spectacular views are everywhere, it’s safe, peaceful and comfortable, but most of all – it’s very affordable to live here long term. Living ‘like a local’ is the best way to experience the real Costa Rica. By living where the locals live, eating where the locals eat and shopping where they shop, you can live a very good lifestyle, for a lot less than what it would cost in Canada or in the US. The Costa Rican people are happy, beautiful people and though we are ‘foreigners’ in their country, they have welcomed us with open arms and continue to show us how to live a simpler, happier more fulfilling life.

So if the idea of living nestled in a lush, green valley or on a coffee plantation in the mountains of Costa Rica sounds good to you too, we invite you to join us and share the dream of living Pura Vida in beautiful, amazing, spectacular Costa Rica!

We are offering guided tours of both of these properties starting in January 2012, visit our website for more details.

Contact: Connie Dye
Phone: 1-888-835-0108
Website: www.casa-sapo.com
Email: connie@casa-sapo.com

Beyond the idealized capsule of the resorts, there lies a whole other side of Costa Rica as filmmaker Todd Bieber discovered when he and his girlfriend visited the Nosara Wildlife Rescue, a side not dressed up by the tourist industry but where those devoted to wildlife do their part to rescue animal victims of modernity.

Many of the monkeys in Bieber’s short film, Encounters with Orphan Monkeys, are left to fend for themselves when their mothers mistake the many uninsulated power lines in the country for natural features and die. Though many of the babies can’t be saved, they do what they can for those who survive.

Tourists traveling to Costa Rica urgently need the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and the country’s embassies to take the lead in prominently disclosing up-to-date information about how a tourist can enter the country on a one-way ticket.

At A Safe Passage, we regularly receive calls and emails from travelers stuck at the airport because the airlines refuse to let them board their plane without the necessary documents. It’s not that they didn’t research Costa Rica’s entry requirements. They couldn’t find them!

Although the law changed over a year and a half ago, Costa Rica does not have a single official site that includes accurate, comprehensive information about the country’s new requirements for entering the country on a one-way ticket. Without clear information, travelers have no way of knowing that a one-way ticket is not just a one-way ticket into Costa Rica. It also includes: 1) a ticket into Costa Rica and out of another country, and 2) a return ticket scheduled more than 90 days after entry. To my knowledge, this information is not published in English on any official site.

Ironically, airlines hold travelers accountable for complying with entry requirements whether they’re published or not. They actually profit by playing “it’s not my job” to disclose entry requirements and then “gotcha” when an unprepared traveler checks in at the counter. The cost of buying a last-minute return ticket can be $300 to $500 or more. Unsuspecting tourists are forced to either pay up or go home. Those who go home forfeit their non-refundable ticket and the airline wins again.

My hat is off to Frontier Airlines. After I met with them in January, they had the integrity to do what is right by changing their site. While the U.S. Embassy states that some airlines may not let you board without a round-trip ticket, Frontier is up front in stating that “travelers to Costa Rica can have an onward bus ticket as proof of onward travel.”

As “the leading … institution for the country’s tourism activity,” the ICT is the logical choice to bring about needed clarity by prominently disclosing all of the country’s current entry requirements and forwarding that information to embassies, airlines, guidebooks, and travel sites. Common sense suggests that if the ICT is spending millions getting tourists to come here, they should tell them what they will need to enter the country. It is not a quantum leap to conclude that what is good for tourists is good for tourism.

We solicit your involvement by signing our petition at Change.org. Look for  “Tourists Traveling to Costa Rica Need Your Help.” You can also call, email or fax the ICT. We are simply asking them to do their job. By adding your voice, we can make it happen.

Women at the UConn have an excellent opportunity to be a part of a cultural immersion that is coming to campus – the “Women’s Empowerment Exchange Program.” The program is hosted by the campus’s Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI) in conjunction with the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica.

The program’s main goal is to develop and facilitate a two-way educational program that will last throughout multiple years between young leaders of both the United States and Costa Rica. As stated in the program’s press release, “20 young professionals from Costa Rica and 20 young professionals from the U.S. will receive fellowships to increase their knowledge about how to become effective social change agents using a social change entrepreneurship model.”

The program is funded through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through its Professional Fellows Program.

“The grant funding also supports ten follow-up social change projects in local indigenous and Afro-descendant communities throughout Costa Rica, and allows for ongoing networking and collaboration between the foreign exchange participants and their counterparts in the U.S. These educational and cultural exchanges are designed to advance UConn’s ongoing commitment to global citizenship,” said the Associate Director of UConn’s Center for Continuing Studies and the Principal Investigator for the exchange program, Roy Pietro.

Through a competitive selection process, the program seeks to find emerging female leaders in Costa Rica who may be employed through the government or healthcare agencies, civil society organizations, educational institutions or women-owned businesses. These women will, in turn, spend four weeks in the United States, beginning on April 9, 2012.

Similarly, the 20 American Professional Fellows will be selected for the program on the basis of strong leadership and a commitment to producing good work. As the press release states, “Fellows from both countries will work in teams in a dynamic online environment to plan for the implementation of 10 team-based social change projects located in indigenous and Afro-descendent communities in Costa Rica. These small projects, supported by mini-grants, will empower women to address a variety of health, environmental sustainability and economic development issues.”

Another exciting opportunity that UPEACE provides for the women is the opportunity to attend a six-week workshop on social entrepreneurship, where participants are given the opportunity to enhance their own leadership skills and put them to use, by facilitating an orientation session for the U.S. participants upon their arrival to Costa Rica.

“Empowering Women through Social Entrepreneurship” is one of many programs funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in an attempt to bring cultural opportunities to both Americans and people of varying backgrounds.

You’ll be following in Richard’s footsteps as you visit the Nectandra Institute, Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, Arenal Volcano National Park, and Tortuguero National Park. And you’ll do so with Costa Rica Expedition’s legendary master naturalist-guide, Carlos Gómez, and with Felipe Arias, the uncanny wildlife trackers featured in Richard’s PBS special.

Fourteen departures are scheduled for the coming year, beginning with Dec 17-25, 2011.