From erupting volcanos to 71' beneath the sea!

Man, it's sure been hard getting around to posting these blogs lately... that is a good thing because it means I've been very busy traveling!

I'm posting more photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/samhiatt and, at least for the moment, don't think I'll bother posting too many here (because It just takes too long to make it look good with this software).

I've been wanting to tell y'all about my trip to the Volcano Arenal. It was really an amazing sight, and getting there was equally adventurous. In order to get from Monteverde to La Fortuna I had to take a tour bus down a very rough dirt road to where we caught a boat that crossed the lake. Though I hated hopping on the silly tourist bandwagon, the ride offered some really amazing views of the countryside, and I was able to see parts of very rural Costa Rica.

The volcano was really quite a sight! It was a picture perfect conic volcano like I think I mentioned earlier. But did I mention it is also an ACTIVE volcano? I was able to hike through a thick rainforest to a place near the base of the great mound and was really excited to hear it puffing! It sounded like a train as it released its pressure! The signs on the trail warning "Entering High Volcanic Risk Area" made it pretty exciting!

After the tour of the Volcano - which ended with a visit to an amazingly posh hot springs resort with about 20 different arrangements of pools, all at different temperatures - I decided I would swear off traveling as a normal tourist. Sure, the canopy tours, volcano tours, etc., are definately a necessary part of traveling Costa Rica, but when I stayed the next night in a nowhere town on my way to the beach I decided that there is so much more to Costa Rica than can be seen from the eyes of the average tourist.

Almost sadly, last night I ended up staying in another tourist town - Playa del Coco. I've been trying to make my way there for the past week, and I finally made it last night and was able to go SCUBA diving this morning! But getting to Playa del Coco had its own unexpected adventures! My late-night bus from La Fortuna, one of many bus rides on the way to the beach, was delayed about 3 hours because a HUGE tree in the forest had fallen across the road completely blocking the path. It took forever for some people with chain saws to cut through the tree and pull it off the road by tying it to the bus. You know... living in the US it is easy to take for granted the public services that would take care of such things, but I suppose it was cool to see how people were able to work together to get the job done while getting soaked in the rain.

SCUBA diving was awesome! I don't even know how to begin to describe the awesome variety of animal life that can be found below the ocean! In two dives today I saw a sunken boat inhabited by huge schools of fish, a huge green turtle, octopus, needlefish, a strange type of urchin that had the star of David on its top (seriously!), and two tiny fish running for their lives as they were chased by a white tip shark (about 7 feet long!)!!! To EVERYONE I HIGHLY recommend discovering the enlightening world beneath the sea.

Well, I need to run now. I met a group of people while diving (one of which will be studying with me at the UCR) and decided to join them for their trip up to Nicaragua! I am sure it will be an interesting trip. Costa Rica is the most developed country in Central America, and Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, so I am sure that it will be quite a change!

My First Rainforest - Monteverde, Guanacaste, C.R.

Wednesday morning I had no plans except to meet my new friend for lunch. I knew the bus to Monteverde left at 2:30, and so when there was enough time after lunch to make the bus I decided to head off to the north-west, to Monteverde.

Monteverde is a nice picturesque little town in the green mountains of Guanacaste. Because the town is sandwiched between two national parks, and next to the Children's Eternal Rainforest private reserve, the whole area is very environmentally conscious. Any paved roads are strongly opposed. This picture here was a snapshot of the road leading to my super nice hotel, for which I paid $7 per night for my own private room.

Though the rooms are cheep in Monteverde, it is still a bit of a tourist trap, and the tour operators know that they can charge 40 bucks for a tour of the rainforest... so money ends up going fast because, even though relatively pricy, the tours are worth every penny.

My first tour was a series of 16 zip-lines strung across the canopy of the Santa Elena cloud-forest. It was like a Disneyland for adults! The views were absolutly beautiful as I felw over the trees.

Following the zip-line course was a series of bridges through the trees. Walking along the bridges at my own pace I was able to snap some really nice shots of the forest. I'll try and get a few posted here.



After the zip-line tour I was able to go on a "twilight walk" of the Childrens Eternal Rainforest, a super cool non-profit organization. Children all around the world came together and raised funds to start buying parts of the rainforest and turning it into a private reserve.

The night tour was awesome! I was amazed at how the forest reaqlly comes alive at night. All kinds of crickets, frogs, and birds made awesome background music! If you knew where to look you could find trantulas. I was able to take some pretty nifty pictures of them! We were also lucky to find a Tucan! I was just amazed at how beautiful the bird was!

I am right now in a town called La Fortuna and am going to go on a tour of the rainforest at the foot of a picture-perfect conic volcano, el volcán Arenal. The trip here was amazing! No public busses run here, even though Fortuna is realtively close tom Monteverde... they are separated by the huge volcano and Costa Rica's biggest lake. Next blog will sport the story of how I was able to make it here!

Weekend at Jacó Beach

I made it home alive from my first vacation in Costa Rica. One of the greatest things about Costa Rica is that within 6 hours you can be anywhere in the country seeing one of the thousands of amazing places here, and you only have to pay less than 5 bucks to get there! I am really glad that public transportation has kept its prices really low. I suppose that's why Costa Rica is really popular among backpackers. Great prices on transportation, food, and hostels. So when you get robbed it balances right out, I guess.

The bus ride out to Jaco Beach offers some amazing views of the countryside. Actually, I have a feeling that the views were nothing compared to what I am about to see when I go on the famous Canopy Tours in the rainforest.

I snapped the picture below while riding on the bus. It offers a nice view of the countryside with a nifty fence in the foreground. For some reason I really like the idea of making a fence out of a row of trees and stringing wire between them. It'll be a long time until that fence falls down!

Life in the tropics sure is beautiful, but it comes with a few costs. For example, there is always the fear of being bitten by a mosquito that is carrying dengue, malaria, or some other type of scary disease. I believe the risk is relatively small, but it is a scary thing to think about.

Also, they don't call 'em rainforests for nothing! The rain in San Jose forces everyone to learn the habit of carrying an umbrella with them wherever they go. It seems to me to be intelligent rain. Not only is it very punctual, never missing an afternoon, but it also waits right until you walk out the door and have to be somewhere really soon to start pouring rain! I have to admit, it is kind of exciting, though. Along with the rain come huge cracks of thunder that shake the ground. I wish there was a way to take a picture of the experience.

Ok, now for the pictures of the beach...

Jaco is a little surfing town pretty much directly west of San Jose. Even though it is looks really close to San Jose on the map, it is a 2 1/2 hour bus ride, but its beauty and relative proximity to the city make it a touristic hot-spot. Don't be fooled by the picture above, it is usually full of surfers and sun-bathers. I took this picture this morning right before I had breakfast at a cafe just to the right of the tree in this picture.

Sitting right on the beach every day is a group of kids around my age who will rent you a surf board for 10 bucks a day. I declined the offer of a lesson for an additional 35, but after all the bruises from getting beat up by the waves I'm thinking maybe I should have accepted.

Yep, that is really me surfing in Costa Rica! I really couldn't believe it myself! When I was heading out into the water for the first time I couldn't stop laughing! I just couldn't believe where I was!

Back in San Jose at the bus station I saw one of the most original musical instruments in the world. A super smiley Caribbean guy provided us with some awesome Bob Marley music while we waited for the bus. He played a wooden box, attached to a string, tied to a stick. I think this picture is priceless. I think I'll call it the Poor Man's Bass.

Until next time... ¡Pura Vida!

An outdated blog...

21 July, 2006

I wrote this the other night and couldn't post it until today... Here you go...

The travel books warned me that electricity was "erratic" and to be prepared with a flashlight. Well, this morning I found out theat the power was out at the hostel when I couldn't get hot water in my shower. I had a good laugh when I learned the reason for which we had no power... someone had stolen the power line running to the hostel! Hahaha! Appearantly the power lines are made f bronze, and so people steal them just for the metal. Crazy, huh?

So it's now night and there is still no electricity here. It makes for a pretty cool atmosphere with candles set up in every room. It's really peaceful, too, 'cause there are fewer people here and everyone went to bed early with nothing to do.

So I decided this morning to stay in the city one more night because I wasn't going to be done with stuff at the school until late. I just barely decided that I am going to hit a beach on the Pacific side tomorrow morning and stay in a town called Jacó. I'll have to be back Sunday night for more stuff at the school on Monday morning, so it will just be a nice weekend vacation. I can't wait to see outside of the city!

The climate here is really fascinating. The mornings are really hot and sunny, and then each afternoon clouds roll in, thunder strikes, and San Jose gets soaked in rain. That's how it happened today... I got off the bus heading towards the school, there was no rain... then there was a loud crack of thunder, and before I knew it I was completely soaked! That lasted for just about 15 minutes and all went calm again. Well, I got my shower today after all.

Another day...

I think my biggest compliment today was from the taxi driver... he actually believed I was from the "Mother Country", from Spain. A couple of other drivers had tried to rip me off by asking for 1,500 colones ($3.00) up front when the trip should have only cost 350 'cause it was so close, so I had to find another taxi. I didn't want the driver to think I was just another gullible American, so I made a quick lie. Hehehe.

The taxi system is pretty good here. It's really quite affordable. They are all regulated by the government, and that keeps the prices reasonable and the customers relatively safe. Any travelers are advised to make sure that the taxi is a registered taxi so that if anything happens they can make a complaint to the city. I don't really know what that would do.

This afternoon all the taxis were actually on strike. It was really quite funny to see. They had blocked up a huge part of the main street causing all kinds of chaos. They were all mad because the city was being too easy on the "pirates", or unlicensed illegal taxis (the ones known to rob tourists, etc). I wonder what will come of it.

It's a pretty cool feeling right now to not know where I will end up sleeping tomorrow night. I went to a dive shop today to ask for some suggestions of where to head off to, and so now I have some ideas. It's really interesting that even though Costa Rica is such a small country there is so much to see! I don't even know where to start! There is a sign here in the hostel that quotes Saint Augstine of Hippo that says, "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." I think it would be more accurate to compare the world to an extensive library. It really is impossible to read it all!

That's a frustrating feeling to deal with. Everything I've seen so far has been so exciting that I want to make sure not to miss a thing. Yet I know that even if I were to spend my entire life traveling I would only be able to scratch the surface.

Life in San Jose begins.

Today was the first orientation meeting for International students at the University of Costa Rica. After a couple hours of sitting and listening in the auditorium to all the technical aspects of the registration process, etc. we finally broke for lunch after which we met again for a bus tour of the city of San Jose.

Any guide book will tell you that when visiting Costa Rica not more than 2 days should be dedicated to seeing San Jose - there's just not much here worth seeing compared to the rainforests, beaches, etc. But, it is my new city of residence, and so a bus tour was a nice experience.

After the tour I spent some time talking to the guy who guided it. Turns out he is from an organization called "Surá". I am a bit unclear of the details, but they are a group of diverse scientists who do "Environmental Consulting" with projects concerning anywhere from reforestation,environmentall impact, organic farming, or, apparently, giving international students tours of the city!

At any rate, the tour guide asked me what I studied, and when I replied that I am studying GIS and have worked as a cartographer he told me that he might be interested in me working for him and gave me his card for me to contact him! Yeah... so it's extremely difficult to keep from getting my hopes up too high. In fact, I better quit talking about this because I get more excited the more I do!

Standing next to us when we had that conversation was a member of the Universityfacultyy who works with study abroad. I mentioned that I was interested in helping out with a volunteer program started by international students here that is involved in all types of projects serving in the community. She was really excited about my interested and invited me to help out with a national science fair for elementary school kids. I am really excited to find out more about that!

On my way home I had a huge smile on my face and stopped by a "soda" or cafeteria for dinner. I really can't say enough about how much I like the food here. For about 4 bucks I had a huge plate of beans, rice, amazinglytastyy cabbage salad, friedbananass, and fried cheese. All that, and super nice service. Actually, I think it would be impossible for a Tico to provide anything but super nice service. They are all so friendly!

Well, I better get back to enjoying chillin' with all the other travelers here at the hostel. See y'all later!

Chillin' with the hostel's cat

I am sitting here in the San Jose Backpackers hostel chillin' on the couch in the computer lobby. Though I am inside, directly in front of me is the pool. There is no wall or door - the air is naturally air conditioned by the sea. The sea also brings with it plenty of rain, feeding a plethora of plants all around the city.

Back behind the pool is a path leading to a cafe that is part of the hostel. There is a projector in there where you can watch movies, or just sit and play a guitar they have sitting around in there.

I am amazed at the diversity of people in this hostel. It is such a cool environment and everyone is so nice. Last night I ended up chatting for a couple hours with a Canadian hippie who has been funding her travels by making and selling rather impressive jewelry and selling it on the streets. Also at the table were two French Guys, a guy from Germany who will be studying at the University with me, a guy from Israel, and another guy from Russia. Tonight I met two guys from Spain, near Barcelona. Oh, and I've met plenty of other gringos like myself.

Today I met up with someone I had met on Myspace who also goes to the University of Costa Rica. Like all "Ticos" she was very willing to show me around and gave me a nice tour of my new school. I was slacking on my camera shooting during the tour, but I get a nice shot of the inside of the Arts building, designed to resemble Greek culture.

After the tour we went for a bite to eat. I was amazed at how inexpensively I was able to get a nice meal! For a little over a dollar I was able to get a plate of beans and rice with a fried egg, which I enjoyed inside by the window... Or rather by the wall that wasn't really there.

It started pouring rain by the time we finished eating, so I got to walk back to the hostel under my newly purchased umbrella. I coulda taken a cab, or a bus... but I wanted to take the chance to get to see the city a bit.

An interesting thing about the city of San Jose is that they have a very logical numbering system for their blocks. For example... the hostel is at Avenida 6, Calle 21-23... Avenidas run east-west and are even numbers south of the central Avenida, and Calles run north-south and are odd numbers east of the central Calle. So my hostel is 3 blocks south of the center, and on the block between 21 and 23.

The funny thing is, the streets are not marked and no one ever knows any of the names! I guess I felt somewhat justified in getting lost when I went into a produce shop asking where I was and one persona said I was at calle 31 while the other said I was most definitely on 26!

On my way back I was able to find my favorite Spanish delicacy, jamon serrano - cured ham - at a supermarket I ran into. I hadn't had jamon serrano in about 3 years, and so I was ecstatic when I was able to make a bocadilla espanola with jamon, cured cheese and tomatoes.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how nice the people are here. Everywhere I go I am able to talk to the people and they are always so friendly and willing to answer any questions. A simple question can easily turn into a nice little conversation and a pleasant friendship.

The same hospitality goes for this hostel where the employees treat you like guests in their own home and are more than willing to lend you a towel if you forgot one, or let you borrow a knife from the cafe's kitchen if you need to cut the cheese.

So I am really loving life in Costa Rica so far, and I haven't even left the city yet to see all of nature's marvels that fill up this entire country. Just wait until I make it to the beaches or the rainforests!

Arriving in San Jose

(Posted on myspace blog on July 17th at 11:20 pm)

Just a couple of hours ago I stepped off a plane and set a record for the farthest south I've ever been. The sun had gone down long before so after breezing through customs and catching a taxi into town I was only able to see by the light of the city.

The cabbie was a nice guy. I prepaid at the airport 15 bucks to get into town, and the driver took me to one place that turned out to be too expensive. When I didn't want to stay there he took me to another place, which turned out to be a nice hostel. I paid 9 bucks for a shared room with a locker. ... But there is a lounge with cable TV, a computer room with free internet access, a game room, and tons of people from all over the globe! I've really never stayed in a place like this!

I suppose I should post this and go get to bed, or perhaps go meet some of the other people here. I'll sure have a lot more to post tomorrow!