Costa Rica: Part One

I went to Costa Rica for a week with my friend Paula {Spanish teacher from school}. I had a wonderful time ... though I was sad to leave the Frank's at home... it was a wonderful experience backpacking through parts of Costa Rica. First I flew into the capital San Jose {7 hours between 2 plane rides}... then took a 3 hour city bus ride to the port city of Puntarenas. Once we arrived we had to walk 2 miles from the bus station to our hotel for the night... as you can imagine I was exhausted after my first day of travel.

Waking up in beautiful Puntarenas and looking out at the Pacific Ocean... was fantastic!

Then we walked along the beach to Paula's "family's house" {she was an exchange student in HS and lived in Costa Rica for a year}. Their house was beautiful! They own a "shrimp and ice" factory... and believe me... Costa Rican's LOVE shrimp and Ice. This is the living room area

They even had a pool

and a boat

There was plenty of fresh fruit... if you wanted lemonaid... they would take lemons and squeeze it fresh... or strawberries... or cas... anything! It was fantastic! These interesting fruit are called momochinos... they takes like a cherry/plum... once you can get past the "shell"

The family also had a "zoo" in their yard

There was a horse {keep in mind this is the CITY not the country...}

Parrots... 4 in total

This little guy is a Despescuincule... not sure what it is really... but the family said it was delicious...

We also drove to Quepos to the beach Maunel Antonio and went to Jaco while costal with some of Paula's HS friends.

This is Herradura which means "horseshoe" another lovely port

Herradura again

More of the coastline and beaches while we were driving

EVERYWHERE you go... there are crocodiles! EVERYWHERE! you cannot swim on some beaches... because they are there... and "eat people"... we snapped a pic of this guy sunning with about 20 of his buddies under the road.

We were there while COsta Rica celebrated the feast of their patron saint Virgen de los Angeles. This was the "walk in Puntarenas" they walk about 14 miles with the saint as they bring her to the church. The main walk is in the city of Cartago... some walk hundreds of miles to get there.