Costa Rica Trip Report

[bigbabyjesus]

Hola,

I am in Costa Rica for a month and figured I might as well post my weekly trip reports that I'm sending to family and friends. They're a little condensed for mass viewing but feel free to ask me questions.

Some things I purposely didn't include, like my spanish and surfing teachers, more about the town, etc because I wanted to spread it out between 4 trip reports for my family/friends but go ahead and ask me questions and I'll try to respond.

FWIW, I am 25, and have been playing poker professionally for a year and a half. Pretty burnt out, the main reason I decided to take a trip.

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Pura Vida!

The term, used in greetings, good byes, and everyday conversation is a staple of Costa Rica. It means “pure life,” but can be interpreted as “the good life,” “it’s all good,” or “good living.” It’s a philosophy that Costa Ricans have as they approach their day to day life, living much more in tune with the Earth and ocean than Americans, with our concrete paved land and hectic day-to-day schedules.

It’s part of what attracted me to Costa Rica, along with it’s affordability and it’s openness to Americans. Many Americans reside here, and many locals speak English as a second language. That’s why I decided on impulse to book a trip down here and take a “learning vacation.” Part surfing camp, part Spanish school, I felt like getting away from the States and trying something new, while learning a vital language if I plan to start a small business in California. Getting better at surfing would be pretty cool, also.

I also get to meet new friends, like this little guy (well, he’s actually by far the biggest frog I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s about the size of my Spanish-to-English travel book.) who showed up by my toilet:



I landed in San Jose on October 14th. Located in the heart of Costa Rica, San Jose is known for being a little dirty and not worth much of a visit; it is more about branching out and visiting the coastal or tropical areas of Costa Rica. I quickly left on a shuttle for the closest beach town near San Jose called Jaco (it’s pronounced Haco, gringos!), where the school is located.

However, I’m also in the rain forest. Which means… a lot of rain. It’s literally rained more my first week here than it will in Los Angeles for an entire year. It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds, since the temperature averages around 70 for this time of year and the rain is not cold.

There’s also a ton of wildlife just roaming around. Here’s my Iguana buddy who was outside of the school the other day:



He was on the road and when me and a couple other students approached him to take a picture, he quickly ran off and up a tree. I was disappointed at first at missing the shot, but he reappeared on top of a building, in a more masculine pose which he held while we took as many pictures as we wanted. It must be his more photogenic side.

The school is beautifully designed and acts as a small motel. There’s capacity for about 15 students and, while they come and go within the weeks, we’re at about 11 students right now. They come from a variety of backgrounds and I get to learn more about other cultures while educating them about my own.



There’s “the guys,” which has come to consist of me, and 5 other Americans. Ranging in ages from 18 to 34, we’re all pretty similar. We’re all here to party, surf some waves, and maybe learn a thing or two.



There was a French-Canadian couple from Montreal named Isabel and Frederic that spent the first week here, but just left today. They were extremely friendly and were a blast to hang out with. There have also been four European women here, all representing a different country.



There was also an out-going Wisconsin blonde named Meghan who spent her last week out of 4 weeks this past week. She seemed to have an amazing time down here, perhaps a life-changing one. She’s considering taking a chance and trying to make a living down here in Jaco and escape the boredom and dullness of everyday life in Wisconsin. She seemed to make a lot of local friends, has multiple jobs lined up and I think she should go for it.

We took a kayak trip last Wednesday. We kayaked to a small beach north of Jaco, which a cool 20-foot waterfall and interesting rock formations. Our tour guides managed to grab a puffer fish in shallow water and show him to us. It was certainty one of the most bizarre living things I’ve ever seen; it puffed up to the size of a balloon and looked like a cartoon character. Eventually, when let go, it deflated to the size of a regular fish. Absolutely bizarre.



(didn't have my camera for that so I grabbed a pic off the web to show what it looked like)

I haven’t used a phone or watched TV in my entire first week, except for two baseball playoff games that I enjoyed with fellow American students down here. I don’t miss the technology at all. Same goes for the internet; I check up on the world and my e-mail for about 20 minutes, but often find myself bored and wanting to do something more productive. Amazingly, I haven’t had one drop of caffeine while down here and feel more energy than I ever have before.

The same can’t be said for beer, of course. The easy-going lifestyle and cheap beer leads to mucho fiestas, but that’s it for now. I have much more to talk about, from the nightlife, to our stern yet hilarious Spanish teacher, to my progress in Surfing and Spanish. Thanks to all who have read this far, it is really exciting to leave the States and experience a new culture.

[schreech26]

Cool trip report. I'm looking at heading down there for a few months sometime next fall.

How reliable is the internet once you get outside San Jose?

[Paul B.]

When planning a trip, how do you go about choosing where to go and how long to stay?
Why specifically Costa Rica and not some other affordable America-friendly country?
What percentage of Costa Ricans can speak English?
What do you do on a daily basis? What does your schedule typically look like?
How do you get around there? Can you rent a car?
How much cheaper are things there? Give examples plz.
How much surfing experience do you have?

[surfinillini]

nice nice

[john voight]

keep them coming.
you look like the guy that zapped the girl in Match Point.

[bigbabyjesus]

[ QUOTE ]
When planning a trip, how do you go about choosing where to go and how long to stay?

[/ QUOTE ]

I planned the trip mostly on impulse. I wanted to go somewhere new, and soon, and figured in a program like this I'd learn two things I wanted to learn as well as have people to hang out with.

I had been interested in Costa Rica before, perhaps as a place to play poker and live for a few months. It just seemed like a cool place that was America friendly.

[ QUOTE ]

Why specifically Costa Rica and not some other affordable America-friendly country?

[/ QUOTE ]

No real good reason to this. I wanted to learn spanish and surfing and have considered (based on ome readings) costa rica as a place to live to play online poker. I didn't do too much research on similar places.
[ QUOTE ]

What percentage of Costa Ricans can speak English?

[/ QUOTE ]

In the service industry, most of them speak it ok. Some speak it very well, some speak very well, some speak none at all. You could get by in this area without any spanish but it can be hit or miss with the locals.
[ QUOTE ]

What do you do on a daily basis? What does your schedule typically look like?

[/ QUOTE ]

For the class, I do 1 2 HR session of surfing a day. I do 1 2 HR session of spanish (w/ a class of 5 right now,) and then a 2 hr "Lab." The lab is more of learning new words or playing memory type games, etc.

Once a week we do a trip type thing during the day with the school. Last week was a kayak tour, this week is a croc tour.

We just chill alot otherwise. I've been reading books in my free time. We go into town and eat out alot. Me and some other students have begun to rent boards so we can surf in non-class hours ($6 a day.) Unfortunately me and another student basically ate [censored] on the same wave near each other and the fin of his board managed to slice my board.. probably about $50 to fix.

We party on occasional nights. This weekend we will probably make a trip to another area of Costa Rica (the national park fo Manuel Antonio is within 2 hours, and is one of the biggest tourist attractions around. Supposedly there are monkeys everywhere which sounds awesome.)

[ QUOTE ]

How do you get around there? Can you rent a car?

[/ QUOTE ]

You can rent a car. I am not sure of prices but it's probably not that expensive.

When we go to manuel antonio and such we will probably just take a bus. They are very cheap and probably bearable if you're with a group. Alot of the roads are in poor condition here, especially in the more rural areas (which 95% of the land around here is compared to the States) so it can take awhile to go to other regions.

[ QUOTE ]

How much cheaper are things there? Give examples plz.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thigns aren't really that much cheaper. I am in a town that is beginning to "blow up" with tourism; there are probably 5-10 huge condo projects that are just beginning here. This town w ill be much much different in 10 years. You can find pretty good meals (rice, beans and fried plantains + a meat is a meal called casado and very popular, can get for around $5-7 after drink + tax + tip.)

Alot of goods here are more expensive then in the States due to import tax. You can find some things that are pretty cheap here and there but really it's not like a huge bargain, just 10-30% cheaper than what you're used to.
[ QUOTE ]

How much surfing experience do you have?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not much. I took some lessons in LA in summer. I surfed a little with my buddy but had to ride his 6'2" shortboard and I never got close to catching a wave (I caught waves during the lessons but they were with a bigger board and better beginner waves.)

90% of the people who are here have little to no surfing experience. I'm standing up pretty consistently and am now learning to turn, recognize waves, etc. Surfing is a sport that is very hard to get good at. I'm standing up on waves but in reality I still suck very hard.

[Paul B.]

Were you there with CTS?

[Slider]

He's there by his lonesome while I have sex in every corner of the apartment.

[bigbabyjesus]

[ QUOTE ]
Cool trip report. I'm looking at heading down there for a few months sometime next fall.

How reliable is the internet once you get outside San Jose?

[/ QUOTE ]

At the school, it's a little slow, and somewhat unreliable. My laptop is having some problems of it's own so it's hard for me to tell if playing internet poker is a viable thing to do with the internet in this area. I am also using my wireless card which has never been that great.