Get your visa renewed in Nicaragua for $120 per person
Written by Brendan Blowers
Saturday, 05 December 2009 19:13
If you're in a pinch and need to renew your visa by doing a Taco Bell run, try going right across the border to Nicaragua. If you're a hardcore budget traveler and very lucky, you could do it for under $100 per person. If you need a few comforts and end up paying for things you don't plan on (like ice cream or chicha) you could keep it under $120 pretty easily. Besides that, a friend and I spent a very enjoyable extended weekend (4 days including travel) in Nicaragua and loved it, even though we refused to dish out any extra cash for sightseeing.
Here are some highly recommended travel details for Monteverde (updated May 2009)
Where to stay:
Cabinas El Buho (La Fortuna, Costa Rica)
Each room has a relatively private bathroom with hot water, TV with Cable, fan, and a balcony
Cost: $8
2479-9503, Cell: 8855-5348
4 blocks from central park, in a residential area (ie - quite and peaceful), with a pretty sweet balcony view of the volcano.
What to do:
Hike the Arenal Volcano National Park. It's awesome. Watch chunks of rock bounce down the side, see the smoke and glow, etc..
Go to Arenal Falls. Incredible. Steep hike, and wear swimming clothes down.
Ziplining/Horseback Tour/Frogetarium/Maleku cultural experience
A lot more fun that I was expecting. Surprisingly unpretentious for a full-blown touristy operation. Cost about $45 for a student, if I recall correctly.
Baldi Hot Springs - about $18/person for 5pm-10pm (student)
buy tickets through an agent in town. They're cheaper. See the driver listed below or ask through Cabinas El Buho above.
The cheapest place to eat with the best variety is Soda La Parada, across from the park.
How to get there and back and around:
Public Bus
Go to the Norteatlantico bus station por Barrio Mexico. Also called the San Carlos bus station.
Highly recommended that you rent a car or get some transportation while there. Adobe Car rentals will give you their cheapest dealio for about $50. If you go in on it with some friends... that's a good deal. It's near the central park.
This guy can help you get around:
Mario Santamaría Rodríguez 8394-6875
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Here are some highly recommended travel details for Monteverde (updated May 2009)
Where to stay:
Cabinas Vista Al Golfo www.cabinasvistaalgolfo.com
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2645-9917 2645-6321 Cost: $6-8/night (shared) Laundry service is available (per kilo), and an internet café is free.
Jorge and Annalee run this place. They are super-helpful and accommodating. They will give you GREAT advice on things to do in the area.
What to do:
Visit a Society of Friends meeting. For those of you unfamiliar with the worldwide Friends community, it's the Quakers. Enjoy an hour of silent listening for God's prompting and learn more about how the Quakers came to live in Costa Rica. At least one of the original setters (Marvin Rockwell) is still there. By FAR the coolest non-nature thing to do in Monteverde.
View of San Jose and entire Central Valley: priceless
By far one of the coolest day-trips you can do around San Jose, and one of my personal favorite retreats from the city congestion, is a hike up to the crosses of Alajuelita, the highest of which is barely visible from ILE.
Legend has it that the mountain was showing signs it was about to turn into a volcano and erupt. A local padre prescribed the remedy of building three crosses to stay the mountain's wrath. The ploy worked and the fire gods were appeased, and the crosses remain to this day. (This particular mountain region isn't at all volcanic, it's just solid mountain).
How to get there:
There are lots of ways of get to the crosses, lots of easier ways, in fact, if you have a car or want to pay bank for a taxi. But here's some guidance for getting up there shoestring-travel style. It should be noted that this hike is not a tourist attraction. There are no guide rails or brochures or bathrooms, and no one's there to cater to your every need.That's why it's awesome.
Take a bus into San Jose central (125 colones). From there, you need to catch the bus bound for "El Llano," which is located 200 meters west of the metal jazz singers in Parque Central in front of La Catedral Metropolitana, and 125 meters South. Several buses stop there - make sure you get the one going to El Llano (175 colones)
In about half an hour the bus will stop by a huge pile of rocks on the rights side of the bus, painted with colorful animals. Get out there and start walking up the steep road that passes El Restaurante Mirador.
After a few hundred STEEP meters, a dirt road will cut upward on your left. Follow the road, and follow the dirt path at the end.
The trail will open up onto another dirt road. Look upward and you should see the crosses above you, the white one closest. From then on, as in any situation, keep your eyes on the cross you should be fine.
TIPS
If you go early in the morning it's usually clearer (no rain or fog). Hiking conditions are way better. Try to leave by 8 AM.
There are 3 crosses. Make sure you get to all three, and at the final cross head back into the trees and there is a BEAUTIFUL green pasture area behind about 5 minutes beyond the final cross. Don't miss this back part, it's well worth the extra few minutes. Look for Wild Strawberries.
On your way up, on the right you'll see a Best Western Paradise Inn. You know what biotourism is? No, not ecotourism, biotourism. Look it up, and invite some of your movie star friends to get their nip and tuck done here in Costa Rica at a discount price.
It's a way better idea to go with someone who's already gone (Antonio or a fellow language student). But it's totally possible to get their on your own.
Between the 2nd and 3rd cross there is a tube where you can get clean water.
There are 3 geocaches hidden on the trail, 2 of them placed by me. If you don't know what geocaching is you should check it out.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 16 August 2009 06:03 )
Scuba Panamá
Written by Brendan
Friday, 20 February 2009 22:57
I'm writing this from Bocas del Toro, Panamá, where I went to join a group of students getting their scuba diving certification. Already being a licensed diver, this awesome opportunity gave me the chance to get back underwater and see some colorful ocean beauty. Bocas del Toro is a great place to do it. The licensed PADI dive instructor had good connections with the local dive shop on this island so equipment rental and logistics went smoothly for all of us. Unfortunately, a lot of rain made for terrible visibility, but we were still unable to see some lobster, a crab, a hideous toadfish, and some beautiful iridescent fish.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 September 2009 18:56 )
If you're in a pinch and need to renew your visa by doing a Taco Bell run, try going right across the border to Nicaragua. If you're a hardcore budget traveler and very lucky, you could do it for under $100 per person. If you need a few comforts and end up paying for things you don't plan on (like ice cream or chicha) you could keep it under $120 pretty easily. Besides that, a friend and I spent a very enjoyable extended weekend (4 days including travel) in Nicaragua and loved it, even though we refused to dish out any extra cash for sightseeing.
