Our trip to Costa Rica (Sam)

Sam Millard

Our trip to Costa Rica

On Tuesday morning we woke up around 5 and the Team, Logan and Matt, Logan's friend whom joined us on our expedition to Costa Rica, left  Logan's house for the airport. Once we got to the airport and through security and costumes we ate lunch. After lunch we got on the plane to Costa Rica. Once we got to Costa Rica we took the bus van to our hostel where we were spending the night at which was in the capital, San Jo`se. Once we got to hostel we made bed arrangements and went out to go shopping and buy our dinner. For dinner we went around town and bought food at food stands and open markets. At around 8:30 we went back to the hostel to go to bed. In the morning Evan Anderson, Evan Harr, Steven and I went with Logan to get pastries for breakfast. Once we got back to the Hostel we cut the pastries in half and each had 3 halves witch we took turns choosing. After breakfast we packed up the bus van and drove to our next hotel. On our way there we stopped at a soda (restaurant) witch our driver Willy chose out for us. After a delicious lunch we got back in the bus van and continued driving to our next hotel. Once we got to our next hotel in La Fortuna, Logan and Evan Small made sleeping arrangements, I was in a room with Evan Small and Dustin. Once we made sleeping arrangements we ran to the waterfall which was only about a mile away. At waterfall there was a rope swing that was about a 20 foot fall into the river. Logan was the first to try the rope swing, followed by Evan Harr soon after. The rope swing was fun, but a little scary at first. After spending around half an hour jumping from the rope swing we headed back to our hotel. A little after we got back to the hotel, we ate dinner and went to the town of La Fortuna. In town I got a little Irritated because every store there sold the exactly same stuff, touristy junk that said Costa Rica on it. Once we finished shopping we had evening meeting in a small gazebo like building. Half way through our evening meeting BMX bikers came in the building were we were having evening meeting and started doing tricks on their bikes. After evening meeting we drove back to our hotel and went to bed. The next day we drove to a resort witch we would spend the day at, horseback riding and relaxing in the hot springs. Once we got to the stables the people in charge of the horse back riding assigned us horses and we started riding. After we were finished horseback riding we went to the hot springs. At the hot springs there was a dry bar and 3 water slides as well as a couple pools, witch all varied in different sizes. The next day we went zip lining and back to the waterfall and the hot springs. The next day we left to go to the next hotel which was in Manuel Antonio. On the way there we stopped at another soda to break for lunch. Once we got to our hotel we set up and then went to a small part of the beach. While there I ripped open a coconut with my teeth within a couple minutes. After that we went back to the hotel an hanged out in the designated hang out room. The next day we went to the beach. At the beach Logan rented a couple body boards and a surf board for us to use. The next day we went to the beach and rented the boards again. The next day we went back to the hostel we stayed at in San Jo`se. The next day we drove to the airport and left to return to the states. 

Billy's Blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h2-v2Lut9U

Billy Cullity                                                                     3-14-11

Blog

The previous expedition we went to Costa Rica. We arrived in San Jose and stayed at backpacker’s hostel. We went to town later that night and bought souvenirs and food. The next morning we ate pastries for breakfast and headed out to a town called La Fortuna in the middle of the rainforest.

        In La Fortuna we went to a river that had a small waterfall. At the waterfall there was a rope swing and it swung us right in front of the waterfall. The next day we went to a resort called Los Lagos and we went horseback riding. Evan Small and I decided to race on our horses and of course I won the race. I almost forgot to mention that La Fortuna Is next to a big active volcano. After we went horseback riding we went to the pool area and went down three different water slides, there was also natural hot springs that we went to. Later that night we went to town and bought more souvenirs and more food. The next day we went back to Los Lagos and went zip lining and saw a small snake that is deadly. We also went back to the rope swing and also back to town. Then at night went back to the hot springs and water slide that was our last day in La Fortuna.

The next morning we went to Manuel Antonio and went to the beach. The next day we went back to the beach and rented 1 surf board, 3 body boards and 1 skim board. We played in the water pretty much the whole day. The next day we went back to the beach and rented more stuff. I was body boarding the whole time and I wasn’t able to stand up on the surfboard but I was able to stand up on the body board which was even harder. I was able to ride the body board as if I was surfing. Later that day we ate out in town at a pizza place. I also almost forgot to tell you the Evan H, Steven, Evan A, and I all got a room to our selves, it had 2 king sized beds and a TV and a lot of other nice stuff, we got the nicest room.

        The next morning we went back to San Jose and went back into town and bought more souvenirs and food and enjoyed our last full day in Costa Rica. The next morning we ate more pastries and drove to the airport and flew back to America.

Tristan's Costa Rican blog

Tristan’s blog for Costa Rica

In this blog as you know we went to Costa Rica in Central America. My most favorite things would have to be horseback riding on the outskirts of an ACTIVE VOLCANO (yes I had to use caps lock), and seeing white faced Capuchin monkeys. First of I want to thank the staff for giving us so much freedom on this expedition! Thank you staff!!!!!! So on that note let me talk about horseback riding first. So this was my first time horseback riding ever. I enjoy being around animals very much . Anyway, my horse’s name was purple in Spanish. Honestly I forgot how to say my horse’s name in Spanish. So I’m supposed to hop on this thing that is like 100% muscle?  I hop on my horse and I felt the horse relax,  and I knew that I was in for a treat. Then I see this dude come out on this white horse. His name is Victor and he is the one who leads the horseback trips. He led us up and down hills, vales, and even across a couple streams. I loved my horse. My horse would follow any thing I told my horse to do. Even if she was a little nervous on going on a small path, I whispered it’s ok to my horse and she seemed to listen and acknowledge what I said; and that made me feel safe and happy at the same time. When we got to the stable I felt sad to leave my horse; but she would see other people.

So know lets have some monkey talk! This whole expedition I would run around saying ?Donde esta los monos? Which translate to “Where are the monkeys?” So you can tell I was looking forward to see wild, little, white faced monkeys. When I saw them, I looked like a little boy in a candy store. I was amazed that they were so close to us humans. I took a crap ton of photos and I will hopefully I can post them along with my blog!

Thank you every one who has helped me through tough times and who stood by my side when I needed someone, especially my mom!!!!

hola costa

Hola it is me Dustin Kenney

In this blog I will be giving you a day by day layout of the trip. We started in Charlotte, North Carolina and boarded the plane. We flew to San Jose in Costa Rica.

            The next day we headed out of San Jose and went to La Fortuna in Costa Rica. We stayed at a pretty cool campsite. Then we went to bed.

            This day in La Fortuna was really cool. We got to go horse back riding around Volcano Arenal and we galloped a lot and just had a fun time. I had a really fast horse. After horseback riding we went to a rope swing, the hot springs, and to town.

            The next day we went Zip lining. We saw a great horned viper, it can kill you within an hour so we kept our distance. Then after that we went again to the rope swing, the hot springs, and went to town also.

            We left the resort and we headed to the beach to stay at the Blue Monkey. It was awesome. We got to the beach and we watched the sun set that day. It was cool.

            In Manuel Antonio we lived the beach life and went surfing, boogie boarding, and skim boarding. I stood up on a surfboard and it was cool. We also went into a national park and saw monkeys and sloths.

             Our last day on the beach we got two surf boards, three boogie boards, and a skim board. When I was surfing a giant wave came out of nowhere and it crashed on me. I hurt my ankle really bad but I am fine now.

            We left the beach and headed back to San Jose and stayed our last night in the backpacker’s hotel. It was cool because it is a nice calm place.

           

            We came back to North Carolina and we were sad to be done in Costa Rica.

           

The Coffee and Food of Costa Rica

When you’re visiting Costa Rica, it’s almost sacrilegious, coffee lover or not, to refuse to try some of their world famous coffee.  It is probably the most fresh, whole coffee that I have ever tasted in my life, and when combined with their amazing food, it beats some of America’s five- star food eateries.  It is truly an experience that I will never forget. 

                In Costa Rica, almost everything is cheap; food (sometimes less than a dollar), coffee, and souvenirs.  At most, a pound of coffee, is only about $7.00 or 3500 colones  (the Costa Rican money system), In the United States, that much coffee (that may I mention, wouldn’t be as fresh or good) could cost you upwards of $12.00 or more. 

                When the Costa Ricans traditionally make coffee, they add just a little bit of sugar and a bit of creamer, they do so in the right amount to really make it taste perfect.  When I passed my coffee proposal, my second cup of coffee, was Costa Rican, so now it’s really hard to go back.

                Enough with the coffee, I want to tell you guys about some of the amazing food and drinks that they have there.  I really don’t know the name of the food, but, it is kind of like a “Hot Pocket”, it’s a pastry that is filled with meat instead of cream or fruit. It is probably one of my favorite foods there, though in close second, is a very flaky, cream filled, and powder sugar coated, pastry that we had a couple times for breakfast in San Jose’. 

                One of my favorite fruits in Costa Rica to eat is a relative to the banana, called a plantain. You normally don’t want to eat it. Sam tried it uncooked and it didn’t taste so good! Most of the time you see it fried into a brownish-yellow color, and with a little sugar it taste really amazing. I highly recommend it! 

                The best places for food in Costa Rica were not fancy places, they were places called “SODAS”, and they were created as “Truck Stops” for the stressed truck drivers that have to travel the “scary roads” of Costa Rica.  They are always VERY cheap, (about $5.00, at most) and they provide some of the food that the locals like to eat, and not the tourist.

                All in all, I really want to visit Costa Rica with my family sometime, and be able to experience even more of the area, including; the whitewater, other volcanoes, and more SODAS.  While we were there we saw so of the many cool areas in Costa Rica, like; the Arenal volcano (extremely active), La Fortuna, San Jose’, and some of the beaches.

Mitchell Wilkinson- Harrison blog

This expedition Pangaea went to Costa Rica for ten days. When we got to the airport we met Willy. He was going to be our bus driver in Costa Rica. Then we drove though San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Then we drove to a backpacking hotel were we stayed for one night . Then on the next day, Logan went into town to get us breakfast which was so good. One of the days we went into to town and we got to get some local food and did some shopping too. Then we went to the rainforest for a few days. Then the next day, we got up and went horse backing for the most of the day. Then after we were done with the horse, we went to the hot springs and went swimming when we went back to our hotel that we were staying at. One the next day we went Zip lining for the most of the day and after we were done we went back to the hot springs. Most of the days we were cooking our meals or buying meals in town. One of the days we went to the beach for a few days and we rented a skim board, surfboard, and a few body board; and everyone had a good time on the beach.

 After we got back to the U.S.A, we went to Taco Bell because we didn’t have food to eat. We got back to Logan‘s house very early in the morning we got to sleep in the next day. Then we went out in the backcountry for three days before we had to come on to base. We went to Sonic on Friday.

Horseback riding by Evan Anderson (Ray – Ray)

This was a momentous day for me. For as long as I can remember I have been afraid of horses! They are big and powerful creatures that could end me in a blink of an eye, all summed up that would mean intimidating. However, on this day I didn’t really have choice, (I did but that’s not as exciting). As I watched the others mount up and ride out into the pasture, I stood heart wrenched thinking of all the possible ways a horse could destroy me. Then the instructor finally called me over, I tried my best to calm my breathing and my pulse so that the horse couldn’t sense my fears. Once atop the saddle my fears started to diminish. The horses started to ride out, up the mountain we went! About an hour later we came up to these open fields. My horse and I had been trudging along lazily in the back enjoying the beautiful scenery of the volcano and rainforest. We finally got to a big open field and everyone’s horses began to gallop away, my horse follows suite but when we got to the top of the first hill in the middle of the opening my horse gets struck by a shock of….. Boredom! I couldn’t explain any other reason why it would stop, this same event happened throughout the day. Eventually we began to sing songs together, it was making a catchy grunting sound, (probably was just me). Soon we came upon the buildings of the resort, far behind the group I strode in like a triumphant warrior on my half dead looking horse. Earlier my horse was stumbling along, it was very tired and I thought it was going to drop and roll on me. I felt sorry for it and thought that I should probably get off and walk it, but I didn’t think that the horse instructor would have appreciated that very much for some odd reason. Finally we got back to the resort and the horses ended up getting their very much deserved rest. I learned from this to not be scared of some things until you have tried it because it could become a great experience!!