My Costa Rica vacation

[DarthTimmy]

Howdy,

So, I went to Costa Rica recently. I went for 3 weeks to visit my girlfriend (who's from there, and who's family is there), and to see the country. It was my first ever trip outside the United States... and it ... was... PHENOMENAL. I'm definitely going back... probably next year.

So, since it was so exciting for me, I took a lot of pictures. Between me and her (and my $100 Fuji Finepix 2650), we took more than 1,000 pictures. Now, after some editing, that number was reduced a bit, but there are still around 1,000 total.

So, the only way I can realistically show any of these is to just throw up a web gallery with minimal commentary. I found some neat tools to do this, such as an automation script within Photoshop 7 that makes me a quick slide show.

So, I've got a few categories published now, graciously hosted by a friend of mine. At the moment, they're a bunch of seperate pages. I intend to build one overall page that links to them all, but I wanted to share as soon as possible. So, without further ado, here are the pictures, such as they are at the moment. I will of course love to answer any and all questions!

1) www.cadetevon.com/alex/Arenal (the chica in pictures 19, 24, 40, 41 is my g/f)

2) www.cadetevon.com/alex/Orosi/

3) www.cadetevon.com/alex/Manuel_Antonio/
Manuel Antonio is one of dozens of National Parks in Costa Rica (about 25% of the country is National Parks, the largest percentage in the world).
www.worldheadquarters.com/cr/protected_areas/
While we were there at this amazingly beautiful beach on the Pacific Coast, where the water is about 70 deg F ( 21 deg. C), I saw my first monkeys (White Faced Monkeys) and my first Sloths (2-Toed)! Proof that they are real, and don't just live in zoos for our entertainment!!

When we saw one of the sloths (way up in a tree), there just happened to be a Nature Guide nearby with an incredible telescope, which he allowed us to use. We were even able to use it to get some amazingly close pictures of the sloth. I also saw lots of very personal Iguanas and Hermit Crabs, and even a Jesus Christ Lizard.
( www.ohs.osceola.k12.fl.us/teachers/animals/rljclizard/ )


4) www.cadetevon.com/alex/Poas/
The Waterfall Garden place was NEAR Poás, but was actually a different park that we went to the same day. It is one of the prettiest places in the whole country. They have a metallic blue humming bird there that's bigger than a sparrow. It's unreal, blindingly fast, and breath-takingly beautiful. The Butterfly enclosure is the world's largest (though not the most densely populated).

5) www.cadetevon.com/alex/Puerto_Viejo/
In Puerto Viejo, in the south, on the Carribean Coast, we got to stay for a week in a private house by the beach, owned by the family of one of her best friends. It was great!

That's all for now. I'll post updates as I have time.

[Revoltie]

Wow lot of pictures

From what I've seen that must be such a great country
Well those pics convinced me .... I GOT TO GO TO COSTA RICA ;D

[smokinpristiformis/starchild]

so sweet ;D

[Powerpuffblossom]

thanks for charing that with us DT,was really fun to watch ;D

[DarthTimmy]

I can't wait to share more... and I can't wait to go back. I really loved that place.

The Downtown part of the city wasn't my favorite, but it did have SOME nice things.

Like... it's VERY apparent that it's not a rich country. The roads are horribly maintained, so there's pot-holes everywhere, on every road. That being said... the place is a d**ned rainforrest. It rains... EVERY... SINGLE... DAY (basically). With that kind of waterfall, nothing can stay in good shape forever... but you learn to make do with what you can.

You learn to adapt, and your priorities change. Their rain gutters are deep like waterslides. It's kinda cool. When it rains, it looks like there's a mini rushing river at every corner. As strange and unlikely as that sounds, it's actually quite an impressive site. Sure, I'm sure I find it more amusing than they do, cause I don't have to live with it every day... but... it's just another thing that makes them unique.

Also, their roofs are all corregated aluminum. Some are painted, some are not (paint, afterall, is a luxury). All houses are concrete and metal. Anything short of this would rot and disintegrate within months from the severity of the moisture in the air, corrosion, and rain. So, it doesn't look pretty, but d**nit... it's the only thing that works there.

Cars always have SOMETHING wrong with them, the streets always have pot-holes. One day, the road workers may suddenly show up on your block in the middle of the day, unannounced, and finally fill in all of the cavernous pot-holes, FINALLY meaning that you don't need a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get to work in the morning (assuming you have a car at all). Then, 4 days later, the phone company may show up right after them, and dig the road up again to lay some wire, and not fill it back up. But man, weren't those 4 days of smooth road great? You learn to not take crap like that too seriously.

They actually have a joke about the fact that nothing ever quite works the way it's supposed to.

The deal is, you've got two guys sitting in Hell. One is a Gringo (American), and the other is a Tico (that's what they call themselves). The American is buried up to his neck in sh:t, and there's a guy just throwing buckets of more sh:t in his face.... over and over. Hell sucks for the gringo. What makes it even worse is that he can see the Tico sitting a few feet away, lounding in a rickity rocking chair, drinking a Coconut.

Finally, he can't take it any more, and between mouthful's of sh:t, he manages to ask the Tico...

"HEY! That's not fair *blech*.... why do you get to *blech... icchh...* just sit there sipping a c0cktail when I'm**...blllluuuuuuuuh* covered in SH*T all day???"

The Tico responds...

"Well you see señor... I'm Tico. Nothing ever really works the way it's supposed to for us. When the sh:t is here... there's no bucket. When there's a bucket... there's no sh:t. And when there's a bucket AND sh:t.... there's no guy to throw it on me!"

[Akula Matata]

ROFL

lol

btw, glad to have you back DT!

::starts looking at those pics::




EDIT:

looks like sweet pics in a sweet country, and I think Revoltie's right, gotta go there some day