Pamela Chelin - freelance journalist in Los Angeles who has worked with Access Magazine, Globe and Mail, LA Times, German Glamour, etc.

By: Pamela Chelin (California, USA) 2008
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"I had an amazing time in Costa Rica and I developed a real fondness for the laid back and 'carpe diem' Costa Rican culture. Further, I discovered an adventurous side which I didn't even know that I had to the degree that I do have and, now, indulge freely! Between the wonderful fish and plantain desserts I feasted upon, the amazing time white water rafting and overnight camping along the Pacuare, the incredibly informative experience I had at CATIE learning about the flora, the wonderful Costa Rican people I met during my travels and the beautiful scenery from the volcanoes to simply gorgeous waterfalls, I have a love affair with Costa Rica. I am eager to return to this wonderful, laid back and inspiring country."

Pamela Chelin is a freelance journalist in Los Angeles who has worked with Access Magazine, Globe and Mail, LA Times, German Glamour, etc.

Blog By Nooria - Costa Rica Trip

By: Nooria (Maryland, USA) 2007
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To see Nooria's full blog with pictures, click here

The last time I visited Costa Rica, I went to a small beach town just at the tip of the Nicoya peninsula called Montezuma. It was the very beginning of the off season, so I had just missed all of the crowds.. This may sound boring to some of you, but for me it was perfect!

I had no idea how amazing the next few weeks were going to be for me, especially since I knew next to nothing about this Cozy little beach town. My friend was doing an internship at Ylang Ylang beach resort, which is about a ten minute walk down the beach from the edge of town. There is no other way there. It is like an Oasis among the seaside trees.. I found Ylang Ylang to be kind of expensive, after all I was staying for almost a month, so I found a room at El Jardin, which is at the top of the hill in Montezuma next to the beach where the fisherman have their boats, a fishy beach, not really good for swimming..

In the first week, I got to know some of the locals which was pretty much all that was there because it was off season, and that created a very personal very close encounter with the CR natives and their lifestyle and culture there.. I found most of my days were wandering around while my friend was working.. (which she did a LOT). But it was cool because I had a lot of time to myself and was free to do whatever I wanted. One of the people I got to know well was Trixy, an Ayurvedic practitioner that was working at Ylang Ylang at the time. I had many treatments from her. There was one where we walked out onto the rocks at low tide and I sat in a pool of water and meditated.. It was after this treatment that I almost felt reborn.. like I had new eyes and we sat on the rocks for a while and watched the people on shore, the fisherman and the last tour from Tortuga island returning for the day. I felt completely content and I was sure something VERY special had just happened to me. I knew I felt a little tired, but I realized I had felt much more than tired, almost jaded and now I felt better than I had in years..

One day, I stopped in one of the shops to buy a sarong, since no one uses towels here, and forgive me I don't remember what they call them in Costa Rica. And it was in the shop where the man told me I should go to Playa las Manchas. And so I did. I walked along the winding road, past the fisherman's beach up hills and across a bridge, when I started questioning what the man had told me.. maybe he had lied? Maybe it was much farther than he said, but as soon as I asked someone I was just about there. There was a little house on the right with rooms for rent, and I'm pretty sure it was called Manchas hotel or something similar and directly across the street was Playa las manchas, a beautiful little spot with nice soft white sand and crystal clear waters. The water was a little rough that day so I didn't end up really swimming. But I lay in the sun and watched some other very nice looking visitors without their shirts on play football..

Needless to say I enjoyed myself..
During the nights we would have dinner in one of the many restaurants in Montezuma. Our favorites were Allegr de something rather and Cocolores.. Allegr was an italian restaurant and they had the most amazing food. The gnocchi was my favorite. Cocolores had the most amazing gorgonzola steaks that were usually served pretty rare, no matter how you ordered them. But it turned out to be great!
After dinner, my old and new friends would go to Chicos.. the bar/nightclub there. We salsa danced and played pool and foosball, or just people watched.. and one night the bartender fed me a wonderful 35 year old Guatamalan rum, which instead of sitting on a barstool made me feel like I was floating on a nice fluffly little cloud. It was amazing! I spent a lot of time on the Ylang Ylang resort, talking to my friend and the other workers there. The environment was extremely mellow, and since it was the low season and no one was staying there, I was able to use the Yoga studio and the pool and lounge in the hammocks on the beach. One day, I was lying in a hammock when I suddenly felt like I was being watched.. I looked up to find five for six squirrel monkeys staring down at me from the tree tops.. they must have been attracted to the sparkles on my tank top. I didn't stick around to find out.

I had waited almost the whole three weeks I was there for my friend to become available to go on the four wheeling trip with me and we finally got to go. We drove up the road into the forest stopping at Santa Theresa and a little bar in the middle of nowhere, along the route we were taking.. it was (once again) amazing! We had the teeniest little margaritas we had ever seen in our lives but that was a good thing because I was driving the four wheeler. We passed a few houses and some open fields and one Tico sitting on the side of the road and when he looked up at us he had the most crystal clear blue eyes ever..(these features are typical among most of the ticos). I yelled to my friend sitting behind me "did you see his eyes??". *sigh*

The four wheeling trip was a lot of fun, even though I almost lost control of the thing a few times, in REALLY bad places like.. on a small natural bridge with a drop off next to it of who knows how many feet.. I would feel the atv lose it's grip and suddenly at the last minute it would catch on the nasty terrain again. I never told my friend about this.. She still has no idea! But hey, it's called living on the edge.. whoo ...
Anyway I guess I should wrap this up.. Through the lazy days that I wandered, most of them were sunny, so I was surprised to find that it was on a cloudy day that I found complete contentment for the second time .. It came when I least expected it..

Other things I did: Vistited a waterfall.. Made out with the most attractive guy in the town on the moonlit beach.. Went to Santa Theresa for a surfing competion, which we missed because we had false information about a connecting bus. But we sat and had margaritas and caught up instead, which was nice. The food was just amazing and it blew my mind that I would have an exceptionally good food and wine pairing in CR, but it happened a few times in Montezuma and then on my last night, in San Jose I wandered out to this restaurant with one of the guys that was staying at the hotel with me. We had traveled from Montezuma to San Jose together and became friends. It was at this restaurant where we listened to a guy sing love songs with his guitar and had really tastey filet mignon with really good red wine! It was so nice, and that night I went back to my hotel and lay in a hammock in the courtyard. There weres some older women there that were clearly having a reunion. I listened to them talk and laugh and felt my last and most lovely moment of contentment that I was ever so grateful for... *sigh and smile*
To see more pictures of her blog, click here

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Carmen (Utah, USA) Sample Blog Writting

By: Carmen (Utah, USA) 2003
Repost By SFS

I am sorry I havent wrote sooner. Each time I get on the internet something happens immediately when I am about to type. Our school is held outdoors in bamboo tents next to the jungle. This is also a nature reserve with incredible flora and animals. The birds are amazing. I actually went waterfall repeling. It was just like Romancing the stone. The jungle is amazing. I repelled down the water fall with ropes and climbing gear. Then we trapsed through the jungle along the river. WOW!! Alas we took a few zip lines to several platforms. Kinda scarry. not too high however. Zip lines are wires you hook your harness up to with a pulley. you can fly through the jungle perhaps 50 yars or so and land on another platform. We then rapelled down several other waterfalls. I am going on the same trip next week because I needed a waterproof camera along the way. You will be in shock. My host family is wonderful. my brothers and sisters are great. I have been singing Ave Maria maria for everyone. Mothers day is Aug. 15 and I am going to my grandmothers house to sing with her along with the professor of music from the local universidad. He will accompany me on the guitar. I have rented a bike here and ride it to school and back. It is about 2 miles away on the nature reserve. The food is not very good here, but I will survive. I am going on a class 5 river raft trip on Saturday on one of the most renowned rivers in the world. It sounds scary,but por la vida as the Ticos say. live life. My spanish is not coming along as good as I had hoped. I kick myself everyday for not bringing my spanish books from school.Salt Lake Community College. I will have Ola send them on Monday. Every day I get up at 6 oclock and eat breakfast at 7. I have had alot of activities lately. Etc. Serpentaria. That was a reserve for Snakes and such up in the Mountains. We were told all about snakes etc.. Too bad it was all in spanish. I will go there again in a few weeks. This school is great. My legs look like beets. They are swollen with mosquito bites. ITCHY!!!!! I am a bit bruised up from the Canyoneering , I went to the gym today for the first time, I havent had any time to go. I have ran a few time in the nature reserve. Pure paradis. It is amazing how much it rains but it is a warm rain and very pleasant. On Sunday we are taking a hike to the local Volcano and going inside. It should be an adventure. Getting to a phone is difficult, however I just found out tonight that I can use my host familys phone with the card I have. We had several tremors here over the past days due to a large earthquake in Panama.

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Costa Rican Artists

This section we will provide for our viewers to get to know some of the top artists in:

* Painting
* Music
* Ceramics
* More to add

Costa Rican Music Artists

Updated - November 2008
Makatelyu is a Costa Rica reggae, Latin, Caribbean band form in 1998. There music and message provide an insight about Costa Rica culture, politics, and its people. Check the link to see and listen to some of their music in Youtube. Blog with us, and let us know what you think?

Images of Costa Rica

Sunsets

Beaches























Flora
























Fruits and Vegetables

Top 10 Reasons to Visit Costa Rica

Top 10 Reasons to Visit Costa Rica

By Spanish for Success

10) Easily accessible from the USA; about 2-8 hours flight from a major hub

9) Compared to Euros, a dollar goes further, and lot more affordable than Europe

8) Abundance of fruits and vegetable (Mango, Pineapples, bananas, and many more)

7) Costa Rican Foods and Cuisines (Casados, Gallo Pinto, Ceviches, and many more)

6) See exotic creatures and animals (4 types of monkeys, green turtles, red eye tree frogs, and many more)

5) Known for some of the best Eco-tourism (National Parks; active volcano, cloud forests, rivers, beaches, and many more)

4) Good quality coffee (Soil in volcanic areas, mountain ranges produce amazing coffee tastes)

3) The weather is great all year round (Only two season; rainy and dry)

2) Has plenty of Adventure Tourism (River Rafting, Zipline, Canyoneering, hiking, surfing, and many more)

1) GREAT PLACE TO LEARN SPANISH (Spanish for Success)

Costa Rica is an ideal place to visit anytime of the year, many travelers and tourist are amazed by the experience they get from the country. Many have returned to the country more than ones, some have taken on residence in the country as an expat or investor. The investments within the country has grown dramatically, in the last 10 years, from; Real Estate, B&B, restaurants, and even surf schools.

Here are some more points about the country.
• There have been no recent acts of terrorism in the country. Relatively safe for women travelers
• The capital of Costa Rica offers advance Medical Facilities and the latest technology
• Ideal place for retirees
• American Passports automatically have three months visa stay upon arrival
• The locals, or as known as Tico’s, are some of the friendliest people you will meet. The majority has a laid back relaxed feeling about life.
• Transportation in the ground and air is very efficient in most popular destinations.
• There is a fusion of different cultures from the North, South, East, and West.

Blog with us, and let us know what you think.

www.spanishforsuccess.com

Study Spanish in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has no official military and has instead chosen to invest most of its funds in the areas of Health and Education. There is virtually no political unrest in the nation, which makes traveling considerably more comfortable.

Costa Rica has a rich diversity of elements to enjoy running the gamut of cuisine, fruits, culture, people and various other activities, particularly in the realm of ecotourism. Twenty-five percent of its lands are designated as National Parkland and therefore offer the visitor a wide assortment of choices when participating in outdoors activities.

These range from the pristine rainforests of Corcovado, to the wide beaches on both the Pacific and the Caribbean, to the high altitude cloud forests of Monteverde and the seasonally snow covered top of Chirripo (2nd highest mountain in Central America).

Costa Rica is your best choice from a wealth of pleasurable activities and a quality educational experience.

Our focus is Spanish language immersion, because we have various locations around the country each of which provide different environments for learning, it’s up to the student to decide which environment is best for them given their objectives.

Schools not only offer classes, but they also provide different activity options, depending on the package chosen, which let the student determine what’s best for them.

Costa Rica has invested much of its resources in health care infrastructure and education. The nation is a stable, tourist friendly, advanced country with a high literacy rate.

But for those seeking to improve their Spanish language skills, they will be hard pressed to find a better combination of learning opportunity, environment, pricing and sheer beauty.

Experience Costa Rica for its beauty, culture, people, and the many adventures. For example, beaches the offer great sun and surf, with the essence of tranquility. Top Notch River rafting, that offers all levels of classes, plus it has one of the top five rivers of the world, known as the Pacuare.

Endure the many challenges of hiking, mountain biking, repelling, zipline, ATV, caving, snorkeling, scuba diving, deep sea fishing, and many more. If adventure is not your desire, the country also offers the many relaxing activities from; bird watching, eco tours, coffee plantation, Catamaran boat/island tours, and of course the many hot springs. If you prefer to socialize, there are many local bars, clubs, or dive spots that best fits your mood.

There are choices from: live bands, Jazz or Rock to other sorts of genre. For those footloose enthusiasts, the Latin dancing will further enhance your trip. (Salsa, Merengae, Cumbia, and many more!)

When is a good time to go?

Anytime of the year is a great time to go. Depending on your length of time is a good question.

January 1 New Year’s Day *
April 1 First Day of Passover
April 2 Good Friday
April 11 National Hero’s Day *
May 1 Labor Day *
July 25 Guanacaste Province’s Annexation Day *
August 2 Virgin of Los Angeles Day
August 15 Mother’s Day
September 15 Independence Day *
October 12 Columbus Day
December 25 Christmas Day *

(* Holidays to watch out for when choosing a program)

Come and enjoy Costa Rica.