Us Discovering the Latin Americas - ryan & debbrial

New blogs, new website

ryan & debbrial — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Ryan and I have decided to create our own website for all our blogs and other fun stuff. So that means we will no longer be posting on Blogabond. If you want to continue following our adventures through Latin America, and we really hope you do, please check out our website SimplyGoingSouth.com

Because I have been spending a lot of time building our website I have not had time to post any recent blogs. So I apologize for this and promise I will be back-blogging very soon. Plus, Ryan and I will start traveling again in a month (May), so check out SimplyGoingSouth.com for lots more blogs.

Canyoneering in La Fotruna

ryan & debbrial — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Debb always posing for the camera

Canyoneering: technical descents — those that require rappelling (abseils) and ropework, technical climbing or down-climbing, technical jumps, and/or technical swims (and in our case some free-fall zip-lining) down the face of waterfalls while trekking through a fairly fast flowing river/stream in a rainforest canyon.

Yeah it sounds technical and kinda of scary, but on a reputable organized tourist trip (Desafio) it really wasn’t that hard, just a lot of FUN!! I won’t lie Mom and I were a bit scared at first, but after the first rappel we were just energized for more and completely forgot about being super sore from the hike the day before.

The tour started at the Desafio main office in the center of La Fortuna, were we and 15 other people climbed into a large shuttle bus. Twenty minutes up the road we switched 4x4 trucks with canopy covered beds; the “Jungle Limos”.

Jungle Limo

Luckily, since we were a small group we got to go first and didn’t have to wait for the other people. So, the guides showed us to the first tester rappel which was only 30 meters high. This one was to get us used to the backward sitting and walking feeling. I had a hard time falling backwards and kept having to feed the rope through. I guess it’s since I don’t weight that much and the ropes were wet. Mom and Dad did great and Ryan is used to this all since he used to wear a harness and rappelling gear at work (doing construction).

lend back...lend back

After the 30 meter waterfall continued trekking on to a 20 meter waterfall and then to the 180 meter waterfall. The 180 meter one was the best because it was a real rappel plus an amazing sight.

this is canyonerring

300 meters to the top

Dad your a stud

Before the last downward 300 meter free-fall zip-line the guided directed us through some fun terrain. At one point there was this narrow pool between two rocks that we cannon-balled into. From atop it the hole didn’t look very deep but when we jumped in we were fully submerged under water. Totally cool!!

Mom coming in hot from the 300 meter waterfall

Ryan like a pro

Ryan finishing the 180 meter rappel

Next we came to another narrow down step waterfall gap where the guides said we were going to play a game “Hold on as long as you can”. They directed us and a couple other people to sit front to back legs locked around each other and hold on tight while two of the guides laid down at the top stopping up the water like human damns. Once we were all positioned tight the guides got up and a rushing flow of water came dashing over our head pushing us all forward. Ryan was in front and tried to hold on as long as possible but his butt got pushed off the rocks. I was up 30 seconds later, but mom held the group for a good minute or two.

Debb and Ryan trekking through the canyon

Hold on tight and don't get up

Mom and Dad having FUN

All our guides were totally cool, funny and made the tour entertaining. Even though the waterfall rappels were the main attraction we really had a lot more fun trekking through the river and canyons. Another great day and new experience for all of us.

Muddy Hike up Cerro Chato...oh my body is in pain

ryan & debbrial — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Quote from me “We will laugh about this day later.” …..Even though I was the only one really hung over we were all moving kinda slow the next morning, which was good since we didn’t have our Canyoneering tour till 1pm…well we thought!! It actually turned out that the tour was scheduled for 10am and we missed it. But the guy at the tour office was nice enough to let us join the group the next morning, instead of saying “you snooze, you lose” pun intended. Haha.

Mom and Dad, cental park of La Fortuna

Ryan and Debb, cental park of La Fortuna

Jumping picture #2 in the cental park of La Fortuna

Now what to do with the rest of the day? We walked around town, La Fortuna, for a bit then decided to take a hike up to Cerro Chato Crater.

Cerro Chato trail

This is a smaller mountain next to Volcano Arenal, which also has a lake in the crater like Poas. Since we missed Poas we figured this would be a good opportunity. It was about 1pm then, and we believed we could make it up and back before dark. When we arrived we learned it is a 4km (2.5 miles) hike to the top/ the lake. And that’s where it started.

Since it had been raining the day before the trail was muddy but not that bad to start. However, our simple walk through the garden quickly turned into a muddy mess.

The beginning...a nice path now

Then one km completed and the trail became a mountain trek muddier, slipperier and steeper by the step. I remember thinking this mountain is like a grass covered snow ski double diamond mogul course. Mud up to our ankles and thighs tingling we were all glad to get to the third stage of the hike, into the rainforest. Again this trail started off not so bad with nice man-made

Its starting to get muddy

2nd part of the hike in the jungle

tree stump steps nevertheless those too disappeared leaving us to climb the remaining 1km up and over giant tree roots for steps.

I must say my parents are total troopers cause they made it almost the whole way at mine and Ryan’s pace, though I can’t leave out there was a lot of bitching and crying, and then Ryan and I did the last haul up to the top and another 700 meters down to the crater lake by ourselves. I later learned by parent’s did continue to the top of the mountain at their own pace. Mission Accomplished!!

Cerro Chato Crater Lake....we made it

Debb at the lake

If they had seen the trail to the lake, they would have been very glad they didn’t join us cause it was a Doozy. Literally using hands, feet and butt to climb down and back up.

the last trail to Cerro Chato Lake

Anyways, that’s not the end of the story…Whatever goes up must come down. So there we went down the mountain trying to beat the darkness from coming while using all our left strength and agility to not fall on our ASSES, no can do. Ass falls are counted as follows: Mom 3, Debbrial 2, Dad 1, and Ryan 0. Three, two, one, zero, we were finally back at our car mud up to our knees now, wet from sweat and drizzling rain, thighs burning and calves and a SUPER need for the hot tub.

As I said in the beginning, that night we sat in the thermal pool massaging our sore legs and laughing about the day we had had.

Day one of vacation with mom and dad

ryan & debbrial — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Like promised I do have a lot to write about, about our Christmas and New Years vacation with my parents. So I am going to break it down into segments based on the towns we visited.

The start of our Road Trip

Mom and Dad arrived on December 26th, on time with no problems. Ryan and I met them at the airport with the rental car then brought them back to our home. At first I think they were a bit overwhelmed with San Jose (crowded, busy, one-way dirty streets), like most people are when they get here, but at the end of the week they were happy to be in a city with "real" paved streets.

Anyways, the next morning we all got up early and headed out of the city into the ideal, postcard nature scene of Costa Rica. The first stop on the itinerary was Volcano Poas. I was really looking forward to seeing the carter since we had not visited it before. The crater can only be viewed on clear days without any clouds in the sky. We drove through small towns and coffee filled hills on the way up the beautiful mountain

Mom and Ryan on the way to Poas

to the volcano. But the higher and higher we climbed the faster our views of the valleys began to disappear because of light rain and clouds. By the time we got to the top, and I quote from dad, “We are soaked in!!!!” The ranger at the entrance to the national park said it would be $10 per person to enter (too see nothing but clouds), so we turned around to back track.

Bloody Marys in the morning

Beautiful moutain background

Debb and Dad on the way back from Poas

Fortunately, this gave us lots of time to get to Arenal/La Fortuna and sightsee on the way. We stopped in Zarcero to show mom and dad the hedge garden with funny engraved faces and the pseudo stone face plywood painted church.

Zacero Church

Mom's jumping picture....more to come

We made it to Arenal by mid-afternoon, checked into the hotel and headed straight to the thermal heated pool bar where we stayed for a majority of the rest of the night. I won’t get totally into it but let’s just say after a couple tequila shots, continuous wet-n-wild rides down the waterslide, and the heat from the pool only mom remembered eating chicken sandwiches at the pool before bed. And shamed to say I was hugging the toilet later that night.

At the thermal heated pool at the hotel

Debb and Ryan underwater picutre with our new camera

Mom and Dad underwater picture in the pool

Halfway through the night at the pool

Christmas Morning and The end of the Year thoughts

ryan & debbrial — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Well its Christmas morning 2010 and our second year away from home, family and friends for the holidays. Yet we are still happy and pleased with our decision to travel. I must say it has been quite a year and not totally what we expected.

Living most of the year, well pretty much the whole year, in San Jose, Costa Rica when originally we only expected to be here 8 months maximum. Unfortunately, this year has been one of the longest and heaviest rainy seasons Costa Rica has experienced in either a long time or ever, I am not quiet sure, but this is true according to the locals. Neither Ryan nor I was pleased at all with all the rain, being from sunny California, though it was definitely a new experience for both of us. I don't think either of us have seen as much rain as we saw this year in our whole lives. I found out that is rained approximately 71" (6ft.) this year. But we made it through the grueling months and are now coming to dry season again.

On another note, today we are both excited because being here (CR) has given my parents an opportunity to come visit us for Christmas and New Years. They arrive tomorrow, December 26th, for a week visit. And this means that Ryan finally gets a vacation too, which he has been totally looking forward to. We have a lot planned for our mini vacation starting with a hike up Poas Volcano and a view of the emerald green crater, if weather permits. Then north to La Fortuna/ Arenal for canyoneering (which I'll explain later with pictures) and hot springs, followed by fours days in Santa Teresa hanging on the beach. I don't want to write too much about what we have planned because the stories will be so much better after they actually happen.

So on top of seeing my parents I think I am also just excited to have some new adventures and something to write about. Those stories will be coming soon.

Because the next time I do get a chance to write it will probably be 2011 I just want to say Ryan and I are really looking forward to the new year coming and our new adventures starting in May. (Oh yeah, I don't think I wrote about this but we decided when my contract is up in May we are going to go back home, California, for a 2 week family and friends visit, then we decided to kind of start over our trip by flying back to Mexico City. We will take a few weeks traveling around southern Mexico then continue on to Panama like originally planned.) So there is a lot to come, new blogs and more pictures in the new year!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to Everyone. LOVE YA!!

Miss'n It

ryan & debbrial — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Ohhh...It's been so long. I wish I had something good to write about. But NO. Nothing good. We have just been working our butts off in San Jose, Costa Rica trying to save a "dime" or should I say a "colones".

I am in my 6th month teaching English and Ryan is still working as manager at the hostel. We are both getting Great experiences and have now even seriously considered opening our own hostel / cafe some where down the road; maybe in South America or back in Mexico. But of course we don't know what the future holds for us except that we can't wait to get out of here and back on the traveling road.

I hope that day comes sooner than later and I can be here writing about our exciting adventures again.

Best friend visits, visa runs, and pie

ryan & debbrial — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Another 2 month bi-mester of teaching done for me; 3 months and another visa run for Ryan. Time flies when….well when you’re busy. So let me back up a bit and recap this past month. Umm well the last time I posted was just after my surgery. First of all, I am all recovered and well. No complications post-surgery and the tumor biopsy came back negative for cancer cells. So all good!! Anyways, I got two weeks off work, paid, from my surgery. They have this thing called an “incapacidad” in Costa Rica which the doctor orders (sick leave) and you have to abide by, by Costa Rica law. The law for the incapacidad is that you cannot come back to work, even if you are feeling better, until the date stated on the incapacidad. And lucky for me this was two weeks. It also worked out that my work paid 40% of my salary while I was out and the Costa Rican Social Security, CCSS, (which I pay into from pay check) paid the other 60% of my salary. Pretty sweet deal I thought. I am not so sure how this would have all worked out in the U.S. because I had never missed work on sick leave but I have a feeling I wouldn’t have had two weeks and full salary paid. So that’s one thing nice about being in Costa Rica, they have a government funded health care system similar to most European countries.

Another strike of luck the second week after my surgery was that Drew finally made it to Costa Rica to visit Ryan and I. For those of you who don’t know him, Drew is Ryan and my best friend from San Diego (college days). Ryan and I met through Drew, Drew was our best man at our wedding and Drew was our inspiration for this trip. Actually, Ryan and Drew talked about traveling in Central and South America when we were in college and I always said I would come visit them for a month or so. But things changed, tables turned, and when the time came Drew was setting off for this travel adventure by himself. A month or so before Drew left Ryan and I realized what are we doing; we / Ryan are suppose to be going on this trip too. So, eight months later Ryan and I packed up our lives and followed Drew down to Central America. Unfortunately, we never caught up to Drew on his first trip down here. About a month and country between us Drew ended up having to fly home, last November, for a family emergency. Now this year (three months ago) Drew flew down to Colombia and made his way back up to Central America, Costa Rica, to visit us. And it just so happened that I was coming out of surgery and had a week off work to host him. While Ryan had to work still, of course!!, he did have time to hang out with Drew between split shifts at work. And it just so happened that I was coming out of surgery and had a week off work to host him. Even though it was raining most days Drew and I did manage to make it out a few afternoons. We went to short midday $1 concert at the National Theatre

Debb & Drew in National Theatre

Drew in National Theatre

Debb in National Theatre

Drew drinking coconut milk in Sabana Park

and spent another afternoon walking around Sabana Park. While Ryan had to work still, of course!!, he did have time to hang out with Drew between split shifts at work. And one good boy’s night out at the bar; which they both regretted the next morning accordingly with their headaches and hangovers.

Face Slap

Ball Slap

Still Best Friends

Since Drew left two weeks ago Ryan and I have just been keeping busy, working lots. So as I started to say at the beginning of this blog, as August is coming to an end another 2 months of working, 4 in total, have pasted for me and 3 months since Ryan’s last visa run. A “visa run” is when you have to leave the country for three days because your tourist visa is about to expire or is expired in Ryan’s case. A tourist visa (the amount of time you are allowed to stay in the country) for Costa Rica, and most Central America countries, is 3 months / 90 days. Being 20 days late on his visa Ryan decided to do a visa run on Friday, but since we works and didn’t want to take 4-5 days off he thought he would try to do it all in one day with bribes like the past. Ryan woke up at 2:30am, Friday morning, drove downtown and caught a shuttle to the boarder at 3:00am. With just a few stops and breakfast they got to the boarder by 8:30am. Since this was the second time Ryan has had to do this he knew just who to look for and talk to. Five minutes after nine Ryan had his boarder stamps out & back into Costa Rica. By nine thirty he was on a bus back to San Jose. Like he says a little know how and money for bribes and you can get pretty much anything done here a little faster. Well good this time but not so sure I recommend him doing this every time.

This weekend because I am between bi-mesters at work I don’t have any lesson plans do to. It was raining all day yesterday so I thought I would take advantage of being stuck inside and decided to do a little cooking; a growing hobby for me anytime I have a free time. Yesterday I made a homemade peach pie from scratch. I made my own pie crust, filled it with cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, little fresh orange juice and peach filling, and topped it with a lattice top. Hot out of the oven Ryan served us up with vanilla and caramel swirl ice cream. Umm yum dinner. Here are some pictures.

peach pie filling

my homemade peach pie made from scratch

Yum dinner

Post-Opertation Update

ryan & debbrial — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It’s three days post operation and all good news.

Saturday morning, the morning of the operation, Ryan, myself and Nitzi, our Costa Rican landlady, arrived at the La Catolica Hospital at 7:00am. I asked Nitzi to come with us to help with the Spanish translation. I figured it would make the check-in process go quicker. I was right, between Nitzi and the super professional staff at the hospital I was in the surgery prep room within an hour of arrival. I must mention this was not an ordinary public Costa Rican hospital it was on the contrary a Gringo Resort Hotel Hospital. Ryan and I were shocked how nice it was yet glad as well. The lobby was filled with comfortable lounge chairs, there was a fine dining restaurant and the corridors on the first floor were glass window that shown through to full planters.

Anyways back to the surgery. I was taken to a small room to change into my stylish hospital gown, you know the ones that tie in the back and let your butt checks peek out when you walk. Yeah, in order to avoid this embarrassment the nurse sat me in a wheel chair and rolled me to the entrance of pre-surgery prep-room. She stopped and let me give lots of hugs and kisses to Ryan before going into the restricted patients, nurses and doctors only area. At this point I was still totally calm and had a smile on my face. (Probably giggling like most of you know I do when I am nervous.) On the other hand, Ryan told, later after the surgery, at this point he almost lost it. As soon as the nurse rolled me through those restricted doors he felt an urge of emotion and just about started crying but turned around and saw Nitzi standing there so he composed himself. Ooohhh….I told him this was so sweet and affectionate of him.

So back to the surgery again. I was in the pre-surgery room for about half hour waiting for the nurses to get my charts ready, take blood samples and hook me up to an IV. The first time the nurse put the IV in my forearm and the vein clasped. So she removed it and started over in my hand. I thought ok not so bad but let me tell you that IV was probably the worst part of the whole surgery experience, but I’ll get to that later.

Next the nurses put me on the rolling gurney and took me to the surgery room. I was in there probably 3-4 minutes when the anesthesiologist shot me up with the 1.2.3…goodnight, knocked out, sleepy drugs. Actually I don’t even remember counting to three. I was just out. I woke up, I guess a few hours later, in the recovery room and for another hour or so I couldn’t quite keep my eyes open; I was up and down. In the meantime, after surgery Dr. Dam told Ryan everything went well with the surgery, I was alright and should be out of the recovery room in about an hour and half.

So Ryan went to my hospital room and waited for me. Unfortunately, and I have no clue why or what was going on, the nurses in the recovery room kept me in there for like 2-3 hours, though I had no concept of time at this point. They kept pointing and talking about me, then helping other patients, then pointing and talking again. Since I was still not all there, due to the anesthesia, I was like WHATEVER!! But finally one of the nurses pushed me in a wheelchair to my hospital/ hotel room where Ryan was anxiously (and starting to get worried) waiting for me.

Debb post-surgery

Ryand and Debb haning in the hospital room

Like I said before this hospital was pretty nice so it was no surprise that I had my own private room with bathroom, couch, flat screen HDTV and very comfortable bed, which was good cause I was in it for like 24 hours. Ryan and I just hung out and watched TV for the rest of the day while a team of nurses came in every few hours, even throughout the night, to check my status. The nurses kept asking if I was in pain and need medicine but surprisingly I wasn’t; I felt pretty good beside the horrible IV in my hand that I mentioned. It was really starting to bother me and I annoyingly couldn’t stop thinking / complaining about it. So here’s a picture:

stupid IV in my hand

Anyways, Sunday morning we waited for the doctor to come around like 9:00am to release me. Then we headed home. Since then I have been doing about the same thing….sitting around watching TV, reading, doing some lesson planning and enjoying and appreciating Ryan taking such good care of me. Of course he has to keep reminding me to take it easy and relax.

Post-surgery relaxing at home

Ryan's fruit and peanut butter breakfast creations

So the moral of this story is…surgery in a foreign country isn’t that bad. One thing for sure it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than the States !!!!!

Pre-Surgery...in a Foreign Country (well not that foreign anymore)

ryan & debbrial — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So it has been four months since I went to the gynecologist, here in San Jose, Costa Rica, for a routine girly annual checkup (pap smear). I also went in to get an ultrasound to check on the position of my IUD. Since I don’t speak Spanish fluently I called every doctor office listed in the phone book looking for an English speaking doctor. I finally found one who, I found out when I got there, doesn’t exactly speak fluent English either. But between the both of us we figured out how to communicate. The good news I discovered during our hour appointment, which should have probably be a half hour appointment, but because of the tricky communication took longer, was he, Dr. Dam, is an extremely nice, patient and knowledgeable doctor. The bad news I found out during the ultrasound is that I have a mass (tumor) in my right ovary. As soon as he told me this I started freaking out. A what!!! Really, is it cancerous…am I going to die!! No, no he assured me it has all characteristics of a non-cancerous tumor but does need to be removed.

A few weeks later I had a spur of the moment trip back to the US to visit with my family. (If you remember I blogged about my trip back home in April before I started work/ teaching in May.) So, I figured why not go see an American doctor to get a second opinion while at home. The American doctor gave me the same results. Yes, I have a mass in my right ovary which looks benign but should be removed.

So, now months later it’s July and I am going into surgery tomorrow morning, here in San Jose, Costa Rica. I still have my same doctor, Dr. Dam, whom will be doing the surgery as well. I am confident in him and both Ryan and I believe everything will go smoothly. I am having a laparoscopic surgery and will be out of work for two weeks recovering. Though the doctor says I should be feeling fine after week I still need to take it easy for a while.

Bummer, no aerobics for a while.

Well, that’s it for now. I will get back with you with a Post-Op update. Wish me luck!!!

Together Again in Santa Teresa

ryan & debbrial — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Storm over the Nicoya Pennisula

Before I left for vacation it was raining every day and there were crazy hard storms. Ryan said it was the same down at the beach and to add to it every night he had to climb up the mountain to the cabana through muddy gushing rivers. One day the thunder storm was so loud here in San Jose I posted this on Facebook: “I've never heard lightening & thunder cracked so loud as it has been the last few days in Costa Rica. It is setting off car alarms everywhere.”
That was until I went to the beach and experienced a storm sleeping in the cabana like Ryan has been for the last month. I was nervous and a bit scared cause, like I have described before, the cabana is up the mountain from the hostel, in the tree tops, on stilts and only has two walls (well really one cause the other wall is a glass window shudder thingy) and the other two sides are open to the trees.

Our two wall cabana

It rained most afternoons and evenings while I was in Santa Teresa but last Wednesday or Thursday, something like that, we had a good lightening & thunder storm. Just as it started to sound like it was going to start raining Ryan and I said goodnight to our friends and started climbing up the hill to the cabana. A little louder and louder and rain started drizzling down. Ryan said, “hurry up its coming” and pushed me along. Just as we started running up the mountain we could hear the rain coming through the trees. Faster, faster… up the huge foot and half tall steps. Two steps left and poooollll..the rain just started pouring down as we got to the cabana.
Then the lightening was flashing and thunder was cracking more furiously and frequently. The thunder was so loud it was shaking the whole cabana. However, I must say the ceiling fan also shakes the bed in the cabana but with the added jolts from the thunder I kept saying “the cabana is going to break off the slits and wash down the mountain”. Ryan laughed at me and reassured that would not happen. He had been through storms like this before and plus the cabana has trees built into which add support. Still I was nervous. Ryan said, “I told you the storms out here are crazier than in the city.” I replied, “No, the storms in the city are pretty much the same but I’m not living in a (pardon my French) F*CKing Tree House.” We both started laughing. Anyways after that the storm settled down and we finally fell asleep.
Besides that one night the weather was pretty mild the whole time I was in Santa Teresa. Sunny most morning, so when Ryan was working I went and laid out on the beach for an hour or so working on getting my tan back. Around mid afternoon I would come back and make Ryan and I a good lunch. Then I sat with Ryan chit chatting while he finished his shift. Ryan taught me how to play dominos and of course beginners luck I ended up beating him most of the time. If Ryan worked in the afternoon we would sleep in all morning, go out to lunch and then relax reading in hammocks. It was a really good, much need quality time, bonding again week for both of us.

Haging out at Tranquilo Backpackers

On Tuesday we took a quad ride over the mountain, through the even more lush rain forest (now that it is rainy season and all the trees, hills and fields are in full flourish)

Quad ride from Santa Teresa to Montezuma

to Montezuma to hand out fliers for the hostel. Then we buzzed around the dirt roads between Montezuma, Cobano and Santa Teresa taking in the, again now, super green countryside. Everything looks so different than from our first time we were here in January.

Ryan and Debb in the hills- CR rainy season

Hills between Montezuma, Cobano and Santa Teresa

Butterfly

We tried to go walking through the tall grass fields where a few cows and calves were hanging out but decided it wasn’t such a good idea when a bull came over the hill and the entire cow herd turned around, lined up like a military brigade and started walk toward us. Ryan yelled out to me, “Run for the trees” while he stood watching them and took a few pictures. It only took us a few steps backward and the cows stopped but keep all eyes on us until we were out of their field. Here’s a few of the pictures:

Baby Calves

Herd of Cows ready to Charge Us

Pretty horse

Ryan and a horse

On Monday night we had a bond fire on the beach with friends and people from the hostel. On Thursday mid-morning we went for a long, long walk on the beach. On Saturday night we taught some Auzzy guys how to play Spades. And by Sunday my vacation was over. It was a great week and just what we both needed. A refresher for our relationship, time together and a little adventure.

I am back in San Jose now and getting ready to go back to work. The GOOD news is Ryan is coming back to the city too. His boss says he will be here for at least the next two months. So hopefully these next few months will go by a bit easier since we will be together!!!

Testing our Relationship and Sanity…

ryan & debbrial — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Testing our Relationship and Sanity… That is exactly what this last month has been all about. So let me think back for a moment about the reasons why we are in this foreign country with no friends or family and are working our butts off. Oh yeah!! Cause Ryan and I wanted to be together and experience great adventures, different cultures and live our lives to the fullest (while we are young). So now let me think again why we have been living separate lives for the last few months in a country we are totally over. YES, that’s it back to our reasons for being here: to earn money to keep traveling! Wow what a distressing circle of thought.

Anyways, I’ll stop being so negative (well I’ll try) and explain. Ryan has been at the beach hostel most of the month. I think he has been home in San Jose for like 5 days out of last 4 ½ weeks. Since it is slow season his boss is having him do maintenance repairs on the hostel such as sanding and re-varnishing the beds, benches, tables, etc. Let me tell you, one thing I have learned from my short marriage is that Ryan hates painting and anything like it. So even though he has been at the beach it has not been a bowl of peaches. Plus the reason it is slow season is cause it is also “Rainy” season, hence it rains everyday pretty much. Ryan says the surf is crap and there is debris from the jungle (logs, leaves, sticks, trash) all over the beach, which were brought down from the rains into the ocean and pushed back up on shore from the waves. But all in all I think he can’t complain too much he is at the beach after all while I have been stuck in San Jose city.

However, on another note Ryan is still likes his job overall and is doing a great job. His hard work is paying off / paying our bills and living cost in Costa Rica. His job has been very important to keep us going and to be able to save the money I have been earning teaching; which of course goes into our South America travel funds.

So that brings me to ME. I have been working my butt off teaching the last month. WOW if I only knew how much work this would be. I spend most of my days doing lesson plans (for those of you who have no clue what I mean…I look at the book, decide what grammar or vocabulary I am going to teach, research what it means since most of the time I don’t know, then plan ways to teach it such as readings, fill in the blanks, board games, matching, speaking discussions, etc.). Then after hours of doing lesson plans, I have to correct papers and finally go to class to teach. While I am getting a lot faster at doing lesson plans everyone I have talked to says that the first year of teaching is the worse because you don’t know anything and have to learn all the grammar. Well that’s good news and something to look forward to.

In order to keep my sanity from living in the city alone and being a workaholic I am still going to aerobics class. It is my way to release stress and as most of you know my enjoyment (exercise).

BUT now the good news… this Saturday I have a week vacation break and am going to meet up with Ryan at the beach hostel cause of course he is there. Even though he still has to work this weekend and next week we will be together. And while it will probably be raining maybe we will go for walks on the beach in the rain or just enjoy laying around together in the cabana.

Then next Wednesday we will head back to San Jose and on Friday we are going to a Chocolate Farm to help harvest the coco and learn how to make organic chocolate. A few days of the real tropical and cultural Costa Rican experience.

Hopefully my next blog will be all good news and some good adventures.

Not the typical 1-year Anniversary

ryan & debbrial — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It’s our One-year Marriage Anniversary today. Since both Ryan and I had to work today we decided to celebrate our Anniversary yesterday. Unfortunately since we do have jobs we weren’t able to get out of town for a romantic or exciting holiday. But we made the best of it and of course the whole point is really just to spend quality time together. On Saturday night we hung out with some of our closes friends here in Costa Rica: Caroline, Andy and Courtney. So Sunday morning we slept in recovering from the fun night prior (lots of beers and pool). When we finally got up mid-morning I made a hearty typical Central American breakfast; Pinto Gallo, eggs, bread, OJ and coffee. After taking our time drinking coffee and enjoying breakfast we decided to put together a plan for the rest of the day; which ended up being Not Much of a Plan at All.

What we did decide was to get out of the city. Just as we were leaving the house it started raining like crazy, fat cats and dogs. It was pouring down so much all the gutters in the streets were overfilling. But that didn’t stop us. We took a bus downtown then hopped in a cab to the train station thinking it would be a nice relaxing way to travel. A few dollars later on the cab’s meter we got to the CLOSED train station and then a few more dollars later we were back downtown getting on another bus. We didn’t really have a specific destination for the day so we had the cab driver drop us off at one of the closes bus stations. We ended up going to Heredia, a mid-size, popular town outside San Jose. We decided when we got there we would get on another bus somewhere else.

The rain had let up by the time we got to Heredia so we walked around town and took some pictures with fake hedge stone figurines. I am chill’n with some monkeys while Ryan is hanging with a crocodile.

Debb chill'n with the monkeys

Mommy & Baby Monkeys

Ryan hanging with the crocodile

Next we had a very romantic lunch at McDonalds. Hahaha!!! There isn’t much in Heredia so we got on another bus hoping to get further from the city. The problem was though we had no idea which bus to take. We finally decided on a bus to Santa Domingo and just in time cause the rain was starting up again. Ryan and I rode around on the bus for the next hour or so never finding a place that looked interesting enough to get off plus it was raining like crazy again. But instead we had good quality time hanging out on the bus answering a couples “how well do you know each other” survey and talking about whatever. We laughed at the thought that we were celebrating our 1-year Anniversary riding around on public buses.

Anyways the bus made its loop and ended back in Heredia. At this point we were pretty tried, it was getting late and frankly we didn’t know exactly where to go next so we got on one more bus and headed back to San Jose. For the rest of the evening we decided to stick with something safe; a nice Steak dinner at the Del Mar Restaurant. Dinner was the most typical, traditional part of our celebration. We had a pleasantly long dinner with cocktails, red wine, soup appetizers (to cut the chill from all the rain) and shared a steak entrée. And most importantly again enjoyed each other’s company. After dinner it was one more last bus home to finish the day.

Our celebration was definitely not a typical 1-year Anniversary but what can I say we aren’t exactly living a typical life right now either. We are living and doing what we want though, TOGETHER!!!

Kisses. Our first dance at the wedding.

Debb got a job & Ryan got a motorcycle

ryan & debbrial — Fri, 14 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

First of all i want to say Sorry for not writing soon but in the last weeks I have been, Well....BUSY!!! I started teaching English at HICR Instituto Britanico two weeks ago. And well my first class didn't go as well as I expected. First, half of the students didn't show because (what I was told by the students who did show) was that most people think the first day is just syllabus and BS pretty much. After that I didn't feel so bad. But still I was super nervous and didn't quite know how to manage a 3 hour class. Especially since during my CELTA I had taught up to a 1 hour. But now two weeks into teaching...My classes are going 90% better. I still have lots to learn, by experience, yet each class I am getting better and better. I really like my lower level classes cause the grammar isn't as hard and the students are still super excited and motivated to learn. I love when they call me "Teacher" cause they can't pronounce my name. It's hard for Spanish speakers for some reason.

I also have a young learners class which = KIDS (10-12 years old). I like them. Their fun, charismatic and straight forward. I asked them how they like to learn, what they like to do in class and they said, "PLAY GAMES". Of course!!

When I'm not in class I am still just working, working, working on lesson plans, researching grammar and looking up English games. Sometimes in the middle of reading about past participles and verb tenses I think to myslef...Really I can't believe I went from Event Planner to Teacher. But it's all relative. But I must say I still made time to do some cooking. I made this pizza from scratch, dough and all (Thanks Kiersten for teaching me).

Pizza dough from scratch

Pizzzzza

Pizza up close.. Oh I'm so hungry

Time to Eat !!!

On another note, Ryan finally got his motorcycle. YEAH!! He is super excited about it and the smile on his face when he got it made me so happy. But what doesn't make me happy is that poor Chiquimula is still sitting broken down in front of our house. Soon he will finish fixing her up and sell her. Hopefully to someone who will have as great as adventures as we had with her. Oh the memories. :)

Hot Stuff!!

Ryan's new motorcycle

Anyways, Ryan took off a few days ago for his first adventure on the bike. OH I just thought of something...we need to name the bike. Umm we'll think of something and get back to you. But back to what I was saying. Ryan headed out to Nicaragua for a visa run on Tuesday. When he got to the border he had problems, of course--stupid borders. They were giving him troubles with his paperwork for the motorcycle. So in the end he ended up spending 5 hours at the border but got a stamp out and back into Costa Rica without having to spend 3 days in Nicaragua. Good news. Now the bad news. His boss told him to come to the beach hostel. So Ryan turned around and drove to the south of the Nicoya Peninsula which = a 16 hour day on the bike and 400 miles ride. No quite the joy ride he was planning on. But, really what can he complain about. A motorcycle ride through the country, wind blowing through his hair and a week at the beach.

SO anyways that is where we are at now. Ryan will be back in a day or so. We are both working a lot and trying to save the dollars for South American adventures. Oh I already can't wait and we still have a year.

My vacation back to California

ryan & debbrial — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This is going to be a long blog because I have to fill you in on the past two weeks.

So I had a really good vacation (as I like to say) back at home in the US. The two weeks I was back was surprisingly full of fun times with family and friends. Not to say that I expected it to be boring but I was very busy and all over the place. It started with Sushi lunch with my Mom and friend Drew and a girl’s night out Bunco game on Thursday with my Mom and her friends. They play Bunco every month on the second Thursday for the past…I don’t know like 10 years. Whenever I am in town around this time I always ask if they need substitute player. Lots of times they do and this time I got to play too. Usually I am pretty lucky at Bunco and win the “Most Loss” or “50/50”. I know it sounds funny to want to be the biggest loser but in Bunco you win money for losing. But this time all I won was a really BIG buzz from the wine and no money. Still fun!

Bunco!!

So after that my weekend continued. On Friday night I went out with my friends Jen and John. We went out to dinner and caught up on the past 6 months. Saturday my parents planned an Italian Dinner party for their friends since they just got back from Italy. They wanted to share their Italian experience and put on a 5course meal like they frequently had in Italy. So my Mom planned the menu, did the grocery shopping and my sister and I cooked (everything from scratch) and served the food. Course 1: Focaccia bread and Caprese Salad (buffalo mozzarella, tomato, fresh basil and olive oil). Course 2: Margarita Pizza. Course 3: Pasta Caronara with Pancetta. Course 4: Veal Scaloppine and Rosemary Olive Oil baked Zucchini. Course 5: Molten Lava Cake with Fresh Strawberry sauce. Like I said we did it all from scratch including making the pizza dough and hand kneading it. We started at 10am and finished loading the last dish in the dishwasher at 9pm. It was a lot of work and everyone said the food tasted excellent and REALLY appreciated it. But the best part was spending the day with my sister and Mom bonding in the kitchen.

Making the pizza dough

Kiersten seperating the fresh rosemary (from our neighbors yard)

Mom granting the Italian Parmesan

Me in my cooks apron

Kiersten in her chef outfit

Veal Scaloppine

Home made Margarita Pizza

The next day, Sunday, was another good day. I went to the Lakers first Play-Off game for the season with my Dad and uncle. I am not usually into basketball but as everyone knows it’s always better to see a sport live. And surprisingly I actually watched the game more than I people watched. Probably cause it was a good game and the Lakers were winning the whole time.

Laker's Play-Off game. GO LAKERS!

Me and Dad at the Laker's Play-Off game

Since it was an afternoon game afterward we went out for a few more beers. Sunday night I met up with my friends Drew and Ursula, whom live in Venice Beach. We and some more of their friends went out for Mexican food (OH how I missed the spicy salsa, SO good) then to a Jazz/ Blues with Cabaret dancers but TOTALLY Rock’n live band concert at a club in Santa Monica. We danced and drank all night and that was the end of my first weekend home.

Monday and Tuesday I recovered from the weekend. Wednesday I took a day trip to San Diego (down and back) to take care of some business. While I was there I met up with Chris, my brother-n-law, and we went out to Vietnamese Pho Soup for dinner. Another meal I totally miss in Central America. If you have read my previous blogs you know I tried to make Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowl but definitely don’t know if I could swing the pho soup so it was a must to have it while I was in San Diego. Thursday night my brother and his girlfriend came over to dinner at my parent’s house. Another good family bonding time!

By this time even though I was having lots of fun I was also really starting to miss Ryan. We talked ever day on Skype and wrote sappy love notes to each other on Facebook. While I was having all this fun Ryan said he was just working, working, working and being mopey cause I was gone. Oh I felt bad BUT it was Friday and the weekend partying was starting all over again.

Friday night I went out to dinner with my parents and my friends Meghan and Matt. We went to Black Angus and I shared Prime Rib with my Mom. Once again another thing I miss a good piece of beef. After dinner Meghan, Matt and I met up with some of their other friends and YES of course LOTS of drinks. Saturday I went to a family party with my extended family: grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. For this party I planned the menu, Central American food. Yes not as exciting as an Italian dinner but still good. It was nice to visit with all my family and fill them in on the stories I don’t talk about on blogabond. Sunday I layout at the pool with Jen and John, working on their first tans for the year and trying to keep my color before rainy season starts in Costa Rica.

So lets see…to sum up my last few days in California. Monday day I drove down to Los Angeles paid $52 to Secretary of State and $80 to Consulate of Costa Rica to certify documents for my work visa for Costa Rica. Monday night I went to an Angels baseball game with Meghan, Matt and some of their friends. A friend of a friend of theirs knows some big wig who works at the stadium so we got a box behind home plate with tons of free food (hot dogs, hamburger sliders, pizza and of course peanuts and Cracker Jacks) and beer.

Our view from the box at Angel's stadium

Me, Meghan, Matt and firends at the Angel's Baseball game

Even though I was at the game live I wasn’t so into the baseball game as the Laker basketball game the weekend before. But it was still a real good time. Tuesday, the last day of my vacation, I spent quality time with my Mom during the day and at night went to dinner with my parents, brother and grandma. I ended my trip the same way it started with Sushi!!!! YUM.

Finally two weeks later, Wednesday morning 11am I got on a plane back to Costa Rica and the love of my life my husband. Yet it was a long day with two connections in Mexico (Guadalajara and Mexico City) and both planes were late. Yep back to the Latin slow life. I landed in CR at 1am and was greeted with a HUGE hug and kiss xoxoxo by Ryan. The first thing he said was “I hope you had fun but don’t ever leave me again. Haha”.

Busy worker bee vs. Filling up the day to waste time

ryan & debbrial — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Well Semana Santa is over and San Jose has come back alive. The streets are full of bumper to bumper traffic, the boardwalk in downtown is full of people walking with a purpose and all the storefront are open for business. Ryan has continued to be busy as ever working at learning the ropes and ‘how to’ run the hostel. Good news is that the boss said in a month’s time or so Ryan will know enough to completely be in charge of the San Jose location and entitled to a FAT raise. Ryan’s optimistic that this opportunity will soon turn into an unexpected cash bank for us. Which of course is advantageous for our future travels in South America.

I on the other hand am still moseying around the house waiting for my job at the British Institute to start in May. But in the meantime I am trying to keep myself busy. I am still going to the aerobics class with my roommate, whom has proven to be a motivated workout partner which from my experience is hard to find. Then I practice learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone and/or watch Spanish TV. I have also become a regular chef. Almost every day I cook up something new and creative. Recently I have made a Costa Rican beet salad, Argentinean chimichurri sauce, Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowl and an Italian zesty potato salad. All with my own twist of course! I have even started writing my recipes down and are thinking of making a cookbook and/or save them for my café one day (Yeah lots of time on my hands).

Costa Rican beet salad

Argentinean chimichurri sauce

Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowl

But even more exciting, as a result of my currently boundless free time, my parents decided to buy me a plane ticket home to visit. And YES I mean visit!!! I have a round-trip ticket there to California and back to Costa Rica. At first I was very hesitant about the trip because I personally thought it would be cheating for me to go home when Ryan and I said we would be gone for 3-5 years. Like I am on the Amazing Race or Survivor or something. Haha. But after some reassurance from Ryan and reevaluating on my own behalf I decided I guess a small trip home and getting to hangout wit h my family would be better than sitting around here for the next two weeks till I start my job. SO I am flying back home next Wednesday, April 14th for two weeks. The sad part is that Ryan can’t come with. He has to stay here and continue working; though I don’t think he is very disappointed. Like I have said before he is loving “learning the ropes” and always comes home and tells me all about his day.

So for some of you who read my blog, See you soon!

Semana Santa and CR International Art Festival

ryan & debbrial — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Semana Santa: Holy Week (Latin: Hebdomas Sancta or Hebdomas Maior, "Greater Week") in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of The Great Fifty Days. It commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Semana Santa is one of the most revered and popular religious holidays in Costa Rica. It is a time of both religious observation and processions and a time of festivities and parties. Most Costa Ricans flock to the beaches to enjoy a break from work, fun family time and sizzling barbecues.

Semana Santa: I thought it was going to be all fun and games with lots of street parades, live religious/art performances and bbq’s like I read. But no San Jose, Costa Rica is a ghost town. Starting today all the stores are closed including the grocery stores, the buses stopped running and ALCOHOL is Illegal. San Jose is on lock down from Good Friday till Easter Sunday. Luckily we had some clues to the prohibition of alcohol so I ran out and bought a 12 pack of beer, cheap box wine and a bottle of whiskey. This should last the weekend.

Beer cooler boxed up and locked up for Semana Santa

Beer covered with cardboard boxes

Me trying to break into the beer cooler during Semana Santa

All kidding aside I really did think there would be a lot going on in San Jose for the Semana Santa. I don’t know kinda like Granada, Nicaragua for Christmas and New Years. Lots of street processions, neighborhood block parties and Oh yeah I can’t forget the fireworks!! I am sort of disappointed. I guess the Costa Rican’s don’t know how to party like the Nicas (if any Costa Rican heard me say that I would be in big trouble. There’s a rivalry between the two countries).

Anyways leading up to this week there was the huge and impressive two-week 12th annual International Art Festival in San Jose at Sabana Park. The festival featured more than 5,000 artists from 20 countries taking part in over 350 shows and activities. The program included cultural and artistic events—parades, music, dance, theater, opera, magic, clowns, puppet shows, and film in either Sabana Park or in/around downtown San Jose.

Since we didn’t really know about it until last minute we could not get tickets to any of the live theater performances, which I would have really liked, but we did go to the festival in Sabana Park both last Sunday and the one before.

We walked through the artesian booths which were set up and tented like a normal convention and sorted into sections such as traditional

Debb at the Art Festival in Sabana Park

Costa Rican art, more modern home décor, clothing, jewelry, paintings and other miscellaneous. There was so much really nice traditional and modern home décor that I wanted to buy (to add to my collection of Central American art which I will decorate our house with when we get home) but we decided on a vibrant, colorful painting instead. Though there were others that represented Costa Rica a bit better like images of frogs, birds or paddle boats we agreed on this one.

Painting we bought at CR International Art Festival

Ryan petting the sad baby colt at the Art Festival

The rest of the time we walked around the park admiring all the families and friends together. We felt like locals appreciating the art and culture. We ate some (in my opinion) disgustingly, sweet bubble gum ice cream with fruit, petted the sad tied up colt horses and walked around the entire park looking at more art and crafts, clowns

Clown on stilts at the Art Festival in Sabana Park

on stilts and people watching. Then we sat and watched kids practicing BMX free-style riding, skateboarders, urban running, and one goofy but determined roller skater try to do 360 tricks. By and large it was lots of fun.

Now if I can just find those festivals, parties and barbecues for Semana Santa before it’s over.

An update of our lives....its going pretty good

ryan & debbrial — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Not much fun going on lately. Ryan’s been working his butt off since he got the manager / administrator position at the hostel. Which of course is a good thing but he has had so much to learn in a short time. The owner wants to start more construction at the Santa Teresa location and leave Ryan in charge of the San Jose location. In order to prove himself Ryan has had to be available almost 24/7 so he can be prepared and ready by the end of the month. On the other hand this means a pay raise. YES more than $2 an hour!!!

Ryan is loving it though. He likes not being stuck behind the desk all day long and the extra responsibilities. Now he is doing things like paying bills, managing the employees’ cash boxes and inventory, doing handy-man maintenance, and all the other odds and ends it takes to run a hostel. He says it’s a great experience for learning how to run his own business one day.

On the down side once he gets off work he hasn’t had much of a break because we are trying to sell Chiquimula and she needs lots of love before that day comes. He put her in the shop to get the rattling and shaking taken care of but now it seems there is an electrical problem. He says he can fix it himself it’s just trying to get the American part down here. I wish I could help but like I know anything about working on cars. Here's a picture of her current state.

Well what have I been up to? Ummm….working on sorting out documents needed for my work visa, which has NOT been easy since all the documents need to be certified copies from California including my finger prints for police record. Can’t I just tell them I’m a good girl and have never been arrested? No don’t think that will fly. Let’s see what else. I’ve been practicing my Spanish and started an aerobics class with one of my roommates. The aerobics class is at a park up the street from my house. It’s funny cause it’s a lot of older stay-at-home ladies and of course the class is all in Spanish. So most of the time I am one or two beats behind cause I have to watch everyone else to figure out what we are doing. Not that am completely coordinated when it comes to aerobic and dance moves anyways. But it’s a good workout and another way to practice my Spanish.

That’s pretty much it for now. We’ll check back soon.

San Jose zip lining

ryan & debbrial — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The next day Ryan had to work so it was just Steve, Brandon and I. And at the guys request we went on a canopy zip line tour. Since we didn’t want to drive the 4 hour round trip to [[Costa-Rica/Monteverde]], where the good zip lining is, we were limited to the local San Jose zip-line companies.

I can’t remember what the company was called but it was out toward Tres Rios. The tour started with an awesome off road drive in their old Suburban truck. The drive was crazy but handled it. Then we had a tiring 25 minute hike up the hill to the start of the zip lines.

Me, Brandon and Steve zip lining

There were 12 zip lines and 2 rappels. Steve and Brandon totally dug the rappels. After the zip lining we had a typical Costa Rican casado lunch at the really nice restaurant; part of the tour. To my Surprise it ended up being a really good tour and fun day.

Me zip lining with Tres Rios behind me

After the tour we came back to San Jose and I took the guys on a walking tour around San Jose. We went to the artisan row were the guys bought souvenirs for the family. Next I wanted to take them to the National Museum, which has a wonderful ornate neo-classical design on the inside, but it was late in the afternoon and the museum was closed for tours.

Steve and me Park Espana in downtown San Jose

Brandon in the bamboo tree in Park Espana in downtown San Jose

Instead we just walked around the city and enjoyed the various tropical central parks (one of my favorite things about San Jose) and the few worthy architectural building in San Jose; there’s not many compared to Los Angeles or Europe for that matter.

Architecture in San Jose

Park Morazan and downtown San Jose

Anyways after all our sightseeing and tours we were all exhausted. We went for a delicious dinner at a Peruvian restaurant called Inka then meet up with Ryan for farewell drinks when he got off work. All in all I think Steve and Brandon got a good taste of “touristy” Costa Rica. And we all agreed we really really enjoyed the time spent together. It kinda made me miss home, family and friends BUT not enough to come home yet. Haha.

Puff, Puff Costa Rican Cigar Factory Tour

ryan & debbrial — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

What to do in San Jose? Hum?? Yeah we could do a walking tour around town and visit all the museums or go to the nearby volcanoes, Paos or Irazu, which usually have very little visibility because of the heavy clouds by mid morning. But what else, what would be interesting, unique and fun for three guys and me? First thing that comes to mind is zip lining, a coffee tour or hey what about a cigar factory tour. YEAH, that would be fun. So I searched around on the internet and found a cigar factory only 45 minutes drive from San Jose. Perfect.

On Tuesday morning Steve, Brandon, Ryan and I drove west from San Jose and up into the mountains to a small town called Santiago de Puriscal. The drive was beautiful. Lush green trees, rolling grass covered hills and mountains and one small traditional Costa Rican pueblo after another. Even though Chiquimula was wearing down from the steep incline we finally arrived at Vegas Santiago Cigar Factory

Vegas Santiago Cigar Factory

just as our tour was scheduled to start, 1pm. Our tour guide Antonio came out to greet us. The tour started with a display and explanation between the different types of tobacco leaves at the factory: Costa Rican, Honduras and Cuban. Then we entered the mid-size workshop where there were people sorting the tobacco leaves by size, color and thickness; de-veining the tobacco leaves; forming, cutting and pressing the tobacco leaves into cigars; and finally wrapping the cigars with carefully selected leaves cut to size and hand rolled into the final product. It was so interesting seeing the people move so fast and with perfection.

Costa Rican and Honduras tobabbo leaves

Sorting the tobacco leaves by type, color and size

De-vining the tobacco leaves

Forming, cutting and pressing the cigars

Wrapping the cigars

As part of the tour they let us try to roll our own cigars. I tried the forming, cutting and pressing stage but my cigar ended up looking like a giant messy medieval torch. Brandon on the other hand did the final stage of hand wrapping the cigar which turned out very well I might add.

Debbrial selecting, forming and rolling a cigar from scratch

My lose rolled tourch cigar

Brandon doing the final wrapping of the cigar

Brandon's finely hand rolled cigar

After our debut as cigar rollers the tour guide led us into the cigar storage room. Woohoo! Boy does it smell strong in there. There were thousands of cigars big to small, thin to fat, strong to mild. It was so impressive and we were in awe but after about 6 minutes the sinking in our eyes and nostrils was about unbearable.

Steve with a handful of Cuban cigars

Oh our eyes and noses are stinging. Just take the picture

Ryan sortying and smoking the cigars

We left the store room for the last part of the tour: hand selected packaging. After the tour we sat down for a good cup of Costa Rican coffee and a Puff, Puff on our souvenir cigars.

Vegas Santiago Costa Rican Cigars in the storage room

Surfing and Partying in Santa Teresa

ryan & debbrial — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Santa Teresa Sunset

After our little bit of site seeing San Jose last Monday we didn’t do much of anything else until Thursday. Ryan had to work and I just hung around the house. On Thursday morning we left for a mini-vacation back to Santa Teresa on the Nicoya Peninsula and stayed at Backpackers Tranquilo (the sister hostel of the one Ryan works at in San Jose). Our time in Santa Teresa consisted pretty much of the same old thing that always goes on there. Surf or lay out on the beach during the day and party at night.

Santa Teresa Sunset

Last time, over a month ago, when we were here I tried surfing but wasn’t very successful. I got tumbled by the waves since the sets in Santa Teresa are so close between. Plus I hate the salty water. But this time I decided to try again. Crazy me. So Friday morning we got up and hit the beach for some early morning surf when the wind is not so bad and the waves are a little calmer. Ryan found a long board for me to surf which as most everyone knows is easier and better for beginners. Anyways to make a long story short I caught like 6 or 7 waves (kinda white wash but hey), learned to turtle dive and practiced sitting on the board and turning it around. Overall a successful lesson. After I was done Ryan took the long board out and had some really fun.

Santa Teresa Cabana

At the hostel there is a private cabana specifically for the San Jose Tranquillo employees / administrator. On Thursday and Friday our friend / the administrator, Chafic, was staying in the cabana but on Saturday day he went back to San Jose so we got to move into the cabana for the next two nights. Even though it is a hike up the hill from the hostel, especially difficult at night with no lights, it was kinda romantic. The cabana reminds me of a tree house. It is open on three sides but surround by trees for privacy, has a small kitchen, bathroom with shower and a small dining table with two chairs. The best part is the four post queen size bed with mosquito netting. Just like the movies but on a hostel budget.

Chill'n in the breeze in the Santa Teresa Cabana

Relaxing and Reading in the Santa Teresa Cabana

Since it was so hot and humid at the beach we spent a lot of time in the cabana relaxing in the cool breeze up on the hill. Saturday day we just chilled and read our books. Saturday night though we went out to an awesome house party with Lila, the Tranquillo Backpackers receptionist in Santa Teresa, and her friend. The party was at this huge beautiful house on the beach decorated in a Crate and Barrel style. They had an open bar and DJ. After the house party we went to D&N the local night club that everyone goes to. A couple hours there then we went back to the hostel.

Sleeping In on Sunday

Sunday was a RR day after all the partying the night before and Monday morning we head back to San Jose to met up with my uncle Steve and cousin Brandon. They were in Costa Rica for a business fishing trip and decided to stay a couple extra days to spend time with us. After 6 months this will be the first time we see family. Looking forward to it.