Costa Rica Travel Tips

Excursion recommendations:

• Nicaragua tour- highly recommend 
• Mega Combo tour- great value! I only paid $90 for horseback riding, zip lining, water slide, local organic lunch, mud bath, and hot springs
• Palo Verde Boat Tour- fun, but not worth $90 

Other travel tips:

• Carry an empty water bottle through security and refill it after you pass security.
• Pre-book a car rental. We booked from the resort and paid $80 for one day. I met a couple that booked the rental online prior to arriving and they paid about $8 a day. 
• Book excursions at the resort. Our resort had two different travel agencies and we were able to shop at both and negotiate a better deal.
• If you book an excursion with a travel agent, ask if you need a "voucher." We didn't get a voucher when booking the excursion but almost every tour guide asked us for it. 
• Toiletries/ first aid kit: include Wet Ones singles, small hand sanitizer, travel toilet tissue, sting relief wipe, lots of Advil.
• It is better to bring two travel sized sunscreens than one regular sized bottle. You will use a lot of sunscreen, but you probably don't want to lug around a giant bottle on all of your excursions. 
• I wouldn't bring a lap top. The wi-fi at our resort is slow, our hotel room didn't have a free safe, I didn't need the lap top once, and leaving it at home would be one less thing to worry about. 
• Don't bother bringing a hair dryer or straightener. It's too hot.
• Bring small bills. Costa Rica accepts USD, but usually gives change in colones. Next time, I'm just going to bring all of my money in ones, fives, and tens. 
• The cheapest place to buy souvenirs is in Nicaragua. Ignore the shopping "tour guides" because they're annoying and they're just trying to get a tip. 
• Bring small easy to carry snacks like almonds or trail mix because excursion days are long days and you're basically on the tour guide's time. Especially important if you're a picky eater!

Costa Rica Day 5

On Thursday we woke up super early to go to Nicaragua!

Here we are at the Nicaraguan boarder.

One of our first stops was at a lookout spot in Masaya. The view overlooked Apoyo Crater Lake. 

As we were leaving the city there were people flooding the streets and jumping on to cars. If I understood the tour guide correctly, they were welcoming home Oscar Duarte, a Nicaraguan born Costa Rica soccer player. 

We drove up to Masaya Volcano National Park where we got to stand at the edge of a volcano. Unfortunately, it was difficult to see anything exciting because of the sulfur emitted by the volcano. 

We stopped for lunch which was good, but I rushed through it in order to go shopping! Everything is very cheap in Nicaragua. I bought two hammocks for $30. I'm glad I bought most of my souvenirs in Nicaragua!

There were two brothers from Costa Rica that were on the tour. They were about my age so I had fun talking to them during lunch and while shopping. When they saw my giant bag of stuff I bought, I was like, "Yeah, I'm a shopaholic." They found the word very amusing and even asked me later, "what was the word you said? Shopaholic?" LOL. I realized that my American consumerism mentality is soooo different than the Costa Rican values of simple living and environmental sustainability.

After we went shopping we got on the bus and drove to Granada. We took a boat ride to look at the little mansions located on tiny islands in Lake Nicaragua. 

Then we walked around the city of Granda. I LOVED the colorful buildings. I wish I could have spent more time exploring!

Then it was time for our 4 hour journey back to Costa Rica. 

One of the main reasons why we wanted to go to Nicaragua was to get another stamp on our passports. Friends and family members at home "warned" us that Nicaragua was dangerous. We were a little nervous to go because we didn't know what to expect. We asked a lot of Costa Ricans if they felt save in Nicaragua and everyone said we should go. In the end, I'm so glad we went! Because we were part of a tour and we stuck to tourist spots I didn't feel unsafe at all!

My Nicaraguan souvenirs:

Costa Rica Day 3

We went on an excursion to Palo Verde National Park. The Tempisque River is home to crocodiles, monkeys, bats, birds, iguanas and lots of other interesting animals!

 Our wonderful and knowledgable tour guide:

One thing I thought was interesting was that the tour guide knew exactly where the oldest and largest crocodile would be. Apparently crocodiles are very territorial so that particular crocodile is always in the same spot every morning. After about 10 boats come by to see him, he gets annoyed and moves somewhere else.

We got to see more white face monkeys. I guess they feel safe when the tour boats come close (protected from the crocodiles) so they take that opportunity to drink water. When we pulled up to the tree, our tour guide whistled and said "venga" and the monkeys would swing down and take a drink.

After the tour we went to a restaurant to try Costa Rican food. I loved the plantain chips! 

After that, we were very tired and ready to take a nap by the pool! We relaxed by the pool for about three hours! Time goes by so fast when you are so relaxed!

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was ok, I just had a quesadilla. 

Day 7

"How do you feel about going home tomorrow?" my roommate asked as we were layering on clothing and preparing for a morning bike ride.

After a lonely day six, I woke up feeling ready to go home. "I had a good time in Europe, I'm dreading the travel back home, but I'm anxious to be home," I replied.

But throughout the day, my desire to go home turned into dread! I didn't want to leave! I loved Prague too much.

After breakfast, we went on a bike tour through the narrow, bumpy streets of Prague. It was difficult because there was about 15 of us wandering through the crowded roads. Plus, the cobblestones made the ride extremely bumpy! But this was an excellent way to see much of the beautiful city at just the right pace.


One of my favorite thing to see on the bike tour was sculptures by the controversial artist, David Cerney. We saw three of his sculptures on our tour.

The first one we saw was this man, probably Sigmund Freud hanging outside of a building.



The second one we saw were these giant babies. These ones were in Kampa Park. From Kampa Park, you can see Prague's TV tower in the distance. These babies crawl on that tower (I was unable to see this) possibly suggesting that babies these days are raised by the TV.





The third one we saw were these guys proudly peeing in a pool shaped like the Czech Republic. The sculpture was broken at the time, but you are able to text a message to a certain number and they will move their hips to pee that message.


We also rode by the Lennon Wall again.

Next to the Lennon Wall, there is a little gate with a bunch of padlocks locked to it. People in love come to this gate, lock a padlock on the gate, and then throw the key into the river below.



The bike tour ended around 1pm. By then, we were starving. I went with a small group of people to eat at a nice restaurant in the Palladium Mall. I ordered the same thing I had for dinner the first night I arrived in Prague. It was so salty and delicious! Yummmmmmmmmmmm!



Then, we were going to all go to a museum together. But first, me and another person wanted to stop by our hotel to use the restroom. We were supposed to all meet in the lobby in like 10 minutes. I was down there, waiting... for like 20 minutes. Apparently the two girls misunderstood me and just went on to the museum we were supposed to go to. And the guy who also had to use the bathroom ended up falling asleep in his room. I got tired of waiting plus I was anxious to get the most out of my last day in Prague, so I ventured out on my own.

I first stopped by a Salvador Dali exhibit in Old Town Square. I wasn't able to take pictures though.

Then I walked across the Charles Bridge where locals sell artwork and jewelry. I bought some photos of the Lennon Wall (as it used to be) for my brother.

By then, it was already almost dinner time. Our group met in the hotel lobby so that we could walk over to a restaurant and have a traditional Czech dinner. This time, the food was just okay. There was a lot of meat, which isn't my favorite thing to eat.

There was live traditional Czech entertainment. At the end of our meal, the dancers picked people from the table to join them in their dancing. One creepy-ish guy came over to our table to pick a partner. Immediately, all the girls pulled out their cell phones and pretended to be busy texting. I was too slow. He picked me to join him! Ahhh! But it was fun!



I meandered through the streets taking in everything! I especially love the way Prague looks in the evening, after the sun sets but before it gets completely dark. I just wanted to memorize everything.

When I got back to the hotel, I reluctantly began packing. That was it. My trip was over. :(

My roommate fell asleep while I was packing, so I didn't even get to say good bye.

I went to bed around midnight and tossed and turned all night dreading the next day.

Day 6 part 2

(Writing from HOME SWEET HOME)

After our walking tour, we had a lunch cruise where we were able to try traditional Czech food. We started our meal off with a shot of something (I think it's called Becherovka?). It's supposed to help you digest your food. Our tour guide said that her grandmother takes a shot of this every morning for good health. She says her grandma is often smiling because it contains almost 40% alcohol.





We also got 4 free drinks on this cruise, so I decided to take this opportunity to try a Czech beer. They say that in Czech, beer is cheaper than water. I'm not a fan of beer or any carbonated drinks so I didn't drink much of it. Oh well, it was free!



From there, we were free to do our own thing. I first went to the Palladium Mall (right next to our hotel) where I HAD to buy warmer clothing. It was rainy and windy. It was about 34 degrees, but felt like 31 degrees according to weather.com. So I bought a long sleeve t-shirt from H&M and a thick black scarf.

I walked over to the hotel to empty out my purse a bit (I inadvertently collect sooo much stuff throughout the day... receipts, fliers, maps, brochures, change etc) and change into my new warmer clothes.

I then walked over to find the John Lennon Wall. I wanted to be sure to get pics of the wall so that I could show my brother. It was really hard to find and I almost turned back to the hotel a couple times because it was soooooo windy and cold! My umbrella kept flipping inside out. I eventually found the wall and took a ton of pictures!





After viewing the wall, I began the walk back to my hotel. It was cold, but I took the long way back. I wandered around the old part of the town and then the new part of the town. I wanted to remember everything about this beautiful city. I wanted to remember the way the cobblestone paths felt underneath my worn out flats. I wanted to remember how windy and cold it was (I've only been this cold like two other times in my life). I wanted to remember the delicious smells coming from the spring market in Old Town Square.

I decided to go through a little museum. I think it was called the Torture Museum. They had a bunch of information on ways people were tortured in medieval times. The museum was dimly lit and they had a soundtrack of spooky sounds playing throughout the room. It was totally spooky. I'm not sure why I came here by myself! Luckily, there was a couple going through the museum at the same pace as I was. I just stuck close to them, being careful not to enter a new room until they did first!




We were on our own for dinner. I just grabbed a orange-apple juice to tie me over until I could decide on a real dinner. I went to my hotel to get a break from the cold. I ended up getting too cozy and ended my day there, without dinner.

Other people on the tour. including my roomie,went on a Pub Crawl where they went to like 3 bars and 1 night club. The pub crawl included lots of free drinks and entry into the club, but I felt like it would be a waste for me. Many of my tour mates came home early in the morning... around 4 or 5!

It was kind of a lonely afternoon for me, so I updated my blog, skyped with JR, and spent some time on facebook.

Day 6

I'll do this update in two parts because I'm getting sleepy.

I started today off with breakfast at the hotel. The eggs here and in berlin are runny.



It was 39 degrees outside, and I didn't pack for cold weather. I had to put on everything warm that I had, even if it looked funny. So I wore black socks with my flats. I also wore green pants with a green jacket.



Then, at 9:00 we met in the lobby and walked over to our bus. We drove down to the castle. We had a local tour guide join us on the bus and give us information about the history of Prague.

Here are some pictures from the castle.






The Italian president (?) was in Prague today, so there were Italian flags everywhere.

We walked around to the side of the castle and we were able to see this great view of the city.



We continued on our tour, to the Charles Bridge. There is a statue of St John of Nepomuk where you can touch a certain spot and make 3 wishes. The Czechs are very supersticious! Most Czechs are not religious because they were ruled by communist for several decades. During this time, they were not allowed to practice religions.



OK, I'm going to stop here and continue updating tomorrow. I'm tired!

Day 5

I started off the day with a quick breakfast at the hotel. Then we loaded our bags onto the bus.



Then we were on our way to Dresden, a town about 2 hours from Berlin, near the boarder between Germany and Czech. One interesting thing about this town is that it was bombed during the last few days of WW2.

We had 2.5 hours to explore Dresden and eat lunch. One of the girls I met on the tour and I went in search for lunch. We ended up not eating at a restaurant. I got two pretzels and she got bratwurst.

This girl is interesting. She's hard for me to hang out with because she's really... "frugal" (same girl that didn't want to leave the club until we had 4 people to split the taxi cost). She goes from place to place searching for a bathroom that only cost 30c euro to use. Also, she walked to three different bratwurst stands to see if any one was cheaper. I can understand wanting to be frugal, especially because she's still a student, but why worry about one or two dollars if you already spent thousands on a trip to Europe?

So what ended up really making me mad was this. The reason why we grabbed a quick and easy lunch was because we both really wanted to see a museum called Zwinger. It was actually HER suggestion, but I really wanted to see Raphael's Sistine Madonna so I was excited too. Then, when we got inside, she saw that it cost money to enter (duh!) and was like, "I don't know if we should go in because we won't have enough time to see everything. Should we do something else?" So I was like, "We have an hour and a half, what do you want to do?" and she just kept walking around leading me around the whole damn city. It was too cold to be wandering around like that. I would have gladly paid just to be able to stand inside a building. So I've been avoiding her ever since. Hhaah.

Here's an old picture of me and JR with that famous image taken from the bottom of Raphael's Sistine Madonna. Looking at this copy hanging on the wall of Santa Maria's Straw Hat Pizza is not as cool as looking at the real deal in Europe, but oh well.



Here are some pics from Dresden.





We walked into a Mc Donalds because that girl wanted to find a cheap bathroom. But I thought this was cool... at most of the Mc Donalds I've seen here in Europe, they have a separate section for Mc Cafe which is like a little cafe with desserts and coffee drinks.



Then we eagerly got on the bus (it was super cold outside!) and were on our way to Prague! To pass the time, we did introductions. We had to stand up in front of the bus and tell everyone your name, where you're from, who you're traveling with, when you're leaving the tour, and one celebrity you love and one you hate.

Then, 2.5 hours later, we arrived in Prague. I instantly fell in love with this city. It happened as soon as I got off the bus. I just love everything about Prague.

It amazes me that a driving 5 hours away from Berlin will land you in a city completely different! It's a different country, different language, and different currency! It's amazing to me because if I drive 5 hours from my house, I could be in San Francisco. Yeah, SF has its own culture, but we still speak the same language, use the same money, and have the same governor etc.





After we checked into our hotel, we went out to dinner as a group. I was totally worried about Czech food, because German food didn't appeal to me at all. My tour manager kept saying, "Czech food is wacky!" Luckily, the dinner we were served was AMAZING! It was the most I had eaten all week. It doesn't seem wacky at all. It was salty and delicious!





After dinner, we went on a quick walking tour of the city, just so we could orient ourselves. The streets are narrow, crowded, and windey so it's easy to get lost!

Our tour manager suggested that we see a blacklight show. She warned us that it was weird "like an acid trip" but said it's "totally prague" so of course I wanted to watch the show!



It was... interesting. Weird. It didn't make sense to me, although I heard later that it was supposed to be about Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) growing up. Uhh.... okay. But I'm glad I went. I would totally go back tonight if it wasn't 25 euro. I think it was a bit overpriced.

I came back to my hotel after the show. It was sooo cold outside! I'm not used to this kind of weather. Anything under 55 degrees is "freezing" to me! My roomie was ready to go to bed, so I sat outside my room and skyped with JR/updated my blog. While I was sitting outside of my room, an old lady asked me if I needed help :) and some creepy old man asked me to come in to his room. Hahah. So I decided to go back inside my room and get some sleep.