My Adventures and Travels

With the newest snowstorm moving in, Toni and I went off to poker at a bar/restaurant in Lafayette called Dillingers. For those of you who don't know, Toni's job is to run poker games; he owns a small company that does this. Because of the snow, it was a smaller-than-usual crowd. The adventures began when the power went out....and stayed out for over 2 hours! However, we are die-hard poker players because there wasn't even a question of ending the game-and we even played a second game afterwards! Many candles, flashlights, and even cell phone lights were used in order to see the cards. I tried to take pictures of this fun night, but either it was too dark, or the flash went off so it's hard to tell how dark it actually was. It was definitely a different kind of poker game! It snowed all evening and night, but the 18" predicted never materialized for Denver....it was maybe a foot of snow, but that's plenty when you get plowed in on all 3 sides! (Thanks, Toni, fo...

We are getting yet another big winter storm....and I don't even get a snow day for this one! The good news is, I don't have to go anywhere. This one they are predicting 9-18 inches for the metro area and it is the WET stuff (read: heavy). I spent a couple hours on Tuesday chopping away at the ice coating my driveway, and shovelling off my porch, which conveniently drips water onto my driveway as the snow melts, making it very slick after it freezes! I guess, if it was possible to go anywhere in my Corolla (it isn't) it would be a great time to go skiing with the ticket I got from mom! Ah, well, I'm starting to wish I stayed in Costa Rica! Hope everyone is warm out there, and that there is actually food in the grocery stores where you live! Til next time...

Luckily, we had a small Christmas planned this year with no one coming or going through the airport! It was just Peter, Mom, Mark, and I up at Mom's house. We went up mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, and Mom cooked up a storm! The feast included some polenta appetizers, homemade spinach pasta and 2 sauces, a giant salad, and some great bread. The pasta was delicious! We were all stuffed. Mom was scheduled to work on Christmas day, so we opened all of our presents last night, too-what fun! I think everyone got great presents. Some highlights of mine included a ski ticket, some good knives, and tons of books-many to prepare me for my travels! Luckily I was the one with the camera, so caught everyone else looking silly at some point-haha! It was almost 1:00 a.m. by the time we were finished unwrapping-with a break for some dessert. Mom got an extra Christmas present this morning and didn't have to go in to work! She has the most seniority at work now, so she didn't have to go i...

Here are some pictures of the winter wonderland we've been experiencing...I went up to Toni's and we spent a good part of the day digging out. Above, you can see the actual level of the snow by the house--and then the mountain it became as we shoveled! At one point Toni went to stomp it down because we kept throwing snow up and it just fell back down where we shoveled. Today we both are pretty sore, but no longer snowed in.

About 14 hours after the flakes started falling, they are still coming with no sign of stopping any time soon! The city is pretty much shutting down....schools, major highways, malls (4 days before Christmas!) and the airport are all closed. So today was all about hot cider, white chili, and plenty of relaxation! I'll admit I'm getting a little stir crazy, though it is pretty to look at.

Well, since I have a snow day from school today, I've decided to start up with the blog thing again. Originally I started it to update people on my Costa Rica adventures....I don't really think my day-to-day life is that exciting! But lots of out-of-state family members have blogs, so I guess I'm feeling left out! So the big thrill is that it's a SNOW DAY today! There is almost no snow on the ground but the predictions kept going up....from 4-8 inches to 10-20, now they are saying 16-24 inches for the Denver area! Yahoo! Hopefully I can post some pics when the snow is impressive-looking enough!

I've been having a hard time posting photos to the blog. Check for them here instead: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12391659@N00/

First of all I want to paste in something that Danielle wrote about her travels in Argentina (and pretty much all of South America): As one girl said, in the life of traveling a day can be a week, I mean honestly you are thrown into living together and often it works out that you do absoluetly everything toghether until you say goodbye, which is a bit strange, it is like making excellent friends and then turning around after you say goodbye and never knowing if you´ll speak to each other again, a sad but wonderful experience, you take a little piece of each person with you!!! Ok enough of my sentimental stuff, maybe it´s the wine talking or the sappy eighty music. See, she has the same punctuation problem I do, but I think she summed up how quickly you get to know people, especially traveling solo. It{s great but strange too. Thanks Danielle for the quote! :) Plans for my last full day at the beach...the boat ride I wanted to go on is full but I{m going to go anyway in case there wer...

Hola amigos! Let me tell you, I am mad this computer has too short of an attention span for me to post pictures, cause I have some fun ones! Anyhow here is the weekend update. On Saturday, Aarti and I took the bus to Liberia. From there we EVENTUALLY contacted a hotel with a correct phone number in our guide book which took some time given the pay phone, wrong number, phone card in spanish complications. The park is really remote and so are the hotels near it; thus we had to get them to come and get us because no buses came. So Oscar picked us up in Liberia and it was a bumpy hour long 4WD ride to the hotel. Oh this is great: 4 by 4s in Spanish are called "cuatro para cuatros." Anyway the hotel was very basic but nice because it{s a small, family owned joint and they are so helpful in making plans, asking you what time your meals are and all that. We had dinner there and breakfast the next morning (amazing food and so much fresh fruits and veggies, mom!) and then a driver too...

Hey all! I am now DONE with my 4 weeks of Spanish classes and have 1 week to travel. First, important parental stuff: Mom tomorrow I am going to Rincon de la Vieja National Park. It has stuff like an active volcano, boiling mudpots, and hot springs. I'll be staying with a girlfriend in Hotel Boyeros, phone number 666/0995 if you really need me. Country code for CR is 506. Then 2 nights (probably) on my own in the same park in a place called the Rinconcito Lodge, 666/2764. Then I'll be heading back to the beach, I think Playa Braselito, don't know hwere I'll be staying yet but they have email there. Thursday will head down to San Jose to catch my flight on Friday. Now that that's taken care of, I JUST GOT BACK FROM PARASAILING! It was totally amazing, i have pictures, of course they are trapped in my camera. The trip was led by a really nice guy who moved here from NY (assured me he's a coast guard and that he put the engine in the boat himself, etc). It was abso...

Haha I read that on a tshirt yesterday on a guy that only spoke Spanish and it cracked me up. Anyway, the best laid plans...I got up at 3:30am on Saturday morning to catch a 5am bus to Liberia, Costa Rica. My first public bus adventure! I slept through most of it. Got to Liberia at about 8am, went to the OTHER bus station (why they can{t have just 1 I don{t know)to meet my friends and catch the bus to Nicaragua....which had just left! And it doesn{t run that often, and I didn{t know where everyone was going and all that, so I opted against going by myself. So, what to do in Liberia? Not much, took a cab but instead of returning to Playa Flamingo decided to check out Tamarindo, the surf town, instead. Headed there, hung out on the beach and watched people surf. but I couldn{t swim cause I had my whole weekend bag for Nicaragua and it just wouldn{t do to have all my money and passport and camera, etc. stolen. Then I wandered the town and shopped a bit. Walking back to the beach ran into ...

I have 5 minutes left of my computer time so here goes. This weekend Im heading up to Omatepe in Lake Nicaragua for some volcano climbing with my roommate here and several of her friends from Tamarindo. Should be great. Wednesday night is ladies night here and it is the talk of the town all week before and after. I had a little mishap stepping from the deck onto the beach, which is a very big step for someone short like me...so I twisted my ankle when I landed and totally fell and skinned my knee. Sad. Mom, I cleaned out the sand best I could and have been putting that bacitracin zinc stuff on it. But I could barely walk on my ankle the next day, but it has loosened up and is getting better. A nice lady at the B&B even gave me an ice pack. I think I{ll survive, if I can get my hiking boot on it I{m climbing a volcano this weekend. I figure if I can{t get my shoe on I have no business hiking. Also the keyboard here is weird and I can{t figure out apostrophes so sorry about all that....

Yes, I took this picture, but it looks like one of the one that comes with your computer! I took this 2 nights ago on the beach that´s about a block from the place I´m staying. I´d love to attach more pictures but it takes FOREVER here. Anyway, the beach life is fun but I used the alarm clock-thermometer from Auntie Laurie (Mom, thank her for me!) and it was 98 degrees yesterday in the shade, 104 in the sun! Crazy, huh...and the humidity is what you´d expect by the ocean. But it´s beautiful and you can usually swim or dip in the ocean to cool off. It´s rainy today, though, but cooler. There´s not much to do around here when it rains. Anyway life is good, Playa Flamingo is a different world from Monteverde, but beautiful in a different way. Say hi, let me know how you´re doing!

Hey all... It has been awhile but yes I am still alive, I just haven´t been able to do the internet thing for awhile. Since my last entry I have gone on a tour of the monteverde cheese factory, done a zip'line over the rainforest, gone to the serpertarium, gotten more wet than i have ever been in my life on a hike in the Monteverde reserve, then Patrick & I skipped classes on Friday to take a bus down to Flamingo. This is because Rachel, our friend from England, would be leaving Monday and we wanted to see her. And I needed to end up here anyway. I was sad to leave Monteverde´s beauty, and cool and nearly bug-free climate, but excited about the beach. The bus ride was only about 4 hours and strangely enough, the hotel rooms that the school booked for us were at the same place Rachel & her friends were eating lunch! Shortly after that, she left for her horseback ride on the beach, and we found Andrew out in the ocean. We all hung out and went to a nearby, on the beach bar, w...

Okay everyone....pictures will have to wait as I am in an internet cafe right now. But I just had I think the most amazing and memorable weekend EVER. I don't know how to put the emotions into words, but here's the overview: I went on a trip the school organized to Volcan Arenal. To get there, we took a bus on the bumpy dirt road for about 2 1/2 hours, went in a boat across a big lake for 30 minutes, and in another bus for about 20 minutes. We couldn't see the volcano at all when we got there. We went to our hotel, which was pretty nice with pools and a restaurant, big beds and jacuzzi baths-luxuries! We pretty much dropped off our bags and went to lunch and then a hike near the base of the volcano called El Silencio. When we got there it was clearing up so we could see a lot of the volcano, though not the top. It turned out that different people in our group emphasized different parts of "nature hike"-I was all about hiking, others all about mountains. This guy A...

Here is today's irony. In the last 2 days I have experienced more rain than in the last year in Colorado, probably. Yet....when I woke up this morning my family told me, "No hay agua!" So I guess this happens a lot around here, especially with all the rain, that the water in the houses doesn't always work. I guess that's what I get for complaining about cold showers: no shower at all! Other than that things are going well. Last night after I posted, I went with Rachel & Liz to a pizza place. Pizza had never sounded so good and it definitely hit the spot! The beer everyone drinks here is "Imperial." It is delicious. I think I'm going to start having it shipped to me when I come home! It's the best. Anyway after dinner we hiked back up the hill to a restaurant called Moon Shiva to hear live music there...and drink another Imperial! So that was fun; the big night out. I had to have the school call my "Mama Tica" to tell her I wouldn...

Costa Rica misconception #1: It just sort of drizzles here for awhile. That one, as mythbusters would say, was busted right open yesterday, and again today. Those of you who know me well will be glad to hear I found "La Taberna" yesterday with a friend from England and we enjoyed us a couple of cervecas. Cervasas? Hmm. I'll check on that. Anyway we are at this cool hotel bar (pictures to be posted soon, hopefully tomorrow) where the wall behind the bar was glass and you could see the rainforest! So that was cool. Anyway it started to rain and it was a major torrential downpour. The problem with morning classes is that's when the weather is nice. We thought we'd wait it out but after an hour it became clear that wasn't going to happen. So we walked back up this giant hill (did I mention no roads are paved here? All those potholes are now filled with water) and I was soaked to the bone when I got back to the place. Happily, I had my first warm shower since I got...

I'm attaching pictures of the view of the plaza at the school where I sit and drink coffee, email, and do homework, and the clouds moving in yesterday afternoon. Now, some editorializing Things I'm over in Costa Rica: 1. Cold showers 2 Do they really have to get up so early? And the sun rises and sets so early! 3. None of the streets have names; none of the houses have numbers. The "address" of my house is 125 meters northeast of De Lucia's restaurant. Kind of a pain if you're somewhere new. Sort of charming, though... Things to love about Costa Rica: 1. They cancel classes to watch soccer games (now that is dedication) 2. The people 3. (duh) the scenery and beauty. Can you even comprehend what parks in the US would be like if we were more interested in preserving them than in making money? That's why the roads aren't even paved here. 4. You can walk anywhere you want to go. 5. COFFEE! 6. Okay, other than the cold showers I dig everything here. I can ...

So far, Costa Rica is incredible! I arrived late Friday, after my plane was late taking off in Atlanta. Initially I was really nervous about leaving late, as my information packet said my ride from the airport in San Jose was not guaranteed if I was late! I had a glass of wine and felt much better. Sure enough, I was not able to find my pickup at the airport, so I found a Taxista who knew where the hostel was and off we went. I got there at about 10:00 p.m. and everyone was either sleeping or out dancing. I was pretty wired from travel so took forever to fall asleep. The next day, Saturday, I met several other people at the hostel who would be traveling to Monteverde with me later that day. We went to Super Snack (not very Costa Rica sounding, is it?) for lunch and I managed to order off the Spanish menu. The problem was when the waitress asked how I wanted my huevos. Uh oh….this wasn’t in my high school Spanish class! Luckily she started giving me options. For the record, fritos is fr...

Okay, I'm trying to get this all figured out before I leave and have to pay by the hour for internet access! I leave early tomorrow morning so I'm taking a break from packing. On Monday I took one last hike here before my trip. Not only did I want to fit one in, but I'm also hoping to climb Costa Rica's tallest mountain, Mount Chirripo, while I'm there. It is a 2-day climb and they have a ranger station you can stay at overnight. So I'm considering that...I'm not too worried about the length of the climb (21 km each way-sorry, everything I have is in the stupid metric system!) or altitude...3820 m, somewhere in the mid 12,000 ft range...it's the altitude gain. So I'll try to stay in shape by running when I'm in Costa Rica and see how I feel by the end. I'm going for 5 weeks, and the last week is open right now; I haven't planned anything for sure yet, so that's when I'd do it. Anyway I'd better get back to packing, and I have ...

So I decided that this would be a good way for me to communicate what I'm up to and pictures to my friends and family when I am in Costa Rica for the next 5 weeks. If I get internet access. So.....here goes!