January 31–February 6, 2007, Number 132
This picture is of a group of us at the sushi restaurant. It was delicious!
Exploring Jaco and Caldera!
On Friday I went with a group of students to a town called Jaco. Jaco is located a little over an hour away. It is very different from what I have seen thus far in Costa Rica. Jaco is tourist-oriented and relatively expensive. There was even a Subway and Pizza Hut. We took a public bus there, which costs a little over $1. Upon arrival, we headed down to the beach. There were a lot of people surfing and the beach was beautiful. We spent the remainder of the day at the beach. For dinner we ate at a delicious sushi restaurant. This was the first place I’ve seen since I’ve been in Costa Rica that served sushi. Since sushi is one of my favorite foods, I was really excited. We spent the night in Jaco at a place called Chuck’s Cabinas for $10 per person. At Chucks, we met a group of surfers from Canada. It was fun to talk to them about traveling around Central America. On Saturday, we spent the day at the beach swimming and playing in the waves. Some people made an attempt to surf, but I’ve never surfed before and the waves were way to big for me to learn on.
After a fun day of sun and sand, we hopped on a bus that was headed toward Puntarenas. The bus was packed and there was no place to sit. We ended up standing for the entire trip back which isn’t very enjoyable given the driving situation here. The bus driver’s drive way too fast, the roads are incredibly narrow and windy, and we were riding on the edge of cliffs. To make matters worse, in the middle of nowhere we blew a tire. This didn’t seem to faze our driver. After hopping off the bus to take a look, he jumped right back into the drivers seat and took off. I was really scared that we would fly off a cliff, but we arrived in Puntarenas safe and sound. We had a really good time in Jaco and I’m sure we’ll be back for a visit soon.
Right: This is a picture of me on the beach enjoying the beautiful, tropical weather. Below: Here I am with my surfboard at Jaco beach. Another student, Jon Malette (top photo, second from the right), and I bought this board to share.On Tuesday I headed to a beach called Caldera with a group of students from my school. To get to Caldera, we rode in a taxi for about 20 minutes. Then, we had to walk through a Columbian shipping yard, which took about 15 minutes. When we finally arrived at Caldera, I realized that the walk was definitely worth it. Caldera is a beautiful beach with waves that were perfect for me to learn how to surf on. Besides our group, there was only one other surfer on the whole beach! Normally, if you go to a beach in Costa Rica it is important to have one person watch your belongings while everyone swims because there is a lot of theft here. Since we were the only ones on the beach we were able to swim and enjoy ourselves without having to worry about our stuff being stolen.
Once we got to Caldera, I headed right for the water to learn to surf. We spent the whole day hanging out in the water and surfing. I was able to stand up on the surfboard a couple times but then I would fall immediately. I had such a good time and learned so much about surfing. Some of the guys in my group are really good surfers, so it was fun to watch them. The only bad thing about this day is that something in the water stung almost everyone in our group. We think it was jellyfish, but we are not sure. I was one of the lucky ones and somehow avoided getting stung. I had so much fun at Caldera. A group of us plan to make weekly day trips there to surf since it is so close to Puntarenas.
I have only been here for less than two weeks but I have already seen and done so much. I am having such a great time and I am looking forward to all the adventures that are yet to come. This upcoming weekend I am traveling to Curu and Tortuga Isla with my school. Curu is a nature and wildlife reserve. Tortuga Isla (turtle island) is an island with a beautiful beach and great snorkeling. I have a fear of fish and snorkeling, so I am hoping I will overcome this fear at Tortuga. I hope that everyone is having a great week. Adios!
- Sincerely,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885