Sunday, January 29, 2012
Walking along the beach today I enjoyed watching those around meactually looking like they are enjoying life.
Playing a game on the beach, swimming, walking or just soaking upthe sun on their blanket and reading.Calm, peaceful, truly enjoying themselves in this moment.
Is it just because they are on vacation? Packing it all in in the alloted 2 week vacation they have from work, or maybe, like us, theyare more fortunate to have a bit more time to explore, play, learn about other cultures and avoid winter.
In any case, why is it only on 'vacation' that we seem to allowourselves this relaxation or time for doing the things that we REALLYwant to do.How, why and when do we get caught up in this lie that we NEEDto work 40, 50, 60 hours a week, have a mortgage, 2 cars, 2 kids,work till we're 60 and THEN we can do the things that we really want to do.
How about instead of working all of those years in preparation for doing all of the things that you really want to do, you just do them? If you're a ski bum and just want to ski all day every day, then move to a place where you can do that. If you want to be a hermit and live in the woods and write all day, then do it. Go off and build a log cabin or something and just do it.
Now people say, "Well, no, no, no, it's not that easy, you can't just pick up and do that sort of stuff" blah blah blah. Bullshit I say. If you REALLY, truly in your heart want to do something, you will find a way to do it. Tons of people live on little to no money and are doing just fine and are probably happier than those with the boats, cars and big houses. Go tribal, back to basics. Farm, trade, walk, ride a bike, build your own stuff.
What holds us back is our fears me thinks.
It's scary to just pack up your shit and go off somewhere in search of your dream. You could fail, have zero money but at least you would have tried. And with that,you would find glorious adventure, people and experiences and learn a lot about yourself. What's scarier to me is plugging away day to day doing something we don't LOVE making plans for things that we MIGHT do and completely living in the future.
On the bus in Costa Rica we met this lovely older retired couple from Ontario. Where ya from, whatcha doing here, how long you staying etc etc are the standard traveler to traveler questions it seems. They were so surprised when we said that we were going to be in Central America for 3 months. "Ohhh wow, how?" they asked. "Ummmm, we worked our asses off since summer and saved our money" (and some of us are lucky to have the support of those around us that allow us to live rent free).
"Yeah, that's what we did..... for the past 45 years" They said. Worked their asses off.
Holy shit I thought in my head, 45 years. Ugh. Randy and I looked at each other in disgust, him having the exact same thought.
"Now all we do is travel", the woman said.
That's cool I thought, good for you guys. But. I don't WANT to work for 45 years and THEN travel and live life the way I want to. I want to do it now. Live now.
Don't get me wrong, if you are one of the fortunate ones who actually enjoy what they do and fully own your house, car etc etc, that IS awesome too. I would like to own a house or something one day too.
Be present. Live the kind of life that you dream of NOW. "Once I do this, get this, lose this, buy this, sell this, fix this" It goes on and on. It has to stop. Just get off your ass and do it. Do something. If you don't know how to do it. Find out how. If you're too lazy to find out how, hire someone to find out for you, ask others. There is no reason that all of us should not be doing the things we love.
Imagine the energy that would produce. People doing things they enjoy, they feel better, healthier, thus they are happier and have better relationships with those around them.
Accepting each day as it is, living it and not working, working working towards the future for something that MIGHT happen. Make it happen.
You could get hit by a bus tomorrow! And for what! Living a life thatis just ok, comfortable, doesn't challenge you.
Do better. Be better. Be ther person that you truly want to be and live it.
Every day. Right now.
Playing a game on the beach, swimming, walking or just soaking upthe sun on their blanket and reading.Calm, peaceful, truly enjoying themselves in this moment.
Is it just because they are on vacation? Packing it all in in the alloted 2 week vacation they have from work, or maybe, like us, theyare more fortunate to have a bit more time to explore, play, learn about other cultures and avoid winter.
In any case, why is it only on 'vacation' that we seem to allowourselves this relaxation or time for doing the things that we REALLYwant to do.How, why and when do we get caught up in this lie that we NEEDto work 40, 50, 60 hours a week, have a mortgage, 2 cars, 2 kids,work till we're 60 and THEN we can do the things that we really want to do.
How about instead of working all of those years in preparation for doing all of the things that you really want to do, you just do them? If you're a ski bum and just want to ski all day every day, then move to a place where you can do that. If you want to be a hermit and live in the woods and write all day, then do it. Go off and build a log cabin or something and just do it.
Now people say, "Well, no, no, no, it's not that easy, you can't just pick up and do that sort of stuff" blah blah blah. Bullshit I say. If you REALLY, truly in your heart want to do something, you will find a way to do it. Tons of people live on little to no money and are doing just fine and are probably happier than those with the boats, cars and big houses. Go tribal, back to basics. Farm, trade, walk, ride a bike, build your own stuff.
What holds us back is our fears me thinks.
It's scary to just pack up your shit and go off somewhere in search of your dream. You could fail, have zero money but at least you would have tried. And with that,you would find glorious adventure, people and experiences and learn a lot about yourself. What's scarier to me is plugging away day to day doing something we don't LOVE making plans for things that we MIGHT do and completely living in the future.
On the bus in Costa Rica we met this lovely older retired couple from Ontario. Where ya from, whatcha doing here, how long you staying etc etc are the standard traveler to traveler questions it seems. They were so surprised when we said that we were going to be in Central America for 3 months. "Ohhh wow, how?" they asked. "Ummmm, we worked our asses off since summer and saved our money" (and some of us are lucky to have the support of those around us that allow us to live rent free).
"Yeah, that's what we did..... for the past 45 years" They said. Worked their asses off.
Holy shit I thought in my head, 45 years. Ugh. Randy and I looked at each other in disgust, him having the exact same thought.
"Now all we do is travel", the woman said.
That's cool I thought, good for you guys. But. I don't WANT to work for 45 years and THEN travel and live life the way I want to. I want to do it now. Live now.
Don't get me wrong, if you are one of the fortunate ones who actually enjoy what they do and fully own your house, car etc etc, that IS awesome too. I would like to own a house or something one day too.
Be present. Live the kind of life that you dream of NOW. "Once I do this, get this, lose this, buy this, sell this, fix this" It goes on and on. It has to stop. Just get off your ass and do it. Do something. If you don't know how to do it. Find out how. If you're too lazy to find out how, hire someone to find out for you, ask others. There is no reason that all of us should not be doing the things we love.
Imagine the energy that would produce. People doing things they enjoy, they feel better, healthier, thus they are happier and have better relationships with those around them.
Accepting each day as it is, living it and not working, working working towards the future for something that MIGHT happen. Make it happen.
You could get hit by a bus tomorrow! And for what! Living a life thatis just ok, comfortable, doesn't challenge you.
Do better. Be better. Be ther person that you truly want to be and live it.
Every day. Right now.
A proper post
Ok, so, Nicaragua.
After a smooth day of traveling and almost hassle free border crossing, we arrived in Nicaragua. Although beautiful and full of things I have never seen before, we were anxious to get out of Costa Ricafor the sake of our bank accounts.
Although CR and Nica are neighbours, they are much different.
Nicaragua has a more genuine feel to it. Almost immediately when we entered this country you can feel it. Calm, less busy, ox carts, people riding horses b/c that is their mode of transportation, pigs, stray dogs etc.
I love the vibe that this country and people ooze.
We share a taxi ride into San Juan Del Sur (where we will attend Spanish school for a week and wheremi amiga Heather has spent a significant amount of time. I was really looking forward to finally seeing allof the places she has talked about for years and to meet some of her friends) with this dude from the UKwho turns out had his passport stamped with ENTRY instead of EXIT as we were leaving Costa Ricawhich caused us to wait about an hour and a half at this grundgy waiting area.
We find what is probably one of the nicest places we've stayed in so far for a good price and meetanother traveling couple. They are from Alaska and quit their jobs and are traveling for a year. Very cool and super awesome people. Annnnnnnnnnd, they play Scrabble!!! They brought the travel board with them. We spent several nights looking for the best word we could make with the 7 tiles we had while practicing Spanish and swapping stories.
The next day we had to leave our sweet little hotel and moved to what was suppossed to be a homestay. I had this romantic idea of what it would be like to stay with a homestay family for a week in my mind. We would share meals together where we could only speak in Spanish, the parents would teach us about their culture while I practiced English with their young kids etc etc.
Haha, yeah. That is definitely not what we got. Our school picks us up at our hotel and drives us over a few blocks. We meet Marta, I thought of her kind of as the Madam of the house, and are taken to our room. We're not in a sweet, typical local style home, we're in some big 2 story boarding house kinda place that can sleep about 20 people at least. There are noisy kids running around and you know those guys who attach big speakers to the top of their trucks and advertise or promote their business throughout the streets while playing crappy music? Yeah, Disco Movil lived at our place. One day he was just parked in the lot right beside our room playing his crappy music nice and loud.
We were SO sad to see the flat tire on his truck one day. Disco Movil was all Disco and no Movil for a few days.
So yeah, not exactly the romantic image I had in mind. In any case, we met some cool people and Marta was a bad ass cook. I loved every meal she prepared, even if it was rice and beans 95% of the time. Randy grew a little tired of it but I loved it.
Spanish school was good. 4 hours a day for 5 days. 4 hours a day is a lot but overall I learned a lot. I want to study more.
Aside from studying and playing Scrabble with Laura and Max we checked out a few nice beaches, had an afternoon of photography, some great pizza, yoga, sunsets, stars, lots of ice cream and got familiar with Ron, Flor de Cana, the local rum.
Since finishing our week at school, we spent a few days at a muy tranquillo hotel on Maderas beach. The beach is literally out the door. Amazing. I have always dreamed of staying in a place like this. The area is beautiful and when there are actually waves (which there hasn't been the past couple of days) there is good surf here. We are practicing. Lots of cool rock formations and tide pools to explore, yoga and running on the beach, reading, napping, playing games, sunsets, stars, NO ice cream unfortunately, howler monkeys and just doing whatever it is you want to do.
So this is where we're at. Loving Nicaragua and planning to spend a lot more time here. Next week we will meet up with our Alaskan buddies on the island of Ometepe where 2 volcanoes exist. 1 is active. We'll hike and play Scrabble.
After that we'll either move onto one of the historic colonial cities of Granada or Leon or hit another small beach town.
After a smooth day of traveling and almost hassle free border crossing, we arrived in Nicaragua. Although beautiful and full of things I have never seen before, we were anxious to get out of Costa Ricafor the sake of our bank accounts.
Although CR and Nica are neighbours, they are much different.
Nicaragua has a more genuine feel to it. Almost immediately when we entered this country you can feel it. Calm, less busy, ox carts, people riding horses b/c that is their mode of transportation, pigs, stray dogs etc.
I love the vibe that this country and people ooze.
We share a taxi ride into San Juan Del Sur (where we will attend Spanish school for a week and wheremi amiga Heather has spent a significant amount of time. I was really looking forward to finally seeing allof the places she has talked about for years and to meet some of her friends) with this dude from the UKwho turns out had his passport stamped with ENTRY instead of EXIT as we were leaving Costa Ricawhich caused us to wait about an hour and a half at this grundgy waiting area.
We find what is probably one of the nicest places we've stayed in so far for a good price and meetanother traveling couple. They are from Alaska and quit their jobs and are traveling for a year. Very cool and super awesome people. Annnnnnnnnnd, they play Scrabble!!! They brought the travel board with them. We spent several nights looking for the best word we could make with the 7 tiles we had while practicing Spanish and swapping stories.
The next day we had to leave our sweet little hotel and moved to what was suppossed to be a homestay. I had this romantic idea of what it would be like to stay with a homestay family for a week in my mind. We would share meals together where we could only speak in Spanish, the parents would teach us about their culture while I practiced English with their young kids etc etc.
Haha, yeah. That is definitely not what we got. Our school picks us up at our hotel and drives us over a few blocks. We meet Marta, I thought of her kind of as the Madam of the house, and are taken to our room. We're not in a sweet, typical local style home, we're in some big 2 story boarding house kinda place that can sleep about 20 people at least. There are noisy kids running around and you know those guys who attach big speakers to the top of their trucks and advertise or promote their business throughout the streets while playing crappy music? Yeah, Disco Movil lived at our place. One day he was just parked in the lot right beside our room playing his crappy music nice and loud.
We were SO sad to see the flat tire on his truck one day. Disco Movil was all Disco and no Movil for a few days.
So yeah, not exactly the romantic image I had in mind. In any case, we met some cool people and Marta was a bad ass cook. I loved every meal she prepared, even if it was rice and beans 95% of the time. Randy grew a little tired of it but I loved it.
Spanish school was good. 4 hours a day for 5 days. 4 hours a day is a lot but overall I learned a lot. I want to study more.
Aside from studying and playing Scrabble with Laura and Max we checked out a few nice beaches, had an afternoon of photography, some great pizza, yoga, sunsets, stars, lots of ice cream and got familiar with Ron, Flor de Cana, the local rum.
Since finishing our week at school, we spent a few days at a muy tranquillo hotel on Maderas beach. The beach is literally out the door. Amazing. I have always dreamed of staying in a place like this. The area is beautiful and when there are actually waves (which there hasn't been the past couple of days) there is good surf here. We are practicing. Lots of cool rock formations and tide pools to explore, yoga and running on the beach, reading, napping, playing games, sunsets, stars, NO ice cream unfortunately, howler monkeys and just doing whatever it is you want to do.
So this is where we're at. Loving Nicaragua and planning to spend a lot more time here. Next week we will meet up with our Alaskan buddies on the island of Ometepe where 2 volcanoes exist. 1 is active. We'll hike and play Scrabble.
After that we'll either move onto one of the historic colonial cities of Granada or Leon or hit another small beach town.
Things that Sloane has noticed in Nicaragua so far:
* People are quite chubby here.
* Very religious.
* Girls are not dressed as slutty as they were in Costa Rica. (See above point)
* Girls at a very young age are having babies. (Again, see point #2)
* Ox carts
* Horses
* Lots of dogs
* Mucho diferencia in price compared to CR.
* Noisy birds. Noisy in a good way though. I could listen to them sing all day.
* Colorful buildings. They look happy.
* No iguanas.
* LOTS of rain. Not typical for this time of year.
Things that Randy has noticed:
* The streets are much cleaner than they were in Costa Rica.
* Very windy.
* Strange rain for it being the dry season.
* Nice, colorful buildings.
* Folks are chubby.
* People are quite chubby here.
* Very religious.
* Girls are not dressed as slutty as they were in Costa Rica. (See above point)
* Girls at a very young age are having babies. (Again, see point #2)
* Ox carts
* Horses
* Lots of dogs
* Mucho diferencia in price compared to CR.
* Noisy birds. Noisy in a good way though. I could listen to them sing all day.
* Colorful buildings. They look happy.
* No iguanas.
* LOTS of rain. Not typical for this time of year.
Things that Randy has noticed:
* The streets are much cleaner than they were in Costa Rica.
* Very windy.
* Strange rain for it being the dry season.
* Nice, colorful buildings.
* Folks are chubby.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Mucho rapido blog entry here. Arrived safely with no problems to SJDS from Costa Rica.
Really like it here.
Will write more later! haha
Yes, lame entry. Will have more time later.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Trits
TRITS = Crack.
The other night at dinner, we were told about this sweet ice cream treat called TRITS.
It is vanilla ice cream sandwiched between 2 graham cracker cookies laced with a ribbon of chocolate. Delicioso.
We've definitely incorporated them into our daily diet.
On to the next
Our time in Costa Rica is coming to an end. For now.
Tomorrow morning, very early, we will start our trek to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.
6am bus to Puntarenus - Liberia - to the border - to SJDS.
We will study at a Spanish school for a week and stay with a homestay family.
Our schedule will be surfing in the morning and study in the afternoon.
Everything is set up through the school so it's perfect. Really looking forward to it!
Costa Rica has been good to us aside from being so expensive.
Lately we've been wondering exactly how the locals survive.
Prices here are basically the same as prices in Canada.
The minimum wage here is from $2-5 bucks an hour.
Apparently rent is cheaper here but that's about it.
It's not like what I've experienced in other countries where the locals are living a very different
life than us.
Sometimes we feel that the locals have MORE money than we do.
We haven't found many local restaurants serving good, local food for cheap. Like in Thailand, where you can eat a meal for $1 with the locals.
Locals are eating at the same restaurants that we are. Expensive restaurants.
So aside from being muy caro, Costa Rica is lovely.
The sounds of all of the different kinds of birds, bugs, lush flora and of course the beautiful ocean but I am very much looking forward to a more 3rd world kind of experience in Nicaragua.
Costa Rica is a little touristy.
I am curious to see the differences between all of these small countries within the area.
Until next time, adios!
Tomorrow morning, very early, we will start our trek to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.
6am bus to Puntarenus - Liberia - to the border - to SJDS.
We will study at a Spanish school for a week and stay with a homestay family.
Our schedule will be surfing in the morning and study in the afternoon.
Everything is set up through the school so it's perfect. Really looking forward to it!
Costa Rica has been good to us aside from being so expensive.
Lately we've been wondering exactly how the locals survive.
Prices here are basically the same as prices in Canada.
The minimum wage here is from $2-5 bucks an hour.
Apparently rent is cheaper here but that's about it.
It's not like what I've experienced in other countries where the locals are living a very different
life than us.
Sometimes we feel that the locals have MORE money than we do.
We haven't found many local restaurants serving good, local food for cheap. Like in Thailand, where you can eat a meal for $1 with the locals.
Locals are eating at the same restaurants that we are. Expensive restaurants.
So aside from being muy caro, Costa Rica is lovely.
The sounds of all of the different kinds of birds, bugs, lush flora and of course the beautiful ocean but I am very much looking forward to a more 3rd world kind of experience in Nicaragua.
Costa Rica is a little touristy.
I am curious to see the differences between all of these small countries within the area.
Until next time, adios!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Manuel Antonio National Park
Today we hiked in the park in hopes of seeing sloths and toucans.
We saw neither but saw some other good stuff.
On the trail we saw a bunch of monkeys and raccoons. They were really funny and cute.
At the end of the trail you come to 2 amazing beaches.
We snorkeled at one. It was pretty good.
When we came back to the beach to our stuff I noticed that my bag was open.
I thought, oh man, someone stole my money but thought that if they wanted to steal something, why wouldn't they just take the whole bag.
Everything was inside when I looked.
Randy's bag had been opened to.
Then Randy notices little paw prints near our bags. Raccoons.
They actually unzipped our bags, snooped inside for food and left.
Hilarious.
Then we head over to the other beach and they try to get into our bags again but we were able to shoo them away.
Another couple wasn't so lucky and the little bugger opened her bag right in front of her (because she was too scared to shoo the raccoon away) and took a bag of cookies.
I was in the water watching the whole thing. It was hilarious.
We had a lovely dinner and a ice cream and then a nice sunset.
Wicked day.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Jaco surf
I fulfilled a long, long time dream of surfing yesterday in Jaco.
Ever since I watched the movie North Shore when I was about 12 years old I have had a
slight obsession and desire to surf.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093648/
I've always loved the water and long to be near it.
We set up a lesson with the surfer boyfriend of the lovely woman who ran the hostel we were staying at.
We set out to the side of the beach that has a smaller swell.
Having watched almost every surf movie out there, I already have a pretty good idea of what to do, the tricky part is actually doing it!
I spent most of our time wiping out and getting spun but it was awesome.
I stood up a few times and just that small achievement was awesome.
I of course hoped that I would ride all the way into shore on my first wave but it didn't quite pan out that way. Haha
It was amazing nonetheless.
Randy did very well making it into shore a few times on a nice ride.
It is one of the most difficult things that I have ever tried and loved it, even while I drinking ocean and eating sand.
After a few hours of attempts, we drug ourselves bag to the hostel absolutely exhausted.
Slept good last night that's for sure!
We are now in Manuel Anotonio, another beach down 2 hours south of Jaco.
It is absolutely beautiful here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpGtpHXuNQ0
Tomorrow we will check out the national park where we will see some wildlife. Sloths I hope!
And then snorkel at the beach that is inside the park.
The day after, once our bodies recover from the pain of our surf attempts, we will take the boards out again.
Waves seem smaller and calmer than Jaco so here's hoping!
Pura Vida
Ever since I watched the movie North Shore when I was about 12 years old I have had a
slight obsession and desire to surf.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093648/
I've always loved the water and long to be near it.
We set up a lesson with the surfer boyfriend of the lovely woman who ran the hostel we were staying at.
We set out to the side of the beach that has a smaller swell.
Having watched almost every surf movie out there, I already have a pretty good idea of what to do, the tricky part is actually doing it!
I spent most of our time wiping out and getting spun but it was awesome.
I stood up a few times and just that small achievement was awesome.
I of course hoped that I would ride all the way into shore on my first wave but it didn't quite pan out that way. Haha
It was amazing nonetheless.
Randy did very well making it into shore a few times on a nice ride.
It is one of the most difficult things that I have ever tried and loved it, even while I drinking ocean and eating sand.
After a few hours of attempts, we drug ourselves bag to the hostel absolutely exhausted.
Slept good last night that's for sure!
We are now in Manuel Anotonio, another beach down 2 hours south of Jaco.
It is absolutely beautiful here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpGtpHXuNQ0
Tomorrow we will check out the national park where we will see some wildlife. Sloths I hope!
And then snorkel at the beach that is inside the park.
The day after, once our bodies recover from the pain of our surf attempts, we will take the boards out again.
Waves seem smaller and calmer than Jaco so here's hoping!
Pura Vida
Monday, January 9, 2012
More Montezuma
So far Montezuma has been our favorite place. A small, relaxed hippy kinda town with beautiful beaches and nice people. The ugly room is the first place we stayed when we arrived there. It was pretty sketchy but the price was right.We went on a hike up to a resort that our friend teaches yoga at. It's absolutely beautiful.
We hiked down to some waterfalls as well.
We had planned on snorkeling one day but visibility was so poor we ended up just playing the water and taking lots of pictures. Also fun.
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