Livin’ Laid Back in Mal Pais

Saturday morning began with a hike to the waterfall in Montezuma.  On the hike to the falls we stopped by a street vendor selling coconuts (a woman sitting on the side of the road with a cooler full of coconuts).  Machete in hand, she chopped off the top half of the coconuts and popped in a straw so that we could drink the yummy water inside!

The fall was about a 20 minute walk hike in from the road but definitely worth it!  The water below the falls is really deep which makes it great for jumping off the rocks around the falls.  Some of the brave locals were climbing right up to near the top off the falls and diving off, brave!  They also had some local artists set up with tables right by the falls so that you could buy some handmade jewellery.

That afternoon we had our shortest drive yet with only 45min needed to get to our fifth destination on the trip, “Mal Pais.”  Our stay here was at “Hotel Ronnys,”  probably the least liked accommodations on the trip but really central to the centre of town.

                           

That afternoon we had lunch at one of the best restaurants in town, “The Bakery.”  This restaurant bakes all of their breads and pastries fresh everyday and they also have a huge menu!  From breakfast to sandwiches to all you can eat pizza on Monday nights, we definitely ate here at least 3 times over the few days that we were in Mal Pais.  I highly recommend their fresh made lemonade.

          

That afternoon we headed on down to the beach and stopped by some locals selling jewellery on the way to buy some bracelets.  The beach here is great for surfing although tough to swim in as the waves are really strong.

For dinner we headed over to “Las Piedras” for a very yummy chicken dinner.  When you walk by the restaurant you can see the chicken being roasted on a grill that is leaning over a fire.  They don’t serve beer here but you can bring your own and keep it refrigerated in their fridge!  The price isn’t too bad here either,  a whole chicken with fries and a salad can be bought for $30 US and it will feed about 3-4 people depending on how hungry you are.  The 3 of us weren’t able to finish our chicken but one of our guides took everyones left over chicken to make us chicken salad for a sandwich lunch the next day!

That evening we headed to the local bar, ahem, the only bar here called “Coco Loco”  where we walked in with 3 dogs that were following us.  I should probably mention at this point the ‘dog situation’ in Costa Rica.  Basically there are no rules here when it comes to dogs.  Mans best friend is pretty much free to roam anywhere here and they definitely do.  Alot of them are strays and some have owners but you’ll see them just walking down the road, walking into restaurants or in this case a club.  They don’t really bother anyone, I think they just like being around people and the locals here don’t seem to really pay attention or pay any mind to them.  There really are so many of them, at one point there were 13 dogs playing together on one area of the beach. I think dogs everywhere would probably pretty jealous of the Costa Rican Dog Lifestyle, dogs live free.

On Sunday we were able to rent a few bikes from one of the surf shops here called “Lost in Santa.”  We headed on a 5km bike ride through the neighbouring town “Santa Teresa” and ended up at a really nice beach called “Playa Hermosa.”

When we arrived back at the hotel we had chicken salad sandwiches on a fresh baked baguette from “The Bakery.”  After lazing around at the hotel for a bit we met up with a couple other group members who were watching game 6 – Boston vs. Toronto at the sports bar here, “Nativo.”  Although the food is your typical sports bar type of grub their drinks are pretty good, especially the strawberry daiquiri which you can tell is made with fresh strawberries as opposed to a mix.

                              

Monday morning we headed on over to “The Bakery” for breakfast (their waffles are a-m-a-z-i-n-g) and then to a place nearby to rent ATV’s, we got a pretty sweet deal where it only cost $40 to rent an ATV for 8 hours and a few of us actually doubled up with people so that we were able to split that cost.  The roads are pretty outback here so ATVing to get around is more ideal than actually driving a car and most of the locals drive ATVs or motorbikes to get around.  They have ATV trails that you can drive on through the forest or if you drive down past “Playa Hermosa” there is a long stretch of beach that you can drive on where you can get up to speeds of 70 Kmph.  There  also were a few people in our group that actually drove back to Montezuma on their ATVs since it was only about a 35 minute drive.

 That evening we headed on our ATVs to a resort called “Hotel Vista de Olas” to watch the sunset in their infinity pool. They had us pay a $16 US drink deposit to enjoy their pool which wasen’t too bad seeing as how they had a swim up bar in their pool with an absolutely breathtaking view!

That evening was “reggae night” at Coco Loco so we headed over there for some dancing and afterwards a bonfire on the beach!

Ain’t No Worries When You’re in Costa Rica!

Wednesday we headed to Manuel Antonio National Park.  For a $10 US entrance fee we were able to hike a few different trails with amazing viewpoints as well as swim in a couple of the beaches there.  The main beach is by far one of the nicest beaches that I’ve seen so far in Costa Rica with blue water and white sands, Hello Paradise!

If you’re heading there just a heads up racoons were scouring the beach and getting into peoples bags trying to find food so hide your bags and hide your food!  For lunch we headed to “Funky Monkey Bar & Grill” and had fish tacos yum yum yum.

Thursday we left early and headed about an hour away to a little town called “Jaco.”  From here we took an hour long speedboat ride to get to Montezuma.

We’re staying at “Los Mangos” hotel.  Watch out for monkeys, you can see them hanging above in the trees and grabbing the mangoes.  We were warned when we got here that some may tend to throw mangos at you, so in other words watch out for flying mangoes.  The hotel is really nice here although there isn’t air conditioning and there is also no glass in the windows of the hotel room, just a screen, but it makes for a peaceful sound when going to sleep since you can hear the waves crashing against the shore.  The hotel has that “hidden in the forest” appeal since there are tons of mango trees all over the grounds, there is also an amazing view of the ocean from the hotel pool and a yoga studio here.

                                                      

For lunch we ate at “Soda Monte Sol,” a restaurant right in the middle of town where we had frosty, freshly made iced tea and yummy meat and sauce casados for $7 US.  After lunch we explored the town, there are alot of street artists here that are selling their handmade jewelry right in town, going to attempt to barter with them tomorrow to snag some pretty new accessories.

                                     

After spending the afternoon lounging by the pool, we went for dinner at “Tengoku Sushi.” The great part about this spot is that they have the traditional type of sushi rolls that you can get at just about any sushi place but also their own sushi roll creations such as the yummy “The Montezuma.”  The owner and chef at this restaurant is a really great hospitable guy too!  That evening we headed to Chico’s bar, pretty much the only hot spot at night here.  We were able to grab some drinks beforehand at the grocery store and just hang out on the street watching the fire show that some locals put on around 10pm.

                      

Friday was our excursion to Tortuga Island.  We started the day off right with breakfast at “El Saho Banano,”  I highly recommend the Homemade Banana Pancakes, delish!  ”Zuma Tours” were our guides for the day and they took us on a 45 min speed boat ride to get to the island, stopping at a couple picturesque places along the way so that we could get some good pictures of the area!  Once we arrived at the island they took us took to a couple spots further out from shore where we were able to snorkel and see all different kinds of tropical fish.  They provided us with a very yummy bbqed lunch and we had the afternoon to just be lazy and relax on the beach.

                

Tomorrow we head to the waterfall here and then take a 45 min drive to our 5th spot Mal Pais!

Mountains to Beaches

Sunday began with a fun filled morning of ziplining at “Monteverde Extremo Canopy.”  The ziplines were amazing!! Some were as high as 142m and as long as 1km.  There were 3 unique aspects of this zip line tour than others that I’ve been on.

1. We saw a Toucan

2. Tarzan Swing.  You Basically drop for probably 5 m and then swing like… well Tarzan.

3.  The Superman.  Attached to the line by a harness and a rope around your feet, you shoot down this long 1km line  142m above the forest.  The most crazy, scary, exhilarating thing ever.  It’s like you’re flying but at the same time you have this crazy fear that the rope will snap and you will plummet to the forest below.  Wanna see what I’m talking about?

Afterwards we came back and grabbed some crepes from “I’m Hungry #2″ (pretty sure that’s its legit name, at least thats what the sign said).  For $6 US you can get a very yummy crepe with fruit, nutella, caramel drizzle and ice cream!

In the afternoon we headed to a local farm to do a horseback riding adventure!  The two guides (its family owned and run), greeted us to their farm where I was introduced to my partner for the ride, a little grey horse named Mariachi.

For 2 hours the guide took us on a great trek to the top of a mountain, which had the most amazing views of the surrounding mountains and town, and then through some of the surrounding forest.  Horseback riding was alot of fun except for the parts where my horse galloped, you bounce up and down, and almost feel like you’re going to fall off.

When we returned to the farm we were greeted with fresh lemonade and hot, just out of the oven pastries.  Shortly thereafter the family showed us the rest of their farm.  They have coffee plants which they use to make their own coffee, they actually roast it themselves too!  We were able to try some as well as some of their own homemade, extremely strong rum.  Lastly we grinded some sugar cane that they grow on their farm and through some teamwork, we were able to use a contraption to grind the stalks and squeeze out the juice, It basically tasted like sweet grass.  One of the best parts about the whole afternoon was that we got to do all this for only $30 US.

For the evening we grabbed a couple roadies for the drive (because you can do that here) and headed over to a local place in the middle of nowhere called “Ecoverde Lodge.”  One of our guides has been to Costa Rica many times and over the years has made quite a few friends with the locals.  The place we went to was his friends family owned hotel which was great because we had full range of the sound system and main room so we were belting out karaoke tunes all night while enjoying some yummy tacos!

On Monday we left Monteverde in the morning and headed for Manuel Antonio.  On the way we stopped at a bridge that we had to cross since below it is the most concentrated area of Crocodiles in Central America.  It was pretty freaky standing above 25 live and very large gators!

That afternoon we arrived at our hotel ”Karahe” which is right across the road from the beach.  You have to cross the road to get to the pool but its pretty nice with air conditioning, a fridge and wifi!

In the afternoon we hungout by the pool and walked down the beach to the little town here.  This part of Costa Rica is soooo pretty!! Covered in lush vegetation and surrounding rolling hills.

                           

For dinner we went to ”Raphaels Terrazas” the great thing about restaurants near the hotel is that they are all uphill and have these amazing views of the beach from a cliff.

Tuesday we woke up bright and early to head out for our white water rafting excursion.  Our hotel provided us with a yummy buffet breakfast and afterwards we headed to this really long river with our guides from ”H2O Adventures.”  On the drive there we passed alot of palm tree plantations which apparently alot of big companies such as Johnson and Johnson own so that they can use the palm oil in their products.  Our guide was telling us that in the long grass below the trees is where alot of deadly snakes live.  Apparently in Costa Rica there are over 5 different kinds of poisonous snakes.

We started our jaunt down the river crossing some fairly big rapids here and there.Our guides were great!  They would get us to high five our paddles once we crossed a big rapid and a few times there was alot of space between rapids so we were able to get out of the boats for a bit and just float on down to the next set of rapids.  Over the trip we saw vanilla trees as well as Scarlet Macaws (true love birds, these birds mate for life and when one of them dies the other one dies shortly after aww).

For lunch our rafting guides took us to a place way off the beaten path where we had barbequed pork, sooo good!  In the afternoon we had free time so I headed on down to the pool where there were a bunch of monkeys running around and hanging out in the trees.  The people working in the restaurant beside the pool gave us bananas and we were actually able to feed them!

                                    

After watching the sunset on the beach we headed to ”Barba Roja” where they had happy hour (2 for 1 drinks!) and an amazing view of the ocean.

Today we are heading to the national park here and tomorrow we will take a boat to Montezuma!

Hola Costa Rica!

After 7 hours of travel time, I arrived in Liberia,  Costa Rica!  I had a delayed layover in Houston, apparently a crazy guy went into one of the terminals earlier that afternoon with a gun?  Incase you’re as out of the loop as I was…

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/03/us/texas-houston-airport-terminal/index.html

After arriving in Liberia, I was greeted by my Beach Travellers tour guide Anna,  along with 3 other girls who were on the same flight.  We were welcomed by really nice warm weather, a balmy 34 degrees!  After an hour long car ride we finally arrived at our hotel in Tamarindo, the “Zullymar Hotel,” where I met the rest of the group, 11 girls and 1 guy, all from different provices across Canada.  The hotel was really nice, located right along the main strip and right across the road from the beach.

There also was a really nice pool with overhanging palm trees and air conditioned rooms that each had a different wood carving of some type of character on the doors.

Friday morning began with an early 9am surf lesson,which involved alot of unsuccessful attempts to actually stand up on the surfboard.  On the plus side surfing here is great since the water is so warm although it is super salty (yum).

After surfing, our other tour guide Mitch ordered lunch for us from this lady that normally sells food out of the trunk of her car (sounds sketchy but isn’t).  Since he had her phone number he was able to pre order lunch for us and she delivered it to the hotel!  It was sooooo good!  Beans, rice, chicken and plantains.  He also let us try this delicious sauce he had to put on our rice, its called Lizano Salsa and its definitely an added bit of yumminess to their already scrumptous rice dishes!  In the afternoon we were able to head back out surfing, relax by the pool or explore the town some more.

We had a big group dinner that evening at a restaurant called Chillers and I tried the Shrimp Mahi Mahi (a ray-finned fish) mmm mmm!  That night we went to a bar called “The Black Sheep,” they had free drinks for ladies from 9pm-11pm where we met some fun people from New Zealand.  From there we went to a bar called “Monkey Bar” which looks like a cave inside where the bartender kept giving out free shots.  Apparently they like giving away free alcohol here?

Today started off with dealing with some super sore muscles from surfing (note to self: gain some upper body strength) and sunburns! We left Tamarindo for a 4 hour drive to Monteverde and we had a very bumpy, crazy winding mountain pass to go through to get to here but we made it! The hostel we are staying at here is called “Cabinas Vista Al Golfo,”  there is a nice small kitchen and lots of hammocks to lounge in!

                               

Tonight we ate at a little place up the road called “Soda La Amistad.”  A woman named Candy owns it and cooks up a delicious home made Costa Rican meal.  I had a Casado called “Pescade a la Cerveza” (fish fillet in beer), the best fish fillet I`ve ever had.

                                         

Tomorrow we head to the cloud forest for zip lining and then we’re heading over to the mountainside for some horseback riding!

Introducing Packarella (ella ella)

Introducing my own first ever, official, “backpacking backpack,” which I’ve dubbed “Packarella” (“packy” for short).

Just incase the title of this post got “Umbrella” in your head..  .

I got this beauty from Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) on King Street in Toronto.  They had a huge selection of packs but I decided to go with a 60L pack, good size for 2-3 weeks of travel, with lots of side pockets!  I’m sure there will be many amazing travels ahead that I’ll be experiencing with this new buddy of mine (my new BFF?).

Anddddd the countdown to Costa Rica continues (2 months to go!)….

Living La Pura Vida in Costa Rica

It’s official! I will be Costa Rica bound in t-minus 3 months!  Adventuring with a travel group hitting up Tamarindo, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio, Montezuma and Mal Pais over the course of 15 days.

Countdown to paradise begins now! Stay tuned!

One Final Day in the Big Apple

Monday began with some refreshing Jamba Juice and a stroll though Battery Park where we got some beautiful views of the Hudson River and a view of a memorial to the victims of the World Trade Centre terrorist attacks.

From here we headed up along Broadway towards Wall Street.  Along the way we saw the Charging Bull

and came a cross a very old church that had grave stones dating back to the 18^th century.

The highlight of Wall Street was the big and architecturally beautiful New York Stock Exchange building.

We headed along Wall Street until South Street which we followed up until we reached South Street Seaport, a nice building with cute little shops and restaurants and also a trapeze school outside (incase you’re feeling ambitious).

From here we headed over to Fulton Street to see the Titanic Memorial.

At this point it began to pour rain but we luckily came upon a pub called Liam’s and went in for some shelter, beer and a bite to eat.  After the rain settled down we walked over to the World Trade Centre site, although we didn’t have time to do a free tour of the memorial inside we walked around outside the construction site and saw the new buildings being built.

From the WTC site we headed over to Century 21, the discount department store (similar to Winners) where we found some good deals! After shopping we took the subway up to 81^st street where the Natural Museum of History is Located.  Unfortunately we got there an hour before the museum closed but lucky for us the last hour of the museum is free!  We had a quick look around at the dinosaur bones and other exhibits before being shooed out promptly at 5:45pm (very prompt!).

After leaving the museum we took the subway down to Chinatown.  Here we had a really nice dinner at  456 Shanghai Cuisine at 69 Mott street (featured in the NY Times last year) and then headed to Canal street to buy souvenirs.  The good thing about buying your souvenirs on Canal Street is that you can barter with the shopkeepers and generally knock what they’re asking for down by a couple bucks.  Great if you’re buying “I ❤ NY” t-shirts!

After grabbing our souvenirs we headed over to Times Square for drinks and dessert.  We ended up at the Bubba Gump Shrimp company on the 2^nd floor right beside a window over looking Time Square! A restaurant completely developed around the movie Forrest Gump, the view was excellent and so was the service, our waiter even gave us a 5-question quiz on the movie.

And this sadly was the end of our trip .  Hard to believe 5 days went by so fast!  Although we didn’t get to see everything we wanted, 5 days was plenty of time to see A LOT and I’m sure my feet are probably happy that this vacation wasn’t any longer than that (Note to self: remember good walking shoes next time I travel to NY).

Until my next trip!

❤ JS

Empire State and the Hudson River

Sunday we started our day off by having brunch at a classic New York diner “Astro Restaurant” at 55nd street and 6th avenue.  Typical diner food, they serve large potions and they have grits! Afterwards we headed down to 44th street and Madison avenue where we did some shopping at Coach (ooo la la a new purse!).  From there we walked over to see the New York Public Library at 5th avenue and 42nd street.  They have free 1-hour tours everyday at 11am and 2pm but unfortunately we didn’t have time for it.

After getting some beautiful shots of the building we continued down 5th avenue until we reached the Empire State building.  After being bombarded by ticket sales people out front we ended up purchasing tickets to the observation deck of the Empire State building and a water cruise along the harbor of Lower Manhattan (luckily we were planning on see the Empire State originally!) for $39.

From the Empire State building we saw amazing views of the city, particularly lower Manhattan.

After touring around the crowded observation deck we headed back down to the street level and over the Macy’s Department store.  Macy’s reminded me of a big “The Bay” store.  Not super pricey like Bloomingdales (Louis Vuitton or Chanel) but pricey enough to have big brand names like Tommy Hilfiger or Guess.

From Macy’s we headed down to Madison Square Garden and Pennsylvania Station,

after seeing these buildings we took the subway over to Broadway and 23rd street to see the well-known Flatiron Building.

It was late afternoon and by this time we needed to head over to the Hudson River to catch our boat cruise.  Our cruise was with Greyline tours and departed from the pier right at West 42^nd street and Twelfth avenue which ended up being almost right beside where the USS Intrepid is docked.

Our boat tour was about 90-min and took us down the Hudson River, around Lower Manhattan and up the East River.  We were able to see Lower Manhattan, New Jersey, Brooklyn and the three long spanning bridges across the river (Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge).

En route back to port the tour boat took us over to get some great shots of the Statue of Liberty.

When we were just about to return to the dock the tour guide informed us that the plane that was set down in the Hudson River in 2009 landed in the exact spot where we were that moment just across from the tour company’s building.

After we finished the tour we began a very long walk along the water toward Lower Manhattan (59 blocks, yikes!).  We walked by pier 54, this is where the White Star Line building was once located and where the Titanic survivors got off the Carpathia.

The water front was busy with bikers, runners and other walkers but we were able to find some quite spots to take in the views.

By the time we reached Battery park our feet were ready to fall off!  We grabbed the Subway from there over to Brooklyn where I randomly ran into someone I knew from Ottawa (how does that happen?) and we grabbed some delicious pizza!! One of the most popular pizza joints in New York, Grimaldi’s is known for its yummy coal brick-oven pizza!

The City That Never Sleeps

On Saturday morning we began our day with delicious fresh bagels with cream cheese from “Absolute Bagels” at 107st and Broadway.  A busy place but close enough to central park that we were able to head there with our bagels for a breakfast picnic.

Afterwards we headed across the park to 5th avenue and began our almost 70 (ouch) block walk (it was quite the walking day).  Our first exciting stop was to take some pictures outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then head down and check out the giant SAQ Toy Store (a child’s dream).  We were greeted there by guys dressed up as toy soldiers and got the chance to dance on the giant piano.

While walking further down 5th avenue we saw the ritzy plaza hotel as well as expensive clothing and  jewelry stores such as Saks, Tiffany’s and Cartier.

After finishing our very long (and by this time painful) stroll down 5th avenue we headed to Duffy Square in Times Square to join the long 3pm line to buy discounted broadway tickets.

Luckily the line moved very quickly and we waited only just over an hour and ended up snagging 40% off tickets to see Sister Act starring Raven-Symone (That’s So Raven).

After that we still had time to kill so we checked out all the exciting touristy spots nearby such as Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Centre and Grand Central Station.

For dinner we ended up at Applebee’s, a typical family restaurant that is conveniently located right in the theatre district and had enough seating so that we didn’t have to wait.  Afterwards we headed to the Broadway Theatre to see the show which was hilariously funny with some very talented singing.  Before heading to the bus after the show we stopped by Times Square again to see it all lit up.

Hello New York!

After 9 1/2 hrs of travel time we finally arrived! Our hotel or should I say motel was warm and welcoming.  It featured a King size bed, flat screen TV and one unusual aspect, the bathroom sink was outside of the bathroom.

After quickly settling in and getting a bite to eat across the road we took the bus into New York City.  It was a pretty comfortable ride, the bus stop is about a 5 min walk down the road from the hotel and for $3.20 the bus which is actually a coach bus will take you from New Jersey right into the downtown New York city bus terminal.

Our first stop on the agenda was to grab a 7-day unlimited metropass for $30 at the terminal and then check out the SoHo and Greenwich (pronounced grenitch not greenwitch!) village areas.  We began in SoHo where we walked down a very busy Canal street packed with vendors trying to sell us fake Rolexes and Ray-Bans until we came to Broadway,  a trendy street full of great shopping and beautiful architecture.

After doing some shopping we headed up West Broadway and ended up in Washington Square Park.  This beautiful park was great to see at night time and was filled with talented street performers.

From there we headed down Macdougal street and ended up at “Pasta Bistro Grill”.  They have 21 different pasta dishes and although the pasta itself is nothing to write home about the sangria there is delish!!! By the time we finished dinner it was time to head back to the bus station and catch the last bus back to Secacus at 11:30pm.

This morning we woke up and headed on down to Harlem for some chicken n’ waffles.  Thanks to our awesome tourism book we found a yummy soul food restaurant called Sylvia’s on Lenox Avenue.

After Breakfast we toured around Harlem and saw places such as the Apollo theatre where Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and other amazing artists first got their start.

We walked through many beautiful neighborhoods and even walked by the building where at one time Billie Holiday lived.

After seeing the neighborhood areas we walked down through the campus of New York City College and then ended up on the beautiful campus of Columbia University (I may consider doing my MBA here).

After scoping out the campus we took the subway down to Central Park.

Note: If you’re looking to see “Shakespeare in the Park” you need to enter into their ticketing lottery.  In the morning of the day of a show you enter into the draw on their website, just before 1pm they randomly select people to give the free tickets away to and they get back to you that afternoon if indeed you are one of the lucky chosen to see that evenings performance (Lucky for us we did get some!)

After arriving at Central Park the  first thing we did was grab a free map from the information booth thats just inside the entrace of the park.  Our first spot to check out was the merry-go-round thats in the park, its $2.50 per person per ride but its a great experience!  From there we headed over to the Wollman Rink that has amusement rides during the summer.

From there we headed over to the Balto statue and then to the Stunning Bethesda Terrace & fountain

After taking tons of photos at the fountain we headed over to the Alice in Wonderland statue and managed to sneak in among the mass of tourists vying for a photo with the statue and grab a quick pic.

After hitting this touristy hot spot it was time to go grab our free tickets! On the way there we stopped by the Belevedere Castle and of course Strawberry Fields, a section restored by Yoko Ono that has a mosaic with the name of the Lennons famous song.

After finally seeing all the sites we wanted to in Central Park we headed over to Columbus Avenue where we discovered the “Shake Shack”.  A delicious place near central park if you’re looking for a pretty decent burger, fresh cut fries and a yummy milkshake. After dinner we headed back over to the theatre to grab our seats.  The show to our surprise was a spin off of various fairytales.  It was called Into the Woods and was based off the book by James Lapine and featured music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  It had celebrities such as Amy Adams (Enchanted) and Donna Murphy (Wicked mother in Tangled).  The play was absolutely amazing!!!!! It was also perfect weather which was great seeing as how the theatre is completely open to the great out doors and we even had pretty decent seating!