I apologize for the blog silence. It has been a busy beginning of the month and I have hardly had time to catch my breath. Work in particular has gotten very busy recently and will continue to get busier, especially as one of my co-workers will be on vacation for the next three weeks and I'll have to take care of things in his absence. Anyhow, I wanted to show you a few quick pics from what I have been up to in the early half of this month. Have a look!
Close-up of homemade pizza made of pesto, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and (NZ mild) cheese on (Trader Joe's) whole wheat dough. Mmmmmm.
At the SF Vegetarian Fair with Nyssa. Thanks for letting me tag along! I ate a surprising amount of good food here and it has definitely inspired me to diversify my eating habits.
Dinner @ Chaat Cafe in Berkeley. Clockwise from Bottom left: Samosa chaat, mango lassi, naan, butter chicken, malai kofta and basmati rice. Yum yum! This meal preceded a trip to Ici (gourmet ice cream). No surprise that I overate this evening...
Looking out the window of a Bombadier CRJ700 jet down towards Los Padres National Park (I think) and the Pacific Ocean beyond, on my way to see Deryck's Oxy Soccer game against UC Santa Cruz. Never easy to fly roundtrip in the same day, but having a chance to see Mum, Dad, Bro & Grant down in So Cal made it a worthwhile venture.
A nighttime view out to the Bay Bridge during Francisco's housewarming party in SF. Thanks for inviting me to drop by to see the view, have a drink, converse and snag some free pretzel snacks courtesy of a random tweet to the Pretzel Crisp® rep. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night.
And to round out the weekend, went to Candlestick Park to see the winless 49ers try to beat the Raiders.
In the "Victory Formation" counting down the seconds till a thrilling 17-9 win! I'm glad my first NFL game could be a win for the home team (i.e. the team I dislike less). Thanks to Dave for the spare tickets. I'm going to guess that you saw the weather report (cold and rainy) and decided to stay at home.
Daniel & I after witnessing the 49er's first win of 2010!
Lots I've done/seen/eaten so far in the month but we've got a couple more weeks yet as Autumn creeps in. So long summer. Onward to the cold days...
So, I think you've all been waiting long enough to see some pics from my highly anticipated (work) trip down to Costa Rica. Sit back and enjoy.
We arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica late after a longer than anticipated delay in DFW (Dallas) and made it to the hotel around 10pm. That meant a late dinner in the hotel restaurant. In the spirit of being back in the country (and also since I hadn't had any in over two years), I chose to eat some Comida tipicas (typical food). A typical plate, known as a casado combines meat (in this case, steak), a simple salad, rice, beans and plantains. YUM!
Doubletree Cariari's comfy king-size bed. My home for a week. I believe at the time I took this picture, I had already consumed the famous Doubletree cookie...
Breakfast at the Doubletree's breakfast buffet. Costa Rica's famous dish, gallo pinto on the left (simple rice & black bean mix) and an egg white omelette. I had this for breakfast everyday. Without fail.
My workmates: Ema, Donielle & Edna who represent the Production and Quality groups. We had a free day to play a bit before getting work started and we decided to sightsee. First stop: the Volcan Poas Info Center.
On the brief hike out to the Crater lookout, these "umbrella" leaves lined the trail. In case of rain, all you'd have to do would be to hop underneath one of these. Just watch out for the thorns on that stalk.
Volcan Poas, spewing out sulfurous gas. Quite a sight to see, even without the excitement of molten lava.
A short hike away from the main crater took us to the secondary crater known as Lake Botos.
The gang in front of Lake Botos.
After trekking around Parque Nacional Volcan Poas (Poas Volcano National Park), we headed down the hill a little and decided to explore the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.
Firstly, you need to see the sinks in the bathroom: waterfall! It took us each a minute or two to figure out you needed to turn the little rock (top right, where you can see my hand) in order to get the water flowing.
Toucan sam. No fruit loops in sight.
Morpho butterfly. One of the most beautiful creatures in the country.
Around lunch time, it began to get a bit cloudy, and then it just poured. I'm glad I had my jacket...
I'm doubly glad that I brought a waterproof jacket. It definitely helped to keep some of the spray from the Magia Blanca waterfall from soaking my shirt.
Dinner that night at La Cascada Steakhouse in Escazu. Something about the beef in Costa Rica made it quite tasty. Maybe I'm more of a fan of grass-fed beef?
After our first day at work (a busy day with lots of training and document review), we unwound a little with an enjoyable dinner at Chancay Peruvian restaurant. DJ, the project manager at our partner company, joined us for dinner most days of the week and, like us, was in town from the States.
Chicken covered in a saffron shrimp sauce with mashed potatoes. I didn't get a pic of the delicious ceviche plate we had as an appetizer.
The next night turned out to be the night before Costa Rican Independence Day. The Doubletree hosted a mini parade (parades being the primary means for locals to celebrate this holiday) right through the middle of the hotel!
After capturing plenty of pics of the parade, we headed out to dinner and decided on teppanyaki (which, at this point, has become a tradition of mine on these work trips) at the restaurant Sakura. We started the meal right with a serious sushi boat.
And it just kept getting better.
I swear this flame touched the fume hood above the grill! Take that Benihana!
We lucked out by having out trip coincide with Independence Day so we found ourselves with a free day off in the middle of the week. So, we headed to the beach for warmer, sunnier weather and found ourselves at Jaco on the shores of the Pacific.
And, yeah, I climbed a coconut tree. Had to do it, for old times' sake.
Back to work the next day after a nice, leisurely trip to the beach. While we mostly ate out during lunchtime, we did eat at the company cafeteria on one day. I had pollo a la plancha (grilled chicken) with a bit of rice and salad and a cheese stuffed plantain. If I could only eat this well at our office in California...
After our last day of work, we got taken out for some drinks prior to dinner. Guess where we ended up... For the record, I took this picture because it's a Local Motion surfboard. Hawaii represent!
Coincidentally, it was Irene's birthday that day (she's my counterpart down there in Costa Rica). She was a good sport and put on the chicken suit that the Hooters hostesses made her wear in order to do a celebratory birthday dance.
The team: Harold, DJ, Irene, Brians, Ema, Donielle, Edna and Lidiana. The folks down there in Costa Rica were gracious, consummate hosts. Muchas, muchas gracia!!!
My dinner at "White Tuna". I concluded that if a place is named after one of their dishes, presumably that dish would be one of their specialties. Hence, I ordered the atun blanco (White tuna). I was not disappointed.
One of the "Costa Rican lies" is known as zarpe which, loosely translated, means "last drink". So, in search of zarpe, Harold, DJ & I headed to the "Jazz Cafe" for a bit of classic rock and a beer or two. The band we had the privilege of hearing was called Las Tortugas (the turtles).
Thus ended my work trip and I could begin my few days of personal travel and exploring. This started with a solo drive up to the Monteverde cloud forest. I stopped at a beautiful lookout which gazes out towards the Nicoya Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean. Prior to this photo being taken, I had been wandering lost and aimless through some gravel roads through the backwaters of Costa Rica. Thanks to a couple of friendly locals, I managed to get back on track.
Having safely arrived in Monteverde, I booked myself into a night hike through the Hidden Valley trails. I saw a lot of these...
These cleverly disguised insects look exactly like thorns on a branch when in fact they are not.
Dinner at the Tree House in Monteverde. Unsurprisingly, I had another casado (con pollo) with a cas guava juice.
My lodgings in Monteverde: a cozy little cabin at the Hotel Arco Iris. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed my stay here. An amazing hotel at an affordable price with an awesome breakfast as well. Would most definitely stay here again!
Previously aforementioned breakfast buffet. Delish. One of the better meals of my trip for sure.
A view from the 2nd floor of the Arco Iris lodge looking out on a beautiful morning in Monteverde.
One of the many banana plants on the Arco Iris premises.
They had a bunch of these little sculptures scattered around the garden area at the Arco Iris. I spotted this guy in the shade of a small shrub. If you look closely, you can spot the big, green caterpillar on his lower jaw.
While waiting for the shuttle bus to the Santa Elena Forest for my canopy suspension bridge tour, I made a friend.
Yes, I like ferns. They had plenty of ferns in the cloud forest.
Long way down.
Long way across.
I met a couple of cool, fellow travelers while walking through the forest and, united by a common language, we entertained each other. Andrina (middle) from Glasgow and Cornelia (right) from Vienna.
Trees, bridge, Me.
I ate lunch with Andrina & Cornelia's travel group at the Taco Taco in Monteverde. Two pollo tacos. Not too bad, but not nearly as good as what I can get here in Cali.
Finally a photo of my trusty vehicle: A Daihatsu Bego. 5-speed of course. Oh the places we've gone. Unless you happen to be driving on the main roads, between major cities, you will most definitely find yourself on unpaved, gravel roads. Fortunately for me, I had 4-wheel drive. I needed it on more than one occasion.
*The above is an embedded Quicktime Video. Try double-clicking on it to play. If you don't see anything, I guess you should go buy a Mac.
Playa Manta (Manta beach), on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, at sunset. I hopped into the ocean and sat there for a few minutes just to relax and I learned why the beach was named its name; I saw a baby manta ray flop around on the sand as the tide brought it onto the shore and then back out to the sea.
Some crazy colours as seen at the hotel pool in the twilight.
Can you spot the stick insect? This was on the antenna of the Park Ranger's car at Parque Nacional Carara.
A rare white bat hanging out and catching some zzz's. I never would've spotted this without the guide's helpful eye.
A couple of owls chilling. They took off, one at a time, moments after I snapped this photo.
The gumboots (i.e. galoshes) I wore didn't do much good when the water level rose above my calf.
Those black dots on the middle of the tree trunk are a family of fruit bats.
This place was full of lizards.
I also saw a bunch of these leaf-cutter ants. Amazing creatures.
*The above is another embedded Quicktime Video. Try double-clicking on it to play.
Carara National Park is known as a transition zone between the drier forests of the North and the humid rainforests of the South. As such, it has quite a diverse mix of different wildlife, particularly birds & reptiles (as my photos can attest).
Doing a bit of solo hiking after being led around Carara by the experienced guide. And, yes, I zipped off the soaked parts of my pants.
Big lizard!!! Found him in front of the Park office.
The park sign. In case you didn't believe me.
One last trip to the beach. This one being Playa Blanca (White Beach).
The Rio Tarcoles (Tarcoles River) is a popular spot for the crocs to sunbathe. This river runs through the Carara National Park area and I had to pass over it on my drive back to San Jose.
I spent my last night in Costa Rica at the very same hotel I spent my last night on my previous trip to Costa Rica (the Hotel Dos Palmas). I'm quite tired from an amazing week in Central America; Both a little excited to return home and a little sad to be leaving. Until next time Costa Rica!!!
So, there you have it. I hope you enjoy the pics. Les quedamos muy agradecidos por su colaboracion to the folks at ATEK (We are grateful for your collaboration). I hope the pics can inspire some of you to either travel there yourselves or join me on my next adventure down to CR. Chao!
Posts
