Costa Rica - Pura Vida!

Fourteen of us from kinesiology and recreation traveled to Costa Rica for a 9 day cultural immersion visit in May.

"Indifference is the worst problem. Let's act now to change this!"

Our guide, Filander, delighted in showing us his beloved Costa Rica.  Here we are on a walking tour of San Jose, the capital.

We spent a few days at la Universidad Veritas taking Spanish classes, auditing classes in English, and checking out college life in a foreign country.

Our first meal out together at Nuestra Tierra Restaurante, San Jose. Lots of rice and black beans were consumed on this trip. 

"La Chola" by Costa Rican artist Manuel Vargas in downtown San Jose. Rather than seeing women depicted as thin sex symbols as we so often do in the media, Vargas seeks to prove that big is beautiful.

Outside Universidad Veritas.

While the Costa Ricans are quite warm and friendly, they can be crazy drivers.   In fact,  Costa Rica has one of the highest per capita death rates from traffic fatalities in the world.  Suffice it to say, we looked both ways before crossing!

Here we are learning about Juan Santamaria, Costa Rica's national hero who set fire to a building back in the late 1800s with US filibuster William Walker inside. Walker wanted to turn Central America into a private slave-holding empire, but thanks to the valiant efforts of young Santamaria, Walker and his wacky ideas were defeated!

The Rio Tárcoles watershed provides a crucial habitat for American crocodiles. 

Pacific ocean shoreline. Notice the black sand due to volcanic minerals and lava fragments in the soil.

Every day we awoke to delicious Costa Rican coffee!

Here we are in the center of the country near Mondeverde, a cloud forest. In the distance is the Pacific ocean!

Cerveza Imperial

Howler monkeys in the trees along the road side. 

Crossing Laguna Arenal, an artificial lake in the highlands between Monteverde and La Fortuna. It was constructed for a hydroelectric project in the 1970s. 

If you click to enlarge this picture you'll see someone ziplining across this valley.

La Fortuna waterfall. We walked down 500 steps to be able to swim at the base of these falls.  I've spared you the bathing suit pics.

Hot sauce!  I influenced 4-5 people on our trip to embrace the delights of hot sauces on everything!

Sights along the route to the ocean.

Lunch at a typical restaurant.

College students making a beer run on the last day. I was enlisted to help them achieve their goal.

Trying some Honduran cigars.

Scratch and sniff!

They tried to make me eat a mango, but I said no, no, no!  Actually, it wasn't too bad...

Visit Costa Rica if you can, it's a beautiful place!

España

 We spent a week in Spain. We flew into Madrid and took the high speed train (186 mph) to Barcelona. Stayed there for a few nights at an apartment (AirBnB) in the Gothic neighborhood.




Selfies are so overrated.

 Tom is catching up on the news at our apartment over a little splash of DYC Spanish Whiskey.

Later that week in Madrid, there was no ice in our hotel so he set off to find "yellow, por favor" (ice, please) to avoid drinking it neat. DYC whiskey is, well, on the low end as whiskys go...ice was a must.

This apartment building was more than 300 years old.  Refurbished, yet full of character. Very comfortable, though, with all the creature comforts of home!

The view from our apartment balcony in Barri Gothic, Barcelona.

Our apartment was on the 3rd floor of a mostly unlit narrow stairwell.

Our daily activities typically consisted of walking, stopping to eat and drink, walking more, and repeating it all again. We averaged 9 miles each day which was good, because we consumed a lot of tasty food and drink!

 Guadi's unfinished Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona. In this postcard it looks quite finished. Maybe someone photoshopped it.

Walking down the stairs in one of the towers (see previous picture).

 The ceiling inside the Sagrada Familia Cathedral.

A bar in the Barri Gothic section of Barcelona, mere steps from our apartment digs.

 Gaudi's Park Güell with the city and sea in the background.

 A public fountain in the park.

Gaudi's Park Güell

 Above Gaudi's Park Güell overlooking Barcelona and the sea.

 I found a couple of geocaches in Barcelona. Geocaching is like high-tech hide and seek where you use satellite data to find a cache. Inside each cache is a log to sign and room to leave and/or take a small treasure. Here I am holding one of the caches.  Tom is a good sport.

 Barcelona, along the Mediterranean Sea.

Don't even think about getting between me and my seafood paella (complete with whole shrimp and baby squids).

 Taking a load off.

 Oh dear.

Tom is on a never-ending quest to find amazing bread pudding. He was quite fond of this one.

 There is nothing more iconic in Spain than Jamón Ibérico (cured ham). All over Spain in small shops, the market, and even restaurants you'd see pig legs hanging from the ceiling. The guy in this picture told us a leg will last anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on whether it is a holiday, a weekend, or week day.

 And here is how the ham is served, either on slices of bread or with little crackers like these.  For Tom, it all tasted even better with gin.

 Sorolla Museum, Madrid.

 The Sorolla Museum highlights Sorolla, an artist from the late 1800s, whose work celebrated the beauty of Valencia and the south of Spain.

Although we visited a Picasso museum, I took this picture of my postcard since photographs are not permitted in the museum. I was glad Picasso took time out from his googly-eyed portraits to paint us a mandolin!

Our last night in Madrid we went out for tapas with Lisa and Carlos (my sister-in-law's sib). Lisa was a wonderful help while we were in the planning stages of our trip with excellent tips, advice, and the desire to get together while we were there! They are a lovely couple!