2008 - Washington DC
2010 - Cuba
2011 - DR, Bermuda, & Cruise
2012 - DR & Costa Rica
2013 - Cruise, CR, & USA
2014 - SE Asia
The Year Off 2015 - 2016
- Preamble
- Thailand & Malaysia
- Italy
- Germany, Belgium, & Lux
- Czech, Poland, & Germany
- Austria, Slovakia, & Hungary
- Slovenia, Croatia, Austria & Germany
- England & Scotland
- Turkey
- Colombia
- Peru: Lima & Amazon
- Peru: Cusco & Inca Trail
- Peru: Cusco to Lima
- Mexico, Guatemala, & Belize
- New Zealand
- Australia & Thailand
2017 - The Balkans
2017 - Hungary, Romania, & Switzerland
2018 - New York
2018 - Amsterdam, Poland, & The Baltics
2019 - Costa Rica
2019 - France
2020 - Thailand
2023 - Mexico
2023 - Iceland & Cruise
2024 - Philippines
2025 - Japan
2025 - Iceland
Short Trips
Lists
Links
| 2012 | San Jose | Dominican Republic, Costa Rica |
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I don’t have a day by day account of 2012, but I do have a bit of a
narrative: When I went to the DR last year I was sick, so I decided to return. On June 15th I went back to the same place as last time. This was a much better trip. I spent some time at the beach, found a few good restaurants, and did a day trip. I had wanted to go see the waterfall that is featured in the movie Jurassic Park, but that tour was not being offered, so I decided to do a tour that went to a series of waterfalls and pools that you could jump or slide down into it. It was pretty fun. While this was an okay trip, I did get a little bored staying at one place. 
 For the past couple of years I have been half assed studying the Spanish language. I listened to audio lessons, watched YouTube videos, and tried some of the online websites. I was learning a little, but knew that to really learn I would have to take in-person lessons. After some research I booked a trip to San Jose, Costa Rica. I went for two weeks starting September 23rd and studied at the CRLA Spanish school, which was close to the San Pedro Mall in San Jose. 
 I also did a home stay. I had a room in a house of a retired couple out in the suburbs of the city. I had to take the bus to and from the school, which I got the hang of pretty quick. To signal the bus that you want to get on you stick out your hand and make a downward pointing motion. It's a little different than back home. The elderly couple that owned the house were very nice, but spoke no english.  I really enjoyed the school. I had a great teacher. We were in small groups, I think there was about three other students and myself with the teacher, so lots of interaction and practicing the pronunciation. My only complaint is that they made me a little paranoid about the Coca Cola Bus Terminal. It has changed now, but back then if you want to take a bus to anywhere in Costa Rica outside of San Jose they all left from this terminal. The school said at their orientation to be extra careful here as you had a very high chance of being robbed. They really put some fear into the students. So when I took an overnight trip on the weekend to Jaco beach I had to go to this terminal. Well because of their warnings I left my debit card at the homestay along with anything valuable. All I had was my credit card and about $200 in cash. Looking back I was an idiot and while I didn't get robbed I did get taken advantage of. When I arrived I must have looked like a clueless tourist because a cab driver came over and asked me where I was going. I said Jaco. He walked over to the ticket counter, talked to the guy there, and then told me the bus was sold out. And I believed him (stupid). But he could take me in his cab. So $100 later I was in Jaco. I did not like Jaco. The beach was dirty and it seemed to me that sewage was being drained near it by the smell. My hotel was having problems with their credit card machine, so there went most of my remaining cash. I had enough for a couple of subs from Subway and a bus ticket back to San Jose. In hindsight, I learned to always travel with both a credit card and debit card and never trust cabbies. Nowadays I would also have found a different hotel if their machine was broken, but some of these things only come with experience.  On the last Saturday before I flew home I did a day trip with some of the other students. We went to the Poas volcano which was pretty cool. It was all fogged in when we arrived but then cleared up for about 10 minutes before the fog came back. It seemed pretty lucky at the time.  |
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