La Fortuna

So we arrived in La Fortuna after our approximately four hour shuttle ride and stopped immediately at Backpackers Hostel. I think it’s only claim to being a hostel is the dorm rooms. It has a pool, and a restaurant, and a bar, and you get the idea. I was fairly frusterated with the hostel upon arriving when I discovered their rates are in USD only, and when they change it into Colones they exchange at 590 to 1 (the real exchange rate is 520-540 to 1). This means that if you pay for your room in Colones for a few nights you may end up spending as much as 8-10 more USD for your room, or a little less than a nights stay. C’est la vie; you deal with these kinds of things when you’re travelling. The next day after getting breakfast Matt, one of the Coloradans I was travelling with, and I rented dirt bikes for 45.00$ for six hours. This seemed a bit steep, but I was rapidly discovering that Costa Rica is far more expensive than I had anticipated. In the range of 40-50 more USD a day expensive. Anyway, it’s been a few years since I’ve ridden a dirt bike, but once I get the hang of it again we’re off. We planned to ride some trails by the volcano, but when we get there the trails are less readily available than we thought. And of course, yours truly, manages to skid out. Nothing serious just a few scrapes. I clean myself up again and we’re off. To give you an idea of how bad these bikes are, while I’m shifting gears, the clutch breaks off. And no, it had nothing to do with the crash. Miraculously we find the clutch in the road. I can shift well enough that we drive to a chop shop in a nearby town. The man working there is gracious enough to weld the clutch back on! Huzzah! So we ride around for most of the rest of our time. When we go to return the bikes the man asks for 170.00 USD for repairs. Tres Cher, no? I thought so at any rate and found some American tour guides who spoke fluent Spanish (the same guides who helped us rent the bikes in the first place) to bargain on my behalf. I had asked locals, and the damage should have cost closer to 50.00 and at the very most 100.00 USD. As soon as my friends arrive and start arguing the price jumps to 345.00, claiming I’d bent the frame and that they would have to replace the whole thing. The bike is worth, possibly, 350-400 USD total. Bullshit. Anyway, I refuse to pay the exorbitant sum, and leave. When I arrive back at my hostel I discover that my bank account has been charged 400 dollars. Time for a dispute. As of right now, we’re still processing, but fingers crossed. That night I go out with the group of Coloradans and happen to bump into the guys who helped from earlier. We all form into a big group, and go to the local Discothèque. Somehow we managed to find ourselves the only Americans. It was fun, and interesting to watch, but also clear we weren’t really supposed to be there. The next morning we stayed by the pool before catching a shuttle to Montezuma, a beach town on the Nicoya Peninsula.

Monte Verde

I arrived at the San Jose airport at approximately noon; I cleared customs and immediately headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Monte Verde, a mountain town. On the ride over my taxi driver convinced me I should go to La Fortuna first, but I had missed that bus and decided that Monte Verde would have to do. I had about an hour to kill in the bus stop, and grabbed some lunch and a few beers before hopping on the bus. On the ride up there I had the pleasure of meeting two Dutch guys named Joep (pronounced yoop) and Bart. They are brothers; Bart had flown into Costa Rica to meet his brother. I ended up getting a hostel with them. It’s a great hostel, called Sleepers, highly recommended. We arrived late enough that we couldn’t do much that night save go to the store and buy some food, cook, and go out. It wasn’t the greatest night at the bars, but the next morning we went on a zip line tour which was incredible. Monte Verde, during the rainy season, is soaking wet. I discovered this. Despite the cold and wet, the zip lines were incredible. We zoomed over a large valley, usually, spanning half a kilometer or more. They also had a Tarzan swing, which is basically a large tire swing, and a superman swing which was over a kilometer. After the adventures we grabbed lunch and relaxed for the rest of the day. The next day we went out with a large group of people, including several Coloradans. I would end up following the Coloradans to La Fortuna the next day. In the morning, lacking the time to do much, we hiked in St. Elena national forest. It’s a rain forest. It’s wet. It’s one of the most incredibly green places I’ve ever been. To say the least I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then, as I said, we caught a shuttle to La Fortuna which is the town next to Arenal Volcano. The shuttle was fun; it included a boat ride across a small lake, which tickled my fancy nicely.

Japan - Kobe & Observations

            I have to be perfectly honest when I say I did nothing in Kobe. That night we, once again, arrived too late for me to wander the city. The next day, I was so exhausted from traveling in Vietnam, China, and Japan that I ran out in the morning to run a few errands, and slept the rest of the day away. Shame on me, but my body physically couldn’t handle it any more. You push yourself, and push yourself, and push yourself, and at some point it gives out. C’est la vie.

            Anyway, I’ll sum up my thoughts on Japan. Japanese culture is completely different from ours. In some ways it feels intangibly similar, but then you realize that it isn’t at all. I feel as if I have increased my understanding of Japan by a hundred fold, and I still have a 0% comprehension of their culture. I feel I can say with some amount of certainty that the Japanese are the most polite, courteous, and genuinely helpful people I’ve ever met. They will go out of their way to assist you; perhaps because I was an American, but I got the feeling this was true regardless of race, culture, or any other potential barriers. I will also say that Japan is the most expensive country we’ve visited. Traveling in Japan is expensive from hotels to eating. Everything about the Japanese lifestyle is expensive, cheap food is non-existent. It is a very affluent culture, but I have been given to understand the way they spend money is very different. They spend their money entirely on eating out, travel, and clothing, and entertainment. Their houses are very sparse (or so I have been told), and as a result they have much more liquid income to spend on other aspects of life. And that is all I’m willing to say with any amount of certainty.

 

Japan - Kyoto

            Allow me to attempt to describe the room I stayed in, in Kyoto. We stayed at BJ guest house, a family house that rents out rooms for the night. Our booking was for two people (there were four of us), and they were sold out for other rooms. We finally convinced the proprietress to let us all stay in one room for an extra 2000 Yen, not too bad. We were led to our room, which is literally a six foot by four foot room, with no furniture. Yes, it was that small, and we all slept on futons on the floor. It was probably one of the best nights of sleep I had in Japan, or possibly while traveling.

            The next day we met one of my friends Professors from home whose PhD was in Japanese Religion. He took us around Kyoto to different Shrines and Temples in the area. The first temple we visited was a Buddhist temple dedicated to a particular god (whose name slips my mind). The temple had over 1000 statues of this god, all full sized, to show dedication. It was incredible. The next temple we visited was another Buddhist temple, the Temple of Pure Water. It had sprung up around a spring on the side of the mountain. Finally, later that day we visited a Shinto Shrine which had been used by the Imperial Palace for centuries before it was moved to Tokyo.

            For lunch that day we ate at Sushi-Go-Round! Sushi-Go-Round is brilliant. I’m sure most of you have seen it at some point in popular media, or something in the states. It isn’t all that different from the image of it you have in your heads, but it’s amazing none the less. You take what you want, and when you’re finished they count your plates and pay for whatever you ate. Delightful… At the end of the day we caught the JR to Kobe.

Japan - Osaka

            Again, we arrived in Osaka too late to spend any time wandering the city. We found our hotel, relatively quickly, and prepared to go out for the night. As is becoming a theme on my blog, we randomly ran into some Norwegians while we were wandering and stuck with them for the rest of the night. They were working in Asia and taking a vacation in Osaka for a few days.

            The next day we attempted to rent bikes, but were unsuccessful because it was Sunday. Instead we walked to the Osaka Museum and Osaka Castle. The museum chronicled the history of Japan from ancient times to modern times. It was very interesting to see the development of their culture, including the periods of cultural isolationism. The castle had been converted into a museum and chronicled the history of its construction. I won’t attempt to explain the history, as I do not understand enough of it to give fair description. That being said, I was struck at how similar the castle and the history were to European feudal times. In many ways they were the same; in many others it was completely different.

            After our cultural experience, we ventured to Spa World. Spa World is wonderful place (Thanks to Josh for suggesting it!). It is literally an entire building dedicated to onsen baths, Jacuzzis, spas, saunas, and steam baths. The best part is the 1000 yen price tag for the day. Men and women are separated on different floors, but have access to hundreds of different baths. We spent an hour there relaxing luxuriantly before heading to Kyoto.