Cindy and John’s Adventures

So hurray – actually got on a bus from Turrialba without incident! But of course, it’s never easy after that! In San Jose all the bus terminals are spread all over the place so we had to go find the bus terminal to La Fortuna – fortunately (or unfortunately), we met this nice man that took us to the bus terminal. He was originally from the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and he had a brother that worked or studied or something in Seattle for a while – but of course he took us to the bus terminal for buses going to the Caribbean which is East and we were going to the North. Oops! So after traisping all over the place we ended up taking a cab to the other bus terminal. We met this cool chick from Switzerland and this guy from Germany while waiting for the bus.

Nose to Nose,
originally uploaded by cirrusjohn.

Wow, can you say long bus ride (5 hrs)! Well, it wasn’t really that long but since it was a local bus it stopped pretty much every time someone was standing on the side of the road. Or wanted to get off. And it got bloody full. And we hit construction. Oh well, at least we had a seat!

So anyway we eventually get off and head for this ant-infested cabina called sissy where we stayed 2 nights before we moved to Hotel Fortuna and paid 5 usd more and it was nice and included breakfast and free internet. What the heck we were thinking of, I have no idea. Hello dumbass!

The 1st day we went to these waterfalls outside of town. Hint – do not follow cartoon maps. Cartoon maps typically don’t show distances very well. In our infinite wisdom we decided to follow a cartoon map instead of the Let’s go directions and went about an extra hour to get there. Plus we got rained on. But the falls were beautiful except for there was an area at the bottom where you could swim. Oh my gosh – cheese alert! These German ladies just stripped off right there to put on bathing suits – I’m talking right in front of us. And it was not a pretty sight.

Us at Catarata Falls,
originally uploaded by cirrusjohn.

The 2nd day we took it easy and went to the Baldi Hot Springs. Note to self – when everyone in town tells you it’s cheaper to buy the tickets in town believe them! It was kind of crazy expensive but we decided to go for it – it was a bunch of series of pool – I don’t know who the heck swims in some of these pools – can you say hotttttttttt! But some of them were moderate and were nice…almost like a massage…

The 3rd day we went to the main reason we went to La Fortuna in the first place…to see the smoking volcano – Arenal. We took a cab up there – oh my gosh, the dude was friggin’ hilarious – he spoke some broken English and pretty clear Spanish and was pointing out the spots where people come at night to see the lava lava lava. And that the only real hot springs weren’t the Baldi ones but the more expensive ones at Tabacon and the sky trams were death traps…anyway, we get up there and see Monica the Swiss girl from the bus. She apparently was volunteering there but didn’t really have anything to do – she was staying in this 12 person cabin or something – dude I’d be freaked out staying all alone in a huge cabin like that –

Volcano Arenal #3,
originally uploaded by cirrusjohn.

Anyway, we hiked around like the ranger station guy told us to and saw nothing but a bunch of other tourists. Well we saw the volcano, but it’s kind of hard to miss – then John said, let’s walk back along the road – then we see the wildlife! Monkeys in a tree – scared the crap out of me – I thought they were wild boars for some reason until John pointed at this tree. Like I’d ever heard a monkey before like in real life. So cool – never seen Monkeys before! Then later we saw Toucans! Along a different road – doesn’t look like the guy on the cereal box cover but they were still pretty darn cool. So after all that we went 2 km down to the main road and caught the local bus just before the rain…

Monkeys on the hike back to the ranger station #2,
originally uploaded by cirrusjohn.

Since we hadn’t really eaten all day except for cookies and peanuts we decided to treat ourself to a decent meal. We should have stayed with the tipico food which usually consists of rice and beans – way overpriced fish and stuff and prepared all funky – think that’s where my stomach problems started…

Tomorrow is the Jeep-Boat-Jeep to Monteverde…should be fun and interesting!

After our fun camera problems, the police dropped us off at Hotel InterAmericano

InterAmericano,
originally uploaded by cirrusjohn.

– a clean place run by an English-speaking woman with 3 very cute dogs – when we expressed our desire to go river-rafting she called up her friend at Loco Tours and he came over in a few minutes to set us up, but we got the rafting for 65 dollars per person which is cheap because it usally runs around $100. It´s kind of interesting to hear from a local view of the economic situation in Costa Rica as well as what they think of the American political situation. We were kind of amazed that she got HBO and things like that too. I mean, I know it´s not the boondocks, but you can´t get cable in some parts of the US let alone several countries south of the US. The guy at Loco Tours was cracking up because he doesn’t really pay attention to US politics but when he went up to do a rafting tour at the grand canyon and found out that Arnie was governor of California he thought we’d all lost it!

Turrialba Centro,
originally uploaded by cirrusjohn.

We ended up going on a tour with a bunch of crazy co-workers at a local company down the Rio Pacuare – it was unbelievably fun although we’ve come to the conclusion that neither one of us is superfond of water. The whole drowning aspect kind of blows, But of course we’d do it again ) It definitely took the edge off of the day before. It had the most beautiful scenery -they had these pulleys that you can cross the water with in a little basket -apparently used mostly by the native indians in the area to cross the river.John meet the other person name John who was going to Madagascar and advised us to use the Air Mad to travel around in the country because getting from one small destination to another may take 30-60 hrs.His website takes about his up coming trip http://www.seasaba.com/ which will happen at the same time that were thinking about going.

Cin and John

So we´re on our way to Turrialba from San Jose and we realized we were marked from the beginning of our bus journey. The woman sitting next to us at the bus station seemed friendly enough, but apparently, not so much. When we went to get on the bus, I noticed that my detachable daypack was hanging by one strap of 4. So someone unsuccessfully decided I didn´t need my pack.

But thats when the fun started… when we went to getting off the bus I got off and then waited for John – this group of people successfully separated us by letting me off and then causing a commotion by dropping change and such – this woman managed to get our camera – John figured it out really quick by noticing his zippers and took off after her after dropping his backpack with me. Eventually she dropped the camera under a car (she didn´t think he wasn´t going to figure it out) after denying the whole thing the police showed up and we filed a police report. The sad part about the whole thing is that she included her son and other people in this scheme…

Anyway, we won´t let this spoil our trip but it definitely made us more conscious!

So it all started with a craving for Sushi by John. And a lunch date with Ro. And it all escalated in us going with Ro to Vancouver to have Sushi last Sunday.

Funny Ro,

Okay, so that’s not all we did. We got to Vancouver after a short layover at the Canadian border. With the border crossing guy thinking I was a total dumbass because I said I lived in the United States. So I was supposed to be more specific and tell him I was from Seattle. Yes, it’s a big place. But if you go to any other country they never ask me which city I’m from. So shoot me.

Cindy being Cindy in Vacouver

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John Pose

So we decided to wing it and try and find a campsite for this weekend on a first-come-first-serve basis. I suck at this. I get all nervous and flustered – anyway, my boss let me go a bit early and we ended up getting a spot at a campground called San Juan by Index, WA. I’m not sure if it would have worked out if we hadn’t had left early though! This was supposed to be a test for me since we’re going to have to wing this RTW. Guess I need more practice.

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BEIJING—Chinese scientists will launch an expedition next month to search for fabled “lake monsters” in northwest China’s Xinjiang region, state media said Saturday.

For hundreds of years there have been rumors in Xinjiang’s Altay Prefecture that mysterious monsters live in the prefecture’s Kanasi Lake, devouring livestock, the Xinhua news agency said.

As horses, cattle or sheep went missing near the lake every year, the legend grew.

In 1985, teachers and students from the Xinjiang University Department of Biology discovered that dozens of huge red fish, each 10 to 15 meters (33 to 49.5 feet) long and weighing more than four tons, lived in the lake.

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With nearly 300 well-preserved hanging coffins, Gongxian County of southwest China’s Sichuan province is known as China’s natural museum of hanging coffins.These coffins are also known as the “Hanging Coffins of Bo People”. The Bo people were an ethnic minority group living along the borders of today’s Sichuan and and southwest China’s Yunnan Province who created a brilliant culture as early as 3,000 years ago.

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