Filmfest: Amazing Video Relates to Costa Rican Fresh Fruit Market

A huge thanks to Jheudy for the idea to write about Costa Rica's fresh food market. These days you can drive down the streets of Costa Rica and see more and more supermarkets and fast food chains. I want to push the fact that we need not forget the farmers worker there tails off that still put on quite the show on weekends to sell some of the best fruits and vegtables you can find in most town squares from Friday to Sunday. Watch the video Jheudy sent me from a filmfest this weekend and tell me it doesnt make you feel bad if you dont get up and go get your fruits and veggies from your local farmer this weekend. It is Friday so now would be the time (if your in Costa Rica).

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Frog Reproduction in the Tropics

Image via WikipediaI did mention last week that I was going to make this blog about Costa Rican history this week but I guess we will save that for next week. Today I have an interesting topic for you. When you think of rainforest and Costa Rica one of the things that comes to your mind is Toucans, Volcanoes, Jaguars, Waterfalls, & FROGS!!!

Todays topic I wanted to talk a little bit about the frogs of Costa Rica and most importantly about the difference in the reproduction habits of the Leaf frog and the poisonous dart frog.

In Costa Rica we think of the Leaf Frogs which are the frogs that come out at night and are not poisonous. When it is time for these frogs to reproduce they go through a process that is called amplexus which is actually done through the armpits (look at the picture above that is two leaf frogs in in the process of amplexus which is fertilizing the eggs through the armpits) which is quite interesting.

The poisonous dart frog is completely absent of the amplexus process meaning that there is no physical contact during the fertilization of the eggs. For the poisonous dart frog it can be considered quite the boring process of reproduction. He has to go find the eggs that are floating around in water somewhere and then fertilize them without any physical contact while he then gets to here his Leaf Frog buddy talk about how fun his night was.

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Costa Rica: Two Independence Days?

Every since Ive moved to Central America my first years being in Belize and Guatemala and the rest of my years being in Costa Rica I have found it very interesting the stories on independence. I happen to like the one on Costa Rica because I feel it relates best to Latin  Time. Yesterday Costa Rica celebrated its 189th Independence day from Spain. Take a look at what happened and see if I have maybe proven an extra day off for the Ticos to enjoy your beautiful country. If not we will just stay with Sept. 15th.

Image by Costa Rican Resource via FlickrWell as most of us know a bunch of leaders in Guantemala got together and said "Lets give Cental America their Independence from Spain" (This happened on Sept. 15, 1821). The leaders signed the documents and sent them out to each Central American Country. Well it turns out that Costa Rica must have got the slow donkey mailing service because the document did not arrive until October 13th 1821. Now we all know how documents are in Costa Rica they usually just sit under other documents for awhile.

Take a look at the picture you can see the document was not opened and stamped in this building which we found in the old Capital City of Cartago until October 29 1821 (The picture says: "In this place was signed and stamped the act of our Independence").  This building can be found directly on the corner infront of a building of the ruins of Cartago. I always found this interesting because I have shown this to a number of National & foreign tourist and many of them had never seen it. It was a Costa Rican of course who showed it to me but if you have the time and you are in the area it is worth taking a look at.

Who knows maybe October 29th can be a second Independece day in Costa Rica. We spent our day with the some of the staff members of Hospital Catolica in the Pacuare River and I know they would love a second day on the river. Hope everyone enjoyed their Independence day!

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VSP Eye Care

Image by airthru.takashi via FlickrI could easily spend this blog telling you how important it is to get your kids eyes checked because when they come to Costa Rica I want them to be able to enjoy all the beautiful colors of nature, erupting volcanos, and monkeys & sloths in the jungle. But I'm not. I'm actually going to take a break today from Costa Rica and write about the importance of why kids should be getting their eyes check regularly.

First of all from a personal opinion with the services that are available with VSP VisionCare how could you not take advantage of these benefits. We have traveled into some of the most remote Indigenous places in the mountains of Costa Rica and many of these kids will never see an eye doctor nor ever know they ever had an eye problem. To have a service like VSP VisionCare is a true blessing and one that should not be overlooked. Im doing this blog a little different. I was on the VSP Vision Care site and I saw there history dating from 1955 - 2009.  After looking at the dates they have you should have seen 17 different years from 1955 when VSP started until 2009. Now look at the list I made of the same 17 different years that VSP uses on their site to describe their history. Now, instead of VSP VisionCare facts I will use facts that make it worth for all kids to get their eyes checked because these were some dates you did not want to miss. Check it out and enjoy:

1955 ---- Mickey Mouse Club began, The 1st McDonalds opened, and Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
1960 ---- The Flinstones began (come on can you imagine not seeing the Flinstones?!)
1968 ---- 60 Minutes went on the air & the First Big Mac was sold
1970 ---- Ghandi was President of India
1980 ---- Pac Man was released (THIS WAS BIG!!!)
1990 ---- First webpage is written and Homealone was the best movie. Look at how much we use our eyes now on the web.
1992 ---- Microsoft Works was released by Microsoft
1993 ---- www. was born at CERN and Jurassic Park
1997 ---- Mars Pathfinder Lands on Mars and "Spicegirls" were big
2000 ---- Planets in solar system align
2003 ---- Bruce Almighty, Finding Nemo, & Lord of the Rings
2004 ---- Tallest Skyscraper in the world opens "Taipei" at 1,676ft
2005 ---- XBOX and Madagascar
2006 ---- Wii
2007 ---- IPhone & Final Harry Potter
2010 ---- Call VSP and get the families eyes checked


In closing I would like to metion that to take a look at this page of their site it happened to be my favorite click here. 

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OIL IN COSTA RICA

Hold up cowboys. Before every direct flight from the state of Texas to Costa Rica is filled (well atleast the first class seats I dont know if big oil Texan boys will sit in coach) let me explain what Oil in Costa Rica means? Yes, It means energy but ufortunately for all you money sucking capatlist idiots this is a little something we call White Oil. By now I probably lost 90% of my readers that I attracted by the title of this blog. Costa Rica does not have oil and no random blogger like myself would be the first to blurt to the world that a country of 5 million with no army just struck oil.

If you didnt already know Costa Rica lends itself to a number of different sources of generating energy. Costa Rica is a narrow country with two coast,  high mountains, and a lot of rain. If you use your imagination with what I just said you should be able to see that rivers go racing down from these high mountains at a very high speed because the country is narrow and full of water because of the rains. Costa Rica also has some areas where they have generated energy through wind. Well this blog is not about either of those. This blog is about $White-Oil$.

I had never heard the term white oil until an official from ICE (Costa Rican Institute for Electricity) used it when interviewed about Costa Rica's Geo-Thermal Energy. He was being interviewed because ICE can only tap into 23% of Costa Rica's Geo-Thermal energy and the rest of it is located in protected areas and national parks. The reported asked this ICE official what he thought of this restriction: "It is a shame we cant tap into the national parks for geothermal energy it is the white oil of this country". Now tapping into Natoinal Parks just sounds wrong but their is a nice little ring to white oil, so I will say he had me for about 3 seconds.

There are many benefits to Geo-Thermal Energy for Costa Rica which now runs 15% of its lights of this type of energy and can only tap into 23% of its resources. The "White Oil" is also a lot cheaper. It cost about 4 cents for each KW as compared to gas which is 46 cents for each KW.  So the cost is a no brainer. The second benefit which Im sure ICE plans to use on their side is that GeoThermal is much nicer to the environment. With gas each megavolt burns 1,000kilos of CO2 and with Geothermal it reduces to 59 kilos of CO2.

Image via WikipediaNow the question starts should the energy company be able to tap into the national parks. They had a deal in 2008 that said if they did the National Parks would get land that was 5% larger that the area used by the energy company to compensate for the area lost. So the final result would be that the National Park would be the same size even a bit larger. I know there are two sides to this story and I look forward to following it. This is just the basic info now that the energy company has used all 23% of the resources outside of the National Park we should start to see true colors fly with environmentalist and ICE officials as the debates begin. If you comments or thoughts on this we would love to hear. Also I dont know why but Jorge W. Bush the ExPresidenta of the USA uses GeoThermal energy to run his house in Texas according to this site click here.  We feel this is a very interesting subject area for tourist that will be visiting and we would love to inform them the best we possibly can?

Source: http://www.nacion.com/2010-09-12/ElPais/NotasSecundarias/ElPais2516365.aspx

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Costa Rica: Sit in Luxury and get Dwarfed by Nature

Image by Getty Images via @daylife I've got three hotels that TripAdvisor doesnt even have that much to say about. Yes, they have their comments because they are the almighty TripAdvisor and I better keep my mouth shut because their social network is doing a bit better than my blog. But if you want to visit some luxury hotels in Costa Rica that are completely dwarfed by nature then check these three places out. Two of the three places are brand new. These are three hotels spread out all over the country so it could make for a great vacation package, just an idea?

The first hotel I have in mind happens to be in Corcovado which is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. It use to be that if you wanted to visit Corcovado you had to wear rubber boots and get ready to rumble in the jungle. Well now it is a little different. If you are looking for luxury surrounded by 2.5% of our planets bio-diversity then check out Villas Corcovado. It is small which is what you want in this area. You want more monkeys than people. Yes, it is hard to get to. You dont get all this biodiversity in one area because there are 8 lane highways leading to the hotel entrance.  If you stay for a week the menu will start to repeat itself. Well, if you live in the jungle for a 24 hours you will probably find yourself eating the samething twice. Sort of look at it as super "luxury survival" and enjoy the adventure.

The second place is located in the center of the country which I have to say Im pushing a bit because I want to see tourism pick up in this area and start to pass through these small towns. The hotel is Costa Rican owned and is located in Bajos del Toro. This place is called El Silencio Lodge which means the Lodge of Silence. You can tell by the name this probably is not a good place for your college school kids to book their spring break trips this year. But it is an amazing place for a honeymoon or even a family vacation for just a night or two giving the chance for your kids to get a real feel for nature and its true essence.

The third hotel takes you almost to the Nicaraguan border. It is called the Rio Celeste HideAway Hotel. If you have heard me talk about Nayara in Arenal (voted by tripadvisor as the top hotel in the Arenal Volcano area) then you will like the Rio Celeste Hideway. First of all Rio Celeste is an absolutely beautiful hike which deserves a whole blog in itself. But this hotel is really something special. With no other hotel of its kind around it was a real pioneer to just decide to go out in the middle of this area surrounded by nature and go with the luxury. A place worth visiting if you love being surrounded by nature.

Well there you have it. Three places throughout Costa Rica that are completely surrounded by nature, away from it all, and in the comfort of sitting in luxury. I went ahead and linked the websites to the hotels but if your interested in us putting together a package with adventures and tours go ahead and contact us. Well as of now we have the best guides sitting here waiting to go on their next trip but if you wait to plan they you might get stuck with me. If anyone else has some hotels where you get dwarfed in nature and you want to share we would love to hear?

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Adventure Tours in Costa Rica

I happen to be a lover of outdoors and adventure. When it comes to picking the top 5 in Costa Rica I'm dealing with my personal favorite. This might mean we have to leave grandma and grandpa at home. I'm making them all 5 commercially operated tours. All 5 of these tours will keep the adrenaline you will want to be in half decent shape or atleast have good enough self-esteem for your friends to make fun of you while you are huffing and puffing.

We will list them from number 1 - number 5 all being lets say equal. It was just too hard of a pick to have to come up with a winner.

Costa Rica's Top 5 Adventure Tours

1.) Overnight hike and Rappel in Cavern: This is a tour we operate in the Southern zone of the country. It is an intense two hour hike to a cavern where we sleep behind a waterfall. You will be spending all night listening to the sound of the water of 3 different powerful waterfalls. From the cavern you will be rappeling a 120ft fall and doing a number a differen hikes in the area. You will also hike to the top of Costa Rica's tallest waterfall which is the Diamante Falls.

2.) Chirripo Trek: This is a 2 night hike to Costa Rica's highest point. This is the second highest point in all of Central America. The height you will reach is 12,352ft on the second morning leaving base camp at 3am to reach the top for sun rise. There is an endless amount of hiking to do in the area which lends itself to without question the most amazing views Costa Rica has to offer.

3.) Corcovado National Park: The two day hike to the Sirena station takes you deep into the jungle to the most bio-diverse place on the Planet. This is an adventure of hiking, being in the wild, and keeping your eyes out for the Jaguar. This hike takes you past some of the most beautiful beaches on Earth also.

4.) Rafting Pascua Section: This is a section of the Reventazon River which in 2011 will no longer exist because of a dam project. But if you are reading this blog and you get a chance to run this section and you are up for advetnure it is an amazing run. When it comes to adrenaline in Costa Rica on a commercial level this is hard to beat.

5.) Overnight Pacuare Rafting Trip: This is the cream of the crop when it comes to rafting. Not only do you get the big rapids but you also get the scenery. Voted as one of the top 5 rivers on the planet and one of the top 3 most scenice by National Geographic the Pacuare River is a must do for anyone who loves the outdoors. I went on it once and I returned everyday for three years. Its a place of complete peace and to spend the night in one of the few lodges or camping areas is an experience like no other surrounded by virgin rainforest.

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Costa Rica Expects 2 million Tourist in 2010

Image via WikipediaFor the second time in History Costa Rica expects to have 2 million tourist visit the country. According to ICT (Instution of Costa Rican Tourism: English translation) Costa Rica is seeing a 9.6% increase in tourist after the 2009 year which was the year of the recession.

After a very tough year for many hotel and tour companies this is very good news for anyone in the Costa Rica tourism industry. Costa Rica tourism has gone through some rough times in the last years with hotels closing and the small family owned places not being able to hold on with the loans they thought they were going to be able to keep up with after the incredible 2008 year. Its good to see now that there is hope for most companies.

Tourism around the world is up between 3% and 4% so at almost a 10% increase we are very pleased and can only hope for better things to come in the future.

My personal feeling as a blog writer and a small tour company (Costa Rican Resource) owner in Costa Rica I never want to see an economic crisis happen anywhere at anytime but the fact that it affected the tourism industry when it did in Costa Rica I feel will have some benefits to it in the future. Some of the big investors are out of here that had big plans to just develop, develop, & develop.

 It also has allowed the tourism industry to put its feet back on the ground and take a few deep breathes and see exactly which direction things should be going. I feel it might have been natures way of saying "Hey can I get a breather here? I need a break for second!". So we will see what happens the second time around as 2 million tourist come into the country. Lets just try and keep them aware of the importance of the environment and the people. If you have any thoughts on this would love to hear your comments?

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Costa Rican Chess Champion

Image via Wikipedia Here’s one for you: Who won the US Open Chess Championship this year?

Answer: Alejandro Ramirez, from Costa Rica.

He beat some of the games superstars and became the first Latin American to win the tournament. Costa Rica is not a chess Mecca, but Ramirez took every chance he could find to compete in Europe, Argentina and Russia. It paid off.

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USS Iowa Jima

Image by Getty Images via @daylife When the US Navy's ship pulled into Costa Rica, it did not need any guns or rockets. Instead the USS Iowa Jima came loaded with Teddy Bears. Navy Medics treated people on board while another group were out refurbishing two Costa Rican schools. Out at sea there are many more US warships and 7,000 marines. Some Ticos do not know what to make of this. Yes the US is their main defender, but they wonder if they are somehow breaching their neutrality with all these warships. They do not fear the US. Their concern seems to be what other countries in the area will think of them. It is a well debated point in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica's Top Honeymoon Spots

Image via WikipediaLa Paz Waterfall Gardens is one of Costa Rica's best places to honeymoon. Yes, it took a pretty big hit from an earthquake one and a half year ago but it has made quite the come back. It is not on the beach but located at an elevation of around 6,000ft in the lush majestic cloud-forest. This is one of the most romantic places you can imagine when it comes to a honeymoon in Costa Rica. If you want something almost as nice but to bring the price down a bit you can still relax in the comfort  of the cloudforest in a small hoetl called Villa Blanca. This is a hotel that is located in the San Lorenzo Cloud Forest on the way to the Arenal Volcano. This would actually be a great area for a wedding but also a excellent spot for a few days of a honeymoon to just relax.

Arenas del Mar Resort

Another place of interest might be the beach of course. When thinking of the beach in Costa Rica you might want to go to the less crowded beaches but you also want to make sure you are at some of the more beautfiul beaches. When it comes to beauty the beach of Manuel Antonio is hard to beat. This a a beach can be very crowded but if you find the right spot you can find a hotel that fits just right for a honeymoon and the one we suggest is the Arenas del Mar Resort. This resort keeps you away from all the traffic and busy touristy areas of the Manuel Antonio areas but still allows you to enjoy the amazing beauties of the area.

Hotel Casa Turire

Another hotel area we often use for honeymoons for couples that enjoy a little of adventure is the Turrialba area. there are two hotels in this area that are very small and we have had excellent reviews from our honeymoon couples about them. One is the Caaa Turire which only has 16 rooms and one is a honeymoon suite which is absolutely spectaculuar. This particular hotel would actually make a great place for the actual wedding ceremony if you were interested in doing a destination wedding. The second hotel is called Hacienda Tayutic which is nearby but at a bit higher elevation. It is just as nice but a bit more rustic and also very beautiful grounds for the actual wedding ceremony with a small chapel. There are two hotels that if you are in the area are definately worth staying the night at. If you are interested in planning your honeymoon just contact us http://www.crrtravel.com/ or info@crrtravel.com.

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Origin of Spheres

Image via Wikipedia The pre-Columbian stone spheres found in the south Pacific region of Costa Rica have had all kinds of guesses made about their origin. They are so big and heavy, the heaviest 15 tons, that one of the guesses were that they were put there by aliens. Wrong! Archaeologist Ifigenia Quintanilla has put an end to speculation. The spheres were made by the indigenous people of the region.They were carved with hatchets, and they were a sign of power. Quintanilla says it is a way to make a statement. 15 tons says a lot.

Costa Rica's Early Influence

Image via Wikipedia The Old and the New World met in Costa Rica when Christopher Columbus landed here in 1502. In the years that followed, the largest city in Central America was Guatemala City. Costa Rica was so far from this city that it was difficult to develop trade routes. But there was an upside to this. Because Costa Rica was so far removed from the center of Spanish activity, it was allowed to develop without supervision from the The Crown. This was a blessing in disguise. Isolation meant the Spanish did not enslave the people to work on their land. Although the Costa Rican people were separated from the “big money” in Guatemala City, it certainly did not hurt them.

Today Costa Rica is no longer isolated, but sought after as a vacation land and a permanent home to people from all over the world. Those years of isolation did not hurt the people either. Few countries are as well known for their “nice people” as Costa Rica. While Costa Rica was considered by the Spanish as one of the poorest places in Central America, today it has one of the most stable economies in Latin America. The Conquistadors left Costa Rica alone, and Costa Rica certainly made the best of it.

How to Live to 100

Image by joiseyshowaa via FlickrIn the AARP magazine (May & June, 2008) there was an article on the people of the Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula. This is one of the places in the world where people live the longest. They shared their secrets for living healthy to 100.

Here they are:

1. Have a strong sense of purpose. Centenarians of Costa Rica feel needed and want to contribute.

2. Drink hard water. The water in the Nicoyan Peninsula has a high calcium content.

3. Keep a focus on the family. Most centenarians live with family.

4. Eat a light dinner.

5. Maintain social networks and this includes visiting and receiving visitors.

6. Work hard.

7. Get some sun in moderation.

8. Embrace your roots with others.

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They are Waiting for You

Image via Wikipedia Costa Rica's Juan Santamaria airpot is so neat and compact that I often wish Newark and Miami were just like it. But in order to serve you better the airport operators have just finished 30 million dollars worth of work. They have doubled the immigration area, and they have expended the departure hall. Interesting enough, it is still neat and compact. With all the new additions, you can still very easily find your way around. They expect to finish up another 10 million dollar piece of work by the end of the year. When all four expansion phases are completed, the airport will have the capacity to handle an increase in passengers from now until 2029.

So come on down!

Bird Watching

Image via Wikipedia Costa Rica is on one of the world’s great bird migration routes. The Cloud Forest Reserve of Monteverde is a popular place to see many kinds of multi-colored birds. One of the birds that everyone wants to see is the Resplendent Quetzal, which has been called by some the most beautiful bird in the world. If birds were celebrities, the Quetzal would be Lebron James. What makes Monteverde such a great place for bird watching are the mountains and dense vegetation. You can view birds in the hummingbird gardens at the Park entrance and in the garden of your hotel.

If your stay in Costa Rica does not allow you to get outside the city, you can still see plenty of birds. Take an early morning walk and go to a park or just walk the garden of your hotel. You will probably see a Blue-gray Tanger and a Clay-colored Robin. The latter is the national bird of Costa Rica. If you are just a beginner in the bird watching department, you probably could use a guide. The trained eye of a guide can point out birds that a beginner would miss. For a beginners and veterans the more birds you see the more fun it is.

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This was Amazing!!!

This was Amazing!!!
Originally uploaded by Costa Rican Resource

In all of Costa Rica with the class IV rapids and the erupting volcanoes I have to say seeing this was right at the top. I came upon this hummingbird sitting on it's nest.