May 1, 2007 To finish out our trip, we moved south to the little roadside town of Uvita. We stayed at the Hotel Toucan for 4 nights. Being one of few hotels in Uvita, this chill hostel was a great place to stay. I especially liked the hammock movie theatre. From Uvita we kept ourselves […]

May 1, 2007 We headed to the Pacific Coast town of Dominical after leaving San Gerardo. We spent one night there before we  decided to move further outside the city to a place slightly more expensive but held more than a bed in the room. So we ended up at Hacienda Baru Nature Reserve. At […]

April 24, 2007 After hiking 8 miles on the beach every night for a week, I thought it would be a good idea to escape to the mountains and climb the tallest peak of Costa Rica. The trailhead is located in the rural town of San Gerardo de Rivas. The bus ride out there was […]

April 20, 2007 We arrived into Costa Rica on a Wednesday afternoon and spent our first night at Gaudy’s Backpackers in the capital, San Jose. The next day we headed out to ANAI headquarters and got briefed by Claudio, the director I think, on what is expected from us as volunteers working with Leatherback Sea […]

April 11, 2007 We had the chance to witness many strong traditions during Semana Santa in Antigua (Easter Week). During this Holiday the people of Guatemala flock to Antigua to participate in processions that recreate the sentencing, death, and resurrection of Christ. The main religion of Guatemala is Catholicism and many Guatemaltecos have participated in […]

April 5, 2007 My parents arrived late on a Friday night. Rach and I were lucky enough to get a ride down with the shuttle to pick them up and greet them. Glad to see them we caught up as we spent the first 3 days in Antigua showing them around and touring various churches, […]

March 22, 2007 We continued on our travels by making a 9 hour trip to Rio Dulce. After the most uncomfortable bus ride we’ve had yet, we were thankful to get off the bus and get on a motor boat headed to a hotel tucked away in the jungle right on the river. We slept […]

March 16, 2007 Last week we finished up our studies and volunteer work. Both Kristin and Jon from Child-Aid and Norma, the head librarian from Probigua, were very impressed and happy with the work Rachel did at the library. And another volunteer this week will start where she left off. My work went all right, […]

March 5, 2007 (Raquel) Last Friday Andy had the opportunity to see the fruits of his labor. In the mornings Andy works at the school setting up computers to send to various schools and libraries. In a pickup loaded with computers, books, and five people he made the 7 hour roundtrip to a Pueblo called […]

February 28th, 2007 Life in Antigua Life in Antigua is filled with colorful houses, rocky-unpaved roads, beautiful and ornate churches, the sound of bustling cars, trucks, buses, and people spilling over the streets. Signs are placed discreetly; even McDonald’s does not stand  out. Police and military personnel seem out of place, but are all too […]