Costa Rica Recap ft: Inga & Jack

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Jet set in. Through the knee on lights from
Tokyo to Rios. Go riding high.
The beat drops low. Number one everywhere he goes

(00:33):
late night with stories bold gold plated entails untold
microphone is my sword. Podcast world he can't ignore.
Welcome to the Up in the Clouds podcast featuring your host
Adrian Hustling. What's up, everybody?

(00:56):
Welcome back to another episode of the Upland Clouds podcast.
I'm your host, Adrian, and todaywe're going to be doing the
Costa Rica recap. Now, usually I start each
podcast off with a little life update, but we're going to skip
that today because I have a big episode plan for you.
And this recap's going to be a little different because I'm
going to give you a full recap of everywhere I want, everything

(01:19):
I did, all that useful knowledgeand some tips and
recommendations. But I also have a couple
interviews lined up for you. Well, just to break it up a
little bit so you're not listening to me the entire time.
So it's going to be a fun one O sit back, relax, or if you're
driving, make sure to keep her on the road.
But hopefully you enjoy this Costa Rica recap.
And we're going to dive in rightaway here.

(01:42):
So going to Costa Rica, my last thought before Costa Rica was
Poya, Nicaragua. Man, it feels so long ago.
So much has happened since then,but I was in Poya and I was
there for one last night before going to Costa Rica.
And of course, like a true degenerate, I decided to go to a

(02:02):
party the night before a travel day.
And it was actually called Poppoya Secret, which is the big
party in Poppoya, one of the four main parties in Nicaragua.
Now, we're not going to touch onthat too much, but I'll share a
fun little story just because this happened right before my
travel date to Costa Rica, so itis relevant.
But yeah, we end up going out that night.

(02:23):
It was a big party on the beach,couple different DJ sets, and
before I even went to the party I decided I was going to dabble
into the four locals. For those who don't know what 4
local is, it's usually about 13%malt liquor used to actually
have caffeine and a whole bunch of other stimulants in it.

(02:44):
They've since made that illegal,but even the stuff that you can
get in Central South America is still absolutely potent.
But I thought it was going to bea bread idea to have one of
those as a pre drink so I wouldn't have to drink as much
while I had the one for local. I was buzzing, I was feeling
good. I was still at the hospital
getting ready to go to the partyand I said, you know what, I'm
going to go for two. I'm going to double down, I'm

(03:05):
going to have a second one and then I don't have to even drink
the rest of the night. I can save some money, I'll be
nice and drunk. Well, I have the second one.
And for those of you who've everhad four loco, you know that if
you do have two, you're going tohave a heck of a night.
So Long story short, it was a great time.
Good dancing, good vibes on the beach.

(03:26):
But your boy ended up blocking out four locals.
That is. That's a dangerous combo.
And anyways, this is what I was told the next day, but
apparently at the end of the night I was trying to go up the
hill. There's this little hill to go
up to the bathrooms. While I guess couldn't make it,
I stumbled, I fell, I rolled down the hill into a Bush, which

(03:46):
made sense the next day because I looked at my legs and there
were just covered in scratches. I had no idea how I got them
until I was told these stories. And apparently it took two
people to carry me back to the bus, which slightly
embarrassing. Probably the most drunk I've
been on this trip, to be honest,And I'm kind of glad that you
know, I haven't been that drunk since.
But anyways, it was a great time, great vibes.

(04:09):
But the four locals strike again.
So if you're ever going to have a four loco warning, beware, be
careful, maybe have one, don't do the two.
It's just recipe for disaster. But anyways, the reason that's
important is because the next day we were supposed to be
leaving for Costa Rica at 6:00 in the morning.
Now I met a fellow and I really apologize in advance if I mess

(04:31):
up the pronunciation of this, but Aram, now he was saying that
her hostile. He actually had a rental car and
he was going to be going across the border.
So we were getting a ride with him, which was super, super
awesome. We were supposed to be leaving
first thing in the morning, but our boy Aram.
Young little fun. That night he did a little
better off than I did, so we ended up leaving about 3 hours

(04:53):
later. I spent about 3 hours of that
time sleeping in the hammock andthe hostel.
Yeah, I was hurting, I was hurting, but nonetheless, we
ended up finally making our way to Costa Rica.
Now as you can imagine, I was super hungover and unfortunately
crossing the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica is the
worst border crossing I have yetto experience.

(05:15):
The reason being there's a super, super long line on the
Nicaraguan side. So we're just standing in this
long line of, let's call it 200 people, and I'm just standing
there literally sweating everything out from the night
before. Like I was in bad shape just
existing at that point. Anyways, we did get through and

(05:37):
over to the Costa Rican side. Now for those of you don't know,
in Central South America, when you crossing the border, you
have to check out of your current country and check in to
the next country. So we got out of the Nicaraguan
side, but we had to check into the Costa Rican side and that
was a lovely 3 hour wait. So I'm sitting there sweating
that alcohol, haven't eaten anything, super dehydrated.

(06:01):
Yeah, not a good day, not a goodday.
So, you know, I've been pretty cautious moving forward not to
have a big night out before a travel day.
Nonetheless, finally did get through and we were on our way.
Now, something to mention with the border checks because you're
never quite sure what they're going to ask for.
In this particular case, there was no vaccination check, no

(06:23):
onward ticket. It was super straightforward.
Just pay your fee leaving Nicaragua pay your fee entering
Costa Rica Badaboom Badabing seeyou later.
OK, so now I'm going to throw a couple little facts for you some
some information about Costa Rica O they have the Costa Rica

(06:44):
colon that is the local currency.
They also accept USD, but I do recommend an I always recommend
using the local currency if thatis an option.
Costa Rican general super super super expensive.
This is because of the American influence.
Unfortunately, not only that butalso the tipping culture, a lot

(07:04):
of countries in South America, they don't have a tipping
culture, but Costa Rica does. And again, it's because of the
rich Americans who go there and they throw their money around.
So that doesn't really help the rest of us now anyways.
So backtracking here at the moment, 1 Canadian dollar is 371
colones. Yes, I know that is confusing.

(07:24):
It makes a little more sense. Once you get there and start
spending your money, you kind offigure out the currency
conversion. Now for Canadians, you do not
need a visa if you are planning to travel less than 180 days in
country, which for the most partis what people are planning to
do. You can pay by cash or card.
There's plenty of ATMs available.

(07:46):
The transportation in Costa Ricato be honest is quite shite.
Often you have to take two or three different buses to get to
a location. The roads are often not great or
there's no direct. Path.
And as well, sometimes you have to take a ferry, like if you're
going from Santa Teresa to, you know, Monteverde, La Fortuna or

(08:12):
any of those. So anyways, transportation not
great. Now that's just more of the
roads. The buses are OK.
The buses are nice, but it's more just a pain in the ass to
get to your next destination. Food is very westernized.
Again, because of the American influence, they have a lot of
tourism, so they tend to cater, cater to those tourists.

(08:34):
That's the word I'm looking for.The only exception I would say
is Puerto Viejo, which is on theCaribbean side and has a
Caribbean influence. So the food does tend to be a
lot better, a lot more flavorful, and it's got some
spice. I know a friend of mine, he's a
little bit of a foodie and he mentioned that Puerto Viejo was
his favorite. OK, so there's some facts for

(08:55):
you and if there's anything you're wondering, any questions
you have or maybe something I miss, feel free to reach out.
Let me know because I'm just doing this off the cuff.
I mean, I have some notes I'm looking at here, but obviously
you forget about things. There's just so much to talk
about and so much to share. So anyways, moving forward,
we're going to talk about our first destination and that was

(09:15):
Tamarindo. Now, I had no plans to actually
go to Tamarindo, but as I mentioned, I hopped in the
rental car with Amaran and that's where he was going.
And I said, you know what, sure,let's go for it.
Because I, I really had no, no plans, which is kind of the case
for most of this trip. So we ended up in Tamarindo.
Now I will say my first impressions of Tamarindo were

(09:36):
not good and same with my last impressions.
As soon as we got in there, I realized right away it was not
the place to be for me. It was not my vibe.
It was a surreal, I guess to saythe least.
Basically, we arrived and you just had this one main strip and
it was all Americans. I'm talking full American
families in their golf carts driving around this little Costa

(10:00):
Rican town and they had completely taken over prices,
food, drinks, everything super, super, super expensive.
And like I said, just just not my vibe.
The second I got there, I was like, oh man, I'm not staying
here long. Like I gotta get out of here.
So yeah, for those thinking about traveling to Tamarindo,
personally, I'd say skip it. But again, totally up to you.

(10:23):
But we're going to talk about briefly what I did do there and
where I stayed. So I ended up staying at Casa
Pura Vida Surf hostel. Now this is a pretty nice little
hostel. Uh, I'm just going to mention
some things that you had here. As I mentioned in previous recap
episodes, I'm trying to find a kind of structure for these just

(10:43):
so that I can give you all the best information.
But anyways, so they did have a kitchen with filtered water, but
the kitchen closed at 9:00 and it also meant that after 9, you
couldn't get water. Now I broke this rule the one
time by just hopping over the little caution tape they had,
but kind of annoying that you can't get water after 9:00,

(11:03):
especially because usually goingto be out a little later than
that. They did have a pool table which
is kind of cool and ping pong aswell.
A nice little common area to hang out.
So definitely more of a social vibe and multiple washrooms and
showers and uh, yeah. So the rooms, though the rooms
were definitely very small, not a lot of room.
The bunk beds were crammed rightnext to each other and it got

(11:27):
quite hot in the evenings. They did have quiet hours at 11.
So although it was social, therewas actually a couple nights
where we're playing pool or pingpong or playing some cards,
having some drinks. Vibes were high, Everyone's
having a good time. And then next thing you know,
it's 11:00, they're shutting thelights off and they're telling
everyone to to leave or go to bed.
So not great and not respect. Maybe that's something they can

(11:51):
change moving forward, but definitely time to kill the
vibe. Now let's see what else I got
for this. OK, so not too much more to note
just because I only spent a couple days there, didn't really
do that much. I did go down to the beach to
check it out. Not a very nice beach again,
just packed with tourism shops, massage tables around the beach.

(12:12):
But again, it's just all Americans and I don't know, it
just didn't feel authentic. But we did go to a steakhouse
the one night, it was very good.It was the Argentina steakhouse.
So as you can imagine, Argentinawell known for having very good
steak. However, as I mentioned, a
little more on the expensive side, but I would say well worth

(12:32):
it. One of the best steaks I've had
on the trip for sure. But anyways, that's about it for
Tamarindo. And my closing notes here on my
apple notes just says avoid, avoid, avoid.
So didn't really enjoy my time here, but that's alright.
You win some, you lose some. So now we're going to move on to
our next destination, which was definitely one of the highlights

(12:54):
of Costa Rica and that is Santa Teresa.
Now again, I had no initial plans to go to this location,
but Amran was going to Santa Teresa.
He had the rental car. It's a pain in the ass to take
local transportation. So I said, you know what, I'm a
hop along with you, let's go to Santa Teresa and I'm glad I did.

(13:14):
So Santa Teresa, some of you mayhave heard of it, some of you
may have not have heard of it, but it is a beautiful beach
town. Again, lot of tourists though
nominate locals, so take it for what it is.
They have two main beaches and agreat nightlife as well.
So most people go there. They go there for at least two

(13:35):
weeks, maybe a month, maybe two or three months.
You go and surf during the day, maybe you do some work after
that, and then at night there's always something going on.
If you want to go out, have a good time, socialize, whatever
it is, there is something to do every single night.
Which was dangerous for me because it meant I got into a
lot more trouble than I needed to, but that's OK.

(13:56):
So anyways, as I mentioned, I hitched a ride with Amram down
to Santa Teresa. Yeah, the two beaches.
So we have Playa Carmen and Playa Hermosa, and I end up
staying at a hostel called Casa del Sol.
The reason I picked this one wasone of the cheaper ones.
Now, the issue with Santa Teresa, again, very expensive.
That's the theme of Costa Rica. Santa Teresa, though in

(14:17):
particular, even more expensive.And a lot of the hostels we're.
Talking like 50-60 bucks a night.
So I ended up saying that this Casa del Sol, I believe at the
time I was paying $14.00 a night, which was an absolute
steal in Costa Rica. Now the hustle itself, it had a
really nice big open outdoor kitchen.
Excuse me? It had potable water hammocks,

(14:40):
multiple washrooms, outdoor showers, which are actually
really nice because it's so hot out, you don't need hot water
showers. And being outside was just as
just a breath of fresh air and good social vibes.
And the rooms had a seat, which is absolutely important when
you're in these countries because if you don't have AC, if
you have no fans, good luck getting a good night's sleep

(15:01):
because you're just gonna be sweating the whole time.
OK, so the rooms themselves, pretty small.
Again, not a whole ton of space,kind of just pack you in there
and well, I've got an interesting note on here, but
the owner of the hostel, not always the friendliest at times,
but luckily not usually present either.

(15:22):
The gentleman that worked there,and I do for you, his name, I
apologize, was quite friendly, very hospitable, but
unfortunately the owner, if he did come around often, kind of
ruin the vibe. OK, what else we got here?
So we got Playa Hermosa, which is well known for the surfing.
They have surf rentals. It's $15.00 for 1/2 day or

(15:43):
$30.00 for for a full day. This is pretty standard even
with other countries I've been to.
Um, it might be a little cheaper, but not that
significant. Couple places I really like
going. One of them was banana Beach
club. Um, as you can imagine, this is
like a restaurant bar right on the beach.

(16:05):
They even have screens they cut,they bust out because we ended
up watching the Super Bowl there.
There's a beach volleyball courtright next to it as well, which
I often spent some time at. Really fun place to watch the
sunset. How some happy hour cocktails
and just relax. And then next to Banana Beach,
there's actually a restaurant. Now, I don't remember the name

(16:27):
because I never actually ate at the restaurant, but a fun little
tidbit is they have a pool that you can go swimming.
So even though I wasn't eating at the restaurant, I wasn't
staying at the hotel there. They had I guess, quote UN
quote, a public pool because I jumped in, swam around for at
least 45 minutes. You know, no one came up to me
and said, hey, you can't swim here.
Hey, you got to like buy a drink.

(16:48):
So just a nice little tidbit. If you're staying at a hostel
like Iowa's that didn't have a pool, that's somewhere you can
go have a nice little dip. OK, what else do we have here?
We also have Cooks Bar which is on the main strip.
There's just one strip that's all Santa Teresa is.
It's 1 long Rd. with both beaches on it.
Yeah, Cooks Bar, which is a fun little bar.

(17:09):
It's more for live music. It also has a Speakeasy upstairs
which will often have a DJ and some really good cocktails.
Spends the night there pre drinking, having some espresso
martinis. Oh man, they hit the spot.
Then we have my favorite spot and that's the Tiki Leano bar.
And definitely probably saying that wrong, but this is an

(17:31):
outdoor bar club. It has activities almost every
single night. For instance, they had a free
salsa class, which was a ton of fun.
We had U going dressing up, doing the salsa and the way they
did it was really cool too. Is almost like speed dating.
They had you pair up with a partner of the opposite sex and
you would dance for about 30 seconds and then you'd switch it

(17:51):
up and we were all in the big circle.
You're basically introduce yourself, have a fun little
conversation and move on. But it was a great, great time.
Good way to start the night. And then of course the party
happens afterwards. So definitely one of my favorite
spots for sure. And then there's also a place
called Somos. Uh, it's actually a hostile, but
again, it's one of those more expensive hostels.

(18:12):
You're talking at least 50-60 a night.
A lot of people stayed there. I don't know how they afforded
it, but hey, different trips. But it's a good spot for a pre
drink. Again, it will have a live DJ.
It usually has cocktail deals, 2for one or whatever kind of
discount. So a good place to get the night
started. OK, another note here is like I

(18:35):
said, there is just one Rd. So it's quite easy to get
around. You can just walk or you can
also rent a quad or a scooter toget around because there is a a
fairly big distance. I think it's like a kilometer,
kilometer 1/2. I mean, I didn't mind walking
it. I'm not lazy.
But you know, if you want to getaround a little quicker, you can
get a quad or a bike or you can do what I did quite a bit.
And that's actually a hitchhike,which is quite funny.

(18:57):
But I remember actually walked up to a girl, she was parked on
the side of the road with a running a TV and I said, hey,
are you going down the road? I just, I'm going to a certain
location. She said, yeah, no worries, hop
on. So I just hopped on the back of
the ATV, got it quick, like 2 minute ride down the road,
hopped off and went to the beach.
So that's also a common thing you can do as well.
Now this point, I was hoping to have a guest appearance, but I'm

(19:21):
going to throw my buddy under the bus here, Jimmy, Jimmy's
fellow. I met a Quebecois when I was in
Santa Teresa and I've been trying to get him to come on to
share some stories from our times in Santa Teresa.
But he's a busy man. He's a busy man.
He's always working and doesn't seem quite available.
So Jimmy, hopefully we get to talk soon, but unfortunately we

(19:42):
will not have a interview for this part of the recap, but we
do have a couple coming up and Ipromise you they are a lot of
fun and they are really good. So let's move on to our next
destination and that is Monta Verde.
So Santa Teresa, just a close itout.
I end up spending two weeks there.
I was only planning to spend four or five days and this is

(20:04):
quite common. It's one of those places you get
stuck in. It's quite easy because it's
such a good time, great vibe. So if you are planning to go to
Costa Rica, definitely recommendstop by Santa Teresa.
But we're going to move on to Monteverde now.
Monteverde is north of San Jose,pretty much in the centre of
Costa Rica. And there's Monteverde and
there's La Fortuna. Now they both offer the same

(20:26):
kind of activities, Landscapes survive, all that kind of thing.
The reason I picked Monteverde overla Fortuna is because La
Fortuna is very much like Tamarindo, lot of tourists, a
lot of Americans, and I just wanted something a little
different. Monteverde, like I mentioned,
offers the same kind of activities, but it's just not as
well traveled and a little less touristy.

(20:48):
So I decided to go that route and I was really happy I did.
So as I mentioned Monteverde, it's a small little mountain
town and this was actually kind of nice because I just spent a
ton of time on the beach betweenSanta Teresa and my time in
Nicaragua. I needed a change of scenery.
I wanted to go back to the mountains.
I even wanted some cooler weather.
And Monteverde was the place to be.

(21:10):
As I mentioned, cooler weather, we're talking like, I don't
know, 1415°C. Tonight I was still wearing
shorts and AT shirt people were wearing warmer layers.
It is what it is. They called me the Crazy
Canadian. But I'm OK with that.
Now Monteverde, it's kind of a low key vibe.
You don't really have any kind of party atmosphere.
There's no real nightlife, but that's not why you're there.

(21:30):
You're there for the activities.There's a lot of hikes, there's
the cloud forest, I believe there is a butterfly reserve.
I'm sure you can do some bird watching.
And then they also have multipleoutdoor parks.
Now these parks offer a lot of things, for instance, zip
lining, bungee jumping, Tarzan swinging, etcetera, etcetera.
And this is the main reason I was going there, but we'll get

(21:53):
to that in a minute. I was staying at the Sloth
Backpackers hostel. Again, I picked one of the
cheaper places because as I mentioned, Costa Rica.
Super expensive trying to make my money last OK and we're
recording OK sorry there folks. So we had to take, or at least I
had to take about an hour long break.

(22:13):
They're doing construction next door.
Didn't want that noise to be in the background.
And then I started recording again and for some reason my
phone wasn't actually recording.So luckily I was only about 5
minutes in. But I gotta go over all this
again. So when we left off, there we
were in Monteverde. I was staying at the Sloth Back
Pastures backpackers hostel as Imentioned, Super cheap, good

(22:37):
rooms and beds. It had the kitchen, but the
kitchen closed at 9:00. O'clock.
And that was kind of a pain in the ass because they do have
portable water, but it's in the kitchen.
So of course after 9:00 you can't get any water.
So not sure why they do that. But anyways, you do have a
washroom for each dorm room and shower free breakfast, which was
actually at the hostel next door.

(22:57):
They were like sister hostels, pretty good breakfast, coffee,
Wi-Fi. But the biggest thing is it was
just a bed to sleep in. There is no common area, no
social vibes. But that is OK because I spent
most of my time at a different hostel called the Outbox Inn,
which is actually where a coupleof my friends were staying.
One of which you're going to hear from shortly in an

(23:19):
exclusive interview. But the Outbox in another
hostel, very nice. But of course, a little more I
see, uh, great rooms, big beds and outdoor kitchen, potable
water washrooms in each room, coffee, great common area and
Wi-Fi, which was really nice because as I mentioned, spent
most of my time here and most ofthat time was working on the

(23:40):
podcast and very social. So there you have a couple of
the hostels. Now we're going to get into the,
the main reason why I went to Monteverde and some of the
activities. And of course that is the bungee
jumping zip line and Tarzan swing.
Now there's a few different indoor parks, you can do your
own research on them, see which one kind of suits your needs and

(24:00):
what you want to do. I ended up picking the extremal
park Monteverde and that is solely for the reason because
they had the bungee junk. None of the other ones did.
Now this bungee jump, the reasonI wanted to do it.
Bucket list item, never done it and the one in Monteverde is one
of the biggest drops in Central South America.

(24:21):
Now it is Costa Rica, so unfortunately it was more
expensive. It was $100 just to do the
bungee jump alone and then it was another $60 to do the Tarzan
swing and zip line. I mean if money is a thing, I
would definitely recommend just doing the zip line and Tarzan
swing. It's definitely worth your time.
There are 12 different zip linesand the Tarzan swing is a heck

(24:42):
of a lot of fun as they even maybe debatably more fun than
the bungee jump just because it lasts a little longer.
But either way, like I said, bucket list items.
So I decided to do the bungee jump as well and definitely do
not regret it. You're going to hear about that
story when my friend Inga comes on shortly here.
But basically, I was shitting mypants.

(25:03):
I'm afraid of heights. My legs were shaking the whole
time. I remember being on the ledge
and all I wanted to do was just jump and get over with.
But the guy had to do his littlespeech and then he counts you
down 3 to 1. And I jumped for it.
And yeah, hell of hell of an experience.
And then of course, to the Tarzan swing.
Heck of a lot of fun. Heck of a lot of fun.
Big drop off the bat. And then you swing about all

(25:25):
these eyes swing about 7 or 8 times because for some reason
the guy below me just couldn't get a hold of the swing,
couldn't get ahold of me to slowme down.
And then we had the zip line as well, which was a heck.
Of a lot of fun 12. Different ones 10 normal 2
Superman. Superman means that well, as you
can imagine, you're laying theresuspended by your back.

(25:46):
And yeah, I, I, I couldn't recommend more for sure.
But again, you're gonna hear about that more in the upcoming
interview. OK, what else we got here?
OK, so we got some food, we got a bar.
But before we get to that, some of the other activities I didn't
really do that much else. And the main reason and one of

(26:08):
the unfortunate things is in Costa Rica, you have to pay to
do everything. They literally wanted a $45.00
entrance fee to do a hike. And I said there is no way I'm
paying that when back home in Canada I can go hike for free.
So didn't end up doing the hikes.
They do have the cloud forest, but again, you have to pay for

(26:28):
it. Wasn't really that interesting
to me. The only other really real thing
I did was actually go to a lookout.
While that's what Google Maps said it was, and it actually
turned out to be just a little rain water runoff on the side of
the road. Now interestingly enough, I
ended up just going for an adventure.
I went down a random dirt Rd. found a nice little spot with a

(26:50):
beautiful view of the mountains and actually sat down and
recorded an episode. So that was really cool.
Just a little random side quest.I know that if you actually go
north of the town, so when I went to this little side quest,
I was going South of town. They go north of town.
There is an actual legitimate lookout, but I I believe you do

(27:10):
have to pay for it as well. Like I said, you got to pay to
do everything. That was kind of annoying, and
that's why I didn't do that much.
OK, so we got a pizzeria 3 RL Suzanne the Marie.
Wow, say that five times fast. Anyways, this was a little
random shack that I found one ofmy first days in Monteverde and

(27:34):
they had the best empanadas in town.
Super, super, super cheap and really big empanadas.
The biggest that I've had. I went back every single day to
have them. So if you can find this spot
doesn't look like much, but trust me, it's really, really
good. Then we have pretty much the

(27:54):
only bar in town and like I mentioned, there was no
nightlife, but we did end up going out this Saturday night
because we had a group. We wanted to go out and do a
little dance and have a couple drinks and it was actually a
really good vibe. Really the only place in town.
It was an equal mix of locals and tourists and we just had a
fun time. Like I said, we had a couple of
drinks, did a bunch of dancing, and it was just good vibes

(28:16):
overall. So if you are looking to have a
little bit of fun, that's going to be your best and pretty much
only option. OK, well, I think that's pretty
much it for Monteverdi at this point.
As I mentioned, my friend Inga, she spent some time in
Monteverde as well. So we're going to bring her on
now. You're going to hear her side,
her perspective and her stories,as well as some of some of some

(28:40):
of my input as well. So I hope you enjoy the
interview. Thank you, Inga, for coming on.
Without further ado, let's head on over to the interview.
Also at this time, I'd like to welcome on a special guest.
We originally met in Santa Teresa, but I'd say we became

(29:02):
better friends in Monteverde. We were cooking dinners
together, sharing stories about our daily adventures.
And you know this girl, she's a bit of a social media influencer
herself because her English isn't good, but that's a lie.
Welcome to the podcast. Welcome to the Costa Rica recap
episode Inga. Thank you.

(29:23):
I'm so glad that you asked me ifI can join you.
So Santa Teresa was great, in Montebello was amazing.
Oh, they were both wonderful. But uh, yeah.
Before we get to that, I just want to ask how are you?
Where are you and are you nervous?
Well, actually, yeah, I'm prettynervous because I'm back in my

(29:47):
German life in Hanover full timeworking in marketing.
And yeah, I'm I'm totally back in in work and the the days he
over here, but I want to travel again soon.
So let's see what about you? How are you?
OK, well before we get to me, where, where you gonna travel

(30:08):
next? You gonna come visit or what?
No, next week I'm traveling to Italy.
Rome. Ah, Italia.
Some wine, some pasta, some pizza.
OHP yeah, exactly. I'm I'm there for the food.
OK, so you're going to Rome yourfirst time going to Rome?
Yeah, that's my first time. My second time in Italy, but my

(30:30):
first time in Rome. OK, OK.
Well, my only piece of advice isif you're trying to do any of
the tours like the Colosseum, make sure when you're booking it
online want it's legit. And two, that you're booking the
right date because we tried to do it and we realized we booked
the wrong day. No, OK, yeah, actually I've
booked it already. I I double check it.

(30:54):
OK, so you've got it all plannedout already.
How long are you gonna be in Rome for?
Only four days, I think. So it's pretty, yeah.
What? That's it?
Oh my gosh. Why you're up, though?
So it's a little different, likeit's what?
How long of a flight is it? Well, I'm I'm going to Berlin
first to meet a friend and then we are flying from Berlin to
Rome. I think it's two hours.

(31:16):
It's. Really in the near SO.
OK. It's in your backyard.
Yeah, that's different. That's different.
That's exciting. That's exciting.
We're happy to have you on. Yeah.
I mean, for myself, I'm here in Banos, Ecuador, Absolutely love
this place. And as I mentioned to you
earlier, it actually reminds me a lot of Monte Verde, just like
a small mountain town, really nice people, tons of activities

(31:39):
to do. So yeah, it's been a great time
so far. And we gotta, we gotta couple
days left here. Yeah, a couple of days only.
Yeah, but we will have been herefor a week.
So it's it's been it's been great.
And we'll see. I think we want to get to the
rainforest. No.
Yeah. But we'll see what happens with
that. It's.
Leave the cloud forest, Monteverde.

(32:01):
Ah, yeah, yeah. Probably somewhere.
Honestly, probably somewhere. Yeah, definitely.
Now, before we get started here and start talking about your
experience in Monteverdi and my own, we have a segment on the
podcast called Speed Round Questions.
Are you familiar with this? No.
OK, perfect. So I'm gonna give you 2 options.

(32:21):
You pick the option that you like the most at seed round.
So quick answers. OK, so you give me two options
for answers and I pick one. Correct.
OK. Alright, you ready?
OK, ready? No, I'm not, but.
Let's no, you'll be alright, OK.Window or aisle seat?

(32:44):
Window. Yeah, hop on a bus or take a
flight. Try it for sure too.
Cook for yourself or eat out. Oh, oh, oh, oh, that's that's
not the. That's that's that's, that's,
that's, that's. With friends alone, that's

(33:05):
that's different. Ah, OK with friends.
Eat out. OK, it depends where you are.
Um, get after. It cooking in Montevideo so that
was great. Well, that that's why I asked
the question, right? I'm including some questions
from the. Trip, Yeah.

(33:25):
Get after it or take it easy. Take it easy.
Adrenaline based or touristic tour?
Oh my God, no. Not the touristic tour, no.
Good answer. Good answer.
Uh, go with the flow or plan ahead.
Go with the flow pull Lavita. Hera Vidas, he's easy.

(33:49):
Sunset or sunrise? Son said I'm not an early bird.
Yeah, yeah. Fair, fair.
Fair. Same Beecher Mountain.
I love the beach. I mean, we've been to Santa
Teresa and I love the vibe and the cocktails and the sunsets
and the vibe. I maybe divide for Santa Teresa.

(34:13):
I also like hiking and jungle and the mountains, but I think I
would go for the beach. OK, beaches, where your hearts
at? Yeah.
Yeah. I guess that answers the next
question. Santa Teresa or Month of Every
Day. I mean, the two cities are so
different. It's hiking boots and flip

(34:35):
flops. It's jungle and beach.
That's that's that's a trick question.
Well, hey, I gotta make it a little hard.
Come on. I choose both.
Choose both. You can do that.
You I'll let you. I'll let you choose both.
Alright, last one. This one's a good one too.
Happy to be home or wish you were traveling?

(34:56):
Ohi I, I really wish I I will beat your place or at the beach or
somewhere else. So yeah, I love to travel.
Yeah. Traveling.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
It's, it's funny because, you know, a lot of people I've met
traveling are now back home and they're back to work and
everyone saying the same thing, they're like, yeah, no, I, I
wanna go back and travel again. I don't want to be here.

(35:19):
And you know, I love my, my job and marketing.
I'm really my, my, my home job area is marketing, but I'm
searching for for new film. So maybe that's the point.
But I love to be somewhere else and try new things, eat

(35:39):
different things, meet new people.
You know that's right. When you travel solo, you know
that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Never, never truly alone. But uh, maybe if the podcast
takes off, I can hire you as my marketing manager and then.
Sure, I love to. There you go.

(36:00):
What's? True, when you, when you travel
on your own, you're never alone.That's the thing I, I tell my
friends all the time because they say your every time you're
on your solo female travelling tour.
But are you lonely? Are you, you're travelling
alone? What are, what are your feelings
and what are you doing all on your own?

(36:21):
And I'm like, no, when I want tobe with somebody, I, I meet new
people in hostels and they're free walking tours.
And, you know, that's amazing. I love it.
Oh, exactly. I've been traveling for four
months now and I've been alone for maybe 24 hours.
Crazy, crazy. Yeah, it's wild.

(36:43):
It's wild. I remember there was one time I
was alone. I was taking a ferry somewhere
in Central America. I think it was OMA tape maybe.
But anyways, so it's literally 12 hours.
Then they made a new group of friends.
And then in Patagonia, for a fewhours, I was alone and then made
new friends. Yeah, exactly.
It's like you're only alone if you want to be.
But. That's yeah.

(37:03):
Sometimes you really have to sayto them you wanna be on your own
now, because otherwise you are with someone with more people
all the time. And when you want to work on
something or do some podcasts, you have to tell them you need
some time on your own. Exactly.
And I've, I've had to do that. I've had to tell the boys like,
hey, like you go do something for the day.

(37:24):
I gotta get some work done or I just need some time to myself,
right. So yeah, it's crazy that way.
But the reason we brought you ontoday is because I wanted to
talk with you about your experience and a month of Verde,
Costa Rica. And for people listening that
aren't aware of where that is, it's in Costa Rica.
It's northwest of San Jose. It's a beautiful little mountain

(37:46):
town. And first thing I want to know
is what was your initial impression when you got to month
of her day? Oh, my first impression was, uh,
crazy because it's so up high inthe mountain.
Uh, I got a little carsick, you know, when I came there because
I came from Santa Teresa, you know, and that was flat and

(38:08):
beach and sunny and child. And then I, I drove with a
shared channel, I think, and theroad was so curvy.
I got carsick so hurt. My first impression was not the.
Best. Yeah, but when I came there, the
mountains and the forests and the jungle, the nature, that's
amazing. And in comparison, so tend to

(38:31):
Santa Teresa, it's it's so different and I love that.
OK, so good initial impression minus the carsick aspect, which
yeah, I find does happen to a lot of people, especially in
Central South America, because the roads, right like 1, they're
not always well maintained and two, for some reason they don't
like straight lines. It's always just curving through

(38:51):
the mountains. Some somebody told me in the
beginning, uh, that I will get car sick when I go there, but I
said no, I'm not like that. I never get car sick.
What are you talking about? Yeah, yeah.
Was that was that the first timeyou got Carsick done or?
I know when I was a kid I was car sick pretty often, but in

(39:14):
Costa Rica it was the first time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, there you go.
Wow, what an experience. Well, what I want to talk about
next is actually the hostel thatyou stayed at.
Because The funny thing is I ended up being there like 90% of
my time and wanted to read it and it was a really nice
hostile. So I figure I'll let you talk
about it. And yeah, sure, some
information. Yeah, I think I'll plucks IMO,

(39:35):
something I, I can't remember the exact name, the exact name,
but but yeah, it was pretty nicebecause I had a four bed dorm
with only girls. Uh, so a female bed dorm.
I like that. And uh, the beds were amazing
and uh, the shower was big and the hostel had three yoga

(39:55):
classes. You did that, I think.
I was there, yeah. Yeah, I thought you were a guest
over there. Yeah.
Yeah, really like the common area with the little, what is it
called, the seating sex. I don't.
Know all? Like the seating area?
Yeah, the little where you can chill in, I don't know.

(40:17):
Yeah, like the bean bags. The bean bags.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Bah bean bag, that was
amazing. And the terrorists were the
kitchen outside, that was amazing too.
And they were banana plants outside, so the view was nice
too. Yeah, And for people listening,
do you mind sharing how much you're paying a night for the
dorm room? Oh my God, no idea.

(40:38):
I think it was like, I don't know, 12 bucks or something in
it, so it's pretty cheap. Yeah, pretty cheap for Costa
Rican standards. Now keep in mind that's $12.00
USD, right? Oh yeah, yeah.
So yeah, first. So for someone like myself
that's Canadian, that's more like 1617 dollars.
We we unfortunately get. Killed but Johar was was cheaper

(41:02):
over there. I was thinking maybe I have to
go for the cheap one but I wanted to have a nice one with
the female that dog and I wantedto treat myself on the last few
stops. Well jokes on you because I
think I lucked out because I gotthe cheap hostel.
I don't remember what I was paying but it was like 6 or 7
players and night and after the first night I had the whole dorm

(41:25):
in myself so I had a private suite for dirt cheap and I just
came and hung out at the old boxin.
Where? Else was so I was like perfect,
perfect setup, yeah. But I mean, I had to stay over
there so that you could come there, so.
There we go now. OK, OK, OK.

(41:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, the free, free yoga
class was nice. I would say my only knock on the
hostel would be it could use a bigger kitchen because I know
when we were trying to cook there'd be four or five of us
and if there's another group trying to.
Cook. You basically had to just wait
your turn and wait till the other group was finished.
Yeah, and when it's chilly in the evening, it's only the

(42:06):
outside kitchen. And yeah.
Yeah, well, you guys are cold. I was fine.
I was still in shorts and AT shirt but.
It was so cold. We sent the Teresa.
It was like 32° and Montevallo was like, I don't know, 10 and
not a no, not ten, but it was for me.
Felt like 10. Anyway, it was a big change.

(42:27):
For sure to go from the beach. Climate to the mountain climate.
Well, let's talk about some of the activities you did while you
were there. Because I know you.
Went to one of the parks, you did some of those adrenaline
sports. So yeah, just share with us some
of the activities to do while you're there.
Actually, I only wanted to come to Monteverde to do the longest

(42:48):
zip line in Latin America. So at the Aventura Park, I did
the zip lining it. I loved it.
It was amazing. That was my, my main zip line
experience in Costa Rica. I did another one in Manuel
Antonio, but in Monteverde it was a better one because it was
even longer and I had some, I, I, I have some photos on my

(43:09):
Instagram from that. And I remember you, you told me
that you wanna go zip lining too.
And you told me about another company and I said no, I wanna
go to the longest zip line and Latin America.
So, so we did it separately, butit was amazing.
I really loved the planning. And yeah, there was a main part

(43:30):
for me. I did hiking in the cloud forest
too. But uh, yeah, the canopy zip
lining to a that was, that was yeah, staying.
Well, that's the main highlight,right?
And it's a lot a big reason why people go to either Monteverde
or La Fortuna. And the main reason I went to
Monteverde was partly the zip line, but mainly the bungee

(43:51):
jump. That was a bonus item for me.
And that's why we ended up goingto different parks because you
wanted the longest zip line, butI wanted the bungee, which was
at a different park. So yeah, it sounds like you had
an amazing day. And yeah, same, same for me.
It was a little on the praise your side, but to do the bungee,
to do the Tarzan swing, and to do the zip lines, there's like
12 zip lines. It was insane.

(44:14):
Definitely worth it for anyone listening that ends up getting
to Monteverde. It's something you gotta do if
you're going there. What was the name of your
company or something? Explore Explosion.
Yeah, it was the Monteverde Extremo Park.
Yeah, extreme. Oh yeah, and mine was the
Aventura. Aventura yes, yeah.

(44:36):
Yeah, I think both both are pretty good.
So it depends what you want. Like, yeah, yeah, both are good.
It's just exactly like the extremal park at kind of like
the name, right? Like that's you're doing like
the highest adrenaline sports, whereas the adventure I think
was like the longest zip line. They had some canopies and I
mean you can tell me the rest, but I think just a bit of a

(44:57):
different experience. Yeah, there was a little bungee,
too. It wasn't a bungee.
It was a Tarzan swing, I think, too.
Yeah. And I thought it's a swing like
lala, lala swinging like. No.
And then it was they, they pushed me a little bit at the
gate and then they opened it andI'm like, but where's the swing?

(45:17):
Wait, wait, is it safe? I can, I can show you my audio
and I'm like, is that safe? Wait, wait, wait, we, we have to
wait though. And then they push me.
And then I was like screaming. Like, yeah.
But it wasn't a small Tarzan swing.
Not the big one. Like, uh, top place?
I think you, I think you need toshare the video of you doing the

(45:37):
swing and so we can hear the scream.
To Kataria with only the voices.I'm making the noises.
But yeah, I have to. I have to do it.
I know with, uh, what with the Tarzan to you, but with the
bungee jump, you're, you're falling so fast that I couldn't
even like scream or say anythingfor the 1st 2 seconds until like

(46:01):
I made that first like impact, like came back up and then all
of a sudden like, but like that first initial.
Like I'm not in this place, right?
Just you I I saw a video and onewas like a little girl too.
Oh, no, no, that was the other guy.
Remember that was that Spanish kid.
I had more of like the like a weird, like it sounded like I

(46:25):
was like trying to like go to the washroom or something.
It was like like. Baby.
Yeah, you're no you're thinking of because there's a young kid
standing outbox and we must havewatched the video like 5 times
and he screamed like a girl. Like I don't think.
Oh my gosh, yeah, that was hilarious.

(46:45):
They was fun. Very fun.
So you hiked the cloud forest now I'm curious what your
experience with that was becauseI know a lot of the hikes and
Monteverde, they want you to payfor them and it's usually pretty
expensive. Um, yeah, it was a cloud forest
and we booked, uh, slot, uh, before I did it with three

(47:06):
people from the hostel, German girls and guys.
Yeah, I have no idea what the costs were actually in.
It was not that much. OK, OK.
Yeah, yeah, pretty easy. But there were not that many
animals. I've been to Koita National Park

(47:27):
at the Caribbean side and ManuelAntonio and I saw like sloths
and monkeys and all that stuff and and the cloud forest.
They are more birds and small reptiles.
I don't know. I'm guessing you did it without
a guide though, so do you think it would have made a difference
if you went with a guide? Like maybe they would have known

(47:48):
what to look for. Hmm.
I think in some national parks it's, it's good to to have a
guide, but they are pretty expensive.
So when you travel low budget, then I would recommend to do it
on your own because it's perfectly fine.
But when you really want to see the animals, um, they can find
it for you. But I'm not sure if it's worth

(48:10):
it in the cloud forest because Idon't know if if there were that
many interesting animals. It depends what you like, but I
want to see like monkeys and thebig animals but not the weight.
Rain worms. I don't know the little slimy

(48:31):
ones. No, I'm, I'm the same way.
Like I like the big animals. I don't care about the birds or
the insects or any of that. I like, show me like a Puma or a
leopard or a sloth or a monkey, something like that.
Exactly. Yeah.
OK. Well.
I've been to South Africa, to the to the National Crea Park

(48:53):
and I saw some lions and leopards and all that stuff.
So yeah, that's also my way to go.
OK, fair enough. So you've, yeah, you've seen the
real deal then? Yeah, Yeah.
Nothing. Nothing comparable to that.
The cloud forest. Were there any other activities
you did? I can't really remember to be
honest. Um, I went to the little ficus

(49:14):
tree. I don't know if you remember, I
saw it on Google Maps and I wentthere.
And that's so yeah. Nice little walk over there.
You can sit there, drink a coffee and hike a little around
the ficus tree. Um, and I think you can really
wander around the city a little bit because it's not that big,

(49:37):
but in every corner there's a little spark when you look at
the, um, letters or the walls and the buildings.
There are many graffiti arts andlittle, I don't know, like
these. Um, I, I have these techno DJs

(49:58):
in mind all the time when I think about these graffitis
because they are so like the Galaxy and all that stuff.
So like psychedelic? Yeah, yeah, that's the word.
Yeah, there you go. I'm calling just in Montebello
you can find really good art stuff.
Hmm, yeah, I remember you were taking pictures of one of the, I

(50:21):
think it was like electrical pole or something that had some
graffiti on it. You're taking pictures.
And I kinda just chuckled because like, I don't know, I've
seen graffiti like a lot, but. Amazing.
It's it's really good. It's amazing.
No, fair enough, fair enough. We're moving on from the
activities. Uh, what were your thoughts on
the food in Monteverde and the social slash nightlife umm.

(50:47):
I mean, in Costa Rica, everybody's eating rice and
beans. That's, uh, the food to go, you
know, and what the weather was my not my last stop, but before,
so the, yeah, almost last stop. So I had rice and beans all the
time and I was like, ah, I need something else.
But I remember that we were looking for a good restaurant

(51:10):
that is vegan because one of thegirls were vegan and that was
pretty hard because they didn't have that many options.
But for me it's fine because they, I meet, Um, but it was
great when we found one, I thinkit was a third one.
And a really good recommendationis to look at the names when

(51:32):
there is a what is the name called Nautico?
Yeah, the local spa. Was it the soda?
Soda, Yeah. Soda.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Well when the name has a soda init then it's from a family owned
and it's cheaper and yeah, maybemore Costa Rican than at other

(51:54):
other places. It's it's local, it's cheap and
it's good. Yeah, yeah.
So there's, there's places like that in Ecuador, they're called
Asados, like BBQ Spot. And same thing is it's local,
it's cheap and they usually have, um, menu of the day.
So we actually found our spot here in Banyos and be going
every single day and it's a $3 meal.

(52:16):
It's really good. It's, it's perfect.
So. Yeah, yeah, In Costa Rica the
food was a little more expensive.
Costa Rica was a little more expensive than I thought,
actually. But but it was perfectly fine in
the end. And I really love the place
where we went for the chicken and the salad.
It was a soda too, I think. All the Yeah, yeah, the chicken.

(52:36):
Yeah. That that was a good place.
That was a good find. I was a bit cheaper, but I know
for the most part, right? Like we were cooking meals.
We made some pretty good meals. We had some veggies and some
protein and some pasta. Yeah.
So of course, being a common backpackers meal.
But I mean, for people listening, right, Costa Rica is
more expensive. So your best bet is gonna be to
cook. And the nice thing is if you

(52:57):
have a group like we did, we have like maybe four or five
people, it makes it even better because you can cook together,
split the cost. It just makes it that much
cheaper. Yeah, because I think when
you're on your own, it's not thecheapest way every time when you
cook on your own, because it depends if you have a fridge at
the next hostel. Because at some hostels in Costa
Rica, there were no overages, soI had to throw away some stuff.

(53:21):
And so in the end, maybe a soda is a is a good opportunity too
when you don't have a fridge at the next place.
Definitely, Definitely. Now we had one night out in
Monteverdi. I think you were there.
I think I remember that correctly.
Yeah. Yeah.
The what? What was it called?
Something Bros. Yeah, brothers, something.

(53:44):
I'll look it up quickly, but forpeople listening, Monte Verde is
not a party town. There's not really much of A
nightlife, but on the weekend there is one bar that's open.
So we ended up going out the onenight and it's actually a really
good time. Yeah, it was great because it
was the only club out there. Like it wasn't, it wasn't a club

(54:05):
club, but it was more drinking and dancing and I think it was
open until, I don't know, 2:00 or something.
Yeah. And we ended dancing.
We deal with, we did go dancing and I don't know if you remember
the, uh, the move I ended up pulling off that night.
OHT wasn't the handstand. The handstand.

(54:27):
Yeah. And said it was like, what is
the deal? What is he doing?
OK, OK. Yeah, I don't think people are
expecting that because there's awhole group and you know, they
had their their nice dance clothes on and everything and
there I am just T-shirt and shorts.
And I walked right into the circle of them, did a little

(54:48):
groove and then busted a handstand and then just walked
away and was like, Yep, that's it, I'm out.
And what I was thinking, OK, go ahead then go ahead, ring go.
Adrian, It was called Bar Amigos.
Ah, Amigos, right? Yeah, that's the only club over
there. Club, but it was actually kind

(55:10):
of a like a nice vibe like that,a nice big dance floor.
It wasn't full by any means and it was like 5050 locals and
tourists, so it was a good time.No, Perfect, because I hate it
when there are clubs and nobody's on the dance floor, but
I hate it when there are so manypeople in.
It's crowded. So that was a good a good place

(55:31):
for the Middle Way. Yeah, exactly.
It's perfect because like you said, yeah, no one's dancing at
the buzzkill. But if the dance floor is
packed, it's also like, God, that's too, too much, too much.
Yeah, then I'm feeling like go, go away.
Get the get the elbows out. That's how I felt in Cali,
Colombia. We went to the salsa bar the one

(55:52):
night and it was just bumper to bumper traffic.
He had no room to move. It was, it was crazy, Yeah.
Crazy. Crazy.
I only had four days in Montevallo.
I think so. I think that was everything
because after that I went to La Fortuna.

(56:14):
Yeah, you want to laugh, Fortuna.
And to be honest, I think 4 daysis more than enough for
Monteverde. I ended up being there I think
5, maybe 6 days, but that was more because it was a place
where I could actually get some work done, work on the podcast,
do some other things. So it was, it was nice for that
purpose. But for people traveling there,
yeah, you honestly only need like two or three days probably.

(56:34):
Just get in, do what you want todo, get out.
But when you have a car, then you can go to the waterfalls.
Have you been there? Uh, no, I'm not, no.
That was amazing actually, because I, I, I met, uh, the
two, the German guy with the carfrom Cologne and the German guy
from the Netherlands and he had a car and took us to La Fortuna.

(56:58):
And I think between, in between,in the middle from Montebello to
La Fortuna, there's the waterfalls and you had to pay
like, I don't know, 8 dollar or something, but it was an amazing
hike. And you can drive the bike on
the zip line over there and you can swim in the waterfalls.

(57:20):
So there was an amazing place. OK, OK.
And I was on the way to live Fortuna.
Well, I mean, I think we can pretty much wrap up on the Verde
because there's not much more toshare there.
It is a small little mountain town, but it was a great
experience. If we still have time here, I
guess if you want. What was the difference between
Monteverde and La Fortuna? And just quickly, what was your
experience in La Fortuna? Because I know for people

(57:42):
listening, those places are veryclose to each other.
There's a lot of similar activities and things you can
do. But I do know that a lot of
people choose to go to Laugh Fortuna and set a month of her
day. Oh, I think I would go for
Monterrey because of this, the blind, because that was my main
goal. But in La Fortuna I booked a

(58:08):
tour a guided tour to four places and I would not recommend
to book the guided tour. You can do everything on your
own and edit the volcano hike I did.
The Hot Springs, um, oh, I don'tknow what was included.

(58:30):
I'm not sure something else. I think 1/3 stuff.
OK, OK. Yeah, kind of like a full day
though. All the another bottle full.
But because I saw the waterfall,this waterfall in La Fortuna, it
was crowded and it with a guidedtour.
There were buses and everybody was streaming down and so many

(58:52):
people and I was like, that's a tourist trap over here.
What am I doing over here? Well, and that's that's the
reason I chose Monteverde overlap for tuna because I heard
last Fortuna, very touristy, very busy.
Where's Monteverde? You could do the same
activities, maybe even some different ones like the zip line
and Bungie, and a lot less touristy, a lot less busy, and

(59:14):
more of that unique experience. Yeah, I think the, I think
that's it. That's the point.
Yeah. Yeah, true.
Yeah. Because you have the zip lining
in the jungle and the hiking andwhen you have a car, you can go
through the article waterfalls and they are way better than the
waterfalls in La Fortuna. The Hot Springs.
You don't have the Hot Springs in Montebello?

(59:35):
By using the offerings anywhere like every country has them.
Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah, they got, they have Hot
Springs here too. They got there's actually a
waterfall right in town and thenthe Hot Springs are right under
it. And can you go in there like is
it allowed? Yeah, no, they have it all set
up like you pay $4.00. There's like outdoor pools,

(59:56):
there's Hot Springs, and then the waterfall is just on the
side of the mountain right there.
It's, it's unbelievable. What is the temperature at your
place at the moment? The temperature, uh, good
question. It was a little chilly last
night. Today it's beautiful and sunny
though, so it's, uh, 21°C right now, so that's pretty good.

(01:00:17):
That's like that Germany at the moment.
Today we have 23. OK, well there you go.
Yeah, no, it's uh, obviously being a mountain town, like it
does get cooler. Like some days it's rainy and
overcast and other days like today, it's sunny and warm so.
Yeah, it's been quite nice. Yeah, Montevideo and Santa

(01:00:38):
Teresa. I really loved the difference.
Very well, and that's the thing,right, is when you're traveling
and for a longer period of time,like you need to change it up.
It's you don't always want to beon the beach, You don't always
want to be in the mountain. It's nice to change it up
because I know like the first part of my trip in Nicaraguan,
Costa Rica, it was all beaches. So when I finally got the
Monteverdi was like, Oh my gosh,this is so nice.

(01:01:01):
I enjoyed the cooler temperatures.
I enjoyed not being covered in sand all day or sweating all
day. So yeah, it's good to.
See you. Yeah.
Be transcended, Reza and but when I changed the flip flops to
the hiking boots, I was like that's it, that's Costa Rica,

(01:01:22):
the difference, the opportunities.
Exactly. Yeah, the the different
landscapes. Exactly.
Walla and Go. I just want to say thank you so
much for coming on. I know you're a little nervous,
but I wanted to do this, this Costa Rica recap and rather than
like cause a couple recaps I didin the past, it was just me

(01:01:42):
talking and I was like, OK, thisis getting kind of boring.
So I wanted to bring on some guests like yourself to kind of
share some stories and talk about the places that I'm
featuring. And so, yeah, I just want to say
thanks for coming on. That really like to hear your
podcast and I think it's the same like in Costa Rica when you
have interviews and some episodes where you talk to

(01:02:03):
yourself. That is perfect.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, it's weird talking to
yourself though. I feel like I'm a nut case.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity
though. No worries at all.
No worries at all. Alright, so there you have it.
That is the interview with Inga.Inga, thank you so much for

(01:02:23):
coming on. That was a lot of fun.
And you know what, it's kind of nice to do these interviews.
Even though we're over Zoom, it's nice to see some familiar
faces, to be able to reminisce about the trip and to see and
talk with some people that have met along the way.
It's often that you know, you meet people traveling and you
have, you know, you have great experiences, you have a great

(01:02:44):
connection, but often, sometimesyou lose those connections or
you never really get to talk again.
So to be able to do these Zoom calls and to see that person's
face and to share some laughs and to share some stories, I
really do value that. So thanks again for coming on.
We do have another interview coming later in the podcast as
well. So stay tuned for that.

(01:03:05):
But right now, we're going to move on to our next destination.
And I always pronounce the name of this place wrong.
Cahute. I think I'm saying that right
this time I had to really slow that down.
Anyways, that's our next stop. It is a little beach town on the
Caribbean side just north of Puerto Viejo, about 1/2 hour.

(01:03:29):
And it's mainly known for the National Park.
And that's the reason I went. Now before we get to that part,
we'll go to the Hosley State at which was The Secret Garden
hostel, which was actually a really nice hostel.
They had good beds with fans, beautiful private rooms.
Now taking mine very expensive though, so depends if that's in

(01:03:50):
the budget. I ended up getting a private
room for a night just to have the experience and it was
really, really nice. They also had a kitchen, but
again, closed at 9:00. No access to water.
Kind of a pain in the ass, but you can see that there is a
theme here. Uh, washrooms per rooms, dorm
room, private room, all that funstuff.

(01:04:12):
Um, little good common area. Wi-Fi was good, but not super
social. I'd say most people that were
staying there were either in their own little groups or their
oh, sorry, they're doing some work.
OK, let's go to the National Park now.
The main reason for going to Cahute is the National Park.

(01:04:37):
Beautiful, beautiful landscape, right on the beach and you do
see a lot wildlife. I saw a sloth, a monkey,
lizards, spiders, raccoons, you name it.
Definitely worth going to check out and going for a walk.
Now you can easily stay in the town itself or you can just do a
day trip from Puerto Viejo, which is what a lot of people

(01:04:59):
do. Now.
The unfortunate thing about Kahoot Day, as I mentioned, very
small town, really just has the National Park.
There is absolutely no nightlife, there's really
nothing going on. Now granted there's a lot of
restaurants for sure so that's not an issue, but just no vibes.
Like I said, nothing really happening.

(01:05:20):
Honestly kind of felt a little sketchy at night.
There were just some locals wandering around and at one
point there was one following meand I didn't really feel very
safe. So not the best at night as
well. The beaches there, I mean the
beaches look beautiful. All you want to do is jump in
for a swim, but you can't swim. You're not allowed to go in the
water because it is dangerous because of the riptides.

(01:05:42):
So that was super unfortunate. I think if you were able to
actually have access and use of the beaches, it would have been
a much different experience. But because of that, there
really wasn't much there to do except for the National Park,
which I now understand is why people usually just do it as a
day trip from Puerto Viejo. Last note I have here is just

(01:06:03):
there is a little coffee shop called Aroma Coffee.
It was a nice place to go for a good breakfast and some coffee.
So if you're looking for a recommendation, that's the one I
have for you. As I mentioned, tons of
restaurants at night, but they're all expensive.
So end of the day you might end up just cooking your own meals.
OK, that is it for Kahoot Day and I gotta say it like that

(01:06:25):
every time. I apologize.
Moving on to our last and final destination on the Caribbean
side and that is Portal Viejo. Most of you have probably heard
of this place if you've been looking into Costa Rica, if not
on the Caribbean side, very, very cool beach town, kind of
like Santa Teresa, but way more low key, just chill vibes that

(01:06:49):
has that Caribbean influence. You know, you're smoking some
weed, you're relaxing, doing some surf, playing some beach
volleyball, and it's just reallynice to go there and relax and
enjoy the beach life. Now we're going to have my
friend that come on shortly for an interview to talk about his
experience in Puerto Viejo. But first we'll just get to what

(01:07:10):
I did and where I stayed in someof that fun info.
So let's go ahead here. You've got 2 beaches, like I
said, similar to Santa Teresa, right?
Everything is just on one made Rd.
The main form of transportation that people use in Puerto Viejo
is actually a bicycles. You can easily rent a bicycle
for a day. It's about $10 US and you can

(01:07:31):
just bike to both beaches, thosebeing Playa Negra and Player
Cockles. Now player Negra I didn't really
enjoy. It's the main one in Puerto
Viejo. It's actually a black sand
beach, volcanic ash beach. I guess you can call, um, not
really much going on there. Most people go to play a
cockles, which is further down the road.

(01:07:51):
That's where you get your surf, your beach volleyball and a lot
more social vibes. Now I ended up staying at L Clan
Hostel and I could not recommendthis place enough.
It was amazing hostel, great workers, great volunteers, great
vibes and it had a pool which was so nice to relax at during

(01:08:13):
the day. A little more on the expensive
side, but again, you're in CostaRica so it's kind of hard to get
away. The cool thing with L Clan is it
was also partnered with a neighboring hostel.
Now let's see if I still have the name here, Casa Wallaba.
And the cool thing was El Clan was more of a chill hostel.
You just go over there to relax during the day.

(01:08:33):
Casa Will Label was the one thathad all the nightly activities
so you could go there to do yourkaraokes, beer pong, club
nights, all that, which I reallyappreciated.
OK, going back to all Clan though.
Good beds, good rooms with AC. Again, super important.
They had the pool, which was amazing.
There is a bar by the pool if that's what you're looking for.
They had a really nice kitchen, filtered water, outdoor toilets

(01:08:57):
and showers, good Wi-Fi, good common areas, your bike rentals
as I mentioned. And the nice thing was to the
kitchen didn't close. So at least in this location,
you always had access to potablewater, you had access to the
kitchen. They didn't close it at 9:00, so
that was very convenient. Um, Castle Wallaba was a heck of

(01:09:18):
a lot of fun too. Obviously I was just going over
at night for the nightly activities, but yeah, it was
always a good time, whether it was the beer pong tournament,
whether it was karaoke, or whether it was going out for a
club night, which we're going totalk about right now.
Nightlife. There is good nightlife in
Puerto Viejo. It's nothing, nothing quite like
Santa Teresa for sure. Like I said, a little more laid

(01:09:41):
back, but if you're looking for a fun night out, you can
definitely find that. I want to I'm one of the good
places to go is actually called the L Clan club.
Now Al Clan hostel has an agreement with the Elkan club.
I don't know how directly related they are, like if they
actually have the same owner or whatnot.
But anyways, really, really fun club filled with locals, really

(01:10:02):
good music and the nice thing isif you're staying at El Clan
Hostile or at Casa Wallaba, you get believe it's free entrance.
Oh my gosh, it's been so long now.
Did I pay it again? And I'm pretty sure it's free
entrance. I think that's why.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bear with me here folks, My
memory not always the best, but anyways, so you get free
entrance into the club. We had a few club nights and

(01:10:23):
they were an absolute great time.
So that's one suggestion. I have you.
There is another bar, Ah shoot, I can't remember the name of it.
It's actually on the same streetright before you get to El Clan.
It's like a big sports bar. Sometimes they'll have like live
music or live events. They got a couple pool tables

(01:10:43):
and usually tons of good happy hour deals.
So that's another good spot as well.
But spent most of my time in Puerto Viejo relaxing and it was
super nice relaxing by the pool.Did get out and do some syrup,
excuse me, surfing, which was really good and they had a
couple of different beach volleyball courts, which if you

(01:11:04):
know me, I could play beach volleyball every day all day.
So that was a ton of fun. Now there are some more stories
I can share and what not, but you're actually about to hear
them on this upcoming interview.I met Jack actually at the bar
one night. I was watching the Canada US
hockey game. A lot of you might have watched
that game. That was the gold medal game at

(01:11:26):
the time and the world tournament and an absolute great
game for Canada. But yeah, I think at this point
is a good time to bring Jack on and he's going to share some
stories and I'm going to share some of mine.
So should be a good listen. Yeah.
Without further ado, let's bringon Jack.
At this time, I'd like to welcome on our next guest to the

(01:11:49):
podcast, part of the Costa Rica Recap.
Me and this gentleman, we met ina bar in Puerto Viejo.
It was a Canada, US game. The final, I was sitting there
the whole table myself, ready towatch the game, have some beers.
And I've seen this lonely American fellow over there.
He was looking for a place to sit.

(01:12:10):
I said come on over, buddy, comewatch your team lose.
And we've been friends ever since.
So thanks for coming on to the pod, Jackie Boy.
The exhibition, man, it's good to be here.
I'm still so ashamed of that loss.
It's, uh, it still hurts. Now, unfortunately, you guys
kind of blew your load in the exhibition around there and then
when it came to the finals, we we got the job done.

(01:12:33):
I know we we thought we out roughed you guys in the first
one and it just hurts so bad. Well, you definitely over after
us, but I think the problem is you or after yourself too.
By the time you got to the finals you were pretty banged
up. Yeah, could Chuck wasn't
available until the, I don't think till close to the playoffs
this year. So that was that was pretty
wild. Exactly, exactly.
Yeah. But yeah, I'll always have that

(01:12:55):
one over here. So glad we got that memory.
Are you able to watch the playoffs while you're down
there? Um, yeah, I've been trying to,
the last couple nights I've beenable to, we actually got an
Airbnb for the weekend, so we got a nice little setup.
But funny enough, actually I wasdoing some sports betting and I
was betting on the hockey games and was actually making some

(01:13:16):
money for the trip. And then they actually clued in
after about 3 months of doing this that I wasn't actually in
Canada anymore. So.
They so they closed my account. I couldn't get anymore so I had
to post on Instagram asking if anyone back home would bet for
me. So luckily I had a friend reach
out and he's placing some bets for me now.
So I've been watching the games more often and trying to make

(01:13:38):
some money. Nice.
Well, good luck. Hopefully a Canadian team can
get it this year. Yeah, I appreciate that.
Well, we'll see. I mean, the leaves are looking
dangerous, man. They're looking.
Dangerous look good. Have you been catching any games
or no? Oh yeah, yeah, I'm a, I'm a huge
Capitals fan, so I was pumped that we got that record this
year and hopefully they can pullit off, but we'll see.
All year caps guy Well series is11.

(01:13:59):
I should have bet the money linelast night.
I knew they were going to win that game, but I did some stupid
parlay and of course I lost it so.
They're like. Yeah.
But before we get started here, we do a segment on this podcast
called Speed Round Questions. Are you familiar with it?
Yes, I I've been listening to a couple of your pods getting

(01:14:20):
ready for this. So I'm looking forward to
meeting shoot. Alright, sounds good.
Well, we'll get started right away then.
Without further ado. So you got two options.
Pick the one you like the most, window or aisle seat.
Oh, I'll see, because so I go tothe bathroom.
Yeah, fair enough. Small bladder problems.
Hop on a bus or take a flight. Take a flight.

(01:14:44):
Can't cook for yourself or eat out?
Definitely cook for myself a little cheaper.
OK, get after it or take it easy.
Oh man, take it easy for sure. Adrenaline based or touristic
tour? Uh, between the two?

(01:15:04):
Adrenaline based, definitely. Yeah, yeah, Airbnb are hostile.
That's a good one. I mean hostile.
You get more experiences out of being in a hostel so gotta go
hostile. OK, OK.
Sunset or sunrise? Oh man, sunrise laundry day.

(01:15:27):
Surf or beach volleyball? Beach volleyball as as you know
that that was a fun time that wehad.
Yeah, that was that was amazing.Hockey wise Canada or USA?
Oh, I can't go against my own country.
Regardless of the political situation, I can't go against my
boys. Oh yeah, OK, fair enough.

(01:15:49):
I just wanted to throw that one in there.
Um, happy to be home or wish youwere?
Traveling oht man wish wish we were traveling Like your
Instagram is great to look at but man I'm just so so jealous.
Fair enough. You have any travel plans
coming? Up or no, not really.
I think the only big travel thing I've got coming up, well,

(01:16:10):
my wife and I look for houses. I'm going with my brother-in-law
to a little road trip for some baseball games here upcoming in
June. So that'll be a good time.
But internationally, no. I'm dying to get out there
though, so hopefully sometime maybe this fall.
There you go buddy. We'll come out to Australia.
I'll be there in August for about a year so you can come.
On Oh, no way. Oh, that's awesome.

(01:16:34):
Yeah, the the road trip you're doing, where are you going?
What? What teams are you watching?
We're going to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati and
Detroit. So maybe not the most the
greatest of American cities, butbeautiful ballparks nonetheless.
Fair enough, fair enough. Well I always said that the
American road trip just to watchsports would be a good time

(01:16:56):
cause you guys got some good stadiums and some good fan
bases. Yeah, man, I was listening to
your American road trip pod and you guys definitely did it.
I would definitely suggest the West Coast first if you're going
to do, if you're not from the States, I would definitely do
what you guys did. So in Montana is by far the best
state in the country. It's so beautiful.
OK, OK. Well you honest opinion, what do
you think of the episode? Because I kind of just let it

(01:17:17):
all on there. Like I didn't really edit it
much and we were kind of just bullshitting the whole time.
Oh, no, it was good. You know, like when you have
like your boys on there, Like there's definitely the
camaraderie that you hear just right away.
I didn't listen to the whole pub, but I got all the way up to
I think, before you guys went toVegas.
OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And but yeah, that was, it was good, man.

(01:17:38):
You know, you guys did a lot of stuff, so that was really
awesome. You're able to do so much.
Yeah, it was an insane trip, actually.
Like every day was a good day, which, you know, can't ask for
much more than that. But the reason I brought you on
today is I wanted to talk about Puerta Viejo with you because
that's where we met. And this is the Costa recap
episode. And I just wanted to know what

(01:18:00):
your initial impression of Puerto Viejo was.
Man, Puerto Viejo is probably the most chill place I've ever
been before. I mean, there's not one building
that's above, not above 2 stories that I was in.
And man, it was just the people were so chill.
Just the beaches were so chill. And I think that's what I've

(01:18:23):
been telling everybody about my experience there is that number
one, it was so chill, the food was amazing, and there was just
so much beach and so much to do.So there was a lot of fun.
It had a big Caribbean influence, right?
It was that laid back Caribbean vibe, like, hey, you know what's
up, man? Easy.
Going yeah, yeah, definitely allthe all of that stuff you're

(01:18:46):
better at than I am. But no, that it was awesome,
man, all the jerk chicken, like all the street vendors were,
were so good. And yeah, to do was just the the
beers were always so cold no matter how hot it was outside.
And man, that was a great place.Yeah, beers are cool, beaches
were nice. And yeah, you're right, the the

(01:19:06):
locals were super friendly. And you never know, like at
first I was a little skeptical, like, OK, are they being
friendly to get something out ofme or like what's going on?
But they're just genuinely friendly and they honestly.
Like I think they love their lives there.
Yeah, yeah, they they definitelyhave found something and and you
know, it's you could kind of tell there that development was
is might blow up pretty soon. So I was just so thankful to be

(01:19:26):
there. And just all the beaches were so
different too. I mean, Playa Negra was was
probably one of the first beaches that you see coming to
town that was really cool. And then the little beach that's
in front of the pirate bar in town, that was awesome.
And then you go to the other beaches like Cockles where we
played beach volleyball and those places, they're all so
different, unique, and it was just such a cool experience.
100%, yeah. If you're you can find what

(01:19:48):
you're looking for, that's for sure.
The beach volleyball was incredible.
I miss playing. We're going to be going down to
Montanita, Ecuador here in probably a week, maybe 10 days.
And apparently it's a mini SantaTeresa, so I'm very excited.
It should. Be nice, nice.
You know, my sister is actually still in Puerto Viejo now and
she's playing beach volleyball like still at least twice a

(01:20:09):
week. That's insane.
And why does it not surprise me that she's still there?
She might not ever leave. I'm a little afraid of her, uh,
never leaving, but I'd be so jealous.
I'd, well, I definitely go down and visit her.
But yeah, she's going to stay inCosta Rica for a little longer.
She's gonna go to Santa Teresa here, I think in a couple weeks,
so. OK, OK, She's going to party

(01:20:30):
town. Party town, Yeah.
She's always there, though. God.
Yeah, she is. She is.
Fair enough. We had some good times, no
doubt. Well, what something I wanted to
ask you about right off the hop here is, I know you were staying
at an Airbnb when you're in Puerto Viejo and I just wanted
to ask how was it? What was the setup?
Did you prefer staying in that over the hostel?

(01:20:53):
Yes, the Airbnbs were good that we probably they were a little
more expensive than we thought they were going to be.
I think only because of the amount of Airbnbs that are in
Puerto Viejo. I think there were way more
hostiles than there were Airbnbsat least that were kind of
within our price range. I've always stayed in hostels
when I've traveled internationally, but never be

(01:21:15):
was great. You know, we stayed there.
We were in particular thing for six weeks total.
And so we got a great deal on the Airbnb, but our particular
host was great. She was always responsive.
I locked myself into my Airbnb twice and she was right there.
But it was good, you know, it wasn't obviously as cheap as a,
as a hostel, but I think we, we got the privacy we were looking

(01:21:39):
for. So you're spending a little
more, but it kind of depends on your preference.
I mean, I said hostile is my preference earlier, but I I'd
recommend either one. I mean, the the Casa Wallaba
where we were partying at just seemed like an awesome hostel.
And I didn't go to the one that you were staying at, but I don't
know. Yeah, Yeah.
Well, I think it makes sense because.

(01:21:59):
Like you said, you were there for six weeks, so it's a little
different if you're only there for a few days or even a week.
It makes sense to go to a hostel, meet some people, save
some money. But if you're there for a longer
period of time, it's nice to have a home base, somewhere
comfortable, have your own space, cook your own food.
So yeah, that that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, I mean, we stayed there was like a a long weekend where
we kind of shelled out a little more cash to stay in a nice

(01:22:22):
Airbnb that was that had some jungle views and that was just
so cool. Like I said, like there's a ton
of development going on. So we were able to to get that
fancy Ness of it I guess, and that was really cool.
But it wasn't the same as like being on boots on the ground in
Puerto Viejo. I mean, that was just nothing
like that so. Of course, but you still got a

(01:22:43):
taste of it because like you said, you still came out to a
couple of the hostile events. And that one, I was staying at
El Clan. It was, it was quite nice.
I really appreciated the pool. Yeah, yeah, man, it was just so
cool meeting just the hostels environment is just so cool
meeting so many people from so many different countries.
I mean, you just can't beat that.
Exactly, Exactly. Well, moving on from that, I

(01:23:03):
mean, you're there for six weeks, which I didn't even
realize. Let's talk about some of the
activities you did, whether it was like an excursion or just
going to the beach. Jack just mentioned some of the
things you did. Yeah, so I'm so my sister and
wife were with me. My wife and I were the only six
weeks. My sister ended up visiting
later. She's still there.

(01:23:24):
But one of the of our favorite things to do was we went up to
the Bribery village and we got to do that whole thing where
they taught us out and, you know, they make chocolate and
kind of like a tour of all the different plants and roots and
trees that they use in everyday life.
That was really cool. And I know that my sister
actually got connected with one and she went to a Barbie village

(01:23:44):
and stayed there for three nights and helped out the farm.
And so those opportunities are there.
And that was just, you know, very culturally immersive,
obviously. But what we did was tour as
little touristy, but still very cool.
Another thing that we did was wewent to, oh, we did the, the
kayaking through the little, I guess to be called rivers.

(01:24:05):
Look like the like the lagoon orsomething like that.
Tons of wildlife and you know, Isaw way more slots on the
Pacific side than I did on on the Atlantic side, excuse me,
than I did on the Pacific side. So that was really cool.
I know slots are huge deal for people folks down there.
Quick, quick, quick question. Not interrupt you, but why the

(01:24:26):
hackers lost such a big deal? I don't understand that they
move so slow. I don't get the attraction.
I don't know, man. I think it might be like it's
like a panda thing where it's like they're cute, but it's just
like, how can they survive in the wilderness without?
But they do, they're super cute so I think I'm assuming that's
why. That's fair enough.
Fair enough. Yeah.
But yeah, moving on from that, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but

(01:24:49):
other stuff that you did. Oh no, you're getting into it
and didn't tell. Hiking too.
You know, if you go to TripAdvisor, there's not as many
activities to do there as they're on the Pacific side.
But I feel like there's also just a ton more national parks
on the Atlantic side in the airport to Vallejo.
I mean, you got Kavita right there, which is beautiful.
You've got Demands and Neo One just further east of there,

(01:25:12):
southeast of there, and then I can't remember the other one.
But if you're a nature person orif you're like birding or
whatever, I mean, there's just so many cool things to do.
You know, I use the Merlin Bird ID app to like identify birds
calls and stuff like that. And you just see so many
colourful birds and it's just, it's so cool.
Oh, so you're one of those weirdones.
You're a bird guy. I am a bird.
I'm turning into a bird guy. It's like OHP man.

(01:25:36):
Guys got the Burdicks II Cyclopedia at home now you know
just. Yeah, exactly.
Oh shit, that's a some sort of warbler.
Ohm, my God. Well, yeah, I know they do have
a lot of lot of natural parks. I remember going to I always say
it wrong because who data. So you actually stay there
though, so I think you know better than I would.

(01:25:57):
And and your last one of your last pods was was with a girl
from there, wasn't it? Or.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, it's, it was with a girl I
met there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I stayed there a few nights and not really much going on in
town, but you're the main reasonyou're there is just to go to
the park. And it is a beautiful park.
I saw quite a bit of wildlife, which is really cool, like the
sloss, the raccoons, the monkeys, all of that.

(01:26:20):
You can definitely just do a daytrip from Puerto Viejo.
I don't think you'd actually need to stay in the town of
Coweta just because, again, there's really not much just
besides the park. But it was kind of nice to just
get away, have some quiet time, work on the pod.
I had a private room for a night, which was a nice break
from the dorm life, but yeah, sothat was nice.
But yeah, I mean, really just doa day trip.

(01:26:41):
And then back in Puerto Viejo, like you mentioned before, I
kind of just like to chill vibe,like there's no rush to do
anything. Just take your time, maybe do
some exploring, maybe for you dosome bird watching or you know,
cat. Yeah, I think the most thing,
the thing I did the most, was just, you know, pick up a beer
for lunch and just go to the beach and read.

(01:27:02):
I caught up on so much reading there.
You know, you could just picked up.
I came up with the name of the bar, but I would just pick the
beer, walk cross street, just sit in a chair and just just
read. And I do that for a couple of
hours each day and that was justso chill.
I loved it. Yeah, and that's the life,
right? You don't always have to be
doing something. It's nice to like.
Maybe go catch a quick. Surf in the morning for a little
like exercise and then just showing that.

(01:27:24):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Read a book, have a beer. And then in the evening, as we
mentioned, play some beach volleyball.
I could play beach volleyball for five hours every night.
It's insane. That was so much fun.
Yeah. And have just, you know, just
drinking beers all day long, dude.
It's just a great time. I know that's why I'm broke now
is because I drank so many beers.
Costa Rican I stayed. I was only supposed to be in

(01:27:46):
Costa Rica for a week and I was there 3 weeks.
No way. OK, Well, yeah, that.
I mean, that's that's it enough right there.
Man, those Imperials were so good.
Exactly, exactly. But yeah, that's why I'm
drinking the dollar beers in Ecuador now, because spent all
my money while keeping on the topic of drinking beers, Uh,
what? What was your opinion of the

(01:28:07):
nightlife there? I know we had a I think.
Do we? Have two fun.
Nights, I know I had two fun nights at that L clan vibes and
it was actually a really good time.
Yeah, yeah, the IT seems like they do a really good job of
kind of using the the hostels toparty, but in hostels together
to go party. The largest bar in the area is
called Hot Rocks. I mean, that seems like it's a

(01:28:29):
relatively hopping place, especially when live music is
gone and we watched the Super Bowl there actually.
That was pretty happen afterwards, but yeah.
And what was the name of that club right next to Hot Rocks
where we went to? That was the IT was called the L
clan vibes. So it's actually.
Like that was the old clan vibes.
OK, OK. Yeah, so is connected with the

(01:28:50):
hostel. And so for people listening, I
stayed at El Clan Hostel. There was a hostel connected to
it, which had all the nightly events.
So you'd go over to the other one, Casa Wallaba, and quite
often after their events like karaoke night or beer pong or
whatever, you'd end up going to this club.
It was called El Clan Vibes, andthey had agreement with the
hostels. So we'd go there and it was just

(01:29:12):
really good music, really good vibes, a lot of dancing and a
hell of a good time, and a lot of Cuba libres, the Roman Cokes.
Yeah, yeah, lots of the man thatwas that place was so much fun.
I think the DJ looked like he was 15 years old, but he was
just actually spit into it. He was just, it was awesome.
Man. That was definitely probably
number one or two night in CostaRica for sure.

(01:29:32):
All hell yeah, that was a part of that.
Perfect. But well, I remember, I remember
I invited you out the next nightand you're like, yeah, yeah,
can't do it. Man, do it.
I was absolutely buckled. Man, I couldn't not do anything
the next day. That's fair, man.
Some, some days I wonder how I do it, to be honest, how I'm
able to rally. But I think just sitting by the

(01:29:53):
pool all day, definitely. Helped.
Yeah, well, you got that, that Canadian blood on you, dude.
Canadians can go a lot more thanI can.
Fair enough, fair enough. Yeah, well, we'll find out this
weekend because we're here Banyos and it's Friday now, so
we're going to be going out tonight and tomorrow night and
it's there's a place called Leprechaun Club and it's a it's
a good time so. Wherever you are in the world

(01:30:15):
and nothing beats a good Irish bar.
All exactly, exactly. Well, they, they, they have all
the bars here. There's Leprechaun club, there's
Leprechaun Bar and I think there's one other one.
So yeah, they're they're taking over going out to Puerto Viejo,
though. What was your opinion of the
food there? It was good.
I mean, food in Costa Rica was alittle more expensive than my

(01:30:38):
wife and I kind of initially thought it was, unless you're
just going on just rice and beans, which don't get me wrong,
I love rice and beans, but 10 days of rice and bean kind of
get up on you a little bit. But I really like to one thing
that patacones, man, I could live off of those things.
I love patacones and there were every place sold those love
those. But what we kept going back to

(01:30:59):
again and again was the the street vendors.
You know those older gals right outside of Hot Rocks, they just
sold like the pork skewers or whatever.
We just had those almost every night.
They were so good. Greasy and again, a ton of
weight, but very good. Yeah, yeah, but it all goes to
the biceps, buddy. Don't.
Worry, right, Right. Yeah.

(01:31:21):
But I mean, being there six weeks and eating the street
food, was there ever a time you got sick or you were fine?
No, I I was always fine. I never, when we would buy fruit
from fruit stands, you know, we always wash that stuff and in
Puerto Viejo, even though most times you're buying your water.
So it was never an issue for us to we we never.

(01:31:43):
My wife and I did not get sick the whole time, so it was pretty
nice. OK, OK, I love it.
Yeah, I know. I I managed not to get sick
either. I wasn't really eating the
street food, but I was also justliving off like a cup of noodles
and cans of tuna, so I wasn't. Putting, Yeah.
The, the one meal, the one kind of small story I'll share for
people is I remember I was making a meal the one day making

(01:32:03):
some pasta and I didn't realize I didn't have any pasta sauce.
But it's already too late because I was cooking the pasta
and there's a couple there and they're actually getting ready
to leave the hotel and they're here.
We're going to give you some things because we don't want
them. And one of them was Maple syrup.
And of course, me being Canadian, I was like, Oh my
gosh, this is the best thing ever.
So I then proceeded to have pasta with Maple syrup.

(01:32:26):
And. I was.
Getting so funny looks but I gotto be honest, it wasn't that
bad. Really.
OK, I'll keep that in mind next time I'm strapped without tomato
sauce. Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can use the syrup or even a
little olive oil I've done in the past, but yeah, that was a

(01:32:46):
survival mode for sure. But yeah, I know when I was in
Costa Rica, it was it was super expensive for food, so I was
just cooking everyday and. Yeah, if you're going to be
cooking, it's got to be in bulk.I'm going to go to the grocery
stores and everything like that.But we did cook mostly cooking,
but when we went out, definitelythe street food was just pretty
good. Bread and Chocolate was a really
good restaurant too. You know that that's like the

(01:33:07):
number one restaurant that comesup on all the tourist sites.
But it's number one for a reason.
And it wasn't crazy expensive, but I would say that was
probably the best restaurant we went to.
OK. And what was it called again?
Bread and chocolate. Bread and chocolate.
Yeah, it's mostly breakfast and brunch, but man, there there's
stuff was so good that. I wish I had known about it

(01:33:29):
because I do like me some chocolate.
But do you have any other stories that you could share?
Just for the people listening about Puerto Viejo, Maybe some
funny stories or something that happened during the six weeks.
Not to put you on the spot, but I'm putting you on the spot.
Uh, you know I'm trying. Yeah, you know.
In Costa Rica, you say, Oh my God, you have to cut this.

(01:33:53):
But what's the pure, pure Vida? Every, you know, pure Vida is
you see that for everything, right?
So there was one night where my sister and I were walking back
from and my wife were walking back from dinner and this guy,
you know, wanted thing about Puerto Viejo is that if you are
a if you smoke pot, if you're, if you dabble in that kind of

(01:34:16):
thing, you can get that anywhere.
And people are coming up OHS alltime saying, Hey, do you want do
you want? We do on weed and this guy just
ask us, Hey, you guys want weed,pure Vida and we all jump back
terrified. But we said pure Vida in like
this most terrifying voice you could ever imagine.
But hey, it's pure Vida. It's Costa Rica, It's all good.

(01:34:37):
So that's the first thing that comes up.
I mean, that's not really that funny when I say it out loud.
I'll be the best story in for our time in Puerto Viejo.
Was this Canadian inviting us over to take a seat?
We didn't know you were Canadian, but you were so nice.
I was like, Oh no, this is a Canadian dude.
I'm gonna have to sit next to this guy for the whole time.
I mean, I remember 2010, Sidney Crosby.

(01:35:00):
I remember Ben's goal. And what was that, 2014?
And so it just the United Stateslosing again was just brutal.
But you and I were going there for a while, so that was pretty
fun. Oh, that was a great time.
I was just happy to have some people to drink with, to be
honest, because like I said, I had the whole table to myself,
but I was just chilling there onmy own.
So when I saw you guys looking for a table like oh come on
over, let's be friends and. Yeah, yeah, that was awesome

(01:35:22):
then. No, it was a good time.
And yeah, heartbreak for you again in overtime, right.
So another overtime. Yeah, Yeah.
But you, you guys are catching up.
You'll you'll get us next time. You'll get us next time.
Hopefully. Knock on wood.
Actually, the World Championships on right now, is
it not? I think so.
I haven't really paid much attention to it with the Stanley
Cup Playoffs, so I have to checkit out later.

(01:35:43):
But yeah, you know, I can't think of any other funny, funny
stories that Puerto Viejo. But I, I think the only other
thing about Puerto Viejo from asan American, from an American
perspective is that there weren't, there were more
Europeans and there were Americans, which from my point
of view that was awesome. Don't like traveling with
Americans either, so. We we don't associate with those

(01:36:08):
type. Yeah.
So that was super cool, being able to meet, you know, French,
German and Canadian folks all around a particular.
So that was really cool. Well.
Not just that, right? Because Puerto Viejo, it's still
touristy, but it's not like someparts of Costa Rica, like if you
go to La Fortuna or if you go toTamarindo, it's very American

(01:36:28):
heavy. You've got like the families in
the golf carts and you're like, where am I?
Is this Florida? Is this Costa Rica?
I don't know. Yeah, voice heard that.
I'm glad I didn't go to Tamarindo.
Reason. So yeah.
Definitely. OK, well before we let you go,
any final impressions of Porto Viejo?
And for someone that might want to travel there, any tips,
recommendations, things they should do?

(01:36:50):
Yeah, I would always recommend Puerto Viejo.
It is such a unique and showplace for any younger people
especially. I mean, how many hostels were
there between Manzanillo and Puerto Viejo?
There were tons of them, tons ofyoung, young folks on the beach
playing beach volleyball with cold beer.
So it really doesn't get any better than that.
I miss it so much and I can't wait to go back.

(01:37:15):
I mean, your sister is going to be there for a couple of years,
so you'll have someone to visit,maybe a place to stay.
Yeah, exactly. Maybe she'll she'll be one of
those weirdos living out by the beach.
So. Yeah, I can see that.
I could see that. Yeah.
Well, yeah, Porto Viejo was a great time.
I'm super glad I met you. And I just want to thank you so
much for coming on. Dude, Adrian, I appreciate you

(01:37:35):
reaching out man and and best ofluck on your travels and good
luck with everything dude. I appreciate it, man.
I appreciate it. And go, Canada, go.
Alright, and there you have it. Thank you so much, Jack for
coming on. I really do appreciate it.
And yeah, that is actually gonnapretty much wrap up our Costa

(01:37:55):
Rica recap. Those are all the places I went
to after Puerto Viejo. I made my way down to Bocas del
Toro, which if you listen to thePanama recap, you've already
heard about. Now you're probably wondering,
why did I do the Panama, Panama recap first before Costa Rica?
Well, I wanted to get these interviews locked down.
Moving forward, I want to changethe layout of these recap

(01:38:19):
episodes just to make it more interesting and fun for the
listeners. So I want to bring some people
on that I met in each country just to share some stories.
So that's what we're going to domoving forward.
The next recap episode will be Colombia.
I'm not sure when that's coming out just yet.
Still gotta work on it, get someinterviews lined up.
But hopefully you enjoyed this recap episode.

(01:38:41):
If there's anything I'm missing,any questions you have, feel
free to reach out. Do not hesitate.
You probably have my socials. If you don't, it's at Instagram
at up in the clouds, under scoresame, same spelling as the
podcast. But yeah.
So just to summarize Costa Rica,I did have fun.
Don't get me wrong. I really did enjoy Santa Teresa.

(01:39:03):
I made, I met some amazing people.
I quite enjoyed Monteverde, mainly the bungee jump as I
mentioned, bucket list item. And of course, Puerto Viejo was
really nice as well. But to be honest, Costa Rica
overall just way too expensive. I think if I were to do it
again, I probably wouldn't go, but that's easier for me to say

(01:39:25):
seeing that I already have been and had those experiences.
So I leave it up to you whether you wish to go or not, but just
know that it is going to be moreexpensive.
It is going to put a dent in your budget.
So if you're doing a longer travel, keep that in mind.
If you're just doing a vacation,well, no problem.
Then go spend your money and have some fun.

(01:39:46):
So Costa Rica, it's been a blast.
But yeah, I, I don't know, I mean, I can't say I'll never go
back cause there is Santa Teresa.
So we'll see, we'll see one day.But anyways, I hope you enjoyed
this episode. I'm going to stop myself from
rambling on here. I'm going to sit down now here
in beautiful Cusco, Peru, edit it and get ready to send it out.

(01:40:09):
So yeah, thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed the episode.
Like I said, yeah. You got any more questions or
any feedback, feel free to reachout.
And yeah, that's it for now. So hope you're all doing well.
And we'll see on the next one. That's it for today's episode.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, make sure to

(01:40:31):
leave a review and follow us on your preferred listening
platform as well. You can follow At U in the
Clouds under Score on Instagram and at Up in the Clouds on
TikTok for my latest travel updates.
We'll see you next week for an all new episode.
Take care.

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