You are currently browsing the James World Travels weblog archives for the day August 13, 2007.
- 2005 to 2007, North America on…, Planning up to Depar (3)
- 2007-07 Pre-Trip (6)
- 2007-07 to 2007-08, Pre-Trip and Travel (6)
- 2007-08 Costa Rica (19)
- 2007-08, Peru (6)
- 2007-09 to 10, Austrailia (23)
- 2007-09, Ecuador (4)
- 2007-10, Singapore & Malaysia (7)
- 2007-11, Thailand (14)
- 2007-12 to 2008-01, Hong Kong & China (21)
- 2007-12, Laos & Vietnam (6)
- 2008-01 to 02, India (25)
- 2008-02 to 04, Africa (36)
- 2008-02-12 Dubai (2)
- 2008-03 to 05, Europe (38)
- 2008-05 to 06, North America (20)
- Home (1)
- December 16, 2009: Links to Christmas 2009 Newsletter and Video's
- December 17, 2008: Home
- July 6, 2008: Updates
- July 5, 2008: Northern British Columbia
- July 1, 2008: Southern British Columbia
- June 30, 2008: Fulfilling a dream!
- June 23, 2008: Prairie Provinces
- June 19, 2008: Northwestern Ontario
- June 18, 2008: Last Time Through the States
- June 17, 2008: Southwestern Ontario
Archive for August 13, 2007
Our First Day and Earthquake?
August 13, 2007 by Claudette-CJB.
Written: Saturday, August 11, 2007
We have been in Quepos for just over 24 hours. We arrived yesterday afternoon during a severe thunderstorm with torrential rain. We now have to start our lists. First on the list will be “Survived an Earthquake”. It was tonite at 7:45 PM. I was laying on the bed in our room reading when the bed began to move from side to side so very slightly. At first I thought maybe a big truck was driving by but the more I thought of it I realized that that was impossible and slowly I realized that it was an actual earthquake. I stepped through the open window into the courtyard as everyone else in the hose was also exitting into the courtyard. Luke and Alex said they didn’t really feel it as they were playing with the dogs. Annia (the 26 year old daughter) figured that it was probably about a 4 on the Richter Scale. Oh, well! I’m sure it’s just the first of many first for the year. However I must say that our host family is great, and Maricela is a fantastic cook even Luke is liking the food. Yesterday was fish and today was chicken, spectacular! Tomorrow we are off to the beach at Manuel Antonio.
Posted in 2007-08 Costa Rica | 1 Comment »
25 Hours of Travelling
August 13, 2007 by Claudette-CJB.
Written: Friday, August 10, 2007
Well we have now completed our first 3 flight segments and 1 bus ride. We left Edmonton at 2:45, flying to Vancouver, Los Angeles and finally arriving in San Jose at 9:00 AM. Then we caught a bus for the final leg to Quepos, arriving at 3:45 MST.
Posted in 2007-08 Costa Rica | No Comments »
Our 15th Anniversary and last day in Canada!
August 13, 2007 by Claudette-CJB.
Written: Wednesday, August 8, 2007
I was originally planning to take Rick out for supper on our anniversay however yesterday I booked us pedicures and we went out for lunch downtown instead. It was a great time. Well the week has flown by, we had a chance to visit most of our family “new and old”. My 15 day old nephew, Dylan, was just a sweetheart. I guess it’s time to finish packing.
To answer the question everyone has been asking , what cloths do you pack for one year? 1 pr of pants, 1 pr of capri’s, 1 skirt, 2 prs. of shorts. 3 short sleeved t-shirts, 2 long sleeved shirts, 2 pr of socks, and 4 pr of underwear, and I’ve actually packed more than the kids.
Posted in 2007-07 Pre-Trip | No Comments »
Leaving Day…
August 13, 2007 by Claudette-CJB.
Written: Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Well miraculously I am satisfied with how clean we are leaving our house. I didn’t think it would be possible in just a day and a half but it looks clean. We were scheduled to leave at noon but we were still sweeping out the garage and vacuuming as our friends were stopping in to wish us a final goodbye at 1. However we were done and on the road by 2, which knowing us, is almost on time.
We drove the car to Hay River, as we sold it at the last minute to someone there, and then continued on to High Level. We were only 2 hours late in meeting up with Tim, Joanne & kids, but we had a great visit. Thanks Tim & Joanne for sharing that great bottle of wine.
Posted in 2007-07 Pre-Trip | No Comments »
Our first lesson.
August 13, 2007 by Rick.
Today (Monday) we all got up early to get an evaluation and placement at COSI school. (A little TOO early I believe…) We had the bus system and other local stuff figured out beforehand so we made it easily enough. I REALLY don´t think that I would want to rent a car here, the roads and drivers are much too crazy!
The lesson was great! Claudette and I are togther while Alex and Luke are with their own instructor. They went to the beach again after lunch, while I came back to the school to organize a couple of tours and upload all the blog postings.
Thanks for the comments all! Asta La Vista, BABY!
Posted in 2007-08 Costa Rica | 2 Comments »
Lot’s of new adventures
August 13, 2007 by AJ.
Today (Sunday) was lots of fun!! We went to the beach, got caught in some rain (it was a real relief from the heat!!!) and decided to walk for about 800 m to the next bus stop to avoid the crowd and get a seat on the bus. Minnyana (tommorrow in spanish) we have to get up early to go to spanish school (see I’ve been praticing!!)
Posted in 2007-08 Costa Rica | 2 Comments »
Catching up…
August 13, 2007 by AJ.
The going away party at the end of July in Fort Smith was really fun. I was only going to spend a little bit of time on the water slide but I ended up spending the whole night on it. I said my goodbyes to all our friends and some unexpected people came for a surprise visit and to say goodbye.
I spent the next two days afer the party emptying my room and cleaning it up.
I saw someone I’m reqally gonna miss( Gracie G) on Tuesday!!! She was saying”I don’t want you to go” practically the entire time I saw her. I’m gonna miss her. I made a friend in the pool at the hotel. Her name is Elizabeth, and she was really nice! I had a really good dessert at boston pizza, it’s called vanilla bean cheesecake. I recommend it!!!!
I had a wonderful time in Edmnoton. I got evertything done. Except for when my parents were spoiling themselves like crazy because it was their aniversery, everything was good.
The way here was wonderful. I found a new song that I love!!! I’ll have to buy it when we come back. It is by an artist called Mica. For the last leg of the trip we travelled by bus. I loved it. At one point we were up in the clouds. My least favorite flight was the last one, It was the longest (even though I was only awake for about half an hour).
I love Costa Rica!!! We are staying with a family and learning spanish. There was a brother and a sister staying here before and they said this was the best house and I beleive them!!! For breakfast they normally have beans and rice and some fruit (I didn’t go traditional and I had cereal and fruit, but tommorrow I will go traditional). The fruit is way good!! Probably because it is grown here. My bedroom is way cool!!! It has a window which opens up to the tiny back yard, and I can step throu the window! All the backyard is, is a clothsline and nature and you can’t see the neighbor! The house we are staying in is little, but yesterday it held 9 people!!! Now it is only holding 7 people. There are gechos everywhere!!!!!!!!!! The windows have to be left open( so air can get get in and we don’t sweat to death) so anything can crawl in and everything DOES come in!!! Thats all I’m gonna say for now…
HELP GECHO ON THE CEILING HUGE BUG OUTSIDE!!! TO MUCH!!!!
Posted in 2007-08 Costa Rica | No Comments »
So much happening!
August 13, 2007 by Luke.
During the party I got to say Hi and Goodbye to all my friends. We played on a waterslide most of the time and when the waterslide had to be deflated, Uncle Troy deflated it while I was on top of it. So we got him back by squirting him with water.
We finished cleaning everything on Tuesday and we left at 2:00 pm. We got in High Level, and went swimming with the Gauthier’s. After swimming we went to eat. We stayed up until 11:00 eating and watched Hercules in the Gauthier’s room.
We had breakfast with the Gauthier’s the next day, and took pictures together before we started driving to Edmonton. Me and Alex watched Sabrina on the way there, it was a long drive to Edmonton. We had supper as soon as we got to Grandma Vi’s, and then we watched some TV, and went to sleep.
In the week in Edmonoton, we visited with Grandma Vi, and then we visited Aunty Monique’s, and saw baby Dylan. We also went to Grandpa Ray’s new place for supper, and we went to Grandpa James new lake property.
Thursday we caught the plane and flew to Vancouver. From Vancouver we caught the plane to Los Angeles. At 2:00 AM, we boarded the third plane, and arrived in Costa Rica at 9:00 AM. We took a taxi to the bus stop, and travelled the last four hours to Quepos. The town seems nice so far. There are lots of Gehco’s around in the house which is cool! The sidewalks are kinda crappy, but we walked all around town today. The people we are staying with are VERY nice.
Posted in 2007-08 Costa Rica | No Comments »
25 Hours: Three Flights and a Bus Ride
August 13, 2007 by Rick.
After a whirlwind week in Edmonton we were mostly prepared and caught up on last minute purchases and errands. Not to mention numerous drives each out to Acheson and out to Sherwood Park. We were packed up and left the house before lunch on Thursday after a few late nights and early mornings in a row. With a last quicik goodbye stop at Trucker’s Toybox, we were off to the Edmonton International Airport. Ray, Denise & Monique all met us out there for a last goodbye which was really great. There was barely any security lineup at all and we stayed to visit over lunch before succumbing to the pocket emptying humiliation of entering the “Secure Area”.
Our first flight was fairly quick to Vancouver, and we hung out there for a couple hours until our next flight. The second flight was also on Air Canada, but on a small commuter jet with a fantastic in-seat media/entertainment system. The LCD pannels were touch screen with individually selectable movies, musics videos, games or other information. Plus adjacent to every screen was a USB port for charging up portable electronic devices like audio players or PSP’s. We had a slight scare when we realized that Claudette or I had “misplaced” our luggage claim tags, and weren’t entirly sure if Air Canada had booked them all the way through or not. When we landed in San Jose’ our bags were safe and sound waiting for us though. San Jose’ was (almost needless to say) hot and instantly muggy. It was certainly beautiful and very lush & green every where we looked. The COSI school had a driver waiting for us and with the two larger suitcases strapped to the top of a little Nissan 4 door old taxi, we set off towards the bus station. The driver knew little English but conveyed to us that we had lots of time, and suggested we stop for a bite to kill some time. We agreed and he came to a parking lot accross from a Subway. Claudette, Alex and I had eaten on the plane, so Luke ordered an omlette for breakfast while the rest of us just got a bottle of water (and a cookie to satiate Rick’s ity bity sweet tooth). I wanted to wander down the street for a bit, but we had all (for some reason???) brought our heavy and cumbersome backpacks and so Claudette denied my request to wander down this commercial street for a half hour or so. The driver had just gotten a newspaper and opted to stay with our bags which were tied to the top of the car. We proceeded to a bank to change some US$ to Colones (the Costa Rican currency) and then on to the bus station. We were warned in e-mails, paper documention and by the driver of the treacherousness of the neighborhood, but kept an eye on our bags and all was fine. We left barely a couple minutes late and endured a spendidly beautiful (but equally harrowing) ride through deep green valleys, up mountainous switchbacks, accross one way bridges and skirting precarious cliff edges right out of some crazy movie. I’ve driven with many an Englishmen before but was astoundeed at the driving here in Costa Rica. Monteray, Mexico was similar for absolute crazy drivers, but the roads there were much better and more uniform and organized. I captured a bit of video through the bus windows and struggeled to get comfortable in the newer but very cramped bus.
Our host family met us at the Bus station and we took two taxi’s the short distance to their house. It is a very new house, since their previous one was reduced to rubble in an earthquake a couple years ago. For the first night we were all in one room with 3 bed spots since there is a brother and sister guest in the other two single bed rooms for just one more night. They were from Alaska and had spent the past four weeks attending COSI and staying with this family and had thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The family have a puppy which Alex & Luke (AND Claudette & I) had great fun cuddling and playing with. Due to our terrible sleeps on the Plane, they crashed about 8:30 while I stayed up barely another hour to type in my log plus visit with the family and other guests for a bit.
Today, (Saturday) we all had nice cool showers, a leisurely breakfast, and then wandered around town for most of the rest of the day. We had lunch at a restraunt suggested by the other students but found it to be quite a bit more expennsive than we had planned, even though the food was really good. Sunday we plan on hitting the beach adjacent to the National Park.
While wandering around town I was hit up by a street urchin and a con guy but brushed them both off easily enough. We bought a new hat for Luke (who lost his) and a rawhide bone for Sol, the puppy at home who loves to nibble on everything, including us! After supper, sitting around watching TV & visiting we experienced our first E*A*R*T*H*Q*U*A*K*E ! ! ! Ever… It was kinda cool! Things shook a bit, but it was very brief. Alex and Luke were bopping around and playing with the puppies, so they didn’t really even notice. The family agreed that this was about a four on the Rhictor scale, but the one that brought down their house a couple years ago was about a 6.8 or 6.9. Their rebuilt home is a much more solid construction with elasticity built in for the vibrations of earthquakes
I am dripping wet from sweat, and will need a shower to cool down before being able to sleep yet tonight. The typical afternoon rains never came today to cool things down. It’s 8:30 PM, but I am going to see about possibly wandering down to the internet cafe to publish a blog post. (And reply a HUGE thanks to Dallas for finishing my furnace install.)
Posted in 2007-08 Costa Rica | No Comments »