Pirates of Costa Rica

I had an eye infection last Saturday evening. In the morning when I woke up, my eyes still okay still can see well just feel a bit uneasy but I still put on my contact lenses as me and a bunch of friends are going for outing.

The place we are going to --> Prendas

On the way to Hirador Prendas, we have gone through a terrifying ride as our 4WD got stuck and the car cannot moved at all. It was difficult to describe here, i have captured some pics of the road and how we got up to the hill.

Narrow woodedn bridge (1)

Narrow wooden bridge (2)

Narrow wooden bridge (3)

We have passed through 2 narrow bridge and the rocks road... Finally reached to the top... Nice view taken from the top of the hill....

nice view from the top (Prentas)

The next day, terrible eyes infection. My left eyes was swollen and cannot open at all. When I tried to open my eyes, the tears keep coming out ... I felt helpless " Am I going to be blind? " Silly question ... of course not....

I asked Andy to send me to the Intel Clinic early in the morning and the nurse gave me some oilment and eye drops to apply and a patch to cover up my eyes .... here you go

Well covered with cap and sun glass

When the mistery disclose..... yakss.. .. scary right?

~Pirates of Costa Rica~

Life in Costa RIca

At first, i was thinking to update my blog every week but ended up i have to sum up everything in one blog.... due to too busy with the trips and lazy with the posting :P

I am having a real good time here, enjoy the environment, people and food here very much. Imagine, you are breathing the different air as what you used to breath, seeing different kind of people and experience their cultures. This is a really good experience and something good to learn and share with. I love everything here except there is one big problem which is the communication problem. Most of the people in Intel can speaks good English but if you go outside Intel, you may find problem to communicate with the sales person or anyone outside as they only know their own language - Spanish..... so when you face this kind of problem, you will need to use your body language or any sign language to communicate with them. This is kind of interesting .....

I have try a lot of new stuff here, do something different which i have never did in my home country before. 1st of all, i have tried Rappelling..... from 180 feets ... I bet i wouldn't do that back in my country :P Other than that i have tried canopy (zip lining) with 350 kmph speed. Some new experience for me which made me almost mad, shouting for help in the middle of the jungle ... haha

Where I have been for this few weeks? Other than giving training during the weekdays, we have been travelling a lot of visit different places .....

1st week - Arenal valcano ( Valcano hike, hot spring, rappelling)
2nd week- Element Club (karaoke), Terra mall for shopping, La Paz waterfall
3rd week - Punta Leona, Jaco (Canopy zip lining)
4th week - Rio Frio (German bridge, nice view from Prendas)
5th week - from Monday to Wednesday (on MC due to eye infection, that's why i have time to update my blog now .. :P )

Throughout the 5 weeks here in Costa Rica, I have met really nice people, love their courtesy and warm hospitality here. Other than that, we have build a really good rapport with the people coming here and with the Tico here. We have been to the nice restaurant around and tasted different types of food.

I'm glad i have met some special friends here.... especially Alex chai, AJ :) thanks for their hospitality for bringing me around ......

For the next following week, Karen, Andy and I will be travelling to San Francisco for our personal vacation. We will be there for 1 week before heading home. Can't wait to feel the world there...... Till then.....

I have posted some nice pics in multiply site
http://carm3n83.multiply.com/

My first week in Costa Rica

Finally, I havc reached Costa Rica safely in one piece. The travel hour was really very long, it took me nearly 16 hours to get to Los Angeles from Singapore and another 6 hours from LA to Costa Rica, have not yet include the transit time. Luckily I'm not alone for the whole trip, Karen and Andy will be with me for the whole trip - 5 weeks.

Let me tell you about the first day when we reached Los Angeles, it was around 4.30pm (21st April) and we took the Hertz airport shuttle to the car rental center to get our car. 3 of us were sharing a Mazda 6 thinking that it would be much more cost saving and would be easier for us to travel around.

4/19 night - 3rd Street Santa Monica (we had subway for dinner)
4/20 morning - Costa Rica Embassy
afternoon - Universal Studio
evening - Fisherman Pier (Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen)
4/21 whole day - LA city tour (we went to Hollywood, Beverlyhill, Fox Studio, Farmer's market and etc.)
4/22 midnight - took flight to Costa Rica (2.40am flight)

We touched the ground at 9am in the morning. Everything looks pretty nice here... fresh air .... Chris Thomas came and picked us up from the airport and fetched us back to our apartment (Obeliscos Apartotel). After rest for a while, unpack everything and he brought us out for grocery shopping. That's the first day in Costa Rica.... TBD