Costa Rica photos!

The life is amazing right now. Back on top of the world.

Im down in remote Costa Rica, in the very southwestern corner, at a crazy beautiful national park called Corcovado. Sleeping with monkeys, insects, trees all making noise all around. Packed full of wildlife. Supposedly there is 12% of the world´´s biodiversity here, and Im definitely getting my fair share. Super quiet, away from the tourists and a perfect spot.

Martin, my Dutch buddy and me, have been exploring the area after a day in the capital San Jose. Long bus ride down here has been worth it so far. rented bikes and road to check out crocodiles (sadly they were not showing themselves or biting us) and then off to a beach called la playa precioso, and it was indeed amazing. perfect waves and no one else there apart from some little kids who beat us 5-4 in a game of soccer. cruising around on a bike never felt so good.

today we got up at 5am to catch the Taxi Collectivo with all the locals and head out to the heart of the park, a bumpy 2 hour ride in, with lots of stops for the locals. after a 3 mile trek along the beach, we entered the jungle to meet anything from 3 species of monkeys, northern racoons (much better than our trash eaters), parrots, lizards, crabs, butterflies and so much more. completely amazing. We had to ford a few rivers, walk along beaches surrounded by blue water and palm trees. Perfect day, capped off by a seafood feast back in town.

We are staying at an awesome Italians farm nearby the town of Puerto Jimínez. Super cool guy, who speaks a little English and has been here for 7 years with a Costa Rican wife and boy. Pretty good life. Kinda envious right now as he has a fun little farm which produces a lot of his food, rents out rooms to people like me and just hangs out. Pretty tempting right now, the easiness and enjoyment is high. Ill give the farming a test run soon working on my friend of friends coffee farm.


this keyboard isnt the best, but the life is, and that is all that matters. here are a few pictures on face book for you to check out. We are living it up down here.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.591861572794.2082188.29301533&l=10ae1a60f9

Last day in the USA

As I booked my flight to central america, I had the option to take the cheapest way possible which included a 12 hour layover in Denver. Perfect! Time to make it to Coors Field and check out the Rockies vs. the Royals. Solid baseball in a home run park. Royals whooped the Rockies 16-8 with 4 home runs, in a high scoring game. Got to chow down on a Rockie dog and feel American, plus the stadium went all out Independence Day themed with the players getting the wig treatment.

Scalped a wicked ticket and sat 6 rows behind home plate. Got to see the pros up close and live it up in style in my last day in the US.


After I cruised around Denver, checking out their main mall full of every American shop out there, and checking out the capital area. Thousands of people out to watch the fireworks and celebration, which for some reason comes on July 3rd. Why not beat everyone to it, and celebrate a day early so you´re special, eh?

Good times, then off to Costa Rica to arrive at 5am for the adventures to begin.

My backpack

To prep for the Central American trip, I bought a new backpack that should be perfect for my 6 weeks on the road. It's recommended as a 3-5 day hiking trip pack, but I aim to get a lot more out of it. Several key features include a built in raincover which will come in quite handy as I'll be going in the rainy season. Still hot and humid out, just have to shower in rain for a couple hours a day.

The pack has a suspension backing which is like trampoline material, and keeps the pack an inch away from my back, keeping the back sweat to a minimum. Since I last bought a pack, this is the new and top of the line method for back support/sweat management. Going to be a fun trip. It's got a volume of 42 litres and right now, what I plan to take, makes the pack about half full, so plenty of room leftover for whatever comes up.

So I've got 3 weeks to go. Leaving July 3rd to arrive early July 4th in San Jose, Costa Rica. Keeping my streak of July 4ths in different places alive. Dating back to 2001, I've bounced all over for the Fourth. Highlights include Boston, Albania, the oldest celebration in Bristol, RI and the ol' classic on the beach, Malibu July 4th.

I head back up stateside, to Los Angeles August 18th, and will be around the area for a week or so. If you're around there, let's meet up. Don't know where I'm going after, but it'll work itself out quite nicely I'm sure.

Trip plannin

So after being grounded in the US for over 6 months now, the next trip is being booked. I bought a ticket last night to Costa Rica in early July to go travel around with one of my Dutch friends. Going to be around a month or so down in a couple countries in Central America. No end date yet, just a one way flight. Not sure how many countries, but Costa Rica and Nicaragua are in for sure.

I'd had an offer to work as a tour guide driver up in Alaska, taking cruise ship passengers from the ship to the Alaskan Brewing Co up in Juneau. Would've been working the summer season up there (65 F high in July) and lived it up surrounded by killer whales, glaciers and traveling by dogsled. But the idea of spending summer on white beaches, zip-lining and drinking coffee in the high hills was just too good to pass up.

So I've got a couple months left in Portland before off with the backpack again. The sun is paying us more visits, the Blazers keep teasing us with a potential first round upset, and there are still too many restaurants to choose from.

On a side note, my mom is in Bhutan, and I'm extremely jealous. Look it up, one of the best, most hidden countries out there that has yet to feel the wrath of over-tourism.

On another side note, did anyone see Kobe's 2 dunks last night in game 5 of the series? Lakeshow in full effect, going all the way for Phil's last threepeat.

Groovin

Been back in Portland for 4 months now. The time is flying by, the days get longer, and the rain keeps on coming. The American dream is indeed alive and well, full of fried chicken, NBA, Mexican food, hip hop shows, movies and good times.

After working 3 months total in 2010, and visiting 11 countries and living life as it should be lived, I'm acting like a grown up and working in an office. Part time. Still time to be free and have fun.

Working for an international student exchange program by day, and making people smile by night.

So sorry for the lack of posts, as I'm rocking the steady workin, American life these days. Definitely new adventures a'happening and more on the agenda, with Justus taking on the world once again. We'll see where the next post comes from.

America does Christmas

Portland's finest, presented by Justus, Peacock Lane!

China Vol 1

Here's the first round of pictures from China. Traveled into the country by bus from Vietnam and bounced around the southern cities working may way out to the coastal town of Xiamen north of Hong Kong. Didn't get to go to Hong Kong because I only had a single entry visa to China and if I went to the city, I could'nt get back into China. So I passed and stuck to the smaller town route, and by small town, I mean 1 million people. Every place was huge and packed full of people, locals and tourists. So many tour groups. They're all Chinese and just like around the world, they stick together in groups and take pictures of things that aren't picture worthy. Pretty much they often get in your way and fill up the cafes. It's a Chinese heavy tourist population. Often I wouldn't see more than 10 foreigners in a day, while each spot I went to was booming with tourists.

Mt Fuji Pictures

Most people hike the mountain in the night to be there for sunrise. Unfortunately, with all the people, it gets a bit crowded and there's a traffic jam towards the top, full of tired people, all a bit cold. I heard that and decided to hike the mountain in the day time, much faster, warmer and with views the whole time. Turned out to be a perfect day and a good hike, 4 hours to the top and just under 3 hours down. On the fast side, but had a street party to go to after so the time was ticking.

Once on top of Mt Fuji, it's like you've joined a new family. Everyone is happy, smiling, one even puking, but all are part of the club that has been to the top. I bought a Mt Fuji flag with a stamp saying when I hiked it. Proof that I was one of the elite. In Japan, it's like a rite of passage to get to the top, but you only do it once. The expression is, "a wise man climbs Fuji once, and a fool twice". I ain't no fool, mission complete, bring on the next mountain.


Check out some pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064164&id=29301533&l=31bc6f5998

Endangered Monkeys vs. the Justus

Endangered monkey #1: Red shanked douc langur, ready to battle
Justus kicking butt in the feeding process at the start
Uh, oh, monkeys taking over
And the victor is Justus, captain feeder and cage cleaner
And they were left wondering how the Justus won

Hawaii Pictures

Back in the USA

So after 6 months I made it back to the USA. Went to 11 countries in between here and where I started, New Zealand. Most of the time I was in Asia, almost 5 months total, eating a lot of rice and noodles, plus checking out heaps of temples. Should almost get a honorary Buddhist degree after this trip. Wore sandals and shorts 95% of the time, living the good life in constant summer for over half a year.

I last left off the blog when I went to China, where internet is a bit tricky with lots of sites blocked off, including this one. I spent 28 days there, taking overnight buses everywhere, seeing lots of cities and not that many other foreigners. After China I was in Japan for 2 weeks, where I hiked Mt Fuji, saw some cool temples and met up with an old university friend. The last stop of the trip was Hawaii for 2 weeks to relax on the beach, and that wraps up the missing 2 months in between this post and the last.

Now I'm chilling out in Boston, resting up, and liking not having to repack and move out with my backpack every few days. I've got over 4000 photos to go through, some already online, but more will be coming in the near future. Nice to be back in the land of civilized internet and English.

Sapa

Me and the Dutchies out in Sapa
Local friend Mih who took us on the hike
Cat Cat Waterfalls
Up in the mountains in northern Vietnam. It's amazing up here, actually cold and feels like a small alpine village in the town of Sapa. I'm finally not sweating and for the first time in months am wearing pants and shoes.

Plenty of hiking up here around the scenery. Waterfalls, terraced rice paddies and some amazing local women who wear traditional outfits that actually look good. It's a utopia away from the madness of the rest of Vietnam, which was hot, full of pushy people and too many motorbikes.

I'm sticking around here for an extra day cause it's guaranteed to be good. The first two days were rainy and misty which wasn't the best for riding motorbikes around, but still had some good pics with the mist over the mountains. Today was actually sunny, with blue skies and was a reason to go swimming in waterfalls. Super cold water, but was refreshing.

I've been kicking it with two Dutch guys I met on the train and it's been a good time. We've got our own consort of local girls who follow us around trying to sell us local products and playing pool against us. Entertaining and we get to see some of the local culture through them. Big BBQ tonight with the locals.

Off to China in two days, to spend a month there. Had to pay $130 for my visa since I'm American, so going to get my moneys worth and see as much as possible. Looking forward to it and have been getting lots of chopstick practice in Vietnam.

Laos

Eline and I spent about 2 weeks in Laos, traveling from Luang Prabang in the north all the way down to the 4000 Islands in the south, right on the Cambodian and Thai borders. Its a laid back country, with people changing Laos Peoples Democratic Republic to Laos, Please Dont Rush. Often not much to do, but just sit back and read a book, of which I got through 4.

Luang Prabang was the best city by far, a French styled town with nearby waterfalls that were amazing. Rope swings, tiered levels to jump off and some that were just good for photos. Nice and relaxing out there in cold, refreshing water to cool down from the heat in. Lots of western people around.

Sandwiches are the popular thing to eat in Laos. A Laos Style sandwich has pork, egg and tofu with a ton of chili and vegetables. Definitely the best and for the cheap price of just over $1.

Vang Vien is a beautiful setting of a river with limestone cliff mountains all around. Caves to explore and a river to go tubing down. Big party town too which was fun to watch the world cup. Germany was still rocking at this point.

Vientiane, the capital has nothing to do. by this point, Ive seen too many temples and the ones here just werent impressive. Pretty much just a stopping off point to catch a bus and later a plane.

We took a sleeper bus down to the 4000 Islands in the south. Pretty sweet bus, air conditioned with 50 beds in it. Apart from all the bouncing and the local guy who sat on my feet for a couple hours, it was a sweet ride and we got some sleep, before arriving and hopping on a large pickup truck packed full of everything. About 50 bags of rice, lots of roofing tiles and live chickens lined the middle with about 20 people sitting along the sides. Bouncy, dusty ride out to the islands, definitelz entertaining with locals selling whole roasted chickens and lots of crazy things at each stop.

The 4000 Islands were a let down. More like 50 islands with a lot of bushes around and 2 big waterfalls on rocks. We only stayed 2 days as after biking one day and kayaking the other, we'd done everything there was to do. The best part was paying just $3 for a bungalow. Super cheap, although the food was expensive and small. Not exactly the place I'd go back to, but got in some reading and chilling time.

Here are some pics to check out:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061494&id=29301533&l=39e0404602

Mandalay, Myanmar

Pics from Mandalay, the big city in the north of Myanmar. I extended my stay in Myanmar to get to know the country better as its been my favorite so far. Completely different from all others. Not very western, feels completely Asian. With the extra time, I was able to go to Mandalay, to sweat in the hot room every night, hike the labyrinth called Mandalay Hill (staircases everyhere and no signs on how to get to the top), check out surrounding villages, take a picture of the popular teak bridge, see more tmeples and watch some world cup. Almost had 2 run ins with the prime minister too. Once on top of Mandalay Hill where he was hosting the Laos president, and once at a pagoda where he was rubbing gold onto Buddha. Both times, super close to him, but the barefoot security guards wouldnt let us too close.