un paseo al paradiso

The past weekend, a group of us went far far away from the city to a little paradise by the pacific coast way up north of the country. Close to the Nicaragua boarder.
We spent the weekend at Derek's beach house on Playa Flamingo in the Guanacaste coast. The trip itself was quite long (around 6 hours drive), but it was worthwhile as we found out. Most of us have to work on Fridays, and we took the afternoon off so we can travel there.

The weather in San José and the central valley has been absolutely freezing. (Well, in tico terms) It has been around 15 degrees, and it's much colder than it usually is. It is because of the change of season (from wet to dry), and also there were the "nortes" - the wind from the north. Well, on the way through the Guanacaste mountains, we passed by Monteverde, (Green Hill/Mount) where the famous national dairy products such as milk and cheese are produced. I noticed right away during our pitstop, that the air was much more drier, and well, warm. The perfect kind of summer sky we would have in August/September time in Southern Canada. Derek proceeded and let me know that they have around 2 months of wet season only! I was thinking - That's it, I'm moving there!


By night time, the cloudless sky left all the stars be seen. I clearly remember the last time I saw such a beautiful clear nightsky such as this. It was 3 years ago when I went to the biological station of my university an hour north of Kingston. Well...this time, I was laying flat on the back of the pick-up truck. As the truck drove on, I just watched the stars as if it were a movie. And well, on one of the rides during the weekend (I always chose to sit in the back!), I was asking Premek and Chihiro if they have seen shooting stars before. And well, just 2 seconds after we finished that conversation, Chihiro and I immediately saw one! Of course I made a wish. I know I don't see stars that often, being the city -boy I am. In Hong Kong, there are no stars!
It was a very nice retreat, as we basically just ate and slept. By the time lunch was cooked, I was still full from breakfast. So I said to my friends: "I'm sooo FULL", and then opened my mouth and started stuffing myself again. Such was how we spent the weekend! Sun, sleep, eat, nice home-made piña-colada by Karina, sun, sleep, eat. And oh of course, we listened to quite a bit of Black Eyed Peas - thanks to the CD I got from the radio station.


Now something also happened which was a bit too crazy to believe. On Saturday night, we went out to the "happening" to a electronic music club, where all the tourists congregated. Now, towards the end of the night. A girl came up to me and asked me what my name was. I was quite surprised, and proceeded to tell her I was Martin. Well, then a few seconds passed, and I realized what was happening. A Brazilian AIESEC trainee in Guatemala (whom I met when he came down to Costa Rica to a conference in July), has told me he has a German friend coming to Costa Rica for a week or two and gave her my contacts. She gave me a call when she arrived in San José during the week, and got each other's MSN, but still haven't been able to meet. Well, she recognized my face on that tiny picture on my MSN, and asked if it was me. Now that is a bit crazy, isn't it??? Out of the entire Costa Rica, we ended up in the same part of the country, same beach, same club, and she actually remembered my face. This world is definately small. And who knows who we meet and see each day? Maybe if we decide to talk with some random people, we may know end up knowing some common people. This just reminds me of Juraj's post on him meeting Zana!



















...going back to the beach...

It was definately a relaxing and much-needed weekend. I got a little glimpse of paradise as I was laying on the hammock, with the tropical sun shining on me (realizing Edmonton is actually -23 degrees today). The blue cloudless sky. The palm trees with their green young coconuts hung on them. An iguana basking in the sun, on the tree trunk. The distant sound of the ocean waves in the background...

Now tell me. What more do I need? Anybody wanna visit?

Black Eyed Peas - En Vivo.

About 3 months ago, I came across a tiny newspaper article. It said: "los Black Eyed Peas" vienen a Costa Rica" (The Black Eyed Peas are coming to Costa Rica). And soon after that, I had Nov 21, 2006 noted down on my calendar, and had been counting the days ever since.

The longed-for date finally arrived last Tuesday, and well...it was everything I expected it to be, and even more.

It probably was my second concert I have ever been in. The first one was back in March or so when Sting and the Rasmus, among others came to Costa Rica. This time around, I was super hyped up, and have been listening to BEP music for the past month, and hardcore the week before the conference. Magaly and I were super pumped up for it, and have been putting their music on in the office during the week.

And so Magaly and I left work earlier that day and took a university bus directly to the stadium where the concert was being held. The concert started at 8pm, but we arrived there at 3:30pm so we could line up outside. At first, I wasn't sure if I was super excited because I was going to the stadium or to the concert! It was the Saprissa stadium, in which I have not visited yet in this football season (over 5 months). And well, of course, it didn't take much time for me to get HAPPY with the concert rather than the stadium! duh!

On the university bus there, I peaked out and saw the most beautiful rainbow in my life. It was the hugest thing I have ever witness, and well. Just beautifully coloured...all 7 colours were large and distinct. It must've been a sign. I believe in this stuff! Below is a picture of the rainbow.














We met the rest of the @ers in the line, and spent a good 2 hours waiting outside, and getting excited. And it was definately worthwhile, cos I actually got a free Black Eyed Peas CD while at it! There was a radio show going on, and they were trying to get people in the line to sing a BEP song or something in the mic on the radio. Nobody did it in the end, and they said some thing in Spanish that I wasn't quite sure of. My lovely @ tico friends just told me to go over there, and volunteer myself. And being the Asian tourist and all...I came out of my comfort zone and went for it. In the end, they wanted to take a picture of me with a group of impersonating black eyed peas. And well, I joined my friends in the line again with a CD in my hand!



Gato with his ticket.













Once we got in the stadium, we waited around 3 hours more before the tico (Costa Rican) group "porpartes" opened the concert. My friends were phunking with my heart when they told me the Pussycat Dolls were opening it. Anyway, we were at the cheap part of the stadium (in the further half of the field), when the conert started. And after waiting for 45 mins more after the porpartes left. The show got started...and so did a stampede! Suddenly, we saw these younger fans in front of us leaving and coming in the opposite direction. Everybody started pushing and eventually, we found ourselves right in front, where the division of the VIP and us were. (A ticket in VIP was worth around US$75, while ours were $18. What we realized was happening was that people were climbing over and just barging in on the VIP area. Magaly, Chihiro and I took advantage of that, and ended up spending the whole concert in the VIP area! Unfortunately the rest of the crew didn't manage to do so, and were left behind, right at the barrier of the two areas.



Part of the group, from left to right: Lilliana, Tati, Chepe, me, Magaly, and Gato


It was freakin' freezing, and we were dancing on chairs...but heck, it was probably the best night I have ever spent in Costa Rica. In the VIP area, none of the audience really knew the songs (nor am I sure they know they are at a BEP concert), and except for the dozens of us who managed to climb over! It was just a surreal experience, as I had realized I had lost my voice screaming even during the opening of "Porpartes". Fergie also sang her singles from her album including London Bridge. One of the best moments of the concert was when Will.i.am ordered the entire stadium's lights out, and had everyone (thousands of people) put their cell phone lights on... I was starring at what was happening, and seeing the thousands of blue and white screens in the stadium around. I was in awe. Then came a song dedicated to Costa Rica "where's the love?" and that just completely killed me.

By the end, they had a awesome version of "let's get retarded" to end the concert...and announced that it was their very very last concert on their global tour since they released their album "Monkey Business" 3 years ago. Looking forward to that next album in 2008! Where will I be then? For sure, I'm going to make my way to their concert again. That's a sure thing.

9000 colones for a VIP ticket + a free CD + the best night I have ever had in Costa Rica. What more can I ask for?

Earthquake

It was a calm Saturday afternoon when Gato (nickname of Premek, meaning "cat") and I were at my apartment, chillin', listening to music, and you know, having a pura vida. Then suddenly...a small shake of half a second was felt...and I was like: what was that? that must be my neighbour or something, slamming the door hard. Gato and I were curious of what that was, and so we went to the corridor. And then it was again. A little shake. Probably lasted one second.

Gato and I were in silent. Yet our eyes did not match our silence. I just saw his eyes super big, stretched, and well, his cat eyes. And mine were wide open as well (as far as my Chinese eyes would let me). And one word managed to get out of our mouths: "Earthquake!" And there it was. It was our experience of a life time. We both experienced our first earthquake in our lives together!

Apparently, that that was like the 50th earthquake of the year that could be felt by human in the calendar year of 2006. But heck, that was my first ever one I really felt!

The next day, I bought the local newspaper "la nacion", and found the info I wanted. It was 4.6 on the richter scale.

Trip to Manuel Antonio

So after 3 months of being "inland", I finally got to go on a weekend beach trip with the trainees here once more!

This time, we decided to head to the pacific coast to a national park called "Manuel Antonio". It was around a 4 hour trip from San José, and Juraj and I took the earliest bus at 5am from my home to head downtown where the bus to paradise was waiting for us!


(Picture: From left to right- me, Juraj, Yvonne, Karina, and Chihiro; This the is the entrance to the national park, and the sign says "here lives crocodiles! swimming prohibited!")





It was a two day one night trip, and along came most of the trainees/internationals. Premek (Czech Republic), Chihiro (USA), Juraj (Slovakia), Karina (Mexico), Nikola (Germany), Yvonne (Holland), and Nicole (Switzerland) were the crew. It was nice for me as the trainees have been going to quite a few trips the last 3 months which I wasn't able to join. And it was Juraj's first beach trip in Costa Rica (as he is on a country visit for 2 or 3 weeks, and staying with me).

Well, a little bit of a "choque" was when we arrived at the beach around 10:30am. The two central europeans (Premek and Juraj) immediately said "hey, let's go for a beer. It's afternoon back in Prague." That sort of exemplified how my 2.5 weeks with Juraj was. Although he tends to disagree with this, I passionately believes he forces me to drink everynight during his stay here. Oh boy.

Below are some pictures from the trip
















Beautiful country, eh?