Friday, December 30, 2011

Mojito Costa Rican Style VIDEO

Costa Rica didn't originate the Mojito but they may as well have...VIDEO below.

'ALL' cooking and 'NO' drinking would make the Costa Rica Cooking Class in La Fortuna still a fun thing...but a little less so. I mean, really, what is Garlic Fried Yucca without a tasty beverage to accompany it? Scott, owner of Lava Lounge, a hugely popular bar/grill in La Fortuna, also has a Tropical Cooking Class here and shows us how to make a Mojito, Costa Rica style below.

Care to take a guess on what makes this Mojito strictly a Costa Rica thing...hehehee?

READY? SET? Get out your blenders.....and ENjoY!


TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Costa Rica - Gallo Pinto Recipe VIDEO

A Costa Rica staple- Gallo Pinto.

Truth is, in Costa Rica, Gallo Pinto can be eaten morning, noon and night... and often is. It's a staple here and with good reason, if made correctly it's a tasty, TASTY treat- YUMMY! if you ask me.

Our friend Scott, who's lived in La Fortuna the last 5 years and owns a really popular bar and grill here, Lava Lounge, decided to start a Costa Rican Tropical Cooking Class and if you keep up with this blog, you may have seen the video (if not, no matter). But anyway, he's asked us to videotape some of his recipes and since we like Scott and LOVE food we said yes.

Here they are, the ingredients for Gallo Pinto.

So of course, Gallo Pinto being a Costa Rican favorite, it was one of our first videos. Check it out and see what 'secret' ingredient makes Gallo Pinto, Gallo Pinto. ENjoY!



TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Pura Vida is BULLSH*T- whoops!

Costa Rica is Pura Vida and Pura Vida is Costa Rica.

"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I shall die before I wake...



I was probably murdered and drowned in Arenal Lake."


I can't even count how many death threats I've received for this video:

Nice t-shirt dumbass.


And truthfully, I understand. Saying ANYTHING negative, in public, about Costa Rica borders on sacrilege. I may as well wear a t-shirt that says, 'Mohammed SUCKS!' in Afghanistan. Same difference.

Most detractors are offended by the title, which again, I understand, as it is a tad offensive. I chose the title purely for 'key words' and obviously I chose correctly based on the number of hits it gets, but I was hoping when the video was watched the title would be seen for what it IS- total hyperbole. Obviously, I guessed wrong on that one.

I guessed wrong because many Ticos don't really understand what I'm saying in the video, being that in many cases, their English is about as good as my Spanish. So, they see the title and just assume I'm talking shit....

In case I wasn't CLEAR, I love Costa Rica and I love the phrase, 'Pura Vida'... BUT, I stand by what I said in the video, the phrase is often misused and in my mind has been somewhat bastardized in recent years....but the 'true' meaning of 'Pura Vida' is a beautiful thing. Oh, but I do apologize for not saying it correctly, learning Spanish has been my Achilles heel since I got here 7 years ago. (Making a video about that as we speak).

I also apologize for the t-shirt I'm wearing in that video... even the guys from 'Queer Eye....' were thinking, WTF? sorry.

If you're ONE of the MANY people who want to see I never make another video about Costa Rica again, I have 2 favors to ask.... before you 'off' me, watch our other 200+ videos FIRST to get some perspective and second, leave D'Angelo alone, he didn't approve of the title either.

Other than that, "Pura 'fuckin' Vida"

TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Puerto Viejo Costa Rica- BEST Restaurant Name Change

Puerto Viejo Costa Rica is one of our favorite places to CHILL. *Puerto Viejo is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica close to the Panamanian border.

We love Puerto Viejo for a few reasons, but one is the FOOD.. and especially the food at a place called, 'STASHUS con FUSION', formally known as 'Loco Natural'. 'Stash' the owner and chef let us know about the name change so we're passing it on to you. When we were there a little over a year ago it was 'Loco Natural' but don't worry, nothing has changed but the name- Stash assures us it's still GREAT food and in our opinion, probably some of the BEST you'll find in ALL Costa Rica let alone Puerto Viejo.

And of course a year back we did a video, so CHECK it out and if you're ever in the Puerto Viejo area, you'll definitely want to stop in at 'Stashus con Fusion' and PLEASE, tell Stash we said, "Hey". pura vida.



TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

DICK dude SCREWS US!

We sell adventure tours in La Fortuna Costa Rica on the CHEAP and we do this so YOU, the traveler, can have a GREAT time in La Fortuna without paying an arm and leg to do so... but because of what happened yesterday we might have to reassess if it's worth it for us to sell tours in La Fortuna. Here's what happened.

'DICK dude' wanted to do 3 tours over a 2-day period. Money was sent via PayPal, vouchers were sent, the tour company was expecting 'DICK dude' and his party on such and such dates...etc. About 8 emails were exchanged and 'DICK dude' seemed excited and was pretty personable to us in his emails. So we were concerned when the tour company notified us that he didn't show up for his rafting tour. We tried to track him down but he had given us the wrong hotel. He told us he was staying at Arenal Lodge but in reality was staying at Arenal Observatory Lodge. Understandable mistake and didn't really change anything. D'Angelo finally tracked him down and also went out of his way to help him out after he missed his first tour. Here's part of 'dude's' last email to us:
"We are supper bummed about missing the raft trip, I didn't call you because of the no refund statements on you site. If we can get some type of credit or alternate activity that would be cool - minus any cancellation fee or whatever. This place is beautiful so we will be coming back. Looking forward to the other two activities. Thanks for checking up on us...and let me know if anything can be worked out."
Here's part of D'Angelo's email back to 'DICK dude'.
Hello 'DICK dude'... glad to hear everything is okay. I will call the tour company and see if there is anything they can do about the missed rafting tour. If you go 5 or 10 minutes early to your ATV tour you can ask them as well and see what they say.
*It should be noted the reason we do not refund money is because we pay a LARGE chunck of it to the tour company usually a week or two in advance of the tour(s).

Well guess what, he missed his next 2 tours as well but we didn't know since the above was the last email we received from him.

BUT, he obviously returned to the United States and disputed the ENTIRE charge of the tours to his credit card ($492.), telling the Credit Card people he never received the 'services' he had purchased. So our PayPal account goes negative while we work this shit out. I can tell you, neither us nor the tour company dropped the ball on this one. I couldn't begin to speculate why he missed his tours, hell, maybe he was hungover or his wife had a bad case of diarrhea, who knows, but I know until this thing gets worked out, we're kinda F**Ked. Since we've been working on our videos, websites and blogs, we've been living on a shoestring and a short one at that... Whatever. Just kinda sucks that we tried to help out 'DICK dude' and he doesn't even have the courtesy to contact us and tell us what happened or at least what he perceived to have happened. I can tell you, usually if a tour company screws up, clients are on the phone within minutes... also funny 'DICK dude' wants his entire refund since he pretty much admits to missing the first one on his own accord, if it was ours or the tour company's fault, he would have been more than 'bummed' trust me.

We'll try to hang on while this gets worked out because we're pretty sure we'll win the dispute. We figured this was going to happen from time to time after all it's pretty much the nature of the beast. But for us it's just bad timing since we're just getting started and don't have any 'buffer' money in our PayPal account yet.

I guess this would be a perfect time to say, "PURA VIDA".

btw- 'DICK dude' isn't his real name.... but it should be.

TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Deconstructing La Fortuna Park limb by limb

La Fortuna Costa Rica has one of the BEST small town parks in in the country BUT...

...this is what they did 4 days ago:



For some reason the 'powers that be' in La Fortuna seem determined to deconstruct the park tree by tree. It started some months ago. Of course we did a video:


It's almost as if they'd rather it was a parking lot. To many, it may seem like, "Dude, what's your problem?, the park still looks GOOD." But damnit their were a lot of animals that lived in that little gazebo- hummingbirds, lizards, toads etc. and it's not as if they're replacing it, they just tore it DOwn. BITCHES! So yeah, I'm venting a little, sorry. Until next time.

TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!