Our Apartment in La Fortuna Costa Rica

Living and working in Costa Rica is not EASY if making money is a MUST. I can't tell you how many people we've seen come and go because dreams were CRUSHED or promises of paradise were not as advertised.

So, if you're coming down to Costa Rica in hopes of turning around your life and making money in order to support yourself, DON'T come, your chances of success are just about nil and you'll be wasting your time or at the least, spinning your wheels, barely scrapping by with NO future. That said, you can live fairly cheap here if you want to but you would have to be dedicated to the cause and hopefully have a light at the end of YOUR tunnel... I know if we didn't, we wouldn't be here right now.

Anyway, we've been very reluctant up until now to let you into our Costa Rica world, mostly because we're a little embarrassed,,, obviously we're over that now. This is our life. Hope it helps you deciding yours.



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!

Jenna Marbles Landshark Video Uses OUR Sloth Pic

Jenna Marbles of YouTube Fame Uses THIS PIC for her Landshark Video.
Jenna Marble's YouTube Channel gets literally millions of HITS and I'm quite sure she makes a tidy sum in advertisement dollars... but you'd think she'd be a little bit more on her game when using pics off the Internet for her videos. Should we SUE... or be flattered? Suing is NOT our style so she's SAFE,,,for now anyway. hehe.

The pic is GREAT and I can see why she, or whoever edits her videos used it. Don't particularly care for her videos but I can see why other, younger people might- Kelly Rippa meets Chelsea Handler in a very 'Saturday Night Live-ish' kind of way. Hey, she's obviously doing something right.

I just wish she'd show some appreciation, maybe tell her subscribers, "Hey, my good friends at Travel Costa Rica Now could use your support- please subscribe to their YouTube Channel." Yeah, like that's going to happen. *So, whoever drew this needs to learn how to spell.

Anyway, just thought it was interesting, especially how we saw it- One of D'Angelo's friends on Facebook posted the video,,,he watched it and was about to click it off because he thought it was a little stupid',,,when all of a sudden, he said, "Oh no she didn't". Yeah I know, a little gay.

Anyway, here's the VIDEO, called Landshark, it's become very popular, very FAST. *the pic in question comes at 1:44. You might notice a 'blurry' girl in her pic w/ the sloth which doesn't exist on our pic above- it's called photoshop.



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!

Rio Celeste is NOT Always BLUE

Rio Celeste, Tenorio National Park, in Costa Rica is NOT always the BLUE color it is known for.
To be clear, the Rio Celeste (Tenorio National Park) area is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L, but never more so than when the BLUE of the river and waterfall are poppin' and the sun is out acting as a natural contrast button on PhotoShop, intensifying the beauty 10 fold. It's stunning.

But the beauty of Rio Celeste is not what I'm talking about today. I'd like to tell you about the 'downside' that most travel books, travel agents and pushers of 'tours', don't like to tell you. Rio Marron could often be an appropriate name for Rio Celeste. *if you haven't figured it out, 'celeste' in Spanish means, 'sky blue' or 'light blue', 'marron' is brown.

In a nutshell- Depending on the amount of rain in the area, Rio Celeste is NOT always blue. Also, Rio Celeste is NOT a walk in the park, you should be somewhat in shape. Still intent on hiking Rio Celeste, when it rains a lot, it can be a nightmare to get around due to the mud- this is Costa Rica after all, trails are not normally as user friendly as you might be used to. We recommend a 4x4 to get there if you're going yourself, especially during periods of heavy rain.

Anyway, here's a video we did about the 'downside' of Rio Celeste.


And now here's some of the BEAUTY of Rio Celeste. ENjoY!


I have more INFO on Rio Celeste in this blog, such as how to get there, which should be easy to find.

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!

Will Smith MOVIE in La Fortuna- kinda COOL

Will Smith, son Jaden Smith along with director M. Night Shyamalan are shooting a movie in La Fortuna Costa Rica.
The movie is called, 'After Earth' and it stars Will Smith, son Jaden Smith and is directed by M. Night Shyamalan. But the BIGGER, BETTER news is, much of the film is being shot in La Fortuna, as well as the Sarapaqui areas of Costa Rica.... So that's kinda COOL.

Will and Jaden Smith with the Arenal Volcano in the background. *I didn't take this pic, I think it came from Will Smith's FaceBook.
No, I haven't seen Will or Jaden... and no disrespect, but don't really care about shit like that although I do respect their acting abilities. But the production crew have been all over Fortuna, especially on Sundays... so I've gotten a chance to talk to many of them and they've all been super nice. Yes, they work with big stars but to them it's just another job and they're happy as clams just to be shooting in Costa Rica, as opposed to lets say, desert-like conditions in Mexico, which they told me are a nightmare. I enjoyed talking to the 2 women who work in 'costumes' and also had been involved in M. Night's previous movie, "The Last Avatar", explaining to me why they were worried about an upcoming scene in Sarapaqui- all's I know is they said, 'female lead', 'wedding dress', 'raging river', 'keeping it white' and 'we only have 2', all in the same sentence. To me, it's interesting.

Anyway, I gotta say, whoever SCOUTED locations for this movie got extremely L-U-C-K-Y, because if they hadn't been lucky (so far that is) they definitely would have been FIRED by now. Why lucky you ask??? Choosing to shoot a HIGH budget movie, where lost shooting days lose big BUCKS, in La Fortuna, in perhaps the RAINIEST months of the year was either just plain stupid or 'someone' did NOT do their homework I'm sure it's the latter. Typically, when it's the dry season most other places in Costa Rica, it's the rainy season here in Fortuna. But guess what? Lucky for dude, this January and first two weeks of February have been uncharacteristically, freakin' BEAUTIFUL and rain has been at a minimum. I know they had some serious issues caused by the rain 1 day/night last week, but normally, they could have multiplied that one problem times 100 if it were a normal January... when it rains here, we're talking landslides. *see pic above left Like I said, dude got lucky. Not sure they'll be so lucky in Sarapaqui, where the production is headed this Thursday, but for dudes' sake, I wish him continued LUCK because he's still going to need it. I do have my doubts, after all, this is Costa Rica and weather changes as much as I assume the costumes do in the movie. My advice to 'dude' if it starts raining with no signs of stopping- and some bigwig from the movie asks him WTF was he thinking booking these locations.... best 'dude' says what we all do when there's nothing else to say, "Pura Vida".... and just keep moving.

*Need a couple consultants when shooting a BIG ASS movie in Costa Rica--- We're available.

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!

FCUKING up my RIBS Rappelling the VIDEO

Here it is, me getting hurt rappelling.
*Canyoning is a SAFE activity. I'm the exception. The RISK is minimal to everyone else, even for 1st timers.

I don't mind getting older, really I don't, but I am sick and tired of getting hurt while performing 'mundane-like' tasks. Back in the day, I got hurt because what I was doing came with built in risk factors- riding motorcycles, playing football or just out and out fighting and roughhousing on a day-to-day basis. So to me, breaking a rib or having a black eye just came with being me. But now, OMG! I can tear a ligament reaching across the table for the friggin' butter. My Fight Club days are O-V-E-R. Now, I'd be more apt to carry a whistle...

Ahhh, the memories-

At some point in the 1990's (I'll be damned if I can remember when) I had major surgery on my cheek and eye-socket area because I got in a fight at a club in Las Vegas. Now let me tell you, it's a good yarn even though I received the fat end of a Budweiser beer bottle and $25,000 dollars worth of surgery, but at least it's entertaining for the listener... much better than this:

"Hey Mike, what's with the cast on your arm?"

"Oh this, well, it was last Sunday at dinner when I was reaching for the butter...."

See the difference? And it's been going on like that for the last 8 years or so...every injury 'butter' related. How fuckin' LAME is that?

And that's how I feel about this one. So what, a little 'jar', a minor 'jerk' from stopping a little too fast... and now I can't even yawn without regretting it. I'd rather have fallen or collided with a boulder or something, anything a little more dramatic than a slight, 'jerk' on a rope. **My outside looks pretty good right? Who knew as of late my innards were being held together by twisty ties and Silly Putty?

And get this, on that tour, their were like 10 people who had approximately 10-15 years on me... AND it was their first time rappelling (on a personal note, this group was GREAT, so COOL to see older folks out trying new things and livin' life). Then there's me, who has experience, who is supposedly 'in shape', bruising my ribs- oh the humility. Obviously, I don't wish ill will on anyone but besides my rib issue, I bet you can't guess what the next worst thing was- that's right, out of 17 folks, 10 being older than myself, the next worst thing, which only happened to one person, was slight chafing on their left thigh from wet, harness rub.

My birthday is tomorrow and I've requested a cake without candles, you know, because it will pain me to much to BLOW... maybe I could get one of the old ladies from the canyoning tour to blow them out for me. geeeeeeez.

Happy Birthday to me.

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!

Shrimp Tacos & Coconut Shrimp How to VIDEOS

D'Angelo and myself ENjoYing jumbo shrimp cooked up by Scott who hosts a Costa Rica Cooking Class here in La Fortuna.
We're at Villa Hermosa Guest House just outside La Fortuna Costa Rica, videotaping Scott, who today is making TWO tasty shrimp dishes. *If you're not sure who the HELL Scott is, he hosts 'Tropical Costa Rica Cooking Classes' here in La Fortuna. Anyway, it's difficult to beat this combination- Costa Rica, Villa Hermosa, beautiful weather, birds, a pool and 2 GREAT shrimp dishes. Lets get to it.

Coconut Jumbo Shrimp:



Next up- Shrimp Tacos w/grilled Papaya:



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!

Pure Trek Canyoning in La Fortuna a MUST DO!

Pure Trek Canyoning in La Fortuna Costa Rica.
Pure Trek Canyoning in La Fortuna Costa Rica is bar none, ONE of the BEST adventure tours around. Our Video Review below.

There's plenty of adventures in La Fortuna Costa Rica that probably shouldn't be missed, from Zip lines to Costa Rica Cooking Classes and Canyoning aka canyoneering, is yet another 'must do'.

Me and D'Angelo racing to the bottom of the canyon...I've got a little catching up to do.
We've done the Pure Trek tour a few times and there's a couple reasons we really ENjoY it. One, the owner is a 'gringa' from the United States, her name is Cynthia Crummer. Being from the U.S., Cynthia understands what us Americans want and need- to feel SAFE while participating in Xtreme adventure tours and especially while in a foreign country. With Cynthia and Pure Trek, it's definitely SAFETY FIRST.... and SECOND for that matter. From the get go it's apparent the Pure Trek guides are professional, knowledgeable and extremely safety conscious when working with inexperienced or first time rappellers. And we should know, the first time we ever rappelled was about 7 years ago with Pure Trek.

Felt safe then - felt safe now.

Pure Trek is SAFE enough for ALL ages, so it makes for GREAT FAMILY FUN.
The fact Pure Trek is so safety conscious is probably one of the reasons they accept and encourage kids and families to participate in this tour. Most Xtreme tour companies are not comfortable working with kids under 14 and won't usually touch them with a 10-ft pole, not so for Pure Trek. Anyway....

...lets just cut to the VIDEO, it's good, I promise you won't be bored.



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!

Gay but Str8 Friendly Coyaba Tropical in Manuel Antonio

Coyaba Tropical is a small, GAY but very straight-friendly, B&B located in Manuel Antonio Costa Rica.
Gay owned and operated, Coyaba Tropical is a GREAT gay option if you want a little more privacy combined with a family type of atmosphere. And I'm not necessarily saying, 'family' in a gay way (although that's true as well) but family because the owners, Mike and Paul treat everyone LIKE family. Really, they're one of the MAJOR draws for staying at Coyaba Tropical. Warm and friendly, always ready to lend an ear or share a story OR just assist with your travel plans, one can't help but FEEL the warm VIBE at Coyaba.

One of the bedrooms at Coyaba Tropical in Manuel Antonio.
But that's not to say the Coyaba Tropical is average, far from it. Decorated with attention to detail, cool art and comfy beds that's reason enough to give the place a look see.

Anyway, CHECK OUT our video of Coyaba Tropical in Manuel Antonio Costa Rica and see for yourself.



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!