Riding bikes

During my travel to Costa Rica my girlfriend, sisters and I went to a town called Puerto Viejo where we rented bikes to get around to the nearby beaches. The road we had to take on the way was really rocky until we got to the main road that was paved. We still had to be cautious because of all the huge potholes in the paved road. It was nice just cruising on the bikes and looking at all the trees. At one point we were able to view the beach from the road, as we got closer. Finally getting to the beach we ran into the ocean and had a nice refreshing feeling that helped us cool down from the heat. When traveling all over Costa Rica a lot of the school kids would be riding their bikes through the city. I noticed sometimes there were multiple kids on the same bike. I could not imagine my bike to school everyday. They have a lot of dedication. I have a friend that does not have a car and rides his bike everywhere. I wonder how he motivates himself to ride everywhere. He must save a lot of money on gas because he does not have to buy any gas. This last January my car decided to die on me and it was not worth fixing it. I had to ride my bike to work and school for a while or walk. Finally when I got a new car, I no longer had to walk or ride my bike. I am envious of those people who have the motivation to use their bike instead of a car.

Traveling by taxis and buses

When I went to Costa Rica I traveled by bus and taxi. The taxis and buses were great to take because they were available at anytime and I did not have to follow a strict schedule. I took a taxi to some places because it was a faster way of getting around and it did not cost a lot of money to go places. I also took the city buses, which was the cheapest was to travel. The only difference was that it would take a little bit longer because they had to make a lot of stops on the way. I felt that when I took the bus and taxi it made me feel like I was one of the locals because those are two of the most common ways they get around the city and country. The things I noticed about getting around by taxi was that you have them drop off close to where you want to be. When you are done with your activities you can quickly jump into another cab because they are everywhere. On the buses you would have to walk a little bit closer to where you want to be. The buses take longer because they have routes and only pass by at certain times. I feel like by taking a bus that you get to see more of the country because there is a lot of scenery along the way to your destination. With the buses they become so packed that people have to stand in the middle of the aisle at certain times during the day.

Traveling on a cruise ship

When I went on a cruise ship to Mexico, the thing I noticed about it was that you are on a time schedule. When you go to a place that is on the cruise there is a certain time you can get off the ship but if you tried to get off you would have to fight the crowd of other people trying to exit the ship. There was a line that was waiting for the boats so you could go to shore. It was time consuming, especially if you had to be at your on shore excursion at a certain time. It was very frustrating if your excursion was early in the morning because you did not get to sleep in at all. You had to return to the cruise ship at a certain time so that the ship would not leave you behind. It was annoying because I was always on a schedule. The cruise ships promote expensive and touristy restaurants and stores that do not let you get a real taste of the local way of life. The one thing I liked that I could see off the cruise ship was the port of the place the ship docked. You could look all over the land with all the buildings and houses that were on the edges of the mountains. I also enjoyed being able to view the sandy beach with the waves crashing up to the shore. There were people driving all around the ocean with jet skis and I thought it looked like a lot of fun. On the cruise ship I mainly just saw a lot of ocean and every once in a while a dolphin or whale. On the ship throughout the days at sea they had all kinds of activities and events you could do or see. There was really no way you could get bored but if you wanted to rest it was hard with all the noise of people moving around.