Homemade Sub to Central America!

by Iva Skoch on

Ok, so it’s not yet for rent for your next Caribbean vacation, but it’s an interesting way to travel, nonetheless. Authorities were alerted when someone spotted three plastic pipes moving through Pacific waters 103 miles off the coast of Costa Rica this weekend.

They found four men inside a 50-foot, wood-and-fiberglass homemade submarine. Oh, did we mention it had three tons of cocaine in it? It’s not the first time, either. In March, Columbian navy ships stopped a 60-footer. And back in 2000, Columbian authorities found a 100-footer, under construction. Apparently, the subs are used to rendezvous with speedboats that do most of the transport work between drug sellers and buyers.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the sub had a glass bottom for sealife viewing.

Costa Rica: Jungle for The Masses

by Iva Skoch on

Costa Rica has done a great job marketing itself as an eco-tourism country. It has been generally good to the rain forests. The country is beautiful, well-developed and super-easy to travel around.

The jungle of the Manuel Antonio park in Quepos, on the Pacific Coast, is breathtaking. It is, however, wide open to the tourists and therefore you are getting the clinically clean, safe, Disneyworld-version of the rain forest: sidewalks, safety signs, guides with telescopes and all that. No, I am not complaining. I guess that’s what you get when you want to prevent the rain forest from being cut down in order to grow coffee. So, once you can get past the Disney-quality of it, please do invest in a jungle guide (he will not come dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume, I swear). For an untrained eye, it is hard to see any animals, aside from the monkeys.

The park fee allows you to access the private beach within the park, which is small, clean and very romantic. Keep in mind that the Pacific beaches in Costa Rica are typically black, not like the white Caribbean beaches.

Speaking of coffee – make sure to stop by in Cafe Milagro in Quepos for a cup of freshly roasted, locally grown coffee. Yum.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Feels Global Warming

by Adrienne Wilson on

If what this piece is saying is true and I’m sure it is very true, then it makes me very sad. Global warming is out there. This is something we all already know, but when you hear it is affecting the places you live or know personally, it stinks to soak in the news. Connected Traveler has a story which describes the way global warming is impacting Monteverde, Costa Rica’s famed Cloud Forest. From the things travelers track in to the area to some very interesting climate changes, who know show the place will look in 10-20 years. For me, Monteverde was the first place my close pal conned me into zipping across the tops of the trees and through them on our 16 cable zip-line adventure. Something I can now say I did once, but needn’t do again.

Next time might be the time for me to start helping to protect this wonderful Costa Rican ecosystem.

SmarterTravel: Best & Worst Travel Destinations for Women

by Adrienne Wilson on

As a woman, traveler, and the type that tends to like parachuting into off-the-beaten track destinations, I long for articles that point out where women should go and where they should exercise extra caution when going. Well, USA Today features a fine piece for the solo women journeying this big bad world on her own with the best and worst places for women to travel. The list, compiled by Jessica Labrencis and RaeJean Stokes of SmarterTravel, doesn’t suggest women should free up and lose all inhibitions in so-called safe places or completely avoid named worst destinations. Instead of rambling on about what the list does suggest let’s take a look at their best and worst and share some of our experiences. (You’ll want to go to their site for all the specifics.)

Best travel destinations for women:

  • Amsterdam
  • Ireland
  • Costa Rica
  • India
  • Vietnam

Worst travel destinations for women:

  • Middle East & Northern Africa
  • The Mediterranean Coast
  • The United States
  • Latin America & the Caribbean
  • States of the former U.S.S.R.

If you ask me the worst place destination list looks to include a heavy number of places. Considering the U.S. has 50 states (some worse than others) and the former U.S.S.R. has some 14 states (including my next destination -Tajikistan) it’s safe to say women have to watch their backs almost everywhere. What’s your take? Ladies?

Best Stargazing Destinations in America

by Adrienne Wilson on

The first time I really saw stars I screamed. I ran out onto the beach calling my travel companion to come look. We had found ourselves a small tent placed in a straw hut on the coast of the Peninsula de Osa in Costa Rica’s south region. As a child I remembered seeing stars, but never like this – they were everywhere. Millions of tiny lights fighting to out shine the other. They were fighting to illuminate the deep, dark, night sky. A surge of emotions filled my body along with the cool, salty, breeze off the ocean’s water. I couldn’t have stumbled upon a more romantic place on Earth and there I was spending it with one of my best friends and travel companions. For the first time on our entire vacation I wished to curl my knees up to my chest and be left alone. If I couldn’t share the moment with a handsome stud then I wanted to have it all for myself. Selfish – I know.

That night I wished on not one star, but many. One of my wishes was for more places to see stars the way I did on that very night, so when I saw the latest Nat Geo Adventure magazine featuring some of the best stargazing in America I snatched it off the shelves. Their June/July issue covers the best and top 50 in North America’s National Parks. Before you discover where to go to sleep, trek, raft or gaze underneath the stars, the article titled Night Rangers discusses a unit of National Park Service folk who are out to protect the night time sky. Their duties are incredible and the story in full is packed with mind-boggling facts. According to the article 99 percent of peoplein the U.S. live under a sky that is considered polluted, which means none of us are seeing the stars for what they’re worth. In addition to light-pollution the article also states, Scientists at the Thiene, Italy – based Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute have predicted that the last truly dark areas in the contiguous U.S. will be gone by 2025. If such is true then we haven’t very long.

Here are some of the best stargazing destinations in America and how to experience them:

  • Lake Tahoe – Take off on a full moon paddle excursion.
  • Bryce Canyon – Spend your summer nights hiking the canyon.
  • Pennsylvania’s Lehigh River – Raft through whitewaters under the stars.
  • Chaco Culture National Historical Park – Use powerful telescopes to stargaze.
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park – Check out some 300,000 Mexican free-tailed bats as they fly away from the caves and back.

You’ll want to grab an issue of your own if you haven’t already. If you have a favorite stargazing destination you’d like to share – please do. Otherwise I’ll understand.