Spontaneous music session at Hotel Costa Rica, Samara Paraiso del Cocodrilo

On Sunday afternoon Georg Weghofer, at the hotel of Costa Rica called Paraiso del Cocodrilo and asked spontaneously whether we could do music session in the evening. His sister who is visiting played bass in former times and would have desire for a music evening.
Rainer promised absolutely pleased to do it and together with Georgs sister and Thorsten who already plays more than 30 years of guitar, it was decided to create in the evening a musical event. At short notice Thorsten had resolved still to acquire a cheap electronic guitar in Nicoya to have furthermore the possibility to torment the guitar and the people on vacation. In short, the musical presentation in the evening was taken up by the audience cheerfully and it became more frequent to say that they would organize such spontaneous musical aggregations and presentations again. Finally, they created two hours of miraculous sound, in the style of Santana and Co.
The new arrangement which consist of microphones, stereos and a new mixer also contributed a part to it.
There were three guitars, which wonderfully harmonized and a bass which created a good base. In addition an old saxophone presented his best side
After the music evening was actually finished, the musicians decided to give an addition themselves, nevertheless, once again in addition the eager with music and played once again of full passion the classic “Summertime” of Georg Gershwin as a good-night-song.

The next scheduled session is reattached music in Costa Rica Hotel Paraiso del Cocodrilo for next Saturday. A drummer from Chicago, has announced its arrival.
If they want to participate or are planning a Costa Rica travel times, here is our recommendation:

Address of the music session:
Hotel – Lodge – Restaurant – Bar
Paraiso del Cocodrilo
P.O. Box: 55 Sámara
Costa Rica Phone: (506) 2656 8055
Fax: (506) 2656 8056
E-mail: mariann1@racsa.co.cr> mariann1@racsa.co.cr

Now with the new website about Costa Rica travel Guide information about the country, tourism, weather and climate.

Dolphin tour in Costa Rica

Yesterday, I spontaneously took part in a dolphin tour, organized by the hotel Paraíso del Cocodrilo, luckily two people had jumped off at short notice.

We drove with a truck to the beach Sámara and I sat with three other people on the loading-level what was huge fun and for some of us also caused back pain.

Once arrived on the beach we scrambled with seven people and two fishermen in a small boat. The boat had benches, a roof and a 40 HP engine that made our excursion to a comfortable coffee journey.

The boaters casted their fishing rods and we went off over the wide sea. Everybody chatted nicely and enjoyed the good weather, until something, for us laypeople, very exciting happened. We had gone through a shoal of tuna and the men had to work hard to pull the fish out. The animal lovers were happy as they saw that the tunas were put into a box filled with water and that they had not been killed. All together we caught four tunas.

Then it went to the real peak, the dolphins.

The fishermen seemed to know the dolphins very well, because after a few minutes on dolphin search we already saw a fin in wide distance.

The paparazzi proceeded to position and the next half an hour we could observe the cute animals romping around our boat before they disappeared again in the depth.

It seemed as if they had studied a choreography for tourists. About six dolphins swam beside us, among them two young animals, and hosed us lively. The peak of the choreography was the jump of two dolphins à la “Flipper”. They flashed from the sea to make flips and formed a heart with their elegant bodies. Unfortunately, none of the cameras was able to capture this moment, but certainly the picture has been burned in our minds.

When just no marine mammals were visible and we stared on the sea, we saw a big wooden piece on the water. We drove up closer, until one of the fishermen shouted “Tortuga”. Well, it was no wood, but a gigantic tortoise who relaxed a bit in the sun on surface of the Pacific. On request to look in our direction for better photos, it got for the modest animal too much bustle and it disappeared.

After this excitement the older people among us had to calm down and thus we decided to go slowly back to the beach. As refreshment we got juice, fruits and a few biscuits.

We stopped shortly on a small island to swim a little around and to do snorkeling and last but not least we returned after great, impressive four hours back to the beach Sámara.

We could take the tunas with us which were for the brave adventurers a tasty dinner.

Hotel Costa Rica, Travel and Vacation Samara, Guanacaste

Hotel Costa Rica, Travel and Vacation Samara, Guanacaste

via Hotel Costa Rica, Travel and Vacation Samara, Guanacaste.

Chicken eyes in a soup and Racoons (Part 2)

This experience and the fact that my camera got stolen in the bus were the only negative aspects about my stay in Ecuador though.
I knew there were many thefts in the big cities so I was really cautious about my precious things.
I made the mistake of falling asleep on the bus though and when I woke up my camera was gone.

On weekdays I was working at Katitawa School at the kindergarten and as a Physical Education teacher, because my Spanish wasn’t good enough to teach other classes.
The amount of students was “just” 25 but because they had no discipline and a lack of willingness to acquire new skills it felt like at least 125 German students. Sometimes it was impossible to teach a class of five students although in Germany I do fencing classes with 30 children.
The weekends I spent travelling like every tourist.
I stayed in the party and tourist city Baños and spent a weekend in the jungle, which I called “jungla” instead of the right Spanish word “selva”. There we played “Tarzan” and our guide chopped a huge palm tree just that we can eat the more or less tasty heart of a palm tree.
Furthermore I saw the cities Guayaquil, Puyo, of course the capital Quito and also Otavalo, which has the biggest market of South America.
Totally impressed by the diversity of Ecuador i had to leave the country after one and a half months, but I had problems at the airport.
They told me to enter Nicaragua you have to have a flight ticket to leave it within three months. It seemed they didn’t have the ability to reason, because they said I couldn’t use my flight ticket from Mexico back to Germany, which is during the three months. The woman told me I had to buy a ticket for 400$ but with a clear “No!” I solved this problem and flew without a ticket to Nicaragua where my lovely sister picked me up at the airport.
Together we spent three days and nights in Granada, which is a wonderful vivid city and then we went by “chicken bus” to the city San Juan del Sur at the pacific ocean.
It is said, that this city is a surfer’s paradise, so we wanted to proof our talent and rented a board with four people.
The day after we were crossing the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border.
To get to Costa Rica we had to leave the bus and walk to the other side. It was a challenge to find all the offices, where we had to get stamps and pay money because there was no signage. Our passports got controlled at a wooden table under a plastic cover right next to the dusty road.
We waited one hour in a bus, because there was so much traffic, before we finally headed to Tamarindo.
Tamarindo a.k.a. Tamagringo is a city, which could be a state of USA, because of all the Americans there. It is a place which I wouldn’t recommend so much, if you want to get to know the Costa-Rican culture and people.
After “only” five hours in the bus, my sister, three other girls and me arrived in Sámara. Rainer told me a crazy Swiss was going to pick me up and now I know what he means.
Now I ´m here at Paraíso del Cocodrilo and I’m sure I will enjoy this place!
Continuation follows…
Theresa S.
more nature paradise information about Hotel Costa Rica

Chicken eyes in a soup and Racoons (Part 1)

Last winter my neighbours came back from holidays all relaxed and tanned, meanwhile our German skin hasn’t seen any sun the last days.
I was conscious and even a little jealous, so they told me that they spent three weeks in Costa Rica at the Hotel Paraiso del Cocodrilo, which is also supposed to be a “Paraiso de humanos”. The family also dropped the information that the hotel offers internships, which was interesting for me, because I was about to finish summer school. I didn’t want to just travel but also get a deeper impression of one place so doing an internship or volunteer work was the right thing for me.
My interest was raised and therefore I wrote an E-Mail to Rainer, the owner of the hotel, that I wanted to absolve an internship at his hotel.
That was in July. I waited one day, I waited one week, I waited one month, but I didn’t get an answer. Disenchanted I looked for other possibilities to work at, because as a German I had to have a plan of what I was going to do.
I applied for schools in Ecuador and Nicaragua, which both answered with “Yes” the same day!
One day after I booked the flight to these places I received an E-Mail from Rainer, which said “sure you can come here!”.Due to the fact I actually prefered working at a hotel better than working two times at a school, I decided to cancel the volunteer work in Nicaragua and instead work here.
October 16 was the day when I left Germany behind.
I flew to Quito, Ecuador and experienced to worst day of my life.
In the airplane I got to know Ruben, who offered me a ride to a place close to Salasaca, the village in which I was going to be working at a school. However he concealed, that he had a buissnes appointment during which I had to wait in the car. I waited two hours!
When he finally came back, I thought we would head to my place right away, but he didn’t think so. He decided that we wanted to have lunch and ordered me a chicken soup which they served with eyed and giblets. After eating this not so delicious meal we kept on going . Suddenly he said that I had to get off now, so I was standing in the middle of nowhere and it was just my backpack and me.
I caught a bus to Salasaca and then a cap to the school, but because it was already 5 pm nobody was there anymore. Being tired, because I had the middle seat in the aircraft and couldn’t sleep, and hungry I walked around in fields looking for the volunteer house, which I finally found after walking around for two hours. I landed at 8 am and arrived at the house at 7 pm for a way which is usually about three hours.

Continuation follows…
Theresa S.
more nature paradise information about Costa Rica

Costa Rica tour video from the jungle

Costa Rica tours video from the jungle and beaches on the pazific ocean.
Since yesterday there is an extraordinary video tours in Costa Rica to see in Youtube by the jungle and volcano tours riding dolphin tour and many other attractions. Made from a holiday tour with very good camera work. The whole thing is called as Hotel Costa Rica adventure tour 2011th
The second part is the Hotel Paraiso del Cocodrilo with the surrounding stands.
The beach Playa Buena Vista, Barigona and Samara, and La Roca, the Costa Rican restaurant with typical Costa Rican dishes at about 600 meters high. Here we also saw some young Turkan. Most tours are not touristy and off the beaten path. More Tico fewer tourists. Under more natural and pleasant people.
Maybe you feel now to like to make an Costa Rica adventure holiday? Then you simply logs on to travel costarica.net. In this page you get more information.
 Have fun look and enjoy the Costa Rica video.

On Tuesday, there is again a music session at the Hotel Paraiso del Cocodrilo under the name of music from the jungle. All are welcome. And bring the instruments. Beer is enough there.

  Pura Vida and Haleluja Greetings from The  Palma de Coco 28
 Thanks to Michael, who made the video.

My trip to Costa Rica

Planning for my trip was a chaos like my life in Switzerland.
As i only had a temporary contract until end of May. I looked in the Internet, for a new job. But i don’t found anything, then i caught myself in looking for a job in an other country.
Since my last visit in Uruguay, i am a fan of Latin America and heard from friends that Costa Rica is great, for this reason i was looking for a hotel in Costa Rica. So I found the Hotel Paraiso del Cocodrilo and I took the first contact by e-mail to Rainer.
I had to hurry to organize all the things for my trip, because i was a little late. I was just glad when I had my passport three days before my departure.

On my flight, I made a stopover in New York and then to San Jose. There I landed at half past nine, and took a taxi to get to the Hotel Coconut House. Since I was totally exhausted from the journey, there i slept directly. In the next morning Rainer took me from the hotel, and we drove to Samara with three guests. On the way we bought a few things.

On the way i can’t help but being amazed, so many new things and impressions. The nature here is amazing. When we arrived in the afternoon at the hotel, I was more tired as the first evening.
After a refreshing in the pool on the first day, chamber also has the first guests to eat something. So I tried to make myself useful.
On the first day I realized that here is a different time rhythm. The people here go earlier to bed and get up earlier. For me, a big change, because in Switzerland i don’t go to bed before twelve o’clock.
At five o’clock the monkeys woke me from my paradisiacal sleep. But this didn’t disturbs me, i could sleep for a few minutes later on.

On the second day, we went to Nicoya going shopping and sell a car. This took quite a long time because the roads are very bad, and the people here take everything easy.

On the third day i come to enjoy the beach. Rainer and the dog on the Moped we drove a few minutes through the jungle. The beach here is really like a fairy tale book, beautiful and untouched. Pure nature!
In general, Costa Rica, a vast natural paradise, with plants and animals at every turn.

The weather here is not easy for me, because it changes more often on the day of bright sunshine to heavy rain. But when have no rain, it was to hot for me.

Sometimes I want to compare Uruguay and Costa Rica, but this is almost impossible, because there are like two different worlds. The immigration to Uruguay in the early 1960s from Europa (Italy / Spain) you realize very well the European influence. Here in Costa Rica you realize just something of the influence of nature.

Pura Vida

Steffi

Innovative hotel in Costa Rica offers holidays for music lovers

Meet a Norwegian jazz pianist, an austrian blues bassist and a Costa Rican flamenco guitarist. Where this may well be? No, at the scene of events it is by no means an international music festival or a crowded concert hall. This takes place in a small hotel in Costa Rica, right on the Pacific coast that for years is the meeting place for professionals and music lovers from all over the world. This is because the owners of the Hotel Paraiso del Cocodrilo, Rainer (here called Rana), is regularly organizing jam sessions, and hence leads together professional musicians and amateur musicians from all over the world.

In every music session invited musicians meet friends, acquaintances, and of course the guests of the hotel, the hotel which are especially invited to enrich the evening with their musical contributions. That possibility is excitedly accepted. The conglomeration of instruments that the hotel manager has accumulated over the years is available for the guests. So a unforeseeable and individual live concert experience evolves in each session where the participants spontaneously make music together, improvise and play solos. This interesting and attractive mix of styles is represented also by the unique hotel ambience with its proximity to the beach of Buena Vista and the beautiful hotel garden. Thus, holiday feeling and enjoying music is perfectly combined at the hotel near Samara and makes the stay especially for guests with fun and joy for music memorable.

Over the years many top musicians were welcomed at the hotel. In particular George Weghofer, former bassist of the successful Mojo Blues Band, Svein Olav Herstad, jazz musician and pianist of the eponymous trio from Norway, and David, a studied flamenco guitarist from Germany are to name. The local music scene is often represented by the resident guitarist Oldrie and also the hotel manager himself does, of course, like to play the guitar and saxophone.

The Paraiso del Cocodrilo is an individual hotel in the sunny province of Guanacaste, near the white sand beaches Buena Vista, Samara and Barrigona. At this beach you can even see Mel Gibson at some days, because he owns a property not far away. Besides the music performances as highlights, the hotel offers also various adventure trips. You can hike through the near national parks, get a boat trip on which you can see dolphins and whales in their natural environment, climb the active volcanoes of Costa Rica or marvel at a drive through the mangroves, where you see crocodiles, monkeys and rare birds. Also there is the opportunity to visit nearby spanish courses to refresh your language or to learn it from qualified teachers.

But also in the hotel itself you can enjoy your holidays completely relaxed. Besides the hotel restaurant with international and Costa Rican dishes, the pool, the surrounding garden and the many wild animals to observe invite one to stay. Offside from busy tourist routes the hotel in Costa Rica presents a natural idyll for individual tourists, in which however you need not dispense with amenities such as WiFi, AC or TV.

More information about the Music  Hotel Costa Rica near the white sand Pacific beach Buena Vista. Tel 0506 26568055

My internship in Costa Rica, Part V

Costa Rica is nothing like Germany. You will see some noticeable differences ranging from its physical geography to the society itself. The culture of this country is so warm, friendly and inviting. The work ethic is totally different from ours: In Germany everything is laid out to a 15 minute break and half an hour for lunch. In their view of time things just happen when they happen. You take a break when you’re tired, and lunch is an hour or more. They are not lazy, but they work to live and not live to work. In Germany it is more the other way around, I think. I have the impression that the people in Costa Rica are happier: They always have a smile on their face.

For me, the first weeks have been great, and I’m very excited to see more of this beautiful country. So far I have really enjoyed my time here. The Ticos are really nice and welcoming and I am very happy that I’ve chosen this small country – 10,000 km away from home. I have gained a lot of new experiences and insights, I have seen a unique landscape and have met wonderful people. However, I am looking forward to my flight back home in one month, when I will return to my familiy and friends and will be able to tell them many stories about this exciting journey that has given me so many unforgettable moments. But at first, I will be taking a closer look at this beautiful country in the next few weeks I hope I can add to my store of wonderful moments. I have taken this country and its people to my heart and I will definitely return at some time!

Kathi Mayer

My internship in Costa Rica, Part IV

My working hours here are flexible, Rainer said. I start every day at 7 a.m. and work usually until 12 a.m. or 1 p.m., after that I have a 4 to 5 hours break before working again in the evenings. I spend my free time in the hammock (to catch up on some missed sleep), on the internet and at the beach or pool, after all, I would like to be as tanned as possible before flying back home to Germany.

Most of the time I’m working in the hotel-restaurant. With the other intern, I take the orders of our guests, serve and chat to them. The hotel is mainly visited by Germans and Americans, who are mostly aged from 40, who want to escape the stress of everyday life at home.

Moreover, Ticos rent apartments for their whole family (about 10 people). The apartments are also ideal for self-catering holidays. This makes it very easy for us to serve them. Sometimes they want to have breakfast or dinner at the restaurant, this means for us non-stop preparation of Gallo Pinto, café Negro, frutas, etc. Gallo Pinto is the national dish of Costa Rica, black beans and rice, and they will eat it for nearly every meal. It’s really delicious, despite the lack of variety!

more information about internship in hotel Costa Rica Samara

My working hours here are flexible, Rainer said. I start every day at 7 a.m. and work usually until 12 a.m. or 1 p.m., after that I have a 4 to 5 hours break before working again in the evenings. I spend my free time in the hammock (to catch up on some missed sleep), on the internet and at the beach or pool, after all, I would like to be as tanned as possible before flying back home to Germany.
Most of the time I'm working in the hotel-restaurant. With the other intern, I take the orders of our guests, serve and chat to them. The hotel is mainly visited by Germans and Americans, who are mostly aged from 40, who want to escape the stress of everyday life at home.
Moreover, Ticos rent apartments for their whole family (about 10 people). The apartments are also ideal for self-catering holidays. This makes it very easy for us to serve them. Sometimes they want to have breakfast or dinner at the restaurant, this means for us non-stop preparation of gallo pinto, café negro, frutas, etc. Gallo pinto is the national dish of Costa Rica, black beans and rice, and they will eat it for nearly every meal. It's really delicious, despite the lack of variety!