Window shopping on 5th avenue

Gorgeous decoration of the shop windows in some of the department stores...

Rockefeller plaza and the tree

Since I didn't make it last year I really wanted to see the tree this year but I have to say, was more impressed by the dancing and enth...

Black or rather clean up Friday

Black Friday or the busiest shopping day of the year... Apparently still draws quite a crowd. These kids must have shopped since Than...

Thanksgiving aka turkey day

Delicious pumpkin and corn bread to be had at this stall Frying lots of meat - but have to say was a little jelaous of the warmth...

Turkey & Thyme or preparing for the big dinner...

Since I don't eat the real turkey - this was pretty good :-) Some of the big birds... I think they were preparing about 70 of the...

A Stroll Around the Art Galleries in Chelsea

My favorite piece - price tag - around 100,000 USD... Amazing piece, combining the words and images...  So in line with my determin...

This is America Latina too

Came across a mexican bull fight on Costa Rican tv yesterday - very cruel but I guess part of the conquistador inspired culture... The torer...

Samara & Playa Carillo

Brillant holiday destination I have to say. Even though Costa Rica is not as cheap as panama or Nicaragua I think it's certainly well wo...

Samara- endless beaches and growler monkeys

After a bit of a bumpy trip we made it to the pacific coast in samara- a beautiful place. Staying at a great hotel called the 'hideaway...

Bird watcher's paradise: monteverde cloud forest

A hiking tour in the amazing Monteverde cloudforest almost made us professional bird watchers. we saw the very rare 'Resplendent quetzal...

Arenal volcano and hot springs

At the waterfall close to our treehouse...

Lounging in the treehouse today. Really nice place to stay- you have your own wooden cabin in the tropical rainforest but for western comfort it has running water, showers and even air conditioning. Yet, you are close enough to nature to see lots of birds, insects and if you're lucky even monkeys and sloths. I have yet to see one of the latter though. My boyfriend who claims to have been up all night due to jetlag, told me that he heard really loud monkeys this morning and I laughed at him a it sounded a little weird but them the owner of the hostel told us that there were actually monkeys passing through in the early morning today. And when we took a short hike to a nearby waterfall we heard them again. Have to admit, it was loud but I would have thought it's a strange type of dog barking... As it's very warm and humid today (no wonder after it was raining the whole night last night), I'm contemplating whether it's even worth taking a shower before going for another hike, up the volcano in arenal. This is an active volcano but the last time they've seen lava was in 2010 so I think we'll be fine. Apparently you can see the ash cloud s emerging in puffs every once in a while though. Curious to see that and most of all to bathe in the hot springs after. Apparently that's what arenal is really famous for.

Lounging in the treehouse today. Really nice place to stay- you have your own wooden cabin in the tropical rainforest but for western comfor...

Impressions from the real Costa Rican coffee tour

Visiting a coffee plantation was actually really interesting. Not only did they show us the plants and the process which starts with the harvest and goes through quite a few rounds of cleaning, fermentation and drying but they also allowed us to taste both the finalized product as well as coffee liquor and my favorite, the chocolate covered coffee beans.

Visiting a coffee plantation was actually really interesting. Not only did they show us the plants and the process which starts with the har...

Breakfast in paradise...

Tacacori ecolodge :-) delicious fruits and the best coffee we've had in a while... Off to see how they go about the coffee harvest in a ...