San Jose^2

Body Pump Instructor training notes from video evaluation

2005-01-30T21:31:00.000-08:00

Here are notes for my fellow instructors who took Body Pump training this weekend at the Decathalon club in Santa Clara, CA. I didn't have all the names but the individuals should be able to figure out which exercise they did and then map the notes to them.

I should note that I registered www.bodyopen.org today. I am hoping to launch an online community for raving fans of Body Training Systems. If anybody is interested in being a member of this online community please post a comment and let me know to update you when it comes online.

Saturday Video Review
Peggy Squat-beautiful
-Just a little low, 90 degrees at the knee
-Energy elevated at the end.
-Little choppy movement.
-Great choreography

Next squat
Knees are too far forward-joint starts to slide.
Needs to sit back a little.
Heels are lifting a little.
Feet are pretty wide.
Knees are moving wide instead of forward.
Correction: Just needs to stick but further back, push elbows forward

Donna-Chest
Elbow is behind the wrist.

Peggy-Chest
Go on the floor to reset bio-feedback
Listen to the music slow down.

Jim-Back
He doesn’t have curve, due to fusion.

Decreased range of motion to pulse.
Bending knee at set. Knee moving forward in front of shoe

next-back
Good recovery from back.
Shoulder roll- to recover.
Script-are you ready to fly.
End range, elbows are locked, knees are moving forward.
Smoke the muscle not the joint.
Forgot single rows.

Michelle-good wrist position.
Strong instruction
Tiny flare out.

Next-good.
Willi-Really nice, slight lean back.
Great instruction.
Make sure he has a bend in the knee,
Great pre-cuing
Rock solid bottom half, engaging the group.

Frank
-Elbow coming forward
-Timing issues, being aware of it.
-Control of the movements.

-Nice timing, slow moves.

Me-Kieran
Bar positioning good
Knee goes to forward, move body back.
Good visual with the arm.
Timing is an issue.
Knee improves.

next-lunges
Great positioning.
Knew her choreography
Move bar to the other side.

Next-amy
Great instructions.
Told us about extra equipment.
Change in voice, voice is corresponding
Little in behind in shoulder.
Chin offered head.

Laurie
Changes foot position drastically between row and press.
Bar is too far forward.
Head stays in line with spine.
There’s a jump in there.
Shouldwidth-a little close
Targetting below the knee-should be at knee
Same speed both ways.
Great job.

Silvia- Bad hamstring.
Forward flexion
But other times-knees lock, and other times ankles are good.
Need to come straight up.

Sunday Round 2
Laurie and Amy
Great start. Physical Execution. Explaining the four exercises.
Warm-up is usually in the same order. Squat to lunge. Lunge to overhead press.

Amy
Great preques,
Target right on.
great queing,

Laurie-maybe a little less squat.
-Target was right on.
-knee stays over the ankle
Great power down.

Suzanne-smooth down, great voice at the end, take them home.
Big thing hand placement. When you open hand it loads in the wrong place. Curl
Cradle the bar, don’t strangle it.
Drops down a little too far.

Silvia-
Grip should be wider, left wrist bent. Forearms bent in.
Counting the heck of it.
Less talking all over.
placement off because of hand placement.

Peggy
Grasshopper legs- elbows driving back.
At end the timing got a wee bit off.
Nice head position.
Beautiful!
She really hears the music and waits for it. Probably nerves.

Dawn
Nice colours, Shave the body-is good scripting.
Issue, clear and press down phase.
probably needs heavier weight.
Squeeze your butt or no one else will.
Nice timing, good queue, letting them know it’s a combination.

Triceps
late girl-
Slow down, power it up.
It’s excellent.

Jim-
Engaging you all over the place, right there with you. Pretty much a man.
Everything rock solid, timing was good.
Little drop.
If your queues aren’t working, change
Jim can’t curve his back due to surgery.

biceps
Jennifer-Nice alignment, elbow to stripe.
Pants are baggy, because you can’t see knee.
Great toe tapping.
Great halfways.
Missed whole set of halfways.
Need to change stance, but has healing broken bone.

Michelle-great instruction
This track lends itself to be being done. People felt they were part of an experience.
The problem is it becomes less athletic.
Elbows are coming forward just a touch.
Make sure you are having fun.

Lunges
Frank-timing was better. Great weight, forward lean.
Just an imperceptible little rush. A little bit off. Tiny bit of forward lean.
Engaging really well. Much more easy going.
not much pressure in feet, stay loaded in legs.
Needs to stretch hip flexors, he rolls out.

Willi-
Break it in half, great pre-queing.
Engaging. Very confident in choreography.
He brought you into the experience.
Load issues. Stay loaded.
Performance-little shoulder shake.

Shoulders
-wall anlogie
-Elbows a little far.
Plates should come down behind heel.
Great range,
Hands will move in, should be in set position.

Kieran
Timing off
lean more forward, maintain forward. Probably because o f.
timnig was good for pulses.
Elbows were too high in rise, plates too high. Keep elbows forward of mid line.
Stance is narrow.
Move to stance, because
Little fast.
Weights are an option.
First one, elbows went behind.

Chest again
Got a combination of things
Good instruction, no wrinkles in wrist.

Next Chest again.
-Shoulders off
-Over the heart, great instruction.
-Right on with bottom.
-Right elbow not extended.

Body Pump Scripts

2005-01-28T20:31:00.000-08:00

This is a set of scripts from the Body Pump instructor training class I am taking this weekend. Scripts are little phrases that give your class members audio cues as what to do next.
If you have some more scripts please add them in the comments and link to this page from your blog.

Chest
Goal Post
Elbows no longer
Create Clevage
Do not Cross feet
No locking elbows at top
Neutral Spine
Nipples!

Lunge
90/90
Carousel Horse
Tuck your tail
No “Duck Butt”
Back Heel up-Stillettos, Kick-stand
Eyes on the horizon
Zorro References
KickStand

Back- Clean’N press, Dead Lift, Dead Rows
“Raise the Roof”
Take it upstairs/downstairs
To the knees and squeeze
Shave your legs with the bar
No camel backs
Ski jumps, not speed bumps

Biceps
Chunk it up
Time to work the guns
Time to tighten the wings
Linda Hamilton/Angela Bassett/Hilary Swank arms
Let’s pump it up.
Time to fire up the guns
Bottom half under the table.
Don’t eat the bar.

Shoulders
Squeeze shoulders back
Keep elbows inline with shoulders
Increase distance between ears and shoulders
Relax Shoulder
SkiJumps not Speedbumps, Sexy Pose
Reach for the sky
See weights in your peripheral vision
Row-upto nipples
Do the govenator

Triceps
ElbowsBack like skier or chicken wings
hairline
Elbows brush side of ribcage
Elbows pt to ceilling
Bottom of ribcage
Mummy and Frankenstien grip
No Wrinkles on wrist.

Arrived in Ottawa: 80 Degree F drop

2004-12-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't have a great trip. We got up at 6:45AM to catch the 8AM Caltrain to Millbrae. Denise packed one of my bags. It had an additional two bottles of wine, so the morning jog over to the Caltrain was a real heart thumper.

We got to the Continental counter around 9:30. I had put on my watch for the first time in months for this trip. Around 9:55 I started panicking because I thought it was 10:55AM. I started telling the continental passenger rustler we were going to miss our flight. I felt really stupid when Denise told me we had over an hour to catch out plane.

Our plane left late from SFO. So we had to haul across a couple terminals at Newark. I carried all the bags and Denise ran ahead to hold the gate. When I got there they were getting ready to close the gate , but Denise wasn't there. She had seen people waiting for the next flight, and decided to go to the bathroom!

When we got on the plane, a french Canadian woman returning from Quiznos University was on the plane. She had been drinking. It was so painful listening to her classless loud conversation that I was hoping the plane would crash. Denise and I were covering our ears with our hands.
When we arrived in Ottawa there was no gate. Unfortunately, my jacket was stowed in the hold so I had to go outside in -22C weather. It was cold.

My brother, Shannon, met us at the gate with a giant coat for Denise.

We got home to my Dad's soon and had some simple dinner before heading to bed early. I stayed up and debugged my new web site for a while.

Funagain Games: Product Award List

2004-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

Funagain Games: Product Award List

Looks like some great games. BuyWord will probably be under the Christmas tree.

SJ Rep-Tuesday's with Morrie

2004-12-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

I have been going to SJ Rep consistently for a couple
years. We enjoy going because it's a different form or entertainment,
and we believe it's important to experience community arts.

Typically we are so so on the plays at the SJ Rep and to a certain
extent so is the audience. This sunday we went to see Tuesdays with
Morey. It was a captivating play written by the Mitch Albom, the
author of Tuesdays with Morey, and the 13 time winner of #1 Sports
Columnist in the Nation by the sports editors of America.

What was different about this play is the audience laughed deeply and
openly 20-30 times. I looked around and everyone was laughing. At
the end, the theater was sobbing. However, you feel about the
material there's no denying the comic timming and dramatic intensity
of the actors on stage.

It's a really good performance.

Photos moved

2004-09-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hi, I moved the photos to Ofoto.

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=o3js8o9.co1s1ty1&x=0&y=-4hdz3b
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=o3js8o9.2tpup0op&x=0&y=wgh0av

I'll have to relink the photo's in the blog because I moved everything once pixagogo's trial expired. Post a comment and I'll recieve and email if you want to read the posts with the pictures. I'll be more motivated if I believe someone is actually reading the blog and wanting to see the photos.

San Jose to San Jose

2004-08-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

We had a nice breakfast on the lagoon. I saw our plane fly overhead and suggested to Denise that we better hustle to get to the airport. When we arrived the plane looked full and they seem hesitant to even wait for us even though we were 20 minutes early. We got on board and they started the engines and readied for take off. Just then a boat pulled up and the resort guide manuevered around the propellars to negotiate with the captain to let his guests on.

We spent the day in San Jose wandering around the downtown and visiting the National History Museum. It was good museum with a very rich history and collection of items demonstrating the anthropology of the people who settled Costa Rica. We spent some time in an internet cafe, and enjoyed some good food and shopping before heading to the airport.

Well we are back now if you want to drop us a line. I'll be moving the pictures to somewhere more permanent so let me know if you want to see more of them.

Canoeing the rainforest, Eh?

2004-08-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

The two Canadians, Ross and I, and Denise got up 4:45AM to get ready for our Canoe trip. Viktor's father was very sick and since he was looking after the hotel we helped him settle the bill as he rushed to catch the earliest flight out. prepped the giant 8 person canoe and headed off without breakfast. The canals were full of motor boats and their tourists by 6AM.

Shortly after entering the canals, Ross realized that he had left his special expensive binonculars back on the shore. With encouragement from Denise and I we urged him to return to pick them up before the locals woke up. Ross had an earing in one ear and a long pony tail. He explained that he was the descendant of Irish pirates. He also explained that the native Tortuguerans were decendants of pirates as well, and even speculated that thievary should be the national sport. While that wasn't our experience we believed that his 5 years in Tortuguera exposed him to the truer nature of community.

Ross was grateful that we interupted our tour and credited us an additional hour in our tour for returning. He was a fountain of knowledge and we were overwhelmed with his mix of behavioural ecology stories of flora and fauna scientific names. He would point out flowers that were only pollinated by a single type of humminbird. He informed us that half of Costa Ricas mamals were bats and most of them lived in the rain forest. He explained that the forest germinated primarily with large seeds that fell into the water and were washed into shores. He gave us a couple of seeds that were considered good luck. I was sure to hold onto them until we were safely home in San Jose.

He told us that he had discovered a new type of Orchid, but that there were over 35, 000 types of Orchids and that a serious botanist would not rush to publish finding a new Orchid. He even stopped at a fallen branch and pointed out 10 different types of Orchid's on the fallen tree branch. The orchids were not what I had come to expect. Instead they were small plants, not parasitic, almost like grasses with or without tiny flowers.

Later that morning we pulled to the shore and got out of the canoe for a walk around the rainforest floor. Denise was of course thrilled to getting touched by random things ;-) He pointed out monkey droppings and the tracks of a 600 pound Tapir. Denise and I got eaten by mosquitos and so we let Ross wander in his element while we returned to the canoe to get some insect repellent.

We kept paddelling up increasing narrow canals and through tight turns with rapid currents. The canoe was just too large and Denise and I were too inconsistent in our paddeling to be predicatable. As a result, we kept crashing into trees and hanging foilage which on one occasion deposited a spider on Denise. Shortly after that we stopped for a break and then decided to turn around. Denise's elbow was hurting and so she was paddeling sporadically and I was paddeling too hard. As a result, the canoe was girating wildly in the streams. I took Denise's paddle and moved it up front in an effort to achieve some consistency. She protested briefly, but was happy to chaffeured by paddle.

On the way back I spotted another caiman, and we got really close. It was Denise's 5 caiman sighting and she was happy to get as close as she did. Ross and I got talking and he started telling some great river stories.

The first story was about an Israeli tourist who kept swimming in the lagoon. The locals warned him there was a big crocodile but he didn't listen. Each day as he went for a swim the locals started to gather in increasing larger crowds to watch this tourist swim in the lagoon. Finally, one day in front of a large audience an 18 foot crocodile came up and grabbed him. It dragged him down in front of a large crowd. A quick recovery effort was attempted to get his body, but the crocodile protested and came after the body. Unfortunately, they had to kill the crocodile to recover the body for burial. A Darwin award candidate for sure.

The second story was about some tourists in Corcovado national park where we had been before we came to Tortuguera. A couple of hikers were coming to a big river crossing. In front of them was a large group of percaries(sp) a small wild pig like animal. They began crossind as a group and when they got to the middle of the river a group of sharks attacked and ate all the pigs. The tourists waited for a day before attempting to cross the river.

We started getting hungry and so Denise and I picked up our paddles and power stroked back to shore. We been out for a good 5 hours at that point and had really gotten a lot out of $30 guiding fee. We joined Ross for breakfast and ate heartily.

We decided not to hike through the local park and instead visited the Carribean Conservation Corporation Museum which was an excellent display of the local fauna and had some great displays of the Turtle nesting process.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through stores visiting restaurants trying to decided where the best and most authentic carribean meal was to be had. We settled on splitting a dish at a chilean restaurant and I had the world's largest carribean shrimp, which Ross confirmed for me. These shrimp were about 12 inches head to tail, like a small lobster. Hmmm, yum.

We learned that our Turtle guide Viktor's father had passed away at 11 that morning. We headed back to the hotel for an early night and our final day in Costa Rica.

Mid-wifing Green Back Turtles

2004-08-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday night I dragged Denise out of her slumber with much convincing to see the famous Tortuguera giant sea turtles. We were required to dress in all dark colors, and were strictly instructed to not bring a camera, or light of any kind. I felt like we were going to a cult party as almost a hundred tourists outfitted in black came streaming past us on the way to the beaches.

Denise held my hand as we headed out into the darkness of the Tortuguera national park beach. The park had set aside some 19 miles of beach. This area was identified by an american biologist Archie Carr who pioneered studying of several giant sea turtles. His book the "Windward Road" created a community of influential activists who work in the US and Costa Rica and created protections for the nesting grounds of atlantic ocean sea turtles. The sea turtles live for decades and are one of the few animals that have outlived the dinosaurs. However, they are extremely sensitive to having their breeding cycle distrupted when they attempt to lay their eggs on beaches at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Florida and here in Tortuguera.

We walked out to the beach and were inspected by the national park rangers. Denise and I were both impressed with how knowledgable and serious our guides and the rangers were. Victor, our guide, kept us informed of what was going on as we waited our turn. He told us that we were allowed to see only one turtle nesting and that there was no guarantee we would see one. We had access to 5 of the 19 miles of beach and two hours to see a turtle nest and return. However, he suggested it would not be a problem since there were a lot of turtles at this time of season.

Sure enough, within 5 minutes a giant sea turtle came up on the beach. We lined up on the beach staring at a black lump in the rough carribean surf. We all watched intently, but our eyes hadn't yet had 15 minutes necessary to reach the first stage of night vision. The mass moved slowly up the beach to the edge of the tide. Suddenly, it turned and there was a comotion as we were told to rush towards the black lump.

Victor pulled out a red light and shined it on the back of the turtle as it quickly plunged back into the sea. I wondered if that was our one chance. Had we missed it? The rules of engagement with the turtles seemed very odd to me. We regrouped once the turtle dissapeared and waited as another group was instructed to hudle around a large impression in the sand. All I could see was a wall of black clothes. It felt like junior high recess and I was on the outside.

Soon enough Victor told us to move close to the hole in the sand. I dived in and got down on my hands and knees. Out came his red light and I was looking up the personal end of three and a half foot diameter female turtle. The logic of having to wear black but also being able to look up the shell of the turtle evaded me. I was fascinated. There were two large holes, the first was a large dug out trench that the sea turtle had made for herself. Then she has created a small deeper triangle shaped hole another 2 feet deep. I looked into the hole and I saw her birth an egg. It was the kind of shocking experience that biting on a bare wire would give you. I felt like I was going to swallow my jaw. Denise was almost in tears. I felt part embarrased, part pride of being a living creature. Watching life being created before you is an intense feeling that puts everything else in perspective.

We continued to watch as more eggs, they looked like hardboiled eggs, dropped into the sand. Victor told us this turtle would lay around 100 eggs tonight. She would return to Tortuguero 6 to 7 more times laying 100 eggs each time. Approximately 70 of the turtle eggs would hatch into turtles and 1 in a thousand would reach maturity and return to these beaches to lay eggs in 30 years. She would repeating this nesting process every 3 years.

Once she was done laying eggs she started using her fins to push back sand and cover the whole. Victor explained to Denise that these eggs would be predominantly female because the nest would be in the hot sand of the beach rather than the sand further from shore under some vegetation. I told Denise that's because boys are cooler than girls.

I asked about the rules and wouldn't we interrupt the turtles if we were so close. Victor informed us that the turtles were sensitive when choosing to begin nesting, but once they began nesting they entered a trance and although they knew we were around, they weren't disrupted in completing the nesting process.

Then a group from the Carribean Conservation Corporation arrived to measure and tag this turtle. They check the front tags for existing tags and when they didn't find them they tagged the turtles. These tags were redeemable to the marine biology department at Florida state university for 5 dollars. Archie Carr has secured a national science grant for paying for tags and tagging information that he claimed was the best money he ever spent. This tagging reward program provided excellent lifecycle data and migration patterns for sea turtles over the last several decades.

We stayed and saw another nesting turtle digging it's whole. We also quietly hid as another turtle climbed out of the sea only to return to sea in what is called half mooning. I was assured the turtles would return to the sea and try again to nest else where along the 19 miles.

What's really fascinating is that you can now signup to sponsor a turtle and recieve email of your turtles location as they are spotted for only $25. If you looking for a lifelong present then you might want to consider this as a special gift for someone.

Caimans, Spiders, low-land rain forests, Oh My!

2004-08-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing time in Tortuguero. We flew in early Thursday morning and moved into our sparse hotel room. We had breakfast at the new place in town. The population of Tortuguero is around 850 and it's basically an illegal squatters settlement that has been partially legitimized because of the 50, 000 tourists who bring in several million dollars a year. People were friendly and the scenery was beautiful.

We arranged to rent a kayak in the morning and hiked the local hill that afternoon. The kayaking was perfect. We headed off in a double kayak to the local ranger station to buy some 3 day passes and then we headed up into the canals. We stopped by a tour boat and watched some monkeys moving in the trees on shore for a while. They are still a thrill and really cute to watch.

We paddled up several tributaries trying to get as deep into the jungle as possible. Denise wanted to stop and take it easy as we moved along but I knew we were paddling against a strong current that was travelling almost 40 miles from the interior foothills down to the ocean. The plan was to move as fast and far interior as possible and float back.

Denise started getting nervous as the jungle closed in on our kayak. She asked if there were any crocodiles in the water and of course I lied and told her there weren't. Five minutes later she looked over on the shore and she saw a caiman, a small crocodile like animal. She was scared and she wanted to turn around immediately. But I kept paddeling deeper into the tributaries.

Soon we spotted more monkeys, tiger throat blue herons, and abundant plant life. We saw another caiman and a fresh water turtle and kept moving forward. Finally after a solid paddle we turned around and floated back. It was really beautiful in the jungle and the combination of solid exercise and remoteness made us feel like we were back on our adventure.

That afternoon we arranged a hike and tour up the local hill with a local guide named Roberto. I had been warned to ensure we got a full 3 hour tour but despite my insistance he took us on the 1.5 hour route. But it was great and we were happy to get as much exposure as we did. The trek involved moving around of the base through very deep and muddy trails to a bat cave. Denise was completely surrounded by spiders. If you turned around the wrong way on this narrow jungle trails you were likely to get a face full of a 3 foot spider web. She was remarkably brave and her definition of what a big spider is probably changed forever.

The guide was knowledgable and told lots of interesting stories and folklore about the mountains and the flora and fauna. We saw a walking palm which is a tree with the root system starting 4 feet off the ground. The trees has 30 roots and each year some roots die in one direction and new roots in the opposite direction start up. This allows the palm to move up the hill in search of better sunlight every year. Unfortunately, the trail erosion was horrible and the guides just kept creating new paths through out the forest creating a lasting damage to the ecosystem. We arrived at the top of the hill and saw another tour group in pants, shoes, and ponchos. We were glad to be in our high rubber boots and moisture wicking clothes. They were covered in mud upto their knees and their rain ponchos were dangerously catching on branches on the steep descents.

We headed back to the bottom of the hill through deep mud for a cool beer and fresh coconut. We made it back to our hotel and got ready for the highly recommended dinner at Miss Junie's. We stopped by the local bar to have a drink with Ross, our canoe tour guide for the next morning. Ross is a botanist by trade. He has spent 6 and half years living in various low land rain forests in Central and South America managing ranger and botany stations. He was very interesting to talk to and he could hardly complete a sentence with out providing the scientific name of a plant or animal.

Dinner at Miss Junies was quite good. Everything tasted really rich, and had distinctly carribean flavours. I ordered a whole fish but found it too boney to enjoy. Denise, the vegetarian, felt tortured through dinner as my entree stared her in the eyes. She was constantly repositioning objects on the table to avoid eye contact with my coconut milk fried dinner.

After dinner I tried to track down Ross and a Duke Marine Environment PhD student from Montreal. Denise headed back to the hotel for a nap before our night tour of the Giant Sea Turtle. We are so used to gettting up at 5AM that going to bet at 8PM seems like a late night. I had to drag Denise out to the beach to see the turtles.

Trapped again

2004-08-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

This time all the Costa Rican Truckers have gone on strike. So they just parked their big rigs on the roads and shut down the city. Nice!

So we will be hanging out in San Jose, until our 6:15AM flight tommorow. We will probably just get a bottle of liquor and tune into fox and watch those informative swift boat ads.

P.S. Denise and I are going to reviewing america's most wanted web site later. We think everyone is staying here at our hotel. Rewards should pay for the trip.

World Record Rain in the Rain Forest-traps us!

2004-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

We woke at 5AM Sunday to take the Taxi Collectivo to Carate. Basically a pick-up truck with wood benches and a canopy. Denise and I sat up front to get the best view. The trip was 2 hours and quite beautiful. At times I felt we were in the plains of Africa and other times we were in the Jungle.

The road was rough and slow with several aggresive river crossings. We arrived in Carate, which was basically a Cantina. I asked Denise what she wanted to do and we defaulted to the book recommendation of the Corcovado Tent Lodge Cabins which was a 40 minute walk down the beach. I picked up the two big packs and headed out to the beach.

It was gorgeous. We had to cross a river with the jungle on our right and beautiful pacific waves on our left. We trekked off at a good pace as we didn't have any reservations and I figured I wanted to be there before everyone else in case they were filling up. It was a serious workout crossing the soft sand on the beach.

The jungle was covered in these pairs of beautiful scarlet macaws. We would see upto a dozen fly over us at once. We made it to the cabins and hustled up to find the front desk, so to speak. There was room for us. They explained how the meals and accomodations worked and gave us the tent with the best view overlooking the beach.

It was hot and sunny so Denise and I didn't hesitate to change into swim wear and hit the waves. They were very strong here and we were warned to respect the riptide and focus on swimming at low tide of 1PM. We grabbed boogie boards and put a life jacket close to shore just in case Denise got sucked out. We played in the waves, but they were really rough and Denise decided she had had enough. I moved further out where the waves weren't tossing you onto the beach. Since I was the only one in the surf I took it easy and came in after an hour.

We headed up to the bar hut and I met up with a guy visiting his sister who worked at the lodge. He agreed to join me to Boogie board and headed out further into the surf. We had some good body surfing but mostly we got smacked around. At one point we tried to get in and spent about 15 minutes realizing we werent' able to get in. Codie got lucky and caught a good wave that put him close to the beach. I was only about 25 ft from shore but I wasn't getting any closer no matter hard I tried, so I just played it cool until my wave came in. I got pushed to shallower water and that was enough for me.

We headed up for lunch. I ate with a passion. It was really nice to have a wide selection of dishes and not have to eat Denise's left overs for a change. Shortly after lunch it started to rain. Then it really started to pour and so I headed to the bar and picked up a Lance Armstrong's "It's not about the bike". The future of sports competition is truly frightening when parents start to realize the level of single minded focus that's necessary in order to win. It's one thing to have a ten year career starting at 7 and peaking at 17. It's another to start at 12 and go to 32.

But most importantly, Denise and I felt like we were on vacation. Over the next day I would read 1 and 2 half books and Denise would read over 3. We were just eating and reading and enjoying not travelling. But as the rain continued into the night we started to realize this was going to have lots of consequences. We put in a request to get the next flight out that evening.

In the morning, we were told we were trapped. The jungle was saturated, the beach was torn open in a dozen places sometimes digging trenches 3-4 feet deep and 12 ft wide. The little river by the cantina we had crossed was now uncrossable. More imporantly, the resources of the ranger stations in Corcovado would be stretched as everyone would be hunkered down riding out the storm. That is if you could get to the ranger stations. If the beaches were now rivers, the rivers were going to be more like waterfalls. We later learned that we got over 17 inches in 24 hours approximately a recorded 15 year record.

I am sure that lousy old tents that everyone was renting in Corcovado had failed after 12 inches of rain. We huddled up in the bar and enjoyed 3 endless gourmet meals, bottomless coffee, and chocolate cookies. We couldn't get to the landing strip to fly, and the trucks couldn't cross the swollen rivers we had driven across on the way in. We were stuck and enjoying it.

This morning over breakfast we decided that while the rain had slowed it was best to get out while we could. The last river before the Cantina was deep, fast, and we were crossing at high tide meaning the waves coming in were swelling the river over a foot high every thirty seconds. In the end, I decided to get some hero points by carrying Denise across the river as the water was rushing and swelling. The extra weight would help to keep my feet stable.

Shortly after we arrived a convoy of 4 vehicles headed out to cross the river. We got a flat tire in the first river crossing. The second river crossing the van got stuck in the river and had to be pulled out by the jeep. We made it Puerto Jiminez and decided not to wait until 5PM for the 9 hour bus ride to San Jose. We scrambled to the airport and caught the last flight out to San Jose.

We have had to scrap some of our trip including hiking Cherripo, and river rafting. We talked to a Dane and German who had taken 5 days to complete the hike to Seripo Ranger Station hike I wanted to do in two. They were doing river crossings upto their chests and had to do as many as 20 of them for a single river. This was before the rain, so I had no doubt that we made the right decision not to push through.

We might try to do Irazu Volcano tommorow and then head off to the carribean for some good relaxing turtle watching and kayaking.

Kayaking the Osa Penninsula

2004-08-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

We took a bus back to San Jose, so that Denise could enjoy a hotel with a pool and get a swim. We also had arranged a 6AM flight into Puerto Jiminez this morning. The hotel was nice and I went for a swim. It was the first time I have been chilled since I left California. Poor Denise. All she wants is a hot day and a cool pool. So I pushed her into the pool anyway! Denise then went to a great masseuse who worked on this muscle in her back for 40 minutes. She was impressed.

We took over the big screen TV at the hotel and watched a special on Britney Spears, drank Punch and Alcohol, and ate too much popcorn.

The flight this morning was awesome. The small plane gettting tossed around by turbulence was refreshing compared to the busses navigating pot holes. It was the most enjoyable transportation since we got to Costa Rica. Look for photos from the air soon.

I have arranged a kayak tour for high tide between 3 and 700 PM. We plan to kayak through the Mangroves, check out medicinal plants, paddle the coast to beautiful beaches, kayak with the dolfins at sunset, and then I am going to swim among the bioluminescent creatures tonight.

I am trying to convince Denise to go on this 19KM hike, 6K uphill, 13K flat to a ranger station. Then another 16KM flat out. Some travel agent has just informed me all the ranger stations are completely booked 30 days in advance. Uggh! Of course thats completely inconsistent with everything else we have experienced. The station we want to stay at sleeps 28 in dorm beds and I find it hard to believe its full when the hotels are all empty.

We met a nice couple at breakfast this morning who tried to hike from Leona Ranger station to Sirena ranger station. They waited for low tide to cross a river but a rainstorm kicked in and the river flooded carrying whole trees down river. They took in a tentless hiker and had a miserable night in a storm 30 minutes from the Sirena ranger station. They turned around in the morning.
However, a different group crossed the river hours after them. We heard varying opinions about whether there were crocodiles in the river. There probably are, but they shouldnt be an issue. However, the next river along the coast after Sirena ranger station is suppposed to have crocodiles and hammerhead sharks at high tide. Yum Yum.
Did I mention that we have to watch out for roving packs of wild white lipped boar that have been known to travel in packs of 100 to 300 and are extremely aggressive. I have to practice tree climbing with Denise before we head out. No injuries reported, but one guide waited out a group of 20 boars silently until they got bored.

The guides seem good, and there is no shortage of things to do in Puerto Jimenez. The beaches are quite nice. There is a surf spot across the Gulfo Dulce that has a famous 1 mile long left point break.

I was hoping to pick up a mosquito net in town for our camping but that is not to be found. Its looking more and more like I am going to drop Denise at a luxury resort with cute cabana boys and head of into the jungle to chase down some jaguars.

Poisin things in Costa Rica

2004-08-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Denise and I have been working on a list of poisin things in Costa Rica. Here it goes:
1. Exhaust. Being back in San Jose, CR makes you appreciate smog tests in San Jose, CA.
2. Cigarette Smoke. People smoke and its really annoying to be enjoying a nice meal. I am thinking about starting a punch a smoker day, as a national holiday. Maybe Ill start it in Costa Rica.
3. Cashews: Apparently the cultivation and production of cashews is extreme toxic. The tree and the oils are very toxic and must be burned off. The smoke from the burning is also toxic and we have heard of horrible chemical like burns for those who tried to bite into a cashew raw.
4. Trees: We ran into a tree the other day that is so toxic mearly lying beneath it and breathing in the presence of the tree can cause serious reactions let alone coming into contact.
5. Spiders: We have heard mixed things. But the best we have heard is that spiders will bite you and insert gastric acid into the bite. If you are allergic to it, its bad, otherwise its like a wasp sting.
6. Vipers: Okay, they are usually high in the trees at night, and hidden behind flowers in the jungle. You probably wont run into them with out a guide, but they are there.
7. Dengue mosquitos: we heard there might be an dengue fever outbreak here in Puerto Jimenez but it was debunked second hand by a doctor. However, in Limon there have been over 11, 000 cases of Dengue fever and the authorities are doing an aggresive campaign of spray every outbreak area.

Mid vacation blues

2004-08-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hi, we spent from 8AM yesterday until 3PM travelling to the town of Quepos. The travel is really starting to wear on us. We were trying to go south to get to the Osa Pennisula. Everyone was recommending we return to the capital city in the middle of Costa Rica to get to Puerto Jimenez. That seemed madness so we decided to trek down to the highly recommended Manuel Antionio national park outside Quepos. We didn't have any confirmed travel plans and instead tried to patch together our own routing which has turned out to be fairly painful.

After arriving in Puntarenas by ferry we realized we had a 4 hour lay-over and then would arrive after sunset, which meant we would lose an entire day. Denise is really wearing under the constant bus travel and repeated poor sleeping conditions. I convinced a couple from Montreal to split a taxi with us so we could get to the beach, do some laundry, and enjoy a walk and dinner during sunset on the Pacific Ocean. We stopped the taxi at one point to photograph a couple dozen crocodiles in a river. SCARY! We downed a couple cocktails and enjoyed the rain when we got to the beach.

The beach is amazing, but the rain and cloudy skies put a damper on things. Also, the beach is being really heavily developed. We must have counted 40 hotels and restaurants through the forest leading upto the beach and entrance to the park. Real Estate mania makes it feel like the valley.

We stayed in a new hostel and the young english couple who owned, Wide Mouth Frog, were great. It's nice being able to walk up to someone and say, here are 5 things I need to make me happy and getting 4/5 things agreed to in less than 60 seconds.

We spent the last 3 hours working on travel logistics. Mostly, I think another day consuming bus trip will wipe Denise out. So we are going to the beach, enjoying the day and then catching a 3.5 hour express Bus to San Jose. We will catch a cheaper 50 minute flight directly to Puerto Jimenez tommorow at 6AM. It's likely we will stick there for several days and may drop the ubiquitos river rafting trip out of our schedule and replace it with the highly recommended kayaking trips in the Golfo Dulce (Soft Gulf) near Puerto Jiminez.

I am hoping to still sneak in a 20KM rain forest hike, but I suspect Denise won't be comming. We will definately be doing a 11 mile out and back beach hike along the Pacific from Carate to Leona ranger station in Corcovado National Park.

We are off to the beach, and probably a massage for Denise. I might try swimming to local islands if the currents aren't too strong.

Montezuma-trekking to the beach

2004-08-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well Denise is certainly being creative. It's true the hike was a little sporty, and the bush was a little dense, but for the most part the trail was wide and extremly well used. As soon as we ran into other couples you could see her tension drop several notches. It's just a matter of getting used to a new type of hiking.

The rain was refreshing and didn't last too long. Our moisture wicking clothes had mostly dried before we finished the hike. Her knees would have been fine if the Ibuprofin hadn't melted in her pocket. But when she started paraphrasing Dante's inferno "Woe to you, wicked souls! Hope not ever to see Heaven! I come to carry you to the other bank, into eternal darkness, to heat and frost. And thou who art there, living soul, depart from these that are dead." I knew she was fine.

We spent 6 long hours from 8:00AM to 2:30PM on Tuesday travelling with Interbus to get to Montezuma. We made new friends with Frank, a sociology and stats prof at St. John's, and Leanne, a health care program manager, his girlfriend. Frank and I let Denise and Leanne pick the hotel in Montezuma and they chose air-conditioned rooms. We then spent the next 1.5 hours walking through the town of Montezuma checking out the 20 year old dread locked wanna be's and just about every other hotel in town. The humitidy was so high we finally agreed air-conditioning was the most important feature.

We crashed into our hotels for some down time. I decided to go for a run at sunset on the beach. There was a lightning storm as the sun set and so I had the beach all to myself and it was being lit up brilliantly by bolts of lightning on the horizon. It was a short run but it was spectacular.

I arranged a cocktail hour with Pilsen and a Chilean Chardonnay at 7PM before heading off to a marvelous restaurant called Cocolores. The proprieters were young italians who looking like surfers. But the food was so good I felt like I was in Sicily which was a nice break from our steady diet of rice and beans. Denise had vege-kabobs that stood a foot and a half tall. Frank had bacon rapped filet mignon, and Leanne had Halibut in a coconut curry sauce. Everything was amazing. The consistency and quality reminded me of the passion the italians brought to food. I had Ceviche. Ceviche is the dish that every doctor and every travel book tells you not to eat. But I felt I was in good hands. Ceviche is raw fish marinated in lemon juice. My ceviche melted in my mouth it was the best fish I have eaten since I ate the greatest meal of my life in Milan. I was covered in raw garlic and olive oil and I devoured every last drop.

After dinner we headed to the local club and got a table in the sand on the ocean surrounded by luminarias. It was perfect. We got drinks for the ladies and Frank and I retired to the far side of the beach to enjoy some beautiful cuban cigars for a while. We left the girls alone and soon enough several guys had joined them and had them laughing. Frank and I decided to wait until these guys bought the girls drinks before we returned. We called it a night.

All night long Denise kept complaning about my toxic garlic breath. The room was saturated in garlic in the morning! We met up with the Candian honeymooners Fonda and Al at 10AM. We took a short bus ride to Cabo Blanco and did a very muddy 8.5 km hike through the rainforest to a beautiful beach. Denise was complaining about how much she was done with rainforests when I noticed a large group of white faced monkeys in front of us. It was awesome. They were climbing all around us and and climbing to the ground to pick ripe fruit off the ground while keeping an eye on us. I even saw a baby monkey riding on it's mother's back. It was awesome.

The trail was really muddy and I finally convinced Denise to stop trying to avoid the mud and just walk through it. That sped us up and we arrived at the beach in 2 hours and 20 minutes. I jumped into the ocean for some body surfing on great waves and played with some rocks on the beach. Denise played with the hundreds of tiny crabs moving in and out of their shells while she ate lunch.

I suggested that we do a waterfall hike when we got back to town and everybody looked tired and thought I was crazy. But when the bus went past the waterfall they agreed to do it. They hopped out and I told them I would meet up with them while I went and got Frank and Leanne in town. We climbed the first waterfall but it was a difficult trip if you didn't find the path. Denise couldn't see through the rushing water because it was brown and decided against crossing the river on the way up. She turned back and joined Al and Fonda. Al had cut his hand and need to clean it up. I charged ahead and found the way, and then returned to find Frank and Leanne wading along the banks. We made it to the waterfall and it was awesome. The water was a little cooler than the body temparature water in the ocean from earlier. We swam around for a while and then headed back to catch up with Denise.

We stopped and made reservations for 30 minutes from now at the Cafe De Les Artistes. It's a beautiful candlelit cafe on the ocean with great lounging chairs. You almost expect to be fed grapes they look so comfortable.

Sorry the pictures are blurry.

Woe to all who enter here!

2004-08-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are in La Fortuna, the small Costa Rican town that sits at the base of the world's second most active volcano. Today we went on The Hike from Hell aka Hiking in Hell aka The Hell Hike aka...well, you get the picture. We started out clean, dry, insect bite free, full of energy, and had healthy knees and a full stomach. We were good to go! As we started hiking, I noticed these rather large ants carrying leaves on the trail...yes, these would be the red Killer ants that like to hop on your shoes and then climb up and into your socks to bite you...ok, so not a really big deal unless you're hiking uphill (the whole way, barefoot and in the snow) and can't stop for breaks less you want to get attacked by these flesh eating insects. After scrambling through a river bank (full of killer ants), we made it to the next part of our hike which was the Rain Forest. Oh yea. I had no idea that we were hiking through the rain forest again. Kieran sold me on a beautiful, mostly flat hike with fantastic views of the volcano and a Tiki Hut with beer at the end. Was there a Tiki Hut on this hike? No, but we had other wonderful things like giant spiders, potentially lurking viper snakes, mosquitos, mud, and rain. The trail involved climbing 3000 steps to the top of a hill with no view and very cold rain only to find out that we would have to hike back down the other side for another 15 minutes to reach the lake that was covered in fog. We bailed on going to the lake and started heading down the hill just as it started to pour rain. It poured and poured and poured and poured. Dirt turned to mud and mud turned into a slippery brown foilage-y mess and Kieran and I took turns covering our butts, legs and arms with mud as we hiked (sild) down the hill. I got bit by a few bugs and several tree roots snagged our legs. When we arrived at our hotel we were covered in mud and soaking wet...no wonder the taxi driver was so happy to see us!

Oh Goody, more rain

2004-08-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

We had a good trip this morning to La Fortuna. After crossing Arenal lake I checked with the driver to see how long we were stopping. He said 20 minutes.

I took the opportunity to do SW Laps. SW Laps are the length of time it takes to swim out into the lake before your Wife starts Screaming to get back in the van or she´s leaving without you! I had to sneak in a swim because the lake is a man made lake. Almost every other body of water in Costa Rica has either crocodiles or sharks.

We met up with the Icelandic couple Andre and Secgy(sp.). We checked into the same hotel and tried to self arange a couple of hikes, massaging, and hot tubs. Before we could get in the cab we got horribly bad information from the locals and it started to pour. Multiple locals convinced us that the waterfall hike was a 40 minute drive and 1.5 hour hike one way. Since it was raining we bailed. Of course as soon as the rain stopped I convinced Denise to do it anyway. It turned out to be a 15 minute drive and a 10 minute hike, which was what the guide book indicated. We chalked it up to a poor translation. It was a beautiful 100ft powerful waterfall. I got in the water and started swimming against the current for about 10 sprints. It poured and Denise got soaked but she was happy.

We were incredibly pleased when our cab driver actually showed up at the arranged time to pick us up in the down pour. The Costa Rican´s have had a lot of opportunities to really screw us over and overwhelming they have been great. It´s no suprise it´s such a popular destination.

I have arranged a massage and pampering package for the ladies. Then we are off to the hot tubs for the evening. It´s been raining a lot which means that the skies should clear this evening and we will get to sit in the hot tubs, drink, and watch a live volcano errupt in the darkness. Better than XBox.

Off to the Volcano

2004-08-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

Denise did remarkably well on the night rain forest tour last night. Considering she runs screaming everytime she sees a spider she starred with curiosity as our tour guide coaxed two different large female tarrantulas out of their holes. We also got to see a viper in the tree above our path. We got poured on at the end of our tour last night.

We tried to get into the trendy restaurant when we got back for dinner but were rejected since it was too late. We settled for a nice pizza restaurant and brought a bottle of Chilean chardonnay. Alan and I split a fettucine carbonara while the Fonda and Denise waited for their large vegetarian pizza. After an hour of waiting and watching other tables be seated, fed, and billed I got up and started complaining. I think they waited another 20 minutes before they even considered making our pizza after that.

We headed back to the hostel and had a lousy nights sleep. The people next door had the rustiest door hinges imaginable and decided to open and close the door some 200 times between 10PM and 2AM. Also, the compound light were shinning right into our room through the flimsy curtains.

We forgot our alarm, so when we woke up at 5:45AM we decided to stay up rather than risk sleeping through our 8AM ride. We will be taking a 3 hour trip to Arenal volcano and the base city of La Fortuna. We will take a 1.5 hour jeep trip, then a 15 minute ferry, and finally another jeep trip to get there, saving us from an 8 hour bus only trip.

Sky Trek, Sky Walk, Night Walk

2004-08-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today is one of our most touristy days. We started off with a 3.5km hike to the start of our tour. We did 11 zip line rides over a period of two hours, called a Sky Trek. The longest zip line was almost 1/2 a mile! We then did a walking tour through the rainforest across 6 long suspension bridges enjoying the flora and fauna.

I ran in the mountains for an hour after we were done. We are heading off to do a 2 hour night hike to see spiders, and sloth.

Then we are meeting up with a couple of Canadian newlyweds from Calgary. We are joining them again tonight for dinner and hope to track down a icelandic couple as well.

We also upgraded our room from a hole in the wall to a nice 2 queen bed suite for $5. We are off to Arenal Volcano tommorow to see the night lava show.

Medicines we should have known about before we got here

2004-08-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Rifaximin Investigational drug rifaximin, a non-absorbed (less than .5%) antibiotic with few side effects and low potential for resistance, is effective in preventing travelers' diarrhea, an illness that affects up to 60 percent of international travelers. Until now, antimicrobial prophylaxis, while effective, has been discouraged because of side effects and the encouragement of resistance.

Wish we had some.

Calcium and Magnesium supplements have been shown to fight off the build up of Lactic Acid. Once we hit the hills on foot and bike we are going to wish we had some.

I read about this book, Trekers handbook, by Buck Tilden on the flight. Sounds like it will be a good read.

Arrived in San Jose going to Monteverde

2004-08-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hi, we arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica without incident. Changed some money and caught a Taxi to the bus station. We will be taking the 4.5 hour bus ride to Monteverde at 230PM. We haven{t confirmed a reservation, but there is a wide selection and its low tourist season.

Denise had a nice meal of beans, rice, fried plantains, and a cooked vegetable medley. We are watching the Olympics Openning ceremony while we wait for the bus.

Weather: Scattered Thunderstorms Hi 80 Low 61

2004-08-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/CSXX0009.html

Let this be a lesson to all of you planning a vacation. Just because it's sunny and tropical in the pictures doesn't mean it won't rain the entire time you are there.

2004-08-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

Denise at her good-bye lunch with the folks from the county of Santa Clara, Information Services Department

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