Deb’s Travels

This category brings you to my diary-type posts. It’s here for my friends and everyone else I have met since 2011 who have asked me to keep them up to day with my adventure. It’s here for anyone who wishes to follow my travels. To read any full post, click its header.

Tasty Sour Cream in Costa Rica

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb in Costa Rica / Deb's Travels / Food / Food in Costa Rica

If you like American Sour Cream, you might love this sour cream in Cost Rica as well. To me, it was like having either Sour Cream or Cream Cheese, only not as sweet. It was also somewhat reminiscent of the fresh cream I loved so much while living on a working farm in Tasmania, Australia years ago. (I ate that cream out of the tub! The Australians found that rather entertaining.) I actually found this next to a liquid Cheddar Cheese, not beside the plastic tubs. I have seen and enjoyed a plastic container of “American Style Sour Cream” when a friend bought it. That was a creamy sour cream just like we eat in the States, but without sugar. It was also more fresh tasting. This bag is the same – but less costly as it comes in a bag. I have been using it as a pasta sauce, […]

More Bagelmen’s in Costa Rica

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb's Travels / Food / Sleeping Accommodations

Funny how things happen. At 10am I took a walk down the road from the hostel where I spent last night. On that walk, I discovered Bagelmen’s and wrote about it here. At 11am, I checked out of the hostel because I felt the manager’s behavior toward me became uncomfortable for me after I told him I was robbed at one of its owner’s other hostels and I didn’t feel at home there. I was told, I needed to leave exactly at checkout time. No problem. I had been welcomed at Bagelmen’s so I went there and relaxed while I looked online for a new hostel. I found a hostel that had excellent reviews and sounded perfect for me, called, and found my way there (in Spanish via two buses). Feeling at home, relaxed, happy and excited about my new albeit short-term home, I asked my friend of what is […]

Two days without rain

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb's Travels

As I have traveled south from Honduras to Costa Rica, I have hit rainy season over and over. I am not sure if I had any 100% rain-free days since mid-May. (Until yesterday.) I was in Guatemala, in the rains, when I told my friend I would arrive in his country in days. Loving Guatemala (specifically my friend Terre and her family), but tired of the rain, I asked how the weather was in San Salvador. The answer — sunny and dry. The day before I arrived it rained there for the first time that season. Then, just as my bus pulled into the bus stop to let us off in San Salvador, the rain came pouring down. We all had to make mad dashes to get our luggage from under the bus and into the small doorway with minimal damages. (Wet boxes, luggage and backpacks are not fun.) I […]

Small things, so helpful

 in Deb's Travels / Packing

When packing to travel for an extended period with just one bag, regular sized containers of stuff are out of the question. My toiletry pack included one 1-ounce sized facial scrub. I used it sparingly, only when my face really cried out for it. And now, after over 7 months, it was nearly gone. Tonight (Oct 21, 2012) I asked a very, very nice gal from Los Angeles if she had any on her, as she is traveling for just a week. She did! And without a word, she simply handed her full-sized, 6-ounce tube to me. I asked if I could have enough to refill my tube and she said, sure, she has enough. So now I have perhaps an ounce again – the amount that fit comfortably in the tube and then squeezes into my toiletry container. I passed her tube back with money to go toward her […]

Best deals for rafting & such in La Fortuna, Costa Rica

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb in Costa Rica / Deb's Travels / Sight-seeing / Sight-Seeing in Costa Rica

If you’re in La Fortuna, Costa Rica and are wanting to go white water rafting, ride a zip line, or do whatever else is offered there, the person to find is Christian. You’ll hopefully find him at Sabor Tica, an excellent restaurant (called a Soda). Find Christian and let him bring you in to book your tickets.

Costa Rica: La Fortuna to Monte Verdi

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb's Travels / Sight-seeing / Transportation

Time to take the “Jeep-Boat-Jeep” from La Fortuna to Santa Elena (aka Monte Verdi). The bus arrives at my hotel gate for me. Yep, the “Jeep” is a mini-bus, just like my hostel companion Sebastian guessed it would be. The first bus is 20 minutes to the lake. Flat boat. Flat water. Beautiful scenery. Man made lake after 1968 Volcano. Then 1.5 hours on stone and dirt narrow roads as we climb toward the clouds. We are going to the Cloud Forest. Here it doesn’t rain so much. The views cannot be caught in a single frame photo. We all comment on the beauty of the rolling green hills and many levels of mountains and fields and textures. We pass some small home or farms, some cows locked in pens and some out grazing. At 11:05 after about 30 minutes from where we packed up the 4 american horse riders […]

Costa Rica: La Fortuna to Santa Elena

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb's Travels / Sight-seeing / Transportation

Time to take the “Jeep-Boat-Jeep” from La Fortuna to Santa Elena (aka Monte Verdi). The bus arrives. Yep, the “Jeep” is a mini-bus, just like my hostel companion Sebastian guessed it would be. The first bus is 20 minutes to the lake. Flat boat. Flat water. Beautiful scenery. Man made lake after 1968 Volcano. Then 1.5 hours on stone and dirt narrow roads as we climb toward the clouds. We are going to the Cloud Forest. Here it doesn’t rain so much. The views cannot be caught in a single frame photo. We all comment on the beauty of the rolling green hills and many levels of mountains and fields and textures. We pass some small home or farms, some cows locked in pens and some out grazing. At 11:05 after about 30 minutes from where we packed up the 4 American horse riders we are in the clouds. The […]

White Water Rafting in Costa Rica’s Balsa River

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb's Travels / Sight-seeing

  I LOVED white water rafting with Kern River Tours on the Kern river near Bakersfield, CA and always wanted to go again. so when a couple of people I was with in San Jose, Costa Rica were going rafting out of La Fortuna, Costa Rica I was IN! My first (only, so far) white water rafting in Costa Rica was on its Balsa River – one of the many rivers commercially rated in Costa Rica. It isn’t THE river here but heck, it was rafting! This trip with Costa Rica Descents was Class III and IV, both the upper and lower Balsa. The water was warm so the spray and getting walls of water in my face or on my body was enjoyable. The price I paid, with the help of a local connection, Christian of Sabor Tico, was good. I know many others pay up to $90 for […]

Traveling again: in Costa Rica

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb's Travels

This morning starts the third day since I left San Salvador. You may notice I say San Salvador, not El Salvador — and that is a big part of the difference in what I am feeling today and yesterday. I landed in San Salvador as a traveler and a bit of a tourist, but I quickly came to more be living there. San Salvador became home. I had a phone number, a permanent (for three months) address, and I had many friends. People who live there called me and invited me out. I called them. I went to the beach, swimming, out to lunch and dinner, etc with my friends there, not with other travelers. I lived there — an everyday life participating in the everyday lives of my friends. Now I am back on the road again — a traveler. This hit me as I waited for the bus […]

Ended 3 months in El Salvador

 in Central America / Costa Rica / Deb's Travels / El Salvador

I arrived in El Salvador — specifically San Salvador — on July 4th, with a plan to spend one week and two weekends there. By mid-week I had decided to stay another week. Then another… I didn’t leave until my already-extended CA4 visa was ending so I had to leave. I LOVED Cumbres de Volcan, the hostel in Escalon that my CouchSurfing friend had heard about. It easily became home.  It was easy to stay. The neighborhood I was in. It was perfectly safe to walk around in. To walk to beautiful supermarkets and malls, to go out to nice places, to walk all the way downtown… All fear of San Salvador was easily questioned by my Tica bus seat-mate as we arrived in the city. My fears somewhat melted away the first days but I remained diligent. No city is perfectly safe, but as with all cities, if you […]

Life in San Salvador

 in Deb's Travels

Tonight I am watching TNT with a friend. We are sitting at her outdoor dinner table, a part of her home that’s comprised of a tile floor as is the rest of her home and a sloped ceiling that also matches the rest of her home and is replete with a ceiling fan. But the online walls are the ones that comprise her living room, kitchen and indoor dining room. The other two sides are open. The ceiling is steeply sloped because several months here, from approximately May to November, are known as the rainy season and at this time it rains pretty much daily. Oh, the movie we are watching — (He’s Just Not That Into You). I have wanted to see this film since it came out but never got to. Now I am following it — in Espanyol. Following it, but not fully “getting” it. I recognize […]

New year 5773

 in Deb in El Salvador / Deb's Travels / Sight-seeing

My LA Mac friend Elaine just sent me wishes for a good 5773. My reply: And as I sit on a roadside patio in upscale Escalon, San Salvador fully loving the music of 4 men, a bass and marimba in the fresh rain-washed air taking in the view of the nearby volcano before I head to synagogue here, I wish you the same. I am so loving this weekend!

Oh language…

 in Deb's Travels

As I have traveled I have often been asked to clarify American phrases or define words. Conversely, I was taken aback when a woman told me of a relationship with a man and said “he molested me.” I had to check that out, had to get used to people saying things like that and mothers telling children to stop molesting each other.  These people are using the word perfectly as it means: “pester or harass (someone), typically in an aggressive or persistent manner” but because Americans use the word to mean “assault or abuse” we have dropped that everyday use of the word and molest carries strong connotations. So anyway, today I was looking up annoyed, angry, and mad to see how I can explain them to someone and I was struck by the cyclical definitions.  Per the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd edition, 2005 by Oxford University Press, Inc. annoy |əˈnoi| verb [ trans. ] (often be annoyed) irritate […]

A traveler’s language challenges

 in Central America / Deb in El Salvador / Deb's Travels / Travel Tips

Tonight’s plan was for me and two friends to hear a woman from Argentina perform at the bar in the Crowne Plaza two short blocks from where I am staying. I’d walked over there this afternoon to learn the times and even find out that her performance coincided with the last half hour of happy hour so we’d enjoy two-for-one draft beer in the warm evening’s air. I was happy that I’d gone over there and inquired in Spanish, gotten the information, and relayed it to my two local friends. However, we arrived to find she is not performing tonight. One of my friends’ response to me: “So your Spanish is not so good.” (Not meant in a bad way.) Really, I didn’t understand what I’d done wrong. I am certainly not fluent in Spanish. I lack many, many words. But I knew how to ask about a female singer […]

My first El Salvador earthquakes

 in Central America / Deb in El Salvador / Deb's Travels / El Salvador

Last week there was a quake here in San Salvador. Ironically, I was sitting at the dining table at my guest house, working on a Mac there when the all-too familiar shaking started. Sitting at a Mac just like I was during most of the shakes I have felt in Los Angeles for the past many years. Seriously, over 5 months of not sitting at a Mac and here I was – same combo. So here I was relaxing and doing some casual work, when the ground shook. Not rocked. Shook. Sharper than what I felt most in LA. In LA I lived 2 floors up, too high to exit through a window, and always wondered if it was best to stay inside or go out. Here, I was in a single home, but up some stairs. And immediately outside are major electric wires. I wasn’t sure of the building […]

Weekend in Guatemala

 in Central America / Deb's Travels / Guatemala

When I got on my bus from Guatemala City to San Salvador, I never expected to do the reverse drive to Guatemala City and return by the same route again. But I did, when my friend Frida decided to do the trip in her car. Another friend arranged for a CouchSurfing host who lived in a very modern, tall apartment building with a reception desk and a beautiful view. This was a very different experience than my previous visits into the city. I will post the photos of this view when I find them. I didn’t get to take my photos of me leaving Guatemala and entering El Salvador the first time across because passengers were not permitted to get off the Tica bus. So this timne, at least I got a photo as our car crossed the bridge borders. (Of course, I don’t photograph customs offices.)

Website consulting in Guatemala City

 in Central America / Deb Fixed It / Deb in Guatemala / Guatemala / Traveling with Technology

I spent this Shabbat in Guatemala City with some friends. It gave me the opportunity to meet several great people. Some invited me to their homes and it is so tempting because i like the people and the places. However, each is in a place I have already been. Great invitations for the next time I come there. But for now I need to keep moving south. It was pretty funny to have left Guatemala and traveled south, then back to Guatemala and back down again. Anyway… One on my many conversations led me to spend some time Saturday night reviewing someone’s business website and teaching them what they need to do to improve their site. It felt great to be back using that familiar expertise. From explaining the flaws of the existing site, to teaching them web site and web page structure, to giving them user interface advice, to […]

Awaiting stuff

 in Deb's Travels / Traveling with Technology

Today I am on pins and needles wanting to pick up stuff from a friend who was in the states recently. My amazing friend Mark Hartman express mailed disks across the country for me to help me create a new bootable external disk on my traveling-with-me Western Digital My Passport drive. (Wow, until I looked at that Western Digital page I hadn’t even realized this drive is smaller than my passport.) I also have a box of small, reliable Radtech stuff coming, including a new iPhone battery, and a couple of other small things from other compaies as well – to help me rebuild what was stolen when I started this trip. And maybe some Tootsie Rolls from Mark! Tomorrow seems a l-o-n-g way away.

My 1st Spanish movie

 in Deb's Travels

Today, Sunday Aug 19, I joined Salvadorian friends seeing MiniEspias, aka Spy Kids 4 – in Spanish. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do, but I followed the film pretty well. There were a few conversations where I didn’t know any of the words, but in most of the dialog I understood at least half the words and in a film like that, that was enough. Pretty cool.

Phoning home’s a blast

 in Deb's Travels / Traveling with Technology

Today I was told a package arrived at my old address for me, so I called my friend, a former neighbor, to ask her to take it for me. I wish I had a recording of this call. I said, “Hi Ruth, it’s Deb.” The response was 100% dead silence. I could hear the pause, visualize her brain working as she tried to put things together, to assimilate the realization of this being the voice of a person with whom she is used to only infrequent emails. It was so great to talk to her. I have been enjoying good old-fashioned style phone calls for a couple of weeks now, ever since I installed Vonage Mobile app (which no longer exists) on my iPhone. It requires good wi-fi so I won’t always be able to use it, which makes these calls even more of a treat. Two weeks ago I sat […]

I miss(ed) Dove soap

 in Deb in El Salvador / Deb's Travels / Packing

If you haven’t used Dove, you simply won’t understand this post. But someday you might… Dove has been my body and face soap of choice since I was 16 and the dermatologist who treated my (second-degree) burned face and hands recommended it. I’m not one to recommend you pack a year’s worth of your favorite soap. I had two bars of Dove left when I packed so, happily, I was able to fit them into my backpack/suitcase. After that, I knew I would simply use what I can find. I’d done that before, each time I’d traveled. The thing is, despite claims, no other soap in the US or elsewhere, is a creamy, soft, and residue-less as Dove. So when I ran out I missed Dove. I found some in Walmart in San Salvador. They were the smaller sized bars, but the price wasn’t too horrible. However, they didn’t last […]

Matador FlatPak with a new 135g bar of Dove soap vs a used bar of Dove.

Easier travel between USA & Brazil coming?

 in Deb's Travels

I am happy to have just read an article entitled: “Visa Waiver for Brazilians May Become a Reality” written by Joel Stewart at The National Law Review and posted there on Friday, August 10, 2012. This isn’t happening yet. They US and Brazil simply agreed to set up “…a working group to study the possibility…” But I am a huge advocate of travel so I am happy to see something that opens the doors for people, particularly of two stable and respectable countries, to get to know one another better. I understand the issues of international travel. Sometimes we Americans focus on the issues of people overstaying their visas, working when they are not supposed to. But the flipside of that is the great number of legitimate tourists that want to come, see the USA and spend their money there. I have been following the issue for a year as […]

Write a letter

 in Deb's Travels / Traveling with Technology

When I traveled in the days before the internet, I mailed letters to my friends. One of those friends, and my father, both saved my letters and gave them to me upon my return. Even though you are keeping a journal, writing a blog, calling home via VOIP and Skype, etc, I strongly recommend that you — that every traveler — sit down and pen a letter home to a family member or friend. Hand-written letters are priceless memories.