Costa Rica!

My first trip to Costa Rica was completely a novelty, as I was invited at the last minute, well actually with two months notice, by an old college friend who swore it was the best place ever for outdoorsy types who didn't feel like freezing on vacation and who enjoyed deep sea fishing, along with the unique character of Central America.

I really had no business going on the trip, as I haven't exactly been swamped with work the last few months, but my buddy R.J. emphasized that "since we're over 50 now, every day's a gift and this could be your last chance to go", well he talked me into it.

Before I left I strapped my trusty Drift HD Ghost camera to my backpack and also packed my Canon G15 pocket camera for film and photos.

Drift HD Ghost ready for battle.

After a two days drive down from Nashville, TN to Miami Airport, with a side-trip to Stuart, FL to pick up my friend, we took off on-time from Miami International Airport. After about a 2 hour and 45 minute flight, we landed at Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Passport and "Colones"

R.J. at Miami International

The original plan was to stay at a hotel in San Jose and head out to Jaco the next morning, the site of our deep sea fishing trip and three days stay at a rental condo unit, but one of the taxi drivers in the pickup area offered to drive us all the way to Jaco for way less than the cost of the hotel, so we said okay. 

After about another two-hour trip through mountains and valleys on dark, twisty roads and one stop at a fruit stand, we arrived in Jaco, about 12:30 local time. There we met "Milt", another old college friend who spends a lot of time in Costa Rica.

Now I'm old, totally out of practice for the nightlife and was ready for bed at 12:30, but guess what? We were going out! Okay. It's not like I have to be anywhere in the morning......so we proceeded to explore the little beach town of Jaco in the middle of the night. I was pleasantly surprised, how lively the place was, for such a tiny town. The people seemed friendly enough and the streets were surprisingly safe, although there was a noticeable police and paramilitary presence.

Our restaurant, for dinners of beans and rice....

T-shirts at the Patio Bar

The Patio Bar was a retro music bar that showed American football on big-screens throughout and played hits from the sixties and seventies all day. There seemed to be a lot of American ex-patriots that hung out there.

Beatles on top of the Patio Bar

The next morning we checked out the beach area. There was a open-air bar at sand's edge called the Bohio Beach Bar, where we hung out a lot with the locals.

Grove of palms behind the beach.

Local Market

Our Place

Wrong Way to Haul Beams

Zukia Art Gallery - Jaco

Rum & Fresca

Bohio Beach Bar

Sand Horse

Fishing Crew

Here's a sailfish video I managed to film with my Drift HD Ghost, which was fastened to my fanny pack. Luckily the wide-angle lens caught everything, but I did have a problem with it freezing up a lot and it also had a nasty habit of shutting off after the first 30 seconds, so I was lucky to get this.......

Nashville Trip

I have enjoyed visiting Nashville's Broad Street strip of bars and restaurants off and on for the last five years. It's been a solid two years since I've been there this time, until yesterday's trip. Broad Street was a little odd this time, in that it was actually kind of beat and the customers that were present in the live music venues did not seem to have much of the usual hoop and holler in them, often just sitting there with blank stares when the bands would finish their songs. I was actually embarrassed a few times, when I was the first person to start clapping at the end of a few performances.

Surprisingly, the highlight was a side trip to the Tennessee Museum (see photos), filled with antiques and curios from the early days of Nashville and other parts of Tennessee. A great price (free) and excellent security/tour guides throughout. We only managed to tour the bottom floor and that filled up about two hours before lunch time, so we can look forward to visiting two more floors of historical stuff next time...

Getting back to back to Broad Street after lunch and an excellent burger at Pub 5, the few bands we saw were uncharacteristically rude, pushing for tips like we were going to neglect to tip them, or weren't tipping often enough. One place (The Stage) I just stuck my head in the doorway a moment to say hello to a guitarist I know from two years ago and the other bass player directed the crowd and his full attention to my presence and admonished me to "come in and spend some money". Drinks were no bargain either, at $11.75 + $2.00 tip for a wine and a beer, it was $13.75 just to drop in for two drinks, so it's just another tourist trap I guess.

I'm sure the locals could lead me to a better part of town for fun, because this is obviously moneyed Baby Boomer and retiree heaven. The homeless outside too, were kind of nasty, telling me I "need to get bigger". Looks like my shirt was too tight that day. I guess being a fat slob is accepted as normal and I'm obviously just a throwback to another era. If I can piss off the young guys at age 53 by looking too good, that's fine with me. Not the laid back Nashville music scene I've gotten used to. Not the same old Music City, unfortunately. I headed on outta' town just in time to thread the lucky and very wealthy-looking crowd heading into the CMA's (see video).

Some photos:

Entrance

Civil War Scene

Commerce Street, Nashville

Brent Cunningham - Street Player

Kurt, himself, outside the Tennessee Museum

Entrance sign at the Pub 5 restaurant

I want this truck....

Whiskey Bent Saloon

Sarah Montgomery

Action Cams

I want to take an "action cam" with me to Costa Rica to document the trip, which I will then share with you here, but there are a few very good ones to choose from it seems. My criteria are, long battery life, HD, "low key" and $300 or less.

I have narrowed it down to the GoPro Hero 3+ "Black", which exceeds my budget by $100, not very low key and seems to be scarcely available anyways, so that one is out.

Sweet, but off the list....

Next choice is the Sony HDR-AS30V, priced right at $298.00:

A definite maybe.....

I've been a Sony fanboy for years, but I'm not sure about the mounting options available for this camera. I will either have to duct-tape the unit to myself, or walk around holding this in my hand to film, and that doesn't seem very "low key" and unnoticeable to me. The must-have remote is extra, at $148.00, so there goes my budget, right out the window. Plus it looks like I have to keep the waterproof housing on it to mount it, so video quality may suffer. Also, it appears to pair well with smartphones, so my circa 2008 LG Lotus flip phone isn't gonna' cut it.

Last on the list and probably my first choice for my trip is the Drift Innovation HD Ghost at $299.00:

Gosh Darnit! I like it!

Streamlined, small and low key, this looks like just the ticket to document my first trip to a unknown country.

Features:

• Full HD 1080p video capture
• MicroSD memory capacity up to 32GB
• 60 fps video in 720p resolution and 120 fps video in WVGA resolution
• 11-megapixel still image capture with Photoburst mode
• Built-in noise reducing microphone, integrated speaker and 3.5mm mono plug input
• Remote control w/LED indicator
• LCD Screen
• Rugged and waterproof up to 3 meters
• Includes mounts for use practically anywhere
• 170-degree fully rotatable wide-angle lens
• Night mode
• 2.5 Hours Runtime

In addition to this I will be bringing my Canon G15 compact camera, deciding to leave my larger and heavier Pentax K-01 and lenses sitting at home this trip.

Planning Costa Rica

Excited about a trip to Costa Rica, around Thanksgiving time, with a college buddy whom I've kept in touch with through the years. We are to fly into San Jose and then go on to Jaco I believe. "RJ" has been there before, so I let him plan the trip for us. Not knowing what to expect, I have been researching the country online. Here's a video of San Jose I found on YouTube: