A shock-relieving talk on Shock Treatment

       Majority of us keep a horrifying picture about Shock treatment used for the cure of mental illnesses. The bad credit goes mainly to the movies that mislead us and give a feeling that it is some kind of torture or punishment given to the most violent of mental patients.
       So, here we are going to have a talk on the same Shock Treatment that I hope will untether you off some misconceptions.
       'Shock treatment' is just a nickname of this method. Psychiatrists call it as 'Electroconvulsive Therapy' or simply ECT. It will be interesting to know that ECT is the first discovered meaningful treatment method in psychiatry (for movies have always picturized it as a last resort). For the sake of a little history, there was no meaningful treatment for mental illness around just 70 years ago. Von Meduna, a Hungarian psychiatrist, observed that epilepsy and schizophrenia rarely coexist. Even if they did, the seizures (or fits, loosely speaking, the sudden movement of muscles) associated with epilepsy reduced the severity of psychosis. This lead him to develop a treatment for psychosis: to induce seizures artificially using drugs. But use of drugs had many limitations because there was no considerable control over the way seizures occurred. Thereafter, Carletti and Bini, two Italian psychiatrists discovered that electricity can be used to induce seizures in a much controllable way. In 1938, the first experiment of ECT was done on humans, to be found a great success.

A psychotron used to control ECT

       ECT is not at all a cruel treatment. Before applying ECT to a patient, he is always undergone a 'fitness test' including EEG, and X-ray. To those who think it is a torture, ECT is never conducted on a conscious patient but is always given after an anesthesia. That means you don't feel any pain at all. Also drugs are given to prevent very violent movement of muscles during seizures. While doing all these pre-ECT steps, the patient is allowed to breath pure oxygen (a process called hyperventillation). The amount of current passed  is only around 0.5-0.8 ampere and that is for less than 4 seconds, using an apparatus called psychotron. This current never reaches the brain. It just flows through the scalp tissues and so there is no 'struck by lightning' type effects as we see in movies. This current can stimulate brain activity. It is this stimulated brain activity and NOT the electrical stimulus that causes the sudden muscular movements. When the effect of anesthesia wears off, the patient would wake up comfortably.
ECT produce recovery faster than drugs. It is also used in drug-resistant subjects (that is if patient does not respond to medicine) It is not necessarily meant for only the very violent and uncooperative patients (for such patients ECT will be the only way) but is also prescribed for very depressed patients. Psychiatrists say that patients who have received ECT find it less frightening than going to a dentist!
       One more interesting fact: despite being a 70 year old and globally used method, no one knows exactly how ECT works in human body!

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Bitch said something about a 'BATTLE'?

We totally stand by Gecko Trail Adventures and Easy Ride Shuttle Service's decision to NOT refund Bitch's money.
This girl, Amanda, is attempting to SMEAR my friends, Gecko Trail Adventures, Hotel Banana Azul and Easy Ride Shuttle Service on the internet.

Here's what happened:

We received this email yesterday from some girl named, Amanda. For this post she will now be referred to as, 'The Whining, Complaining, Gringa Bitch' or just 'Bitch' for short. Here's Bitch's email:

"If you are considering using the services of Gecko Trail Adventures, here is my experience, so traveler beware.

They insist that you pay in advance by credit card and they issue a voucher. For example travel is $40 per person from San Jose to Puerto Viejo. My flight was delayed and I called to move the shared shuttle to the next day and they refused to honor the voucher. They claim when you call them that its because they have independent contractors providing the shuttle service, but I think that's a poor excuse.

This company works with Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo. I strongly recommend avoiding them. Of course the best way to not get ripped off is to not pay companies in advance, but to pay cash for services rendered. This was a special circumstance, my brother's honeymoon, so I wanted to make it hassle free for him and pay everything in advance. I have learned my lesson with Gecko. I hope you will choose not to use them and go with a more reputable provider."

I won't bother you with the details but the bottom line is, 'Bitch' didn't read the cancellation policy of Easy Ride Shuttle Service and tried to switch shit up last minute and fact is, Gecko Trails did try to accommodate but it was just too last minute. Therefore, no refund. Could you imagine trying to run a shuttle service where people were attempting to change the schedule last minute... and then demand a refund when things don't go their way? And then have the audacity to threaten a 'battle' on the internet by emailing everyone associated with said event (like us) and attempting a 'character assassination' on sites such as TripAdvisor?

If you're going to STAND-UP for something, it helps if you have TRUTH on your side... think of me as Tank 1, Gecko Trail Adventures as Tank 2, Easy Ride as 3 and Banana Azul 4..."BITCH, you need to BACK OFF."
First and foremost, we LOVE constructive feedback and it is VERY much appreciated but what we don't like is when people don't take responsibility for their irresponsibility and attempt to BLAME others for it... and then 'threaten' when they don't get their way.. Since we work exclusively with Gecko Trail Adventures because we LOVE them, we happen to know they go OUT of their way to make things right, sometimes breaking their own rules and policies in order to do so. *We've got countless emails praising Gecko Trails and thanking us for recommending them, this is the FIRST negative one in over 14 months. So, when Bitch attacks them and thinks we will automatically back her without finding out the facts (which we did), we take it personally. Bitch may as well of called MY mom a bitch.

Oh, I almost forgot, she also mentions one of our favorite hotels in ALL of Costa Rica, Hotel Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo,like they should be avoided because they're associated with Gecko... BITCH PLEASE

Please, go on TripAdvisor or other websites that post reviews: Nine and a half times out of ten, both Gecko Trails and Hotel Banana Azul receive glowing reviews, hopefully making Bitch's gripe, irrelevant. But yes, I'm sure both have screwed-up in the past and when you work with people EVERYDAY, that's inevitable but in the overall BIG Picture- both are top-shelf companies and go out of their way to please and make things right.

*Yeah, follow Bitch's advice and tell the Shuttle Service you promise to pay them when you see them, then let me know how that works for you. Credit Cards/PayPal are pretty much used universally to 'book' things and furthermore, Cancellation Policies are also pretty much the same in the travel biz.

I'll probably be accused of being too mean to 'Bitch', but trust me, I've seen all the emails and I just don't like her threatening manner and besides, if my mom happened to be a bitch, I would admit to it.

But I'll bet anything Bitch is a bitch at a restaurant.

Here's our VIDEOS of Gecko Trail Adventures and Hotel Banana Azul in case you never saw them:





TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

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Polysomnography: Measuring sleep!

Today let us talk about another interesting term, Polysomnography. Those who already know that the Latin word 'somnus' means sleep, can guess what polysomnography deals with. Yes, it is a standard procedure to evaluate sleep, mainly for the cure of sleep disorders.

Well, when I say 'measuring sleep' what actually are we measuring? Polysomnography is a multi-parametric test (means it measures different parameters connected to the sleep activity, lest you are frightened by the term multi-parametric) Mainly there are three parts in your body that responds directly to your sleep; brain, eyes and muscles. The study of activity in these three parts constitute the core of polysomnography. Measurements are carried out by placing electrodes on specific parts of the body and measuring the voltage change associated with the corresponding activity.

Now let us have a close look at the core parameters:

Brain activity:

It is studied by the ordinary EEG (Electro Encephalography) technique. It is based on measuring the bioelectric aactivity of brain by placing electrodes on the scalp of the person in sleep. EEG will look like a polygrah, the one you see in a seismogram record of earth quake. Like a random scribble made by a pen. But by looking at EEG, the researcher can understand the various stages of the person's sleep.

Eye movements:

It is studied by a technique called Electro Oculography (EOG). It is based on a rarely known fact that the front part of our eye called Cornea is electrically positive with respect to its hind part Retina. This voltage will obviously change when eye moves left, right, up or down. EOG is based on the measurement of this voltage, thereby giving an idea about the eye-movements.

Muscle activity:

This is studied by a technique called Electro Myogram (EMG). The movements of our muscles are a result of rapid electrical activity within the muscle tissues. EMG measures the voltage change associated with it. In polysomnography, EMG electrodes are usually placed over the chin muscles.

A sample polysomnogram

Along with these many similar activities in the body can also be studied for a very detailed analysis, three of them being  breathing, heart rate and contraction of leg muscles.

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QWERTY Keyboard: Why is it the way it is?

       If you are reading this, surely you have a keyboard in your front. I assume you are using a QWERTY keyboard, which is the most common layout of keyboard.(If you don't know what QWERTY means, it is the name of the way in which keys are arranged in your keyboard. The name obviously comes from the first six letters of the top row of alphabets in your keyboard.)
       Now my question is, do you know why keys are arranged in some seemingly random way rather than in an order? I had asked this question myself and to others, and frankly the answer I could end up in was 'this way makes typing more fast and efficient'. But how? I got many explanations from many and even from myself (rather fit-to-reality type explanations!) all of them being supportive to the making-typing-faster concept.
       But actually, fact is just the reverse. QWERTY layout was invented to make people type slowly, and not fast! Yes it is. This layout was designed by Christopher Sholes in 1874 as part of his design of the first typewriter for Remington & Sons. Obviously, the first typewriter was purely a mechanical device in which pressing of a key would cause a bar to strike against the paper through an inked ribbon. In that machine there was a problem: if you type too fast the bars corresponding to different keys would collide with each other and thereby would jam the machine. Sholes found out an easy remedy for this. He just placed the most commonly used letters in hard to reach positions! And there it was, the QWERTY layout. The Remington typewriters became so popular that even after the invention of electronic typewriters, the Sholes' layout had to be followed as such because people had got used to it. That is how this layout became a universally accepted standard for keyboard.

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@ at 'Did You Know' !

     @ is one of the most common symbols used nowadays. @ became so popular after the invention of e-mail. But how many of us know the standard name of that symbol? Alas! I was sad to know that @ symbol has no standard name! You may be calling it as 'at symbol' (so do I). But there are dozens of other names for @ that reflects similes for the symbol.  Examples are apestaart (Dutch for "monkey's tail"), snabel (Danish for "elephant's trunk"), kissanhnta (Finnish for "cat's tail"), klammeraffe (German for "hanging monkey") etc.
     Before it became a standard symbol in e-mail addresses, @ was used as 'at the rate' for referring to cost or weight of things (e.g. Books @ $5 each). It seems the actual origin of the symbol is still unknown. Some evidences show that before printing presses were invented people who made copies of books used '@' as a short form of 'at'. Another story tells that @ was used as an abbreviation of 'amphora', an old unit of measurement. Anyway solid records are there to show that the symbol @ was used even in 14th century.

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PEOPLE I (we) like to Sleep WITH

"HEY! michael alan from Travel Costa Rica NOW, we rented a Vamos 4X4 like you guys recommended and LOVE IT...two thumbs UP!"
Living in a tourist town like La Fortuna, Costa Rica, we often get the opportunity to talk with folks who have seen our videos or cruised around our blogs and website. Usually, it's because they recognize us on the street and are kind enough to come up and say, "Thanx guys, we appreciate all the INFO, keep up the good work." It happened to me yesterday while riding my bike. These guys were so NICE- said they had seen most of our videos and were doing many of the things on their travels that we had recommended. As a matter of fact, they had just had pizza at 'Just Good Food' who we had just done a video for (you can see it HERE if you want) and they loved it.... *At first I was a little nervous to ask if they enjoyed the food, because although I love 'Just Good Food' every now and then they under cook the pizza.... WHEW!

Which leads me to my point.

We take what we DO very seriously and are very cautious on who we 'get in bed with'. We don't want to be like 'most' websites pertaining to Costa Rica travel, which seem intent on 'pushing paradise' at any cost in order to make a few bucks off unsuspecting tourists.

Travel Costa Rica NOW won't go to bed with just ANYONE either.
If the people or businesses we get in bed with aren't all they say they are, then we're NOT interested and if we were to get hookwinked for a minute or two, we'd tell you and then KICK the BUSINESS to the CURB. So, just like yesterday, we're fairly certain 9 out of 10 people will LOVE Vamos 4X4 if they rent a car from them and the same goes for Gecko Trail Adventures, who is the travel agency we recommend (video below). When we were researching if we wanted to recommend Vamos 4X4 or not, we were talking with the owner, George S. and he told me he wasn't in it for the money, rather he loved what he was doing and if he couldn't do it with integrity and honesty than he wouldn't do it.. and unlike many Costa Rican businesses here, he does believe the 'Customer is King', and take my word, although that's mostly true in the United States, it isn't here- so it's appreciated. And after further investigation, he wasn't kidding. And the exact same principles are held by the folks at Gecko Trail Adventures. I can't tell you how nice and refreshing it is to run into like minded people or businesses here in Costa Rica.

And the same goes for the Adventure Tours D'Angelo and I will be selling in La Fortuna, when we say we will SAVE you a TON of money, we hope you know it's TRUE (actually, do your homework and compare, we're sure you'll be BACK!)

I'll HANG here until you decide to come back.
Anyway, THANX to all the people who take the time to give us a SHOUT OUT! And also want to say, "THANX" to the folks at Vamos 4X4 and Gecko Trail Adventures for believing in us as much as we believe in THEM. pura vida.

In case you haven't seen them, our videos for Vamos 4X4 Car Rental Agency and the Travel Agency we work with and recommend, Gecko Trail Adventures. ENjoY!





TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

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The Science of Falling in Love

"Love is a temporary disease curable by marriage"
Let me begin by apologizing to those who are much passionate about their lovers and associated fancies, for rationalizing their feeling. How many of you have thought about the fact that the much-praised, much-glorified, much-romanticized thing called 'falling in love' is basically chemical in nature? Now let us have a talk on the science of falling in love:
According to Dr. Helen Fischer, an anthropologist and researcher in Rutgers University, USA, love has three distinct stages namely
1. Lust
2. Attraction and
3. Attachment
       If these three stages of your love happen with the same person, you have a very strong bond.
       After seeing the meaning of 'lust' in your English dictionary, don't misinterpret the first stage. Lust is your 'desire to experience love' and for most of you people, that stage might be long gone during your teenage days. For your romantic partner, you may or may not feel lust, both being normal according to Dr. Lisa Diamond (Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol 13 no. 3) Lust is driven by the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone.

       Attraction is what we refer to as 'love' in common language and what we write stories and songs upon. This stage is a playground of a large number of intense chemical reactions. Most often, this begins in the form of infatuation- an unbearable attraction towards someone. This stage is carried out by a virtual explosion of a few neurochemicals that are similar to the stress hormone adrenaline. Yes, it means a pleasant stress: your knees shake, palms sweat, heartbeat and pulse shoot up, you breath heavily and so on. This is caused by the release of a natural chemical called Phenylethylamine (PEA, nicknamed 'the molecule of love'). The release of PEA can even be triggered by very simple things like meeting of eyes or touching of hands. (Since the sense of men are more visual in nature, it is observed that men get love-stricken easily.) Assisted by the chemicals like dopamine and norepinephrin, PEA creates a state of emergency in your body! At that time your condition will be no different from a drug addict. You get addicted to these chemicals. It seems your entire existence depends on the source of their release, that is the person who triggered it. As long as these chemicals are there in your body, you feel energized or even floating on air and you can talk with your partner for hours on end without fatigue. Put the blame on these chemicals, all the attributes of social obligations, other relations, sense, sensibility etc you had kept in mind for matching get neglected and you fall in love with a person without any of those qualifications. Literally your mind soars with these chemicals.
       Researchers in the University College of London discovered that people in love show lower levels of serotonin similar to the case of those affected by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. That explains why people in love often get obsessed by their partner. Researchers also found that the neural circuits associated with the way one assess others are suppressed. That means your way of assessment get tampered and you tend to idealize your partner and you don't see any flaws in her or him! 

       Attachment, actually, is the stage of real love. You enter that stage after passing the fantasy world of attraction. Feelings of passionate love in the attraction stage (or the chemicals responsible for that) are not long lasting. They diminish after 3 or 4 years. After that, suddenly your lover has faults and maybe you complain that she or he has changed a lot. But actually they might not have changed at all! Only thing is, you have started seeing him rationally without the blinding chemicals. Thank to the hormones Oxytocin, Vasopressin and Endorphin, otherwise your relation will come to end soon. These chemicals are released when having sex. Oxytocin is called cuddling hormone and it promotes the need to be physically held, have close contact with the mate and makes both the partners more caring. Endorphins are chemicals that make a relationship steadier, intimate, dependable, warm and a great sharing experience. They do not induce an 'emotional high' as the PEA does, but induce calmness and stability. Hence they are the reason why people stay married. They trigger grief on a spouse’s death or long separation. Vasopressin is another hormone responsible for long-term relations and also for the monogamy. Vasopressin helps you cling to your partner, even in spite of small adjustment problems. According to Dr. Fischer, Oxytocin and Vasopressin interfere with the pathways of Dopamine and norepinephrine thus explaining why passionate love fades as attachment grows. Endorphins are body's natural pain killers. They also produce a general sense of well-being, including feeling soothed, peaceful and secure.
        Next time when you are enjoying your time with your partner, thank these chemicals for the pleasure part.

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NOTHING from the Central Line Bus Co.

Jennifer Lopez who works part-time at Central Line Bus Co. based in San Jose, sold us bus tickets in Nicaragua knowing full well the bus didn't go anywhere near to our destination.
Well, I haven't heard from the folks at Central Line. I thought for sure they would get in touch, defending their fucked-up position.

Don't know what I'm talking about (or the Jennifer Lopez connection)? The FULL story is here: 'This BUS Co. Tries to Pull a FAST One'
Bottom line- We were crossing the border at Penas Blancas (Nicragua and Costa Rica border crossing) and this Jennifer Lopez lookalike just told us shit we wanted to hear knowing full well it wasn't true... all for $28.

Anyway, Central Line, I forgot to give you our email address so we could chat about an apology and FULL refund. Contact us here: TravelCostaRicaNOW@gmail.com Look forward to hearing from you. And if and when you make good, I will post it. Pura Vida!

TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

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COMING SOON! Adventure Tours in La Fortuna CHEAP!

If we're going to sell adventure tours in La Fortuna Costa Rica for CHEAP, we got to at least experience them...right?
D'Angelo and I (okay, mostly D'Angelo) have been working double overtime to get our 'Adventure Tours in La Fortuna' we'll be selling (VERY CHEAP!) on our websites so you can take advantage of the savings as soon as possible. I first explained what we would be doing a couple weeks ago, CHEAP Tours in Costa Rica - We're Here for YOU! which details why and how we can sell them so CHEAP! But the bottom line is, we want YOU to have the BEST time ever in Costa Rica, without shelling out BIG BUCKS to do so. And we're talking ALL the tours- Rappelling, zip lines, fishing, biking, hot springs, rafting/kayaking, hiking adventures such as the Rio Celeste and Cerro Chato hikes and much more. In ALL, you'll be able to pick from about 50 different tours offered in the La Fortuna area. And believe me, we'll save you BIG TIME!

And of course we just had to do a couple of the tours ourselves for video footage and pics. Here's some pics of TWO of the BEST tours in La Fortuna- the Canopy Tour aka zip lines and Canyoneering in the jungle... WHOO HOO!

Me, getting ready to go down one of the cables on the zip line tour.
Took the tram up to start the zip line tour, CHECK OUT this view of the Arenal Volcano.
Me, our cameraman, Thomas, and D'Angelo before canyoneering...THANX THOMAS!
Me, before descending 200 ft on the rappel.
This is just a sampling of what's to come. TONS of great footage we're sifting through... KEEP on the L@@KOUT for the video to come about the CHEAP TOURS....

TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

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Cheap EATS in La Fortuna Costa RIca

Us and our friends go to 'Just Good Food' in La Fortuna Costa Rica when we want a cheap, good meal.

Finding good, CHEAP food in La Fortuna Costa Rica can sometimes be a difficult task this being a tourist town and all but after living here for 6 years we've managed to find a few places. One such place, almost in the center of town, is called, 'Just Good Food'.



We're not talking gourmet here, we're talking good food at some of the cheapest prices in Costa Rica. I'm not saying the service is always top notch and we have had a not-so-good meal there, but 9 times out of 10 we've been happy, especially when we get the bill and double especially when we leave with a doggy bag.



NO, it's not all natural but it will fill you up at a reasonable price with some leftover for breakfast.

Traveling on a budget and/or don't want to pay an arm and a leg 'Just Good Food' might be a great option.... Check OUT our video for, 'Just Good Food':







TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

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This BUS Co. Tries to Pull a FAST One

Central Line is a bus company based in San Jose, Costa Rica that totally fucked us over when we were crossing the border from Penas Blancas, Nicaragua into Costa Rica.



Central Line offers International daily buses from/to(Managua, Granada) Nicaragua to San Jose Costa Rica.



We think Central Line should educate their employees a little, okay, a LOT, better on where their buses actually GO.



This post is a HEADS UP for anyone traveling from the Penas Blancas border crossing to the La Fortuna area. If this just helps 1 person, I'll be happy. Here's what happened. If you're not familiar with the border crossing you can view the video below and maybe get a sense of it all. *And for the record, understanding or speaking Spanish was not part of the problem, so it wasn't a 'communication' thing.



We had just arrived from Granada, Nicaragua to the Penas Blancas border crossing and as were were starting the process we were met by an attractive, well dressed woman, wearing a crispy, clean uniform, complete with identification badge and I should mention, her make-up was Jennifer Lopez perfect. She asked us if we needed a bus. Now, I've crossed this border about 29,000 times, so I was pretty sure she couldn't help us since there's only 1 bus that goes even close to La Fortuna (El Tanque to be exact, which is only about 5 minutes away from La Fortuna).



But, when we mentioned La Fortuna, she said yes, "Central Line goes right past there." I was skeptical. We asked again, this time she confirmed it with another attractive woman who also appeared to work for Central Line. The tickets were about $14. each. As she explained this was a direct shot, so NO stops and the best part, for me anyway, the bus had a restroom. Not only were we going to save a couple hours but also not get all anxious about when the next pee stop would be (I know a few of you out there can relate to that). As we were paying for the tickets, we asked again to make doubly sure.Jennifer even told us how long it would take and she was right, 3 1/2 hours. I was satisfied. I just thought, 'finally, a bus line realizes La Fortuna should have it's own STOP.'



Central Line charged me $14.00 for this piece of paper so I decided to keep it.

Obviously, you know where this is going. In the end J-lo ended up being full of shit. Miss Lopez telling me the bus stopped close to La Fortuna would be like an airline telling you the flight can get you to Maine from Florida,,, but then conveniently forgetting to mention you would have to get a connection in California because that is where the plane is actually going. WHOOPS! Needless to say, we almost missed our 'regular' bus and believe me, you don't want to be stuck overnight at the border. Think we got our money back? Nope (and we tried). Didn't have time to argue, we had to complete our crossing and if it's busy, it can take awhile, so no REAL time to argue or at least punch these ladies in the throat and run.



Moral of the story. Ask the driver before boarding where in the hell the bus is going, which is exactly how we found out Jennifer Lopez was talking shit.

Dear Central Line, you need to make this RIGHT and if and when you do, I'll post it. Unfortunately, I can't help but doubt you will since this isn't the United States, here it seems the customer is rarely right. Sorry, just going from my experience... but I would LOVE for you to prove me wrong. pura vida.

This video about crossing the border at Penas Blancas was done quite awhile ago but it still accurate. Check it out.







TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

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