Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

For those of you that don't know me, I went on a 3 month mission trip in September of 2014 to Costa Rica. If you want to hear a little more about that, scroll down a ways to my earlier post about it! Anyways, towards the end of my trip, some of my family came down to visit for just a week and we took a short vacation over to the Caribbean, specifically Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica. The Pacific side of Costa Rica is known for its tourism and fancy hotels, whereas the Caribbean side is much less developed and filled with more beach towns along its golden sandy beaches and clear blue water.

The atmosphere in Puerto Viejo is something I've always dreamed of living in, lots of wildlife in the rain forests, little towns and beautiful beaches. It's a very relaxing place with decent surfing and snorkeling at the right time of the year. There are also boat tours where you can see a majority of the animals that inhabit the area. Something I really enjoyed was just wandering the endless beach and enjoying the sounds of the ocean with very little people around. 

One night, we ate a little beach-side reggae restaurant with live music and an incredible view of the most vivid and bright stars I've ever seen. After our meal, we did a little late-night shopping and found ourselves some pretty cool souvenirs. The next day, my brother and I did some snorkeling by one of the reefs. We saw some cool fish (no sharks unfortunately) and enjoyed swimming around in the warm water.

If you're the kind of person that enjoys a very relaxing vacation with plenty of things to do and see, the Caribbean side of Costa Rica is just right for you.

(I do not take any credit for these pictures)

(Photos courtesy of Google Images)

Profile: Chris Burkard

Hey guys! Today, I'm going to do a brief post on an awesome guy and incredible photographer, Chris Burkard. Some of you may have heard of him. Chris lives a surfer, outdoor lifestyle filled with travel and adventure, while finding some of the coolest landscape photography I've ever seen. This is a guy I definitely wouldn't mind switching lives with for a while. So, here's a link to his website, specifically his landscape photography. I would highly recommend shooting him a like and following his adventures!

(Photo credit: Chris Burkard)

Costa Rica!

Back in September of 2014 I decided I needed to do something different, I needed a change of pace. I thought about the possibilities and brainstormed with my Dad about what to do, and we ended up deciding that a missions trip was the best option. So, I found a need down in Costa Rica where I had the incredible opportunity to student teach English to elementary students at a private school just south of San Jose, in a province called, Cartago. I just want to share a little bit about my time there (and a little bit more in posts to come).

When I first arrived, it just hit me. "I'm alone.. stuck in this foreign country for 3 more months.. about to be living with a family I've never met". A friend used the perfect word to describe the feeling I was experiencing, claustrophobic. You feel trapped, a part of you wants to hop on a flight straight back home, but you can't do that. You're know there to stay, and you can't go back...

I'm going to fast forward a bit and tell you that I'm so glad I took that leap. It ended up being such an incredible period of my life and it's what has made me want to travel more and take amazing pictures of the places I go. I wish I could go back in time and bring my camera with me to capture EVERY moment and turn it into a physical piece of a great memory that I will never forget. And that's another reason I got into photography, so I can capture amazing pictures and share them with my loved ones (and you guys).

 I did, however, bring a GoPro to Costa Rica (not the greatest quality pictures in the world) and got some action shots here and there, whether I was ziplining, snorkeling, surfing, or just chilling. Here are just a few of my pictures...

If you get down here to the end, thanks for reading! I'm so glad to be able to share some of my story with you guys so far, and I can't wait to dive deeper into my travels in the many posts to come...

 GoPro Hero 4 Black Edition