silvestr a dalsi vylety / new year's eve, other trips

Hm, skoro se mi chce napsat, ze jsem se ani nenadal a rok 2006 je za mnou. Ale neni to az tak uplne pravda. Chvili utikal jako voda, jindy se zase nekonecne vlekl a mezitim ubihal klidne a bez udalosti, jez by zasluhovaly zvlastni pozornost.

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Hm, I’d almost like to write, that I haven’t even noticed and the year 2006 is over. But it’s not the whole truth. Sometimes the time was running as a horse, sometimes hours seemed neverending and in between passed peacefully without events, that would demand any special interest.

V duchu posledni zminovane skupiny se nesly i me posledni dny roku 2006 a tech zatim nekolik dni roku 2007. Ve velmi relaxacnim tempu jsem si uzival nadherne prirody, vyletu do prirody, na sopky i do okolnich mest, a v mezicase pripravoval plan cesty, ktera pristi tyden zacne mi, Durovi a Zdence (prijede se tu za nama podivat). Vyhradila si na nas mesic casu, coz slibuje velmi zajimave straveny cas jak v Kostarice, tak okolnich zemich. Uvidime.. 🙂

K samotnemu Silvestru – ne, nebyl jsem na plazi, ani nekde na prochazce pralesem, ale zcela neromanticky v hlavnim meste, na pivo a tequilu se zbytkem “farmy” (jak si tady praktikanti prezdivaji), zahranicni jsme tu zbyli dva a pridal se k nam jeden mistni. Na ohnostroje jsme se pak presunuli do Alajuely, asi 20 kilometru od San Jose, pobliz letiste. Fajne bylo, zadny stres, zadny prehnany alkoholismus, prijemny vecer..

A ty dalsi vylety? Jestli Volcan Poas i Volcan Irazu patri mezi aktivni sopky, to se mi zjistit zatim nepodarilo, dostavam jenom informace, ktere si navzajem protireci. Na kazdy pad jsou pomerne vysoke (Poas 2574, Irazu 3432), jsou neustale v mracich, fouka tam pekne silny vitr a je zima. Ne, snih nehledejte.. Na ceste z Irazu jsme se jeste zastavili v Cartagu, ktere bylo zalozeno v roce 1563 spanelskymi dobyvateli, zastavalo drive ulohu hlavniho mesta a disponuje krasnou katedralou “Nuestra Senora de los Angeles” (nenasel jsem zadny vhodny cesky preklad) ze 17. stoleti, ktera ve 20. stoleti musela byt postavena temer kompletne znovu, kvuli zemetreseni..

Perlicka na zaver – ac nevybaven zadnym horolezeckym nacinim, pochopil jsem vyznam aklimatizace v horskych podminkach. Pote, co jsme autobusem za nejakych 80 minut vyjeli asi 2500 vyskovych metru, po asi peti stech metrech rychle chuze mi trestela hlava, nemohl jsem popadnout dech a srdce melo tep odhadem nekde okolo 160 za minutu.. Uz zacinam chapat, proc vystupy na vysoke vrcholy trvaji tak dlouho..

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Speaking of the last mentioned group, my last days of 2006 and the first days of 2007 so far were exactly these. In a very relaxing mood I was enjoying the beautiful nature, trips around, to the volcanos and cities, and in the meantime I was planning the trip, that begins next week for me, Duro and Zdenka (that just wanted to visit us here). She devoted one month of her time, which is promising a very interesting time in Costa Rica and neighbouring countries. We’ll see.. 🙂

New Year’s Eve – no, I wasn’t on the beach, not even on a walk through the jungle, but completely un-romantically in the capital, to have some beers and tequilas with the rest of “the farm” (as the trainees here call themselves), only two internationals present in Costa Rica at this time and one local guy. For the midnight fireworks we moved to Alajuela, about 20 km from San Jose, near the airport. The evening was very nice, we spent a pleasant time, no stress, no alcoholism in excess..

And what about other trips? I still haven’t discovered whether Volcan Poas and Volcan Irazu are counted among active volcanos, I only get information that keep confusing me. Anyway, they are quite high (Poas 2574, Irazu 3432), all the time hidden in clouds, strong winds blowing on the top and it’s also quite cold there. No, don’t search any snow.. On the journey from Irazu we made a stop in Cartago, founded in 1563 by Spanish conquerors, previously served as a capital and now it’s known because of its beautiful cathedral “Nuestra Senora de los Angeles” (sorry, I can’t think of the exact translation now) from the 17th century, that had to be rebuilt once again in 20th century because of an earthquake..

And a short note at the end – although I was not equipped by any mountaineering articles, I got to understand the meaning of adjusting your organism to high altitudes. After climbing up about 2500 meters of altitude difference in 80 minutes bus ride, I made about 500 meters of fast walk – and then I felt my head as almost exploding, I couldn’t breathe and my heartbeat was about 160 per minute.. I’m getting to the point of understanding why these expeditions take so long time..