Los Cerros de Escazú (Costa Rica)

Today after getting done with the classes at the gym. Daniel (my roommate) wanted to go for a hike since he has been taking it easy and recovering from his surgery on his wrist. We took a trip to the famous and beautiful Los Cerros de Escazú, which literally is the backyard to Daniel's condo, where I called home in Costa Rica. The hike was awesome such beautiful green vegetation. The hike was pretty tough, the trail was very narrow, slippery, muddy and you quickly felt the elevation as we ascended up the mountain. The hike was not to long, I would say about a good hour and a half up to the 2nd of the 3 famous crosses that are historical landmarks of Escazú. The view of the capital San Jose was amazing, the day was sunny and clear skies, so it made for a nice hike. As we started to hike up I took some pictures of the hike, here are some of the first pictures I took.

                                          

La Cruz de Alajuelita

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 Just starting the hike

                                       

A beautiful house on the way up the hike

I would say it took us about 20 minutes to get up to the first Cross. Mind you there are 3 Crosses.

The 1st Cross is is just the beginning of how beautiful nature can be, I thought to myself this was an amazing view. Then Daniel said, I hadn't seen nothing yet. So took a few pictures, got some water and we began to hike again. I started to feel the soreness of my calves from yesterdays warm up doing double unders. I gotta say good thing I wore my adidas trail shoes.  The hire we got up the narrower the trail got and the harder it was to hike as the trail was wet and slippery, and not much to hold on to, all the branches were fragile and broke easy.   Here are some pictures at the 1st Cross.

Daniel Loria at the 1st Cross

Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica. The stadium was donated to Costa Rica by China.

Me at the 1st cross and the beautiful view of down town San Jose.

Once we made our way up to the 2nd Cross this was definitely an amazing view. I was gonna try to do a Handstand as it is popular with most Crossfitters, only it was a little to high and a little to narrow, so I wasn't about to break something, so instead, some pictures at the top of the cross and some video would do, check them out at the end of the blog. 

    

The 2nd Cross

Daniel Loria chillin at the Cross

At the top of the 2nd Cross

Contemplating how to get down.

Some cattle grazing on some grass. 

 I added some videos that Daniel and I took while we were on the hike. Just wanted to capture my visit to Costa Rica on video. We didnt make it up to the third cross, because the hike got steeper as we went and we didn't think it was a good idea to go up any further with Daniel's injured hand, but regardless the hike was awesome.

On our way down there was a plantation farm that produces caffeine we need in the morning, That's right Coffee plants. So I thought I would take a picture of the plants that help start our day. Costa Rican coffee is the best.

Coffee!!! It does a body good!

This is some footage at the 1st Cross.

This is some more footage at the 2nd Cross and me at the top of the cross.

I am adding this link because it has an amazing story, about "Los Cerros de Escazú" click on the link and you will see how the author talks about La Muchacha de la Montana ( "The Girl in the Mountain), its a beautiful phenomenon as you can see how the landscape creates an image of a girl. It is pretty badass.
http://www.zurqui.com/crinfocus/cerros/escazu.html

Jaco Playa Hermosa

Saturday after the gym closed, Diego was taking a trip to go catch some waves and do some surfing. So I joined him and his friends. The city is called Jaco and the beach is called Playa Hermosa. The beach is definitly a beautiful place, since I am not a surfer and dont know how to surf. I just kicked back and took a few pictures. I knew I had to get some pictures of the Sunset and the beach itself as it was definitly a beautiful beach as its name, playa Hermosa.

Now here are some other cool pictures that I took for my boys. They wanted pictures of the sunset at the beach so I tried to take my best shots.

Here are some cool pictures and a cool video. On our way back to San Jose, we passed a bridge known to be a tourist spot because of its crocodiles that live under the bridge. These crocs are huge. The pictures are cool since the guidewas feeding the crocs.

Here is a cool video of the tour guide feeding the croc as 2 big crocs sneek up on him.

Black Friday

Black Friday , this was Costa Rica's first year having the traditional american post thanksgiving day shopping craze.  As typical fashion would be, too much traffic, too many people, too overrated.  Even though we were at the gym and not in the shopping lines.  We felt Black Friday's madness since many of our members were late for classes.  Here is a picture of the instant weather change coming in on Black Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving

Ok so even though Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Costa Rica, I couldn't help but think of my friends and family and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Now I need to apologize for not making any updates that last few days. It has been pretty busy around here and that's a good thing. We have had more people join CrossFit 506, so classes are getting busier and bigger, but so much fun. So far the gym is going well. I miss home and I miss my family. On the bright side, Costa Rica is a great country to visit if you guys ever get the chance. So beautiful , nothing like green and tropical weather. Since I have been here I have seen it all. A beautiful sunny clear day, then in the blink of an eye, its dark and pouring down rain, followed by a humid heat and all of a sudden clear skies. I haven't taken many pictures lately, but here are a few pictures of Costa Rica.

                               Can you see the Rainbow below? This was after a crazy storm.

                                  This is the view to downtown San Jose, from the balcony.

                        I was trying to catch a picture of the Volcano. But thought the palm looked pretty cool.

This is the view from the backyard of my buddy Daniel's house, where I am staying.

                                          This tree is awesome, so colorful and full of life.

                                          Just a random house , I thought was pretty cool.

                                       
                                       Looking for Volcano # 2

                                It was a beautiful sunny day, and just like that the storm came in.

Billboard

So yesterday we had a big billboard installed at our box. I gotta say it is pretty badass. Classes are going well, getting more and more customers stopping by to see what the buzz is all about. Gotta say its pretty cool. There are several businesses around here that are all interested in joining as corporate accounts.  I am finding out that just about everyone here is pretty much a surfer, a triathlete, and marathon runners but what really surprised me is everyone does yoga.  Check out our billboard and stay tuned for more.

CrossFit 506 is open

Crossfit 506 is officially open. Preparing for a big and busy day.  I had myself some scrambled eggs, bacon and avocado with fresh carrot and orange juice. Got to the gym at 6:30 and first class was at 7am.  The cool thing was that while we were ready to train classes, we actually had a lot of phone calls, email and Facebook inquiries, as well many walk-ins. Since there was a 12 O'Clock class scheduled. I took the time to do my personal workout.
Strength:  5 x 3 Power Cleans
WOD:   5 Rounds of 10 Clean & Jerk (135#), 20 Pull Ups, 40 Double Unders.
Shortly after my WOD, I barely had enough time to put away the equipment and get ready for the 12:00 O'clock class. Which was pretty cool to see 7 people walking in to do a class. It is pretty sweet to see everyone so excited about trying CrossFit. After the class they were all excited to join and asking about class schedules and prices.  After the class was over finally got a break to go grab some lunch. Went with my buddy Daniel to get some grilled chicken, spinach, carrotts and some strawberry agua fresca (blended strawberry drink) the bomb. Got back to the gym and finished up some small details and got ready for the afternoon class which was pretty big. About 10 people showed up, overall I would say opening day was a pretty succesful day. Let's see how the rest of the week plays out. Here are some pictures of the day. Enjoy!!!!!!

Below are some other pictures of the beauty that Costa Rica has to offer. This is the view from the condo I am staying at here in Costa Rica.

Crossfit Cinco Zero Seis (506)

Day 3 is a wrap. So much accomplished yet so much to do. I am just gonna run down some of the things that had took place today to get everything up and ready for tomorrow's. Crossfit 506's official first day.
Here are some random pictures of the day. Had a lot to do today so the least I could do was add some pictures.