Lake Louisa State Park, Florida

Lake Louisa State Park is mere 30 minutes from Orlando. I had no idea such an exquisite place could possibly exist so close to a cement city filled with ridiculous wizard-shaped gift shops. This park encompassed all the breath-taking beauty of untouched nature, yet it is well-maintained and comfortable. The park contained three lakes, but I really only saw two. A short, winding drive through central Florida’s hills brought us to the beach of Lake Louisa. Believe it or not, this lake actually had a white-sand beach alongside a small forest. Little pathways allow travelers to explore the natural beauty of Lake Louisa and its surroundings. We bundled up, had a little picnic and departed to warmer grounds.

We made our way to our cabin, which was positioned on a little hill and overlooked the immaculate Lake Dixie. The cabin had two big bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and a living room equipped with an electric fireplace. My personal favorite part was the wrap-around porch with 3 rocking chairs and a picnic table. Sitting on the balcony, I took in the tranquil scene before me. There were about 500 feet of brush between the cabin and the lake. Spanish moss-draped trees lined the lake, giving it a majestic look and feel. The chilly air made it feel like I was far from Florida. I took a little walk down to the lake just as the sun was setting. A few evening birdsongs accompanied me as I strolled along and snapped pictures. The sky slowly evolved from blue, to red, to orange and faded to grey as the sun disappeared below the line of trees in the distance.  One thing I love about winter, I managed to walk along a lake at sunset and escape without a single mosquito bite.

Aside from its innate beauty, Lake Louisa State Park has a lot to offer. They have canoe rentals, all kinds of walking trails, a beach, and a campground. I walked around Lake Dixie, which is about 2 miles. The scenery changed several times in that short distance and I took advantage of several overlooks. I finished my short hike with pictures of scores of lily pads gathered near the lake’s shore, of an armadillo absent-mindedly searching for food, of oranges growing in the groves planted along the road, of dangerous spike-bearing vines reaching out to capture an unsuspecting passerby, and many other unique sights. Of all the places I’ve seen in Florida, this is by far my favorite. So close to home, yet with the feel of a Virginia getaway, Lake Louisa State Park offers the calm serenity that’s worth the trip, even if you’re not a local.

Lake Ridge Winery - Clermont, Florida

The Lake Ridge Winery was not my first winery, but it was the first I’ve visited at an old enough age to appreciate.  Not quite 2 hours from my home-town, I certainly didn’t have very high expectations of the general area, but I went with no preconceived notions of the winery itself. I must say, even before I arrived at the actual location I could see that the area far exceeded the sub-par scenery that I had expected. Florida’s winters tend to bring more brown and gray than any other color, but on the drive to the winery I saw some hints of the yellows and reds you’d expect to find in the brilliant foliage of a New England fall. We passed orange groves and open fields, even the occasional bare land with absolutely no development. It was a nice way to precede my winery experience.

Due to the unusual cold snap, the winery employees and guests made every effort to stay inside whenever possible. We started our visit in the toasty gift shop, which was home to a number of amusing odds and ends. Among the many gadgets was a 6-piece wine care set. Now, who needs 6 pieces of equipment to care for a bottle of wine? I asked around and found that, in fact, many people do. A label cutter, a cork screw, a reusable cork…and 3 other extremely important pieces that I can’t remember. I entertained myself by reading birthday cards which were arranged by the year, highlighted a specific wine, and gave trivia about the year of birth on the card. During the year my grandmother was born, IBM entered the typewriter business (here’s to you, Grandma).

We began our tour with a short video of the history of the winery and its owner. I was surprised to learn that the first US-made wine came out of Jacksonville, Florida, more than 100 years ahead of California. Yet another thing a Floridian can be proud of, right alongside NASA, the Keys, Disney (if you count that as a source of pride), and I’m sure some record for hurricanes.  I learned about the muscadine grape, which is the only grape in the US south that can produce wine. It naturally only makes sweet wines, but thanks to the University of Florida, it has been genetically crossed with other grapes and can now produce the entire spectrum of wines, including reds, whites, sweet wines, dry wines, and even sparkling wines.

After the video we took a short trip to the cold and unwelcoming outdoors. The view was magnificent to my Floridian eyes because there wasn’t a building in sight. Nature, in all its winter colors, stretched on as far as I could see. The grape vines probably look nicer in the summer, considering that they were dead, gray and crispy during this trip, but it was a pleasant sight nonetheless.

The last and best part of our winery tour was the wine tasting. We started with the driest wine and worked our way down to the sweetest. One quarter-glass at a time, I tried all kinds of red and white wines while I read the descriptions. I can say for a fact that I did not taste blueberry in any of the glasses I tried, but the descriptions said that I should have in at least 2 or 3. I guess I still have a long way to go before I can say that I’m a wine connoisseur. Continuing my education, I learned that I love dry wines and really have no taste at all for sweet wines, which to me taste like some terrible concoction of a once-good wine mixed with some sugary sin to please a child’s palate. I hear that some people really love sweet wines, but I’m certainly not one of them.

All in all, my trip to the Lake Ridge Winery was a very enjoyable experience. It was a nice and unexpected destination that I think every local should at least try to visit, especially since it’s winter and the mosquitoes are on a hiatus.

Bocas Del Toro, Panama: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This post is about a month old by now, but better late than never, right?

After over a year of trying to go to Bocas, I finally made it a couple weekends ago. Two days of traveling brought me from San Jose, Costa Rica to the Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo where we bunked for the night. Rather than take the cheap route and rent a tent for $4, which we usually do, we sprung for a $20/night hotel. That, of course, turned out to be a mistake that I realized the next morning. I lifted the pillow and found a cockroach under it, then took a shower and noticed a good dozen spiders hanging out around the shower head. I quickly moved on, though, as I had a long bus ride to the boarder ahead of me. We boarded at 6am, went to the boarder, split a van fair with a European couple, then hopped on a water taxi that finally took us the main island around 11am.

The Good:
Bocas del Toro is a beautiful string of islands that can take the breath away from even the most well-traveled tourist. The pure green trees, the blue sky, puffy white clouds, and crystal clear water created a scenery worthy of Thomas Kinkade's attention. As I stepped onto the dock I noticed that the water below was filled with tiny fish frantically swimming about and several starfish doing whatever starfish do on the shallow bottom. I knew immediately that this was a place I would never forget. We walked around the little town, found a nice $15/night hotel (cockroach- and spider-free), and a plethora of fun restaurants to try. First things first, though. We dropped our stuff off in the room and went straight to the docks to find a snorkeling tour. As luck would have it, we were the only two tourists on the trip so we had a little slice of the Caribbean to ourselves. We swam around for a bit, saw some seaweed, then all of a sudden I was surrounded by sea life. I found a little patch with all kinds of fish and plants. I even saw a purple jellyfish. I would have loved to stay and explore a bit more, but the water became a little too rough to enjoy it.

Once back on dry land, we strolled around, stopped at all the artesian's booths, and looked for a restaurant. We ate at several unique places during our weekend at Bocas, but my two favorites were a vegetarian restaurant and a Chinese restaurant. When we went to the Chinese place we were greeted by two playful children. The parents were nowhere to be seen so the older girl gave us a menu and told us to sit down. Finally the dad came to talk to us, and boy was it an experience trying to talk to him. He didn't speak English, I don't speak Chinese, and we both have difficult accents in Spanish. Fortunately Rene had a little luck deciphering his words. We eventually figured out everything and I had some of the best wontons, chicken and rice that I've yet tried. We stayed for about an hour and watched as a storm developed and crept its way to our island. We decided to leave only because we wanted to make it to our evening coffee house, La Buga, before the downpour began. I had my cappuccino, Rene had a fruit smoothie, and we sat with the European couple that we seemed to run into every day. I loved the flow of our conversations. The four of us exchanged our stories about Bocas, with four different accents  - Costa  Rican, United States, Spanish, and French. Their 6-year-old daughter danced around us and sang the whole time.

Our other tours throughout the weekend took us to an isolated island with a magnificent beach. We walked all around, which took about 30 minutes. At some points we had a swim a little, we had to climb a little, and we had to duck and roll a little, so the trip was never boring. We finally made it to where we started from, set up camp, and went swimming. The initial chill of the water quickly melted away as the pleasant warm current covered us. We splashed around and took pictures until the boat came back for us. .We went to a little restaurant on the water. Now, when I say "on the water", that's exactly what I mean. The restaurant was built on a dock right over the water. As we ate, I looked down at the floor planks, then through them to see the little waves churning. I had some delicious fried chicken and Rene had a traditional Caribbean chicken and rice dish. We took off once again to snorkel. We went to a spot that was relatively shallow, but with no shortage of nature to see. The reefs were some of the most incredible that I've ever seen. I saw all kinds of plants that looked like everything from tall grass to brains. There were sea urchins, colorful fish, and the wonderful crackling sound of the fish munching in the water. I spotted another jellyfish and frantically felt around for Rene's leg so he could take a picture of it. All of a sudden I was aware that there were jellyfish everywhere. There was a current that was bringing a whole swarm of them right to us. I decided that this was the end of my snorkeling adventure and very carefully swam as fast as I could against the current and back to the boat. I was really disappointed to have to cut my snorkeling time short in a place with such an amazing variety of life to see. Soon, everyone else had the same idea as me and we were all back on the boat. What happened next? A woman on the tour with us told us that she's a diver and that this type of jellyfish was totally harmless. Of course, by that time we were already well on our way back to shore and it was too late to finish our tour.

The Bad:
It seemed to me that the people who worked in Bocas think of tourists as a easy targets. For example, I paid for my hotel in advance on the first day. The total came to $45, I gave the woman $60, and she put in the drawer and said thanks. It took about 10 minutes of arguing to get her to open the drawer and check. She subsequently realized that she owed me $15. The next day, she asked when we were going to pay. I guess she thought that I'd forgotten that I'd already paid for all 3 nights. Everyone we talked to had a similar experience. One person told me that he bought a few beers, that cost about 50 cents, and a bag a chips and they charged him $30. This poor guy didn't realize he was being ripped off because he's Australian and used to their currency, he had just spent several weeks in Costa Rica using colones (500 of which is about $1), and this was his first day in Panama using US dollars. If traveling to Bocas del Toro, I would recommend being very conscientious with your money.

The Ugly:
Nothing at all. There is absolutely nothing in Bocas that is ugly. The scenery is exquisite, the streets are clean with little artesian booths scattered around and all the restaurants are open and inviting. Everywhere you look, you see a beautiful Caribbean view and the atmosphere of a relaxed beach community.

Home

"One's place of residence" is Webster's first definition for the word "home" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/home, if you don't believe me). The word itself can conjure up images of family and warmth, possibly a holiday reunion, and can bring comforting feelings of love and tranquility. I'm leaving Costa Rica tomorrow to return "home", hence the topic of today's post.

Throughout my life and travels, I have found that the word "home" is quite variable. Sometimes, it is much more than simply my "place of residence," however sometimes it is much less. After an exhilarating day of snorkeling, swimming, and burning my tender white skin on a beautiful Costa Rican beach, "home" is the cheap, bug-infested hotel to which I return to sleep. When I left Europe, I felt like I was "home" when I landed in a US airport, even though it was nearly a thousand miles from where I lived. Once again, I felt "home" when I landed in the Orlando airport, a 1-hour drive from my house. I was "home" again when we took our exit off the highway and I was once again on familiar roads. Finally, I was "home" when we walked in the front door of the house where I grew up. 

Perhaps I feel that my true "home" is where my family is, where I spent my whole childhood and adolescence. Does that ever change? Will I someday feel so at "home" somewhere else, or will I just create another version of "home" and have two? When I was in college, "home" was my dorm - 3 actually, since I had a different one every year. When I studied abroad in Costa Rica, "home" was the house of my  host family. When I studied abroad in Panama, "home" was the house I shared with two other students. When I leave for the weekend now, "home" is my boyfriend's house, where I've lived for the past 6 months. Tomorrow I will fly "home", to where my family is. How is it that I can leave "home", fly for 4 hours and arrive at "home"?

Why on Earth do I exert my brain power thinking of these things...?

LIGA!! A Live Soccer Game

I finally had the opportunity to go to a live soccer game! I've been wanting to go to one since I studied abroad in Panama back in January 2009. It turned out to be everything I wanted and more.

First things first. We arrived at the stadium two hours early to get a good seat. Tickets, by the way, were only $10 each and this was a semi final game. The streets were impassable for cars and overflowing with excited fans dressed in red. We were searched and made to give up any beer and coins (apparently they're a danger) before we could enter the stadium. Our section was packed and the only seats available were in the front row. I still don't quite understand how the front-row seats are the less desirable ones, but it worked out perfectly for us. The team's band set up about 20 feet from us so we were literally at the center of the energy. I'm not a big fan of soccer, but I spent the whole 90 minutes attentively watching and cheering along with the most devout followers.

In Costa Rica, soccer teams have an element that I don't think our teams have in the US. They have what we might call "official fans". There were thousands of them at this particular game. They have their own section and several tremendous flags. They spend every second of the game, halftime included, jumping, singing, and cheering on their team. They call themselves "La Doce", which means "The Twelve" and is a comparison to the 12th player on the team who goes to every game just to cheer. La Doce, the band, and all the cheers from a stadium of 18 thousands fans created an atmosphere of unbelievable energy and excitement. It was like the stadium was filled with an electrical charge that constantly flowed through us all. Every pass, every block, every foul was another jolt of power in our veins. Every man, woman, and child spent the game on their feet with their eyes glued to the field and their hearts full of anticipation. In the end, our team didn't let us down. They shut out the opposition with a 3-0 victory :). I think this game might have converted me into a soccer fan. I bought my first soccer shirt as I left the stadium as a memento of my first game and its effect on me.

Manual Antonio

Last weekend I had the luxury of experiencing Costa Rica's second most-visited national park, Manual Antonio. Located on the Pacific shore, Manual Antonio has the benefit of both the gorgeous ocean view and the wildlife-packed forest all wrapped up in a nice little package for us tourists. We walked up a well-worn dirt path, struggled through the hordes of tourists, and passed a monstrous hotel which was built right outside the edge of the park. If I could have removed the swarms of tourists dressed for a safari and the imposing hotel, then our entrance would have been picture perfect.

After we paid for our tickets we made our way to the trail. It was still soaked from a recent storm so a misstep could have resulted in thick mud up to the knees. Luckily, I managed to avoid that pitfall.  The forest was filled with all kinds of animals. There were tiny insects who found their way to my t-shirt, I saw a sloth doing absolutely nothing in the top of a tree (now that's the life by my standards), and there was a never-ending supply of plants and flowers of every shape and color.

At the end of the trail was my favorite part, the beach. This beach was certainly not the beach I imagined. When I think of a Costa Rican beach, I think of clear water, white sand, a sunset, and of course there's no one there but me. This particular beach in the Manual Antonio park was none of those things. Everywhere I looked there was a tourist. There were little pieces of plastic, including a plastic fork, floating in the water, and there was driftwood everywhere. One more unexpected appearance made the trip unforgettable. Monkeys. There were dozens of monkeys all around. I couldn't believe my luck! They were everywhere and they practically posed for pictures. Some of them ran right up to people. I even saw a monkey unzip an unattended backpack on the sand in search of food. One monkey strutted right up to a man eating a sandwich and snatched it out of his hand, and apparently that's not such an uncommon sight. He then scampered up a tree to feast on his treasure. It was a hilarious sight with plenty of photo opportunities. Nature 1, Humans 0.

After practicing my paparazzi skills on the monkeys, I finally made my way to the water. I waded out past the garbage buildup and found that it was quite pleasant. The water is shallow enough to stand for a good distance so I could find a place that wasn't surrounded by strangers. I was still in shock about the monkeys when I looked over at the rocks beside the water and saw a huge iguana sunning himself. Soon there was a girl iguana and the first was no longer so interested in the sun. Then, predictably, the national geographic scene began and I had to look away to give them some privacy. As I moved my gaze and scanned the beach, I saw a pack of raccoons ransacking someone's beach bag. One of them took off with a plastic bag because it had an energy bar inside. The poor guy tried to chase the raccoon, but to no avail. Nature 2, Humans 0.

I have never seen so much wildlife anywhere except a zoo. Even if the animals beat the humans in every battle I witnessed, I had a great experience and was thrilled to have been so close to the action. I left the beach with a huge smile on my face and slight burn on my shoulders. Nautre 2, Humans 1.

Roma Caffe

Dear loyal readers (or should I say "reader"?). I must apologize because this will be my first post without a picture. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, so I am sorry to deprive you of the usual visual addition. I hope my words will suffice. So, why no picture, you ask. There's no picture because I didn't expect a cup of coffee with a couple friends to be a blog-worthy experience. From now on, my camera will become a permanent fixture in my purse to avoid the repetition of this unfortunate tragedy.

We noticed this little cafe on the corner, called Roma Caffe, and decided to make a point to try it out. We went last night with a couple friends to the new restaurant. The owner talked to us for a bit and told us that it's only been open for about 4 months. I would describe it as being 70% coffee house and 30% bar. It was nice mix that made for a fun yet relaxed environment, and without the kinks that you'd expect from such a new place.

The waiter showed us to our table, which was front and center and right next to the band. The big windows, asymmetric place mats, and partially stone interior gave the feel of an artsy, uptown bar while providing a view of the city's center. With a menu offering Italian appetizers, meals, and deserts, a full bar, and a variety of coffees and teas, everyone can find something that tickles their fancy. I chose a mint tea to combat the night's chill. It not only kept me warm and happy, but covered my taste buds with the refreshing flavor. For me, the best part of the ambiance was the band. Live jazz music filled the room with a upbeat and cheery energy. The band consisted of a keyboard, a base guitar, an electric guitar, a saxophone, and a tiny drum set. The group of 20-somethings skillfully worked their respective instruments and played a variety of styles, holding the interest of their audience.

The room itself also contributed nicely to the atmosphere. The bar was built with hard lines and boxes, creating a very sleek look and modern feel. The dining area had softer lines and splashes of brick and natural stone designs, giving a more inviting and comfortable feel. The dining area's deep red and slate grey paint subtly incorporated the bar's modern look into the dining room to create a smooth transition between the two areas. The black and white prints and the colored lanterns worked with everything else to create a very unique cafe/bar.

This little gem of a place was a nice surprise in a city that has more reggaeton bars than anything else. I have yet to find another place here with a similar environment and feel. I give Roma Caffe a thumbs up and a permanent place on my weekly to-do list.