Return To Costa Rica

Have you read my previous post about my visit to Morelia? If not, make sure you do after you read this one. Got some cool pictures up from my quick trip to Mexico.

Anyway, as the blog post title says, I will indeed be making another international trip here. I am headed to San Jose, Costa Rica on Monday. I will be there until Thursday, covering another soccer match.

Now, this trip to Costa Rica won't be like my 2009 excursion there. I also traveled there for a soccer game. That time it was the United States national team playing against Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifying match while this time it's the LA Galaxy playing Costa Rican side Alajuelense in a CONCACAF Champions League game. But that time Mrs. LB traveled down on the day of the game and we stayed an extra three days on vacation there. We visited the beach in Quepos, visited Manuel Antonio National Park and had an amazing and awesome time. It was unbelievable, to be honest.

This time, I won't be so lucky. San Jose is in the middle of the country and while it is a small country, it still would take a couple of hours to go to the beaches. And I just won't have that kind of time.

Still, a trip to Costa Rica is something I'm not going to pass up, and having the chance to take this sort of excursion, for work no less, is a blessing. I've worked as a freelancer for about eight solid years now, have covered soccer since 1998 and while I've traveled before for games and tournaments (Japan in 02, Trinidad & Tobago in 01, Dallas in 05, Seattle in 09 and 10, also been to Chicago, Salt Lake, Denver...) my big trips are few and far between. To have two trips like this so close together is a bit of a whirlwind but definitely something I'm enjoying and feeling so fortunate to have the chance to partake in.

One thing that will be different from my last trip to Costa Rica - I will definitely go on a run there. Last time I didn't run but this time you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to run. Costa Rica is safer than Morelia so I will head down there with the intention of running, and also I want to add Costa Rica to the list of foreign countries I've run in. Right now that list consists of Canada and Mexico. Woo hoo!

Anyway, I rambled on for longer than I intended to. If you haven't checked out my Morelia post, please do so now. Got some cool pics. And I'll be back for one more post before I leave for Central America on Monday.