Guayabo Archaeology Site in Costa Rica

Guayabo National Monument Archaeology in Costa Rica

The Guayabo archaeological park is in the eastern portion of the central valley of Costa Rica. The site sits near the top of Volcan Turrialba, which is 19km from the town of Turrialba. This is the largest archaeology site that has been discovered and excavated in Costa Rica, though only a portion of this site has been unearthed. The Guayabo site itself contains mounds, canals, monoliths, tanks, tombs, petraglyphs, and a twenty km road that stretches all the way down the mountain to Turrialba.

In the Guayabo National monument there are also hiking trails through the forest and an, "Abundance of forest species like the "carara", "magnolia", "cantarillo", "burio" and "cedro" are cover with a lot of plants like "bromelias" and orquets." http://www.costaricamap.com/ing/biopguayabo.html

Photograph of the Guayabo Archaeology site from up Volcan Turrialbo.

A pool in Guayabo Archaeology park.

Photograph of a petraglyph in Guayabo.

A beautiful typical Costa Rican house near the archaeology park in Costa Rica.

The way to Guayabo National Monument. A herd of cattle blocking the road.

Mounds at the Guayabo archaeology site. These are thought to have been the base for living structures.

The stone road that goes from Guayabo to Turrialba.

Photo of Guayabo Archaeology site.

Stonework stairs at the monument in Costa Rica.

Petraglyph in Guayabo National Monument, Costa Rica.

Wade from Song of the Open Road
Heredia, Costa Rica
January 31, 2007

Monte De La Cruz- Costa Rica Photographs

Monte de la Cruz, Costa Rica Photos

The following pictures are from Monte de la Cruz in Costa Rica. This wildlife/ agricultural area is just outside of the San Jose/ Heredia urban span. It takes around 20 minutes to get there from the Universidad National de Costa Rica by bus. Monte de la Cruz is a beautiful area which has waterfalls, hiking and horse riding trails, forests, and agricultural fields.

These are the photos that I took during my visit in early 2008.

For directions on how to get to Monte de la Cruz please visit Vagabond Fieldnotes- Monte de la Cruz

Photograph of the bridge that spans the river near Monte de la Cruz

Photograph of the top of the waterfall in Monte de la Cruz, Costa Rica

Where the waterfall meets the earth

Photo of a moss covered tree in the forests of Monte de la Cruz

Mira from Wanderjahr Jill climbing over big tree roots in Monte de la Cruz

Mira scavenging in Costa Rica, these rasberries were the only think I had to drink. Don't forget to bring water with you to Monte de la Cruz

River that runs through the agricultural fields

San Rafael is a town that you ride through on the way to Monte de la Cruz

Costa Rican Cows relaxing in the mountains

Wade from Song of the Open Road Travel Blog
Heredia, Costa Rica
January 26, 2008

Vagabond Journey.com

French Womens Clothing and Fashion Photos

French Women's Clothing and Fashions Photographs

The following photographs are of women's clothing in France. Almost every woman in France is highly dressed and is very conscience of popular French fashions. I was in France for a month with a woman who unintentionally looked French because of her clothes. I took these pictures of of French women in Montpellier, a fashionable university town in the south of France.

Photo of the long coats that are very fashionable clothing for women in France. Jeans that are tight at the tip and then flare out at the bottom are also commonly worn under the coats in winter. Many women also were expensive shoes to bottom out their outfit.

This is a photograph of typical attire for French women: long dark colored coats with tight pants that flare at the bottom and nice shoes.

Many ladies in France also adorn themselves with very fashionable clothes complete with scarves and nice shoes.
Designer handbags are very popular with women in France.

Another photograph of stylish women in France with tight jeans and long black coats as clothing.

Wade from Song of the Open Road Travel Blog
Heredia, Costa Rica
January 25, 2008

Vagabond Fieldnotes.com

Costa Rica National Sports Day Parade

Costa Rica National Sports Day Parade

The following photographs are from a parade in Heredia, Costa Rica that happened last Sunday. I am told that it was a parade to celebrate national sports day, but I suspect that Costa Ricans just like dancing in the streets. I joked that the parade was for Mira's great return to Heredia, but something tells me that odd games of basketball and Costa Rican sports take precedence over all.

Photo of an odd game of Costa Rican Basketball

Scary masks, I do not know who they are meant to represent, but I hope that it is not me

The Chinese residents of Costa Rica even got into the parade and had a traditional Chinese dancing dragon.

More scary masks, something tells me that they are of Costa Rican politicians, Oscar Arias perhaps? The people of Costa Rica seem to not like that guy very much.

Wade from Song of the Open Road Travel Blog
Heredia, Costa Rica
January 23, 2008

Chinese Adoption Photos

Chinese Adoption Pictures

The following photographs are of my adopted Chinese sister, Meili. My parents went to China- Hunan Province- to pick her up in December of 2006. I had the good fortune of being able to meet up with them, as I was traveling up from India to the east coast of China anyway. The adoption process went smoothly and my parents took home a new Chinese daughter. There is a lot more to this story, if you have any questions then please comment below.

Photos of my adopted Chinese sister:













Wade from Song of the Open Road Travel Blog
Vagabond Journey.com
Vagabond Fieldnotes
Cheap Eating Traveler

Casablanca Morocco Market

Casablanca, Morocco Market Photos

The following photographs are from the fruit, grain, and vegetable market in Casablanca, Morocco. I took these travel photos the second time that I was in Morocco around the beginning of January '08. For more photographs from Morocco go to: Morocco Travel Photos

8+ years of vagabond travel: Song of the Open Road Travel Blog Morocco Travel Information

Moroccan women shopping for vegetables in the Casablanca market

Photo of the Casablanca medina near the market

Photograph of Moroccan grains in the Casablanca fruit and vegetable market

Moroccans buying food in the market

The Casablanca medina is full of people selling almost any item you can imagine

Wade from:
Vagabond Journey.com
Vagabond Fieldnotes
Cheap Eating Traveler

Hassan II Mosque Photos

Hassan II Mosque Photographs

I first visited the Hassan 2 Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco in September of 2007. I went there in the early morning before many people were out int he streets and I was immediately overtaken by its great magnitude. The Mosque stands out as a great beakon over Casablanca and looks enormous even when relatively far away from it.

According to the Wikipedia Hassan II Mosque was "Designed by the French Architect Michel Pinseau and built by Bouygues^[1], it is the second largest in the world (after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca). It stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic, which can be seen through a gigantic glass floor with room for 25,000 worshippers. A further 80,000 can be accommodated in the mosque's courtyard. Its minaret is the world's tallest at 210 meters(689 ft)."

Hassan II Mosque was built on reclaimed land- almost half of its giant structure is over the Atlantic Ocean- and was began in July of 1986. It was completed in 1993.

Hassan II said, "I want to build this mosque on the water, because God's throne is on the water. Therefore, the faithful who go there to pray, to praise the creator on firm soil, can contemplate God's sky and ocean." (Wikipedia)

The next time that I was back in Casablanca- January of '08- I was sure to go back to the Mosque for another visit. This time I made it there during the evening, and it was a scene of pure beauty watching the sun go down over the Atlantic ocean from behind the Mosque's enormous stone cut arches.

The following photographs are of the Hassan II Mosque:

Photo of the Hassan II Mosque from the courtyard which can accommodate over 80,000 worshipers

The Mosque on a cloudy evening

A Moroccan couple resting together on one of the great fountains that are in front of the Mosque

The Minaret of the Hassan II Mosque which is the tallest in the world

Hassan II Mosque at day fall

Inside of Hassan II Mosque (Wikipedia)

Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
Albion, NY, USA
January 15, 2008

Song of the Open Road Travel Blog
Vagabond Fieldnotes
Cheap Eating Traveler

More Photographs from Morocco

More Photos from Morocco

The following photographs are from my and Wanderjahr Jill's travels in Morocco. I first came into Morocco through the airport in Casablanca and then wandered up to Rabat/ Sale. After a few days of walking around the ancient medina, the Kasbah, and the old town of Sale, I went over for a visit to Fez. I did not quite appreciate the standard deviation of culture that was to be found in this tourist pit of a city, although I was not much bothered by the packs of touts and hotel runners. I stayed at the International Youth Hostel, and had good laughs with the other travelers and tourist who would come in at night with low slung faces and tales of how they were riped off by the touts and hustlers in the ancient medina of Fez. I did have some good walks though in this medina- I got really lost, to say the least. From Fes I went to another imperial city called Meknes that is an hour by train to the west. I found a much more comfortable situation here and stayed for three weeks to study a little French so that I would be more prepared to travel south into West Africa. After my French lessons were over I went back to Casablanca and picked up Wanderjahr Jill at the airport. She was happy to be in Morocco, but she promptly got really sick off of a sausage that she ate in the Rabat Medina. She spent a couple of days in bed and then we cooked up a crazy plan to go to Europe and ride bicycles from the Atlantic Ocean to France.

After two months in Europe we returned to Morocco and had a relaxing week in Marrakesh. These are some of the photos of my Moroccan travels.

A View of Ramadan from the Inside
Travel Blog Posts from Morocco

Photograph of the Moroccan countryside between Marrakesh and Casablanca.

Moroccan sheep herders in the open pastures of Morocco.

Moroccan men discussing business.

Moroccan women discussing business outside of the Restaurant de la Libertad in Rabat.

Moroccan man and woman at the train station in Marrakech.

Bearded Moroccan man at train station.

Women waiting for a train in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Donkey with a full load in Morocco.

Moroccan cooks making tajines in the Marrakesh medina.

Man and woman walking in the big square of Marrakesh.

Tourists in Marrakesh.

A funny sign in the medina of Casablanca.

Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
Albion, NY, USA
January 14, 2008

Vagabond Fieldnotes
Cheap Eating Traveler