Away we Go to Costa Rica 2024

 Away We Go To Costa Rica 2024!

Saturday, February 3, 2024

We are finally ready to go to Costa Rico.  Getting ready seems to have taken along time, the planning, getting enhanced driver’s license, renewing our trusted travelers status, dealing with technology issues (new phone, new hotspot, pairing all of our gear, getting all the right cords for older tech, and newer tech, changing passwords because of a data breach, ugh), packing all the bags not the way we want them but the way TSA wants them, trying to eat up all the perishables before we leave, closing up Donner for the winter, taking care of household issues that never fail to pop up just before we leave….and the list goes on.

Our flight tonight from Sacramento  is at 11:57 pm on American Airlines.   We upgraded to business class hoping to have more room for our long legs, big feet,  and a little more comfort.  We arrive at the airport about 7:00pm , plenty of time to check in, eat dinner, relax, and board the plane.

Airport departures on Saturday night are not very busy, nevertheless we wear our face masks.  We have  heard too many stories from friends who have gotten Covid after an encounter with the airport and air travel.  We don’t want to start our time here unwell.  Just in case, are leaving a couple of days before our tour with EF Go Ahead Travel,  so that we can relax, recuperate, and get better in the event we get sick.  So many things to think about.

We easily drop off our 1 bag, and breeze through security with our personal item and carry on.  We love being a trusted travelers.  We haven’t traveled since 2019, and  forgot how nice it is not to have to take off your shoes, pull out all your bottles (even though we packed for it), batteries, laptops, take off your jewelery, belt, etc. So we clear, yes! 

Now dinner, hmm….the only restaurant open is the Iron Horse Grill. Happy there is at least one place where we can eat….and drink.  We would have stayed longer, but the wooden seats in the restaurant are obviously  intended to be uncomfortable enough to dislodge you and turn the table over. We move out to the waiting area for our flight.  It starts to rain, just as we board the plane.

Sooo, first class and business class are all lumped together on this flight.  We have limited leg room but only two across with a console in between.  We got a small glass of juice or water, a bag of pretzels and two small cookies.  I’m really worried now about the next leg of the flight on coach, given the puny amenities of business/first class. Oh well, we are going to sleep most of the way anyway.

We arrive in Miami, about 8:00 am, and head to a restaurant across from the second gate change for our breakfast. We didn’t even get a morning cup of coffee…apparently you had to wake up really early for that and ask.

We chow down in the event our flight to Costa Rica is as sparse or worse than our business class flight.  Russ and I decided during the planning process, that we would book coach on the day flight, but did book the exit seat that typically has more room, and 1 window, 1 aisle seat…..this works more than 50% of the time so that the seat in the middle is usually not chosen…and that was the case this time too.  But before we boarded the plane,  our gate and departure times changed two more times so we yo-yoed between gates….at least we got our “steps” in.   Our flight kept getting delayed which was too bad because some bad weather was moving in.  

Had we left earlier it wouldn’t have been a problem. But crikey, just as we were boarding, sirens went off and there was an emergency tornado warning.  All personnel had to take cover indoors, and the runways closed.  That didn’t stop us from boarding though, and we sat in the plane for over an hour until the tornado warning was cleared.  We didn’t see signs of a tornado, but the sky was dark, wind was fierce, and the rain poured down….perfect flying conditions.

Russ and I put air tags in our bags, and at least when the luggage was finally loaded on board, we were happy to see that our one checked bag was on the same plane with us..one less worry.  Oh my gosh we were so happy with our seats.  No one in the middle, an amazing amount of leg room. We were sitting in row 16 and this new plane only had restrooms in the back of the plane.  Guess they don’t want anyone going forward towards the cockpit and main door.  

I don’t know how this works during good weather, but it was very inconvenient when most of the flight was turbulent and we were confined to our seats, for a short period of time when the seat belt signs were off, the beverage cart which started from the back and moved forward, blocked the passage for those who need to use the bathroom.  Geez!  Too bad they didn’t think about that when designing this plane.  When the beverage cart passed us we got up to “go”, but there was a line in front of us, oh…..and the beverage cart was coming back, and the seat belt sign came back on and we were instructed to take our seats…maybe we should have considered diapers. Sigh!

When we finally arrived, at least we were some of the first passengers off and rushed to the restrooms.  Our 1 checked bag was on the carousel (always a relief) to see it!

We collected our bag and went through an easy-out customs.  There was a  line of taxi drivers with name signs….we hunted for our name but, couldn’t see it after traipsing back and forth three times.  When we finally contacted our driver, he told us he was eating in the cafeteria and would be out soon.  We were well over two hours late.  He had been waiting a long time.

At last we arrived about 3:30 at our hotel in San Jose.  We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and repacking our bags in a more convenient manner to our travel needs, ate a late dinner in the hotel restaurant, and crashed into bed.  Day 1 finally over!

Sunday and Monday, March 4 and 5

 

We have 2 days to relax and explore the city of San Jose before starting our tour with Education First, Go Ahead Travel. The first day we took a 2 mile walk towards the central market area but soon discovered that despite our light weight clothing 

 

and our enthusiasm, that the heat, humidity, and  our lingering jet lag was thwarting our best efforts to make the complete walk to the central city which was about 5 miles from where we were staying.  So we returned to the hotel, bought a bottle of wine and sat pool side sipping and dipping, followed by a lovely dinner.

Beautiful Soccer Stadium built by China in exchange for trading favors.  Tentacles everywhere, and not always a benefit.

A view from our room and the sidewalk.

The city infrastructure of walkways, crosswalks, and general repair is lacking and makes foot travel a hazardous pursuit.  One learns quickly that you can't be looking around and walking without taking a trip and a tumble!  Watch where you step!  I didn't and well..fortunately nothing broke!  The pool and wine helped out.

 

 

The following day we took a taxi straight from our hotel to the market area.  We went to the central market, the artisan market, and walked through town, and visited the national cathedral while carefully paying attention to our feet.  Taxis were lined  up at the cathedral and it was easy to catch one to take us  back to our hotel for about $7.00 USD. 

Here  are a few photos from San Jose market district.

 

 

Bring your own  bags...limited plastic use.

 

 

 

 

 The Central Market had most of the same crafts as the Artesan Market.

 

 

 

We walked through the older part of town and got a flavor of Costa  Rica's history

Pigeons everywhere..amusing everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like a single-use outfit!

 

And then to Church...... 

Nature crawls over the rocks and survives human follies.  We returned to the hotel and met up with most of our tour group for dinner.  Some arrivals were coming in quite late and we would meet them the following morning.  

 

Good night San Jose.  We are off early tomorrow morning on our EF Go Ahead tour.

 Tuesday, February  6, 2024 - February 17, 2024

Our bags are packed and outside our room by  6:30 am.  We eat breakfast and  board the bus at 7:30.  We are on  our  way.  WATCH Our Costa Rica Tour Video 

 

February 17-24 See Costa Rica Family Time

February 24-27 A Few More Days in San Jose

Saturday 24 Punta Leona - San Jose

We sadly watched our family leave Casa Bella Vista this morning.  They had flights out around noon and were at the breakfast table early, packed, dressed and ready to go. Both cars were stuffed with themselves and luggage.  Since we did not have to check out until noon and there was no room for us anyway, we decided once again to hire a tourist taxi through Punta Leona hotel concierge and give ourselves a few more hours of leisure at the house.  

The taxi arrived promptly at 12:00, and we said our goodbyes to staff.  Senor Carlos looked as sad as we felt.  He had told me earlier in the week that it was  joy to  have children in the  house.  With hugs, and hand patting his heart, we left him waving to us and asking us to please return, pronto.

We had an interesting back road ride to San Jose as our driver avoided busy Saturday traffic around the Pacific Coast.  We arrived at the Hilton Gardens Inn for the fourth time in February  (initial arrival, post trip 1, post extension1 , and post family), and we were welcomed by the staff who by now recognized us immediately.  We checked into our room and expediently knew where everything was and how to organize ourselves.  Our  plan while in San Jose was to see a few more sites, dry out our clothes (damp clothes make for heavier suitcases) and repack for our trip back to Sacramento, relax, and rest up.  

This time none of our meals were included in our hotel price which was okay with us, as we wanted to start eating normally and consuming less food. Our first excursion when we returned to San Jose, was to the grocery store across from the hotel where we bought some fruit, yogurt, cereal, and a bottle of wine.  We planned to eat lunch and dinners out trying out a few new places outside of the hotel.

Sunday 25 San Jose

Some of the places we wanted to go would be closed on Monday, so we make Sunday our tourist day (retroand  Monday we would pack, relax, and rest up for a long trip home on Tuesday, not arriving in Sacramento until 1:00 am Wednesday morning.  

On Sunday morning, we ate in our room, and took a taxi downtown to the National Museum, formerly a military fortress and quarters built in 1917 and was used specifically in Costa Ricas 1948 civil war.  After the civil war and to prevent further wars and military coups, the military was abolished, and the fort given to the national Museum.  Read more here about this complicated history.

We spent a leisurely morning walking around, learning more about Costa Rica's history including pre-Columbian art and enjoying part of an afternoon Tango Concert in the Gardens before having lunch and visiting the National Theater.

Upon entering the Museum complex, ramps down through an old military courtyard (protective outdoor covvering) and back up again to the main part of the museum.  The outdoor courtyard is now home to native butterflies in a Costa Rican Floral Gardenn

Old wallls tell a story building, pausing, and repairing.

Famous Blue Morpho

Cousin to the Morpho is the Owl Butterly.  When two of these are together it looks like and owl.

To me, when I first saw this it looked like an iguana (lizard) with head leaned back against the stem looking upward, rightside looked like nostrils and mouth.  Great adaptation to  scare of predators.

 

Inisde the main building there are historical photos and artifacts that tell the story of Costa Rica and of the indigenous people and pre-columbian era.

It was the gold that brought back the Spanish explorers

Pre columbian crafts show that carving perfect spheres out of rocks was important to this culture.

Fortunately many of the works of art were carved in stone.  Tables and figurines in wood would not have survied to tell this story of chisel and grit.

After our morning tour through the museum, we spent some time in the garden watching and listening to a Tango Concert.

We left the museum and walked through town buying lunch on the way to the central park area and bought tour tickets in English to the National Theater.

The only sculpture in the theater by a Costa Rican Sculpture and was almost forbidden because it did not fit in with the opulent motif of the rich patrons and benefactors.  I believe the name for this sculpture was something like mother's misery.

The stage floor can be extended all across the length and width of the theater seating area to make a beautiful venue for state functions. 

The gold detail in this upstairs reception area is being carefully and painstakingly cleaned and polished.  You can see the difference in the chandelier and ceiling which has not yet been cleaned.

Artistically painted ceiling

The museum and theater were the last of our explorations.  

Monday, February 26

We relaxed, packed, (repeat).  In the elevator on Monday, we noticed that the hotel along with all other businesses of this large mult-story building was  was scheduled for a fire drill.  All occupants and residents need to leave the premises when hearing the alarm (10:30) the following morning.  

Tuesday, February 27

Due to the fire drill this morning, Russ and I were out of our room and in the lobby checking out early and safe-checking our luggage at 10:00 am.  Our room was on the 17th floor and we didn't relish climbing the flights of steps down since the elevators would be closed. Our desk clerk said we could stay in our room if we wanted and could stand the scream of the alarm for 20 minutes.  Uuum no!   We also didn't know how long the drill would last and if we would have enough time to claim our luggage our room before our 12:00 pm taxi to the airport.

After checking our luggage at the lobby desk (on the 14th floor) we walked two blocks to the assigned meeting area in a park.  I had recollections of our California Department of Education fire drills, which was a big deal.  We had wardens on every floor that cleared the building before they left, and we had check in wardens across the street at Capitol park with rosters of names that had to be cleared and accounted for..quite the process and social event.  

Russ and I walked around, took some photos, and found a  shady bench to sit upon expecting hoards of people from the building to join us at the appointed time.  

Loved this eco garden building

Not much going on here.

The statue is lonely.  Besides us there is guy sitting in a tree,

A pair of tree huggers drawing from the essesnce of nature.

Soon enough the "hoards" started to trickle in.

A little after 10:30 folks started to trickle in to the park, and that was about the extent of the hoard. There was only one really organized looking group of about 40 people and the rest seemed unattached.  

                                                Soon enough the "hoards" started to trickle in.

Maximum hoard size.

When the big group headed back, we followed.  It was 11:15, so we did what apparently many of the building occupants had done and just gone to a cafe.  We ate an early lunch, returned to the hotel.  Our taxi had just arrived, and the concierge called down for our luggage.   We said our goodbyes and headed back to the airport, waited for our plane, and headed home loaded with  few souvenirs and a lot of wonderful memories.

Adios

                                                                Homeward Bound

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs