April, 10 - 18, 2024:
Day # 1:
Twinkles and I are off on our first joint adventure outside of the US and Canada. The flying portion was not much fun, an early 7 AM Tucson economy flight on American airlines to Dallas / Ft Worth where we just barely caught our connecting flight to San Jose, Costa Rico. After getting through Costa Rico customs, we exit the airport and are immediately lost and confused by the crowds of people offering taxis, buses, tours and car rentals, total chaos ! However, we saw nothing for Dumbo car rental and were starting to freak a bit when a man came forward and asked who we were looking for, he knew just what to do, he pulled out his phone and called them to get a pickup. It was slightly comical when he then told us that he works for a living prompting us to give him a generous tip.
The tipping situation is initially hard to figure out as the money is so foreign and different. In about 10 minutes, a van arrives and we enter a crazy rush hour traffic jam that took about a half hour to go a quarter mile or so to the car rental agency. The car rental had been reserved and paid ahead of time but the insurance coverage option had to be finalized at the agency and you really need insurance, it’s mandatory.
We the asked for directions to get to our hotel, they had no idea, but insisted that you must use the Waze app which Twinkles had previously loaded into her phone, but we couldn’t get it to work and the people at the agency weren’t much help. We left the agency following the map on my iPhone, but eventually the Waze app on Twinkles phone started working ? It is extremely hard to negotiate in San Juan as there are very few street signs and the traffic is crazy, solid car to car traffic with motor cycles running and weaving between the lanes. We eventually made it to our hotel, the Country Inn, checked in, were impressed with its park like setting and then collapsed and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.
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| This don't see this everyday ? |
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| These bike riders are kind of insane as they leave around and between cars and trucks |
Day # 2:
https://waterfallgardens.com
In the morning, feeling much more relaxed we have our free breakfast at the hotel, better than expected with many local Costa Rican dishes. It was cafeteria style, self serve except for coffee, which they served at the table, adding a lot of cream making the coffee rather light. We then decided to tackle driving to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens about 30 miles away up into the mountains. Just about everything here involves driving up into the mountains. We had learned that if we downloaded the directions to Waze from the hotel to our destination it would give us point by point turn directions, it sounds pretty easy, but actually wasn’t. The drive took us on the very congested route 1 through San Juan with lots of turns onto unnamed city streets. We did good except for that one screwup entering a one way street, the wrong way, a bit dicey for a while getting turned around.
The route then goes uphill, steeply uphill on very twisty and narrow scenic roads through several very small rural towns to the La Paz Water Gardens. The water Gardens were great with about 3/12 miles of trails with incredible waterfall views and lots of birds, animals, butterflies, snakes, hummingbirds and beautiful trees, plants and flowers along the way. On the way back downhill I was finding the curves kind of fun, but Sue was freaked out the entire ride. We managed to get back to the hotel fairly well using the Waze app, only a couple of missed streets, petty good !
Riding into this area you soon see the crazy geology here, it’s basically a volcanic mine field sitting over the apex of the Caribbean and the Cocos tectonic plates pushing this area up and making this one of the most Earthquake and Volcanically active regions in the world.
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| The higher country always seems to be in the clouds |
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| Great stairways and railings |
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| Beautiful or Puma in a caged area |
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| So many lush beautiful flowers |
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| Were lucky to see a Coati in the wild on a trail |
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| The Exotic birds (to us) at well great |
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| The waterfalls were spectacular |
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| Twinkles posing |
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| The trail stairways were also spectacular |
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| Pulling over for the view on the way back down |
Day # 3:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_José,_Costa_Rica
After breakfast, we decided that we needed to have some Costa Rican money, called Colones, as using US money was difficult. We should have exchanged money back at the airport on arrival, it would have been so much easier ! The clerk at the hotel recommended going to the City Mall where there was a actual bank, but when we arrived there we found that the bank would not open for another hour, so we used the outside ATM which worked fine. The City Mall was huge and populated with many of the common stores found in any US Mall.
The currency is somewhat complex to deal with, you seem to end up with so many coins as change for each transaction. Also with exchange rate of 1 US dollar = 502 colones the prices of goods is confusing at first. US credit cards are accepted at most businesses however which makes life much easier.
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| End of the days accumulation of coins |
We then returned to the hotel and used Uber for a ride to downtown San Jose, it proved to be much easier than trying to drive and park downtown. We walked the length of the Pedestrian Avenida Central, getting a real feel for the local culture and people, not what you would be exposed to at a lavish beachside or eco-tourist Hotel complex. We explored a few side streets to view several impressive buildings but did not stay far. Generally, this area seemed far more civilized and friendly than I expected. Bakeries were especially appealing as were clothing stores, I had been looking for sneakers for the trip in Tucson and could find nothing I liked, I saw much more to my liking here. We also explored the very colorful Mercado Central Market which was filled with all kinds of gift items, food vendors, restaurants and much more.
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| Doesn't look that much different than any other US city, everyone on their phone |
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| Art for sale |
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| The Plaza de la Democracia |
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| Very ornate Correos de Costa Rica building |
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| Is it art or have special meaning ? |
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| Bust street intersection |
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| The artist has a thing for big women |
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| These weird figures caught my attention |
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| Mercado Central entrance |
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| Many mysterious foods available |
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| We ate lunch here later in the week |
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| Feeding the pigeons is popular everywhere |
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| They like the sign |
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| The Teatro Nacional (Costa Rica National Theater) is beautiful |
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| Interesting mural |
We then visited the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum. The exhibits on the indigenous peoples gold artistry was most interesting. I had no idea that they learned how to cast gold objects using wax molding techniques. They had an extensive collection of gold trade goods and ornamental items. Also there was an exhibit of early money over the years going way back to Spanish settlement. The gold and money exhibits were housed in rooms with heavy bank vault type doors.
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| The underground museum is very modern |
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| Interesting indigenous pottery |
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| Gold has always been a precious commodity here |
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| Many historic coins on display |
We had dinner at a Hotel / Casino within walking distance of our hotel, skipping the casino action, then returned to our hotel bar for a couple of Imperial Beers. Imperial Beer is definitely the most popular beer of Costa Rica, which to our surprise is owned by Florida Ice & Farm Company, that seems very odd. The bar tender and waiters at the hotel bar have become very friendly and helpful, I suspect that Twinkles, who is handling the Colones is probably over tipping them.
Day # 4:
We drove to the town of Grecia with Twinkles navigating using the Waze GPS app which is really great, all the Uber drivers use it, I would say that it’s essential to get around here. The highlight of the town was their beautiful large church all sheaved in red steel sheeting. I learned that it was built from steel sheeting to withstand earthquakes which are common here and have destroyed many of the original stone buildings in Costa Rica. The town park fronting the church was beautiful with several interesting statues, plants and trees. The weekend farmers market here is considered to be one of the best but unfortunately we were here on the wrong day..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grecia,_Costa_Rica
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| Church of our Lady of Mercy, the steel wall sheets were moved here by Oxcart |
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| The attractive central square and park |
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| Colorful downtown shops featuring a nice bakery |
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| Appears to be a costume shop |
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| The complex looking electrical power grid, seems to be common in Costa Rica |
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| They look much like common American shoppers |
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| Interesting mural, but somewhat faded |
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| Looks like a bandstand for live music |
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| A truck with a load of bamboo coming through town |
After returning to the hotel, we relax at the pool which is surrounded by attractive local flowering plants, exotic birds and trees. Day # 5: We are noticing that we aren’t seeing the same people at breakfast, it appears that not so many people are spending a full week here as we are. We are actually thinking that it would have been better to move to another area for the second half of our time in Costa Rica, maybe next time ?
We decide our adventure today will be a drive to the Pacific beach town of Jaco, it’s quite a distance, but a good road and very scenic. It is also a toll road for a good portion and pretty crowded as it is Saturday. Jaco has a reputation as a surf party town, kind of sleazy according to our travel book, but I didn’t really see that. The surf was weak, possibly the wrong time of year and we didn’t see much of a beach scene ? I only saw one or two hot bikini girls on the beach. We parked at the first parking lot we saw, actually it was the closest thing to a surfer bar and it wasn’t much. The ocean view was beautiful however, we walked along the surf, the water being very warm, no shells, only rocks, that’s odd to me.
https://www.vacationscostarica.com/jaco/
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| A nice straight road is unusual |
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| Bridge over the Rio Grande River |
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| The view from the beach at Jaco, pretty nice |
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| The beach bar was a surfers delight |
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| Walking in the downtown, we came upon this creature |
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| This looks like the hot spot |
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| The Hostel could be interesting ? |
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| Beach sign |
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| Surfboard rental |
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| Nice lookin coconuts |
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| I could relax here |
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| Another view with some wood sculptures |
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| Very friendly parking lot attendant who guarded our car |
Day # 6:
We again take Uber to San Jose for a tour of the historic Teatro Nacional Opera House, it was a great tour with two theatrical tour guides, very historical and entertaining. It’s an amazing building designed by Belgium architects with all the building materials shipped from Europe. It has a movable floor, operated by man power in basement to convert from Opera seating to ballroom function.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/costa-rica/san-jose/attractions/teatro-nacional/a/poi-sig/425775/358357
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| The front entrance |
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| The second floor |
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| The entrance lobby |
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| Looking up from seats lower seats, the man was one of the tour actors |
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| A painting of women picking coffee beans |
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| Our tour group enjoying the show |
We then returned to the Mercado Central Market for a lunch at a small cafe where we split a common Costa Rican meat dish, was very good.
Back out on the street, a woman stopped me to warn me that she had seen a man following me with an eye on my camera. We find the Costa Rican people to generally be courteous and friendly. We then explored more of the downtown sights.
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| Very ornate architecture |
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| Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Nuestra Church |
Day # 7:
Another car drive adventure, it's a short ride, but a complex route to the Britt Coffee plant and tour site. It was an excellent tour by an enthusiastic tour guide and very entertaining. They tour ends in the gift shop which is super impressive, many, many varieties of coffee and chocolate and free samples. Britt is the producer of Costa Rica’s most popular export quality coffee. We see people buying hundreds or perhaps thousands worth to ship home. Afterwards, we have lunch in their attractive cafe.
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| Britt plant appears to be a very modern efficient operation |
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| Coffee roaster |
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| A coffee tasting demonstration during the tour |
Day # 8:
A final Uber ride to the city of Alajuela where we tour around the historic downtown area. This is the second largest city in Costa Rico but seems more like a suburb of San Jose.
Our ride let us out at the Parc Central with massive trees and a great fountain.
We then visit the impressive Museo Juan Santamaria adjacent to the parc with several rooms of Costa Rican history and lots of incredible art, a great museum ! This building was previously the old jail.
https://www.centralamericavacation.com/2018/01/12/a-quick-history-of-costa-rica/
Unfortunately, the Alajuela Cathedral was closed so we couldn’t enter it. We then wandered around finding several historic buildings of note and some great murals and monuments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alajuela
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| The Alajuela Cathedral |
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| The nicely shaded Parque Central |
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| Restaurant mural |
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| The museum has many historic paintings |
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The execution of insurrectionist Willian Walker
I was quite fascinated by the story of Mora who appears to have legendary national hero status in Costa Rica, see the link below.
 | | An eloquent account of Mora's execution as reported by the New York Times |
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| The execution of Mora, Costa Rica history was very violent |
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| A seaport dock scene, most likely coffee exportation |
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| A battle scene depicted in this painting |
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| View of the museum roof |
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| View from the rooftop |
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| The Holy Christ of Agony Church |
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| I managed to get inside just prior to the doors being shut |
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| Twinkles posing in front of a colorful gallery |
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| Historic mural |
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| A lunch stop |
Back at the hotel we walked to a nearby restaurant and had a small, but very good meal on our last night. Why is it that you usually find the best places on your last day ? Then back to the hotel bar for our last Imperial light beer which has come to be our favorite, wish it was available in Tucson !
Time to reflect on our trip; Costa Rica is actually a fairly progressive democratic country, they did away with their military in 1949 and decided to allocate that money to education, healthcare and pension system. 25 % of the land is in conservation, there are 100 National Parks and12 ecological zones. Life expectancy is one of the highest in the world at 80 years of age. This may have something to do with their common greeting of “Pura Vida” meaning Pure Life which encapsulates the laidback, friendly, welcoming vibe of Costa Rica.
Day # 9:
A stressful day, leaving the hotel at 6:30 AM to return the rental car in heavy morning traffic on route 1. Then a short shuttle ride to the airport where we find that we have hours of time to spare before our flight to Houston, we could have left much latter without a problem, but I prefer it this way.
We discover that Britt Coffee has several huge gift shop and food concessions at the airport. We really enjoyed the free chocolate and coffee samples, but were poor customers as we bought nothing. Imperial Brewing is also very well represented at the airport, these two companies seem to have a monopoly on the airport concessions.
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| Britt Coffee and Chocolates shop at the airport |
Our flight to Houston, TX is on time, but at Houston it then takes over an hour to go through their two security check point. We then have a couple of hours before our last flight to Tucson, time for dinner, but this area of the terminal is somewhat lacking and we aren’y interested much anyhow. I’m not comfortable flying when bloated with food and drink.
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| The takeoff from San Jose |
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| Flying over mountainous terrain and a large lake |
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| Flying off shore over volcanos |
We arrive back at Tucson at 8:30 PM, it’s been a long day, take the shuttle to economy parking lot for the jeep. then home by 10:00 PM. Always feels good to get home.
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