I had one of the best meals of my life and certainly of the trip. Pacific fish with hearts of palm suace, accompanied with couscous and something that was like a potato cake. deliciouso! Arlen, our waiter, and I were chatting at dinner and our conversation started innocently and I said he was guapo (handsome), he said “tambien” and then all
With a population of about 10,000, La Fortuna has made the most of capitalizing on the volcano. Lots of tour companies are available for horseback riding, four wheeling, and other activities. We had lunch at a soda recommended by our taxi driver and then stomped around town shopping. Bev bought a messenger bag with a peace sign on it, perfect
We checked in to our hotel, Mountain Paradise, where every room has a view of the volcano, Arenal. Each room spacious room has a two shower bathroomand one shower is a waterfall shower! Our first room had a whole host of problems: the key card wouldn’t open the door, the safe wouldn’t open, the toilet mostly flushed, and the air
After a bus tour of San Jose, we headed out of town. Ricardo gave a some history about San Jose as well as Costa Rica. After Costa Rica’s civil war the president abolished the army. They put effort into education and going to school through until age of 16 is mandatory by law, and until 18 mandatory by parents. Costa
Ricardo did a nice job of welcoming us. He’s friendly, easy going, knowledgable, and helpful all with a sense of humor. He told us at our orientation meeting that he is 50 years old, has a son, 28, from his first marriage and a son, 14, from his second marriage and that he is improving both being a father and
Our first stop was the ATM. We used our bank cards to get colones. It took a couple of tries to figure out the exchange rate but we managed. There are about 500 colones to the dollar, and we just didn’t get the decimal in the right place the first time. The sidewalks are narrow, not always even, and occasionally
The flights to Atlanta and then to San Jose were a piece of cake. We arrived in San Jose right on time. There were at least two planes arriving with tourists which filled the immigration lines. It took us about an hour to get through the line, and Bev’s passport was stamped for the first time. A Gate 1Travel porter
It took Delta a couple of tries to get Flight 680 from Quito to Atlanta and in the end, we arrived safely and very tired (mucho cansada). It’s taken me a couple of days to catch up on my sleep, go through the mail, and feel grounded on US soil. My stomach still isn’t quite right, although it’s getting better.
Many of the guidebooks recommend the Guayasamin Museum. Oswaldo Guayasamin was a famous Ecuadorian artist. The museum includes quite a number of his paintings as well as some of his sketches. He has a distinctive style and Id seen some of his work on posters around town previous to my visit. There is also a collection of pre-Columbian art, including
The banner across all the screens in the airport announced that the airport was closed because of weather. That didnt stop the Delta folks from checking us in, putting us through security, and letting us sit at the gate for hours. The fog was dense and the flight from Guayaquil that we were supposed to catch, tried to land but