Our wake up call this morning was for 5:45 am but we are up long before that. Too excited to be in our home way from home...
We are so tired! That was an especially long combination of flights! Thankfully, our connectors were nicely spaced so we had time to find our gates, clear customs, and get something to eat, but not have to wait around. Until Houston, where our flight was delayed by an hour and a half-putting us in San Jose close to 11:00.
We'd called Expedia from Houston to make sure there would be a shuttle waiting for us. . We always book the Irazu Best Western in san Jose because the service is great, there's a shuttle from the airport, it's safe and clean.
We ate our complimentary breakfast at Denny's and were met promptly at 7:45 in the lobby by our Interbus driver. We love Interbus, and have noticed they changed their website since last year at this time (harder to navigate) so booked it through "anywherecostarica" on live chat so we knew it was done and verified. For $43.ooUs each (Gabriel was $28. and prices have gone up slightly since last year) we were driven 4 1/2 hours to Playa chiquita. Costa Rica really works at tourism and even has universities that teach it. The service by those established companies such as these two is first rate!
We drive through mountains, plateaus, and finally reach Limon. Puerto Viejo is close by! We can tell we're in the carribean now; houses are different, the sounds of the rainforest are constant, there are banana plantations everywhere, and the air changes: you can smell the salty ocean air and it settles on you....The kids get their first glimpse of the ocean through palm trees lining the beach. They are thrilled!!
Our driver called ahead to Ana, our contact, who reportedly doesn't speak very good english. She met us on the road and jumped in to direct him. Between English, Espanol and sign language, we did great. Ana is the quintessential "island girl"- warm, loving, and maybe a little bit free spirited-we have bonded immediately. Laura's directions were good: we stopped at the bridge and even our driver helped take our suitcases up the muddy path to our little "tico' house.
First on the agenda of settling in: explore, unpack the essential, and get some groceries. The El Duendo Gourmet grocery is just back down the road and down the street a ways. We have brought our Superstore bags-eco-friendly is important here. nice! the store is well stocked with staples, the produce is fresh, and we can decipher most labels. Directions take a bit of guess work... I have friends in Canada who would be so grossed out by the meat selection, though, they would become vegetarian! We gingerly bought a packaged half chicken (and kindof half frozen) from a not so cold freezer. we bit the bullet and cooked it in our electric frying pan-we don't have an oven (and maybe it was a good thing it was half thawed-no microwave either-think summer camp). All was well and we are still healthy...
We will go to Puerto Viejo on Saturday where the open market is held from 6 am to noon, or whenever they run out of wares.
All in all-tired, happy, settling. So glad to be here!!!
We are so tired! That was an especially long combination of flights! Thankfully, our connectors were nicely spaced so we had time to find our gates, clear customs, and get something to eat, but not have to wait around. Until Houston, where our flight was delayed by an hour and a half-putting us in San Jose close to 11:00.
We'd called Expedia from Houston to make sure there would be a shuttle waiting for us. . We always book the Irazu Best Western in san Jose because the service is great, there's a shuttle from the airport, it's safe and clean.
We ate our complimentary breakfast at Denny's and were met promptly at 7:45 in the lobby by our Interbus driver. We love Interbus, and have noticed they changed their website since last year at this time (harder to navigate) so booked it through "anywherecostarica" on live chat so we knew it was done and verified. For $43.ooUs each (Gabriel was $28. and prices have gone up slightly since last year) we were driven 4 1/2 hours to Playa chiquita. Costa Rica really works at tourism and even has universities that teach it. The service by those established companies such as these two is first rate!
We drive through mountains, plateaus, and finally reach Limon. Puerto Viejo is close by! We can tell we're in the carribean now; houses are different, the sounds of the rainforest are constant, there are banana plantations everywhere, and the air changes: you can smell the salty ocean air and it settles on you....The kids get their first glimpse of the ocean through palm trees lining the beach. They are thrilled!!
Our driver called ahead to Ana, our contact, who reportedly doesn't speak very good english. She met us on the road and jumped in to direct him. Between English, Espanol and sign language, we did great. Ana is the quintessential "island girl"- warm, loving, and maybe a little bit free spirited-we have bonded immediately. Laura's directions were good: we stopped at the bridge and even our driver helped take our suitcases up the muddy path to our little "tico' house.
First on the agenda of settling in: explore, unpack the essential, and get some groceries. The El Duendo Gourmet grocery is just back down the road and down the street a ways. We have brought our Superstore bags-eco-friendly is important here. nice! the store is well stocked with staples, the produce is fresh, and we can decipher most labels. Directions take a bit of guess work... I have friends in Canada who would be so grossed out by the meat selection, though, they would become vegetarian! We gingerly bought a packaged half chicken (and kindof half frozen) from a not so cold freezer. we bit the bullet and cooked it in our electric frying pan-we don't have an oven (and maybe it was a good thing it was half thawed-no microwave either-think summer camp). All was well and we are still healthy...
We will go to Puerto Viejo on Saturday where the open market is held from 6 am to noon, or whenever they run out of wares.
All in all-tired, happy, settling. So glad to be here!!!
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| Our neighbourhood grocery store |
I like the design of the grocery store cool and efficient.
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