San Jose

Leaving San Francisco

We left home at 7:30am for our 9:30am flight out of SFO. Everything went smoothly, except Eric’s been fighting a cold and Kevin started getting sick last night, and is feeling worse this morning. We had a three hour layover in Dallas that ended up being closer to four due to delays from high winds at the airport closing two runways. At least DFA is more like a mall than an airport, so keeping occupied wasn’t an issue.

Another four hour flight and we were back in San Jose, but this time Costa Rica. Kevin isn’t getting any better, so we’re not making plans for any wake up calls tomorrow.

My passport – proof that they let me in.

Our Hotel

The tour starts with a meeting tonight, so we have the whole day to ourselves. The guys slept until 1 pm, hopefully beating back some of their colds. Quesadillas for lunch around the pool, and then Sarah, Eric and I headed out for some touring of our own. Kevin stayed back at the hotel to keep fighting off his cold.

We took a cab to the National Museum and learned some of the history of Costa Rica and Central America. The highlight, though, was visiting their butterfly garden – an enclosed area with about a dozen different butterflies, interesting native plants and some exotic spiders and other insects thrown in.

I’m not sure what kind of a tree this is – the plaque under it said Jacaranda, but I don’t think they grow these beans.

These giant caterpillars are about 4″ long. Sorry, don’t know what they become.

The underside of a Morphos butterfly

The top of a Morphos wing. It was lying on the ground like that, honest!

Yellow Aphids. I’m used to green ones.

After the museum and butterfly garden we took a walk around the plaza. It was a busy Sunday afternoon, but we were happy to grab a cab and head back to the hotel.

More napping, relaxing and hanging out ’til dinner, then our intro meeting with Paul the tour guide. It looks like there will be about 46 people on the tour, from all around the US.

The final stop was a tour of the Britt coffee plant, which was very entertaining. They have a small coffee plant field that you walk though with two guides who basically do a comedy routine while educating you about the plants, the beans and the process from fruit to roasted bean. The last part of the tour is in a small theater where they reenact coffee’s history in a campy and humorous play. Lots of fun, but I liked the coffee we bought in Fortuna much better.

Britt coffee plant.

San Jose traffic.

San Jose rainbow.

Dinner tonight was the group’s last time together, so it was a more formal meal at the top of the hotel we stayed at. The Holiday Inn is the second tallest building in San Jose, so the view from the 17th floor after dark was wonderful.

Up early to catch our flight home.

San Jose sunrise.

This has been a fantastic trip. Thanks, Sarah, for having the idea and doing all the work!

And special kudos to Paul and Marcos. They were the perfect hosts for our visit to their country. Paul’s knowledge is deep, and he always was entertaining while educating us. He also managed to keep 46 people herded for ten days, without us feeling like a part of a big tour – I think we all had very personal experiences. And Marcos who managed to move an enormous bus around tiny streets without breaking a sweat – and he kept the bus spotless, too.

Goodbye San Francisco, Hello San Jose

San Jose, Costa Rica

Britt Coffee, and Back to San Jose

Adios, Costa Rica