Day 1 in San Jose

Hello All: Bill and I are back in Costa Rica. We had a relatively smooth trip today with a minor snag at the end. We booked a hotel at Playa Cocles. We looked up the distance between San Jose and Playa Cocles before we left and Google assured us that it takes about 3.5 hours. When we arrived at the airport this afternoon and got a taxi, our driver told us that it actually takes 6 hours to get there. Based on this information, we decided to spend the night in San Jose and go to Cocles tomorrow morning. I contacted our hotel, and the hotel owner told me that the drive is only about 3.5 hours. We don’t know if we arrived at a time when the traffic is really bad to go south or if our driver was wrong. But, Bill hurt his back at work a few days ago so it’s actually working out okay since it was already a really long travel day in uncomfortable airport and airplane seats.

We are currently in a nice hotel in downtown San Jose. I went for a walk earlier in one of the main shopping districts. San Jose is not a city I’d choose to spend time in, but it’s always interesting to walk around and see the street venders and shops. There were a lot of people out and it’s fairly cool in the Central Valley so it was a nice afternoon to walk around. There’s a pretty park right across the street from our hotel. This evening, Bill and I ate at a restaurant down the street. It was partly open air, and we go a little cool. Our hotel keeps hot water and tea available all the time. I can go get a cup whenever I want one, and there is a nice sitting area on the first floor overlooking one of the parks. It’s not a bad way to end a long travel day.

I’m attaching a few pictures below. The first pictures are part of the park and the final one is a plaza in the shopping district. Hopefully we will have some better ones tomorrow.