Costa Rica

It’s hard to believe, but we were home from Disneyland for exactly a week and then Jim and I left for Costa Rica. I had a work trip that had been planned tentatively since April, and then suddenly it was all coming together and Jim decided to come. We flew to LAX Friday evening, then on to Costa Rica, and landed about 7:30 AM local time. We got a rental car and drove straight to our hotel, the lovely Hotel Alta in Santa Ana. They served glasses of this fabulous juice at check in.

We gathered our things and drove out to Jaco, crossing this crocodile bridge on our way. From the bridge you can see about 20 crocodiles!

We ate lunch on the main street and then spent a few hours on the beach.

We headed back to the hotel to meet up with Gloria, the other trainer, for dinner. The hotel restaurant, La Luz, was expensive but very good.

We didn’t set alarms for Sunday morning because we didn’t have to be up early, and when I woke up it was 11 AM. Wow. We walked 50 meters to the Wildlife Refuge next to the hotel, and to Croc’s Pizza for lunch.

We asked for a guided tour of the refuge, and this adorable boy (maybe 12 years old?) took us around for almost two hours. He told us all about every animal, including its story and details about it, in his adorable English. We learned a ton and he did a great job.

Sunday night, Gloria and I stayed up until 2 AM getting ready for the next morning. Needless to say, in this photo we were on about 3 hours of sleep!

The food in Costa Rica was excellent, from local delights to fancy dishes. Here is an example of a fancy salad!

The last night, we ate at La Posada de Las Brujas, which was recommended to us by some local teachers. It was yummy and cheap.

I had to take some photos of this Guanacaste tree but I just couldn’t capture it. It is about 150 years old and stands in the patio area of the hotel near the pool.

While I was at training Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning, Jim relaxed, napped, laid in the sun, watched movies with Spanish subtitles, and had a wonderful time doing nothing.

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant was included in the room fee, and it was so wonderful. We just ordered whatever we felt like off the menu each morning, and didn’t pay for it. The Costa Rican coffee won over Jim and I quickly, and we brought home a bag of the hotel’s proprietary roasted beans.

Wednesday we said good-bye around lunch time. Here’s our group of teachers!

Jim and I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We flew to LAX and landed about 9 PM. Then we found out our flight to Seattle was delayed an hour, so we didn’t land in Seattle until 2:30 AM. I drove home and Jim caught an Uber ride to work. We both climbed into beds around 4:30 AM. I got up at 7 AM and went to see JT and Haley before school, and Jim got up around 8 AM and went to work!