Christmas in Costa Rica Part VIII
February 5, 2018
Day Fourteen:
Drive to San Jose, Costa Rica
The next morning we packed, loaded up a van (with a driver and cute daughter who enjoyed speaking Spanish with the kids), and we were off to San Jose where we would be flying out.
Parrita, Costa Rica
I enjoyed looking at the sites once again, on our three hour journey to San Jose (goodbye Parrita and African Palm trees!).
Pacific Coast, Costa Rica
I loved the views of the green mountainsides along the Pacific Coast,
and the larger mountain ranges in the distance.
Jaco, Costa Rica
I loved driving along the ocean, and especially driving through Jaco once again.
Jaco Beach
Tarcoles, Costa Rica
Along highway 34, north of Jaco, is the small town of Tarcoles. It's a neat little place with restaurants, souvenir shops, and produce stands, but the main attraction is the crocodiles!
Crocodile bridge crosses over the Tarcoles River, which is packed full of crocodiles.
The bridge (which btw is extremely busy with tourist going or coming from Jaco, Manuel Antonio, and other Pacific Coast destinations) offers unlimited views of the crocodiles below.
The American crocodile can reach up to 15 feet in length, and the females build nests next to the shoreline and lay between 30 and 70 eggs at a time. Male crocodiles help guard the nursery.
Last year in Costa Rica there were seven reported crocodile attacks. One was fatal, and one was an American surfer who lost his leg while surfing in Tamarindo. I was perfectly content watching the crocodiles from the bridge above!
Carara, Costa Rica
After watching crocodiles for awhile, we got back in the van to finish the rest of our trip through the Carara Mountains, which were so green and lush against the purple overcast sky.
San Jose, Costa Rica
We finally made it to San Jose. San Jose is the capital city of Costa Rica with a population of about half of the entire country. San Jose's elevation is about 3,700 feet, which would make sense why it felt about 20 degrees cooler than the coast.
We stayed at a nice Marriott Hotel next to the airport, with a real Walmart right across the street that we could walk to (with a huge sliding gate in front of it that was locked at night). Downtown San Jose was a 20 minuet drive from our hotel, but with heavy traffic it would have taken us three times that long, plus it would of cost our family at least $50-60 US dollars (which seemed the going rate for us to go anywhere) and that's if we took an "official" taxi and not an unlicensed taxi called a "pirate" that would majorly rip us off. However, with all that being said, if we do go to Costa Rica again, I would like to make more time to explore the downtown area and see the interesting museums (especially the Jade Museum), eclectic historic architecture, and the many parks. I even heard there are a lot of reasonably priced places downtown to do yoga (make sense since Costa Rica is a top destination for yoga enthusiasts).
Instead of trying to deal with that, we decided to explore the smaller backstreets around our hotel, on foot. Luckily, there were good sidewalks because pedestrians don't have the right of way in Costa Rica!
We walked past rows of small brick buildings all connected together that looked liked miniature strip-malls. Each store had bars on the windows, and a single door that was open. Each entrance led to a very small restaurant, shop (like the bakery above), or market.
However, while peaking through one of the doors, I was surprised to see an entire church open up to my view!
San Jose is a plateau surrounded by lush green mountains that you can see here in the distance. If it was day instead of dusk, you would be able to see how green they appear.
Even though San Jose sits on a plateau, the streets within the city were still quite hilly.
I did appreciate the street's lighting, and especially all the Christmas lights that adorned our hotel and the Mall (Americanized), also located across the street from our hotel.
After a long day of travel and our little walk, we were all very hungry so we ate at Taco Tico in the mall. I think we were all ready for American-type food, so Merinda ordered the hamburger (apparently with American-sized portions as well).
Breck ordered a burrito,
I ordered some nachos,
and Aubrey ordered a gut-ache, I mean the Chicken Taquito hamburger!
And yes, those are real chicken taquitos on top (as if the burger wasn't big enough to begin with)!
Obviously there weren't any Brittney-friendly foods at Taco Tico, so Brittney had her own awesome meal ...
grilled chicken breast on toast, with mustard! Yum! But at least Brittney didn't have a gut-ache that night like the rest of us!
Day Fifteen:
Goodbye Costa Rica
While at the San Jose airport the next morning, we decided to get some last minuet souvenirs. I got a t-shirt and this little crocodile,
and Merinda got this hat which said "Pura Vida". Pura vida is Costa Rica's national saying that means pure life, because people in Costa Rica know how to keep calm and relax. Something that Merinda could learn to do when I take her picture! She warned me not to post this picture on my blog. But hey, I worked this hard to get all of these pictures on my blog, I'm going to post whatever pictures I want! If that sounds harsh, you should see the pictures of me she has posted on her Instagram! This picture doesn't hold a candle to them!!!
Anyway, yes, it's sad but true! I have come to the last of my Costa Rica pictures! I hope you have enjoyed this journey with me, as I have relived one of the best vacations of my life. I want to thank you all for checking out my blog, and for being a part of our family's adventures!
Until next post...Pura Vida!!!