Oct 6 --Happy Birthday Paul Murgo

We had a wonderful trip to Costa Rica. Everything went pretty smooth the whole trip although I was a little disappointed at the beginning when we got to West Palm Beach and I discovered I did not have my camera- found out later I had left it in Jerry's car at the airport in Jacksonville where we picked up the rental car. I used Susan's the first week but it ran out of memory the start of the second week. I would have had way too many pictures to post if I had my camera. I will post some of what I do have at the end of this post.
The flight on Spirit airlines was fine seemed like any other airline to me so our $8 tickets were great.
The rental car pick up center was not right at the airport so we took the shuttle to the rental agency -- Our first lesson "driving in Costa Rica" I went to a lot of trouble so I would be added on as a driver at no additional charge -- total waste of time. First off ALL the cars are standard transmission - I don't do standard transmissions -- thank goodness - I was VERY content to let Paul do ALL the driving.
We have been on the boat and away from BIG city driving long enough that heavy traffic is a little bit of a challenge for me BUT big city traffic cannot even begin to compare to traffic in Costa Rica.I have been in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles all rolled into one -- no comparison. Our one and only trip into San Jose we took a taxi THANK GOODNESS! It was raining and traffic was-- ah I guess you could call it wall to wall-- sometimes 2 lanes sometimes 3 and I thinks sometimes maybe 4 BUT whatever there was ALWAYS another NON lane added by a motorcycle or scooter --didn't matter what side on out left or right. There are NO street signs. We told the taxi driver where we wanted to go and showed him on the Google earth map I had printed off before we left home -- don't think he understood enough to laugh at me. He spoke NO English.The map LOOKED like International Highway went through the center of town and the E Calles were east and the west Calles were west and the North AVs were north and the South Avs were south --- could not be farther from the truth. I have no idea where we were. Thank goodness the ARCR ( Association of Residents of Costa Rica)Office we were headed to was on the edge of town -- the edge we enter in -- I would have called it east BUT now I would not call it anything.
AT one point in this wall to wall traffic, after we had been around the same few blocks a couple of time, the taxi driver actually BACKED UP a full city block --remember wall to wall traffic and rain - I just hid my head- I think I prayed also.
We finally got to the ARCR office to get some tourist information.
I had made reservations in a Clarion Hotel in Downtown San Jose -- the other side of San Jose -- that we quickly cancelled and got a room back out by the rental car office-near the airport.EVENTFUL First Day.
Day 2 All Paul years driving a standard transmissions and all kinds of conditions did help him with the driving -- I think. The first few days he was a little how should I say it "timid"? He did not pass on the curves on a 2 lane road with no berm and a solid double yellow line -- which seems to mean nothing in CR. By the second week he was driving like a true Costa Rican and somehow we made it home alive.
Surprisingly we saw only one head on collision -- on a 2 lane road with no berm and traffic was backed up over 2 hours when we got there and we were were about 2 miles from the wreck.We did meet the Brauma Bull pictured above coming down the road -- but it was on one of the many dirt roads we were on.
I remember now I am suppose to post the pictures then write -- so I will write this one and post the pictures on separate blog.
Back to day 2
We did have a nice drive to Jaco where we checked into the condo we were staying for a week.
Costa Rica is a beautiful country and the views driving (Paul driving) through the mountains were spectacular so lush and green and so many beautiful flowers everywhere.
Our condo was great and had a great swimming pool that I took full advantage of.
Almost everyday I saw beautiful birds by the pool. There were some teal ones that I really loved. There was a pair at the pool everyday.
We used Jaco as a base and took day trips.
One day we did a monkey tour. We went in a small boat into an Estuary. I loved the white faced monkeys. When the guide stopped the boat 2 of them climbed on the boat. The guide gave me chunks of bananas which the monkeys ate from my hand. One little one licked my hand - so gentle and so cute.
We saw other wild life and learned about several different kinds of Mangroves. We saw a number of termite nest.
One day Paul & I went to a butterfly farm. It was not the best butterfly farm but we did get to see a few butterflies but also we saw a number of different frogs- the green and black and the black and yellow poisonous ones that Paul remembered seeing in movies.They also had TOO many snakes. I could have done without seeing the snakes They actually had more different kinds of snakes than kinds of butterflies. They should have called it the snake farm.
We took a car ferry ride to a peninsula. The ferry held over a hundred cars, buses etc. We loved being on the water and it was a beautiful trip. We passed several what might be called islands -- Large rock areas most with small beaches.
We had lunch at Tropical Tambor right on the Pacific ocean. I found a large hamburger bean on the beautiful beach -- probably the prettiest beach we saw. I enjoyed the beach but also the beautiful swimming pool while Paul enjoyed a nice hammock right on the beach.
After our week in Haco we set out on an "adventure" as Susan called it.
We went to Junquillal where Susan owns property. She has a beautiful view -- high up on a hill(I think it was called a hill) over looking the ocean.
The hotel where we stayed had another nice pool and right on the ocean. I went shelling several times and found some really nice shells-- that much to my dismay (putting it mildly) the CR customs would not let me bring back to the states.
WOW I am getting tired so that is all for tonight. I will do part 2 tomorrow night.