Costa Rica 2010

October is toward the end of the green or rainy season in Costa Rica. My friend, Ed, and I have decided to travel together to CR for 12 days . My goal is to get a good idea of what CR is like as I am thinking of living out of the US for a few months during the winter and I like CR for several reasons. It is warm but also temperate. CR has not military. Money spent on military is spent instead on education and medical care. I like that a lot. I am curious about the Quakers in Monteverde. Not a lot is written about them and I would like a personal glimpse. I have just always wanted to go beyond Mexico and this seems like the right place.

We did not do a whole lot of preparatory stuff. Tried to pack light and have a place to stay the first night, a good guide book, a one excursion trip for a few days to the Caribean.

San Jose we were told was not so great. But we found a fantastic hotel that I would recomend named Hotel Aranjuez. the rooms were nice, cheap and the breakfast was fit for royalty. I will remember these breakfasts till my dying day with pleasure. how nice to sit in a tropical garden and dine on sumptious food and cr delicasies.

we went shopping in san Jose and left our loot in the storage room at Hotel aranjuez. great idea. we also went out tango dancing. fine people and fellow dancers, talked with an expat, danced,wined and dined.
San Jose has no addresses like the rest of cr. How do you find anything. you give the taxi driver the directions like it is 150 meters east of Rococo restaurant and they find it. But if I were to live there it would be in san Jose close to one of the universities as I like to be where there is music and symphonies and dancing. It is easy to take a bus trip to the beach if you want to get away. also, all the medical facilities are in san jose which is important as we age. But CR is not cheap. the price of food is the same as it is in the US. Housing is cheaper. taxis are cheaper. But there are many Latin American countries that are much cheaper and as beautiful, but not as peaceful.
must touch on crime. the Ticos are sweet, kind an considerate. Every Tico that I met was like that. There are criminal elements as there folks who live on the fringes.

We tried to hit four different areas around the country. the caribbean where we cruised on the canals and saw amazing wildlife everywhere, especially the green back turtle babies hatching and walking ino the sea. Arenal where an active volcano and hot springs is a fantastic experience.
Monteverde where the Quakers have a meeting house and school and where a thriving cheese making factory run by quakers and associates supplies all kinds of cheeses and pork sausages to CR and Nicaragua. And lastly the pacific coast where we hiked with monkeys and raccoon like creatures and swum in the beautiful ocean.
yes, CR, I will be back but will go to Ecuador and perhaps Guatamala first.
love
susan