New Years Eve Costa Rica Style!

Soon the bus came and we started making our way back to the capital. We stopped at one little road side shack for a bathroom break and a few people got some souvenirs and snacks. The people who owned the shack were grateful to Ro and gave him a bag with a couple little souvenirs. As we were driving back, Ro asked some Costa Rica trivia questions and gave away the souvenirs. I won a sloth key chain for being able to name the most Costa Rican provinces. Back in San José, we checked back into Hotel Auténtico for our last night in Costa Rica. For dinner, the whole group headed to Las Mañanitas, a Mexican place restaurant just a couple blocks from the hotel. It was different than the Mexican food we get at home, but really good. And I suspect for authentically Mexican. It was Tim's birthday so Ro talked to the owners and they brought out a cake and sang. Tim didn't want to celebrate his birthday, so it was a lot of fun! After dinner, a few people catching early flights went back, but most of us were going out to the clubs for New Years Eve. Another G Adventures group that just arrived was also going out. Ro had suggested going to El Pueblo, an complex with several clubs and bars connected. The other tour guide, however, insisted on going to another bar first, I guess because it was cheaper. This place, I didn't bother getting the name, was a little sketchy. The only redeeming quality was the great laugh we got over the “bathroom”. The men’s room lacked a sink, a toilet, and even a door! Soon, we convinced Ro that we should leave and headed to El Pueblo.

It was a great time of dancing and partying, ringing in the New Year. Ro said that New Years Eve is more of a family holiday than a party holiday so most of the locals stay home. We ended up being the biggest group and just had a great time dancing and drinking at the clubs. Around 2, we got a cab back to the hotel and went to bed. Friday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel with everyone who was still in Costa Rica. After breakfast, Sandy and I went for a short walk around Parque La Sabana one more time before our flight. The lake was very pretty.

A couple of people in our group had considered hitting the art museum before departing for the airport. It's right next to the park, so we swung by and it was closed for the holiday.

When we got back to the hotel, we hung out with our new friends until the shuttle came to bring us back to the airport. It was a fantastic trip with great friends, so it was sad to say goodbye. We gave Ro a big hug for departing for the airport. Fortunately, all the flights back were on time and uneventful.

Christmas Eve in San Jose

For the holiday season this year, Sandy and I headed to Costa Rica for an action-packed week of adventure and fun. My employer has an end-of-year holiday shut down and I didn’t want to let perfectly good vacation time go to waste. We left Raleigh early on Christmas Eve. Since the holidays are peak travel time, everything was very busy. We had to have our car valet-parked at Fast Park and Relax before heading to the airport as the parking lot was completely full. Fortunately, we made it to the airport in time and none of our flights were delayed. We flew to Charlotte and from there to San José. It was quite warm in Raleigh when we left, so not much of a difference in temperature when we arrived in Costa Rica. After deplaning and clearing customs, we found our driver and met Dana from Toronto, another tourist on our G Adventures trip. The driver took us to Hotel Autentico in San José and after checking into our room, we headed out to get cash from a bank and had a late lunch/early dinner at Soda Tapia. Sandy and I both got a steak sandwich. They were good, but really big. We should have just split one. After eating, we went for a stroll around Parque la Sabana, the central park of San José.

The tropical flowers blooming in the park were absolutely beautiful, including some bright yellow trumpetbush.

We also saw male great-tailed grackles, a bird that looks somewhat like a crow with a long tail.

There was a huge Christmas tree sponsored by Coca-Cola, as well as a pretty artificial lake with ducks.

As the sun was beginning to set, we had beautiful views of the lake.

We then headed back to the hotel and met up with more of our tour group and our amazing tour guide, Ro. After introducing ourselves, Ro went over some of the logistics of the trip and background information. After the meeting, we went for dinner in the hotel. Sandy and I weren’t hungry as we had eaten so much just a little bit earlier so we had a couple drinks and socialized with the group and then went to bed early.