What a crazy, long day this has been! When we arrived in San Jose on Wednesday night, we took a taxi FROM the airport to the hotel and it cost $18,900 Colones plus tip – $40USD. The bus back to the airport cost $1140 Colones – just over $2USD – easy decision, only took 10 minutes longer! We had a car reserved for noon today, but took the bus about 9 am in hopes of picking up the car early. Enterprise shuttled us to their lot outside the airport, but they had no cars available. They were really nice, but we chilled until a car came back and they got it detailed and ready … 11:45 am. We have a Bego 4x4.
On the way back to the hotel we were slowed down by a rally of people on their way to one of the parks for a protest. Back at our hotel we picked up our luggage and stopped at one of the “sodas” to have lunch. A soda is a small family restaurant. We shared a lunch plate of rice and beans, chicken, a cheese empenada, iced tea and a soft drink for $5000 Colones. ($10 USD). We also stopped at another soda to get a piece of coconut candy which cost $650 Colones (about $1.50). I liked it, but Tobey didn’t, so more for me!
After lunch we fianlly got on the road - about 1:30 pm. We used Googlemaps on Tobey’s phone to navigate to Manuel Antonio, a national park on the coast. According to Googlemaps, the drive should take about 2 hours and 45 minutes. It worked well to get us out of the city and would have been fine until Highway 27 was closed!
No signs for a detour, we just punted and detoured onto Highway 239 which went across the mountains on a small road.
The road kept getting narrower and narrower. Soon, the pavement ended and turned to gravel.
We kept going – and going – and going. We passed several little villages and a few towns which reminded us of mainland Mexico.
The road was serpentine up the mountain and down filled with ruts. We were thankful for the 4x4!!
We began to wonder if this really was a highway, but encountered many cars, tourist buses, and regional buses, so we figured it was EVENTUALLY get us there!
It was discouraging to watch the kilometer to distance decrease and time to destination increase! We finally got to the PAVED highway just west of Parrita after 5pm!!!
The paved road to our hotel, Hotel Flor Blanca, took another 30 minutes, but we arrived and have a parking place right in front of the lobby.
We quickly got our computer hooked up so we could listen to the end of the Broncos football game. What a finish!!! We were so excited – on to the next round against New England.
Near the end of the game we heard a loud bang and felt the room vibrate a little. Tobey was afraid someone had hit our car and slammed it into the building so I went out to see. After checking that our car was okay I spoke to the man at the reception desk and he told me it was an earthquake – but only a small tremor. He said they happen everyday and it is a good thing! He told me that if they don’t, then the pressure builds and it could be a big earthquake. Good to know …
After the game, we walked to a nice seafood restaurant a couple blocks from our hotel, Mar Luna.
Tobey had the pescado ajillo (garlic swordfish filet) and I had camarones juvenil al ajillo (small garlic shrimp).
Both were served with rice and delicious vegetables and a basket of garlic bread. It was an expensive dinner for us – $24,600 Colones – about $47.00, but it was delicious!!
Both were served with rice and delicious vegetables and a basket of garlic bread. It was an expensive dinner for us – $24,600 Colones – about $47.00, but it was delicious!!
2 comments:
We are enjoying your tour! Thanks for sharing! - Croft & Norma
Thanks! We are having fun. The roads here make many of the ones in Mexico look like super highways! :)
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