Costa Rica

Jan. 18, 2004- San Jose
(photos:Hotel Don Carlos,
Don Carlos hotel cafe)

We arrived in San Jose today after a delightful week of wending our way through Florida & visiting friends.

I didn’t bring the laptop so any email I send will be done right on line. Sorry in advance for the lack of proof reading.

Hotel Don Carlos is as charming as we’d hoped. Our room overlooks an interior courtyard & has a small balcony. There’s a fountain that I’m sure runs 24-7.

The countryside looked green & lush from the air. Tomorrow we find out. We leave at 7.20 AM for Rincon de la Vieja. It´s a volcanic area. All our transport leaves very early.

I hope to stay in touch from time to time, and will try to survive all the black beans & rice.

Toby

Jan. 18, 2004-San Jose cont’d

I guess I’m addicted to this. I couldn’t resist keeping you all up to date. I’m also in the habit of journaling now.

David is feeling very foolish. We went to a bank machine to get colones. The exchange rate is 425 to the dollar. He had a sense of deja vu. It was Italy all over again when his card didn´t work. This time I had my card & the machine was very happy to spit out 25,000 colones. You do the math. At dinner tonight he reached for his VISA card & saw that the bankcard he’d tried to use earlier was in fact an alternative VISA charge card. His VISA bankcard was tucked away elsewhere in his wallet.

We would have felt even more foolish had we listened to the hotel & taken a cab to the restaurant for dinner. We decided we needed a walk & were there in ten minutes. We walked further & found a pedestrian mall that ran for blocks. There were several interesting places to eat & we chose the News Cafe in Hotel Presidente. OK now Daniel, you can tease me all you want but I do like to keep a record of what we eat & price ranges. David had arroz con pollo & I had sea bass. The total was $15. A service charge of 10% is included in the bill.

I read an interesting history of the impact of the coffee industry here. Coffee came to Costa Rica at the end of the 18th century (it didn’t say from where). In 1820 they started exporting it to Chile. In 1823 they exported it to Colombia, and in 1854 they started exporting to England. The communication with England & economic trade gave their children the opportunity & connections to take advantage of university educations in Great Britain. That’s where their first doctors, lawyers, etc. were trained.

We´re going to sleep early for an early start tomorrow. I hope I can stay in touch. I don’t know what internet access will be available from now on. This terminal is right outside our room & is free.

Toby