Friday, February 13, 2009

San Jose outskirts

This will be a bit brief as the internet keeps going down at this hotel and the computer is pretty awful. But free! The drive was beautiful, and on a paved road (yay!) Outside of La Fortuna looked much nicer than anywhere we've seen. The houses are nicer, very brightly colored and area is better kept. Perhaps the road helped that area. All farmland and some with sloping hills and other areas very flat. Much easier for farming. We passed through a couple of small towns, and in one I saw a man riding a motorcycle with a young baby, maybe a year old, on the seat in front of him! Ah mio dio!

We saw a larger town called Quesada (San Carlos) and from there it looked poor again. In Zarchero we passed a beautiful church, but didn't stop until we saw a little cafe by the road to take a break. Most of the towns in CR are pretty ugly-- very dirty, touristy with lots of souvenier shops, and not much character. Oh, and Karen, you'd love it as every other store seems to be a shoe store!

We lost the road in Naranja and had to backtrack to get to the highway. Driving here is very difficult as no roads are marked and direction are often "follow the road." Well, the road forks many times! But, it's adventure I say! We did manage to find the cut off to get to our hotel without going all the way to the airport, and checked in mid day. lots more people here than our other hotels. The hotel is cute, very brightly golden yellow colored, like the color of marigolds. There's a check in, tour area and a little store, a separate building has Marilyn Monroe's bar and restaurant, a lobby, pool, nature trails complete with two gorgeous caged birds, a hot tub. Very much surrounded by large, plants so you feel like you're in the jungle. The manager, Gary, is from MI and moved here full time 6 years ago. He gave us directions and recommedations to a restaurant for lunch and fruitas, fruit shakes. He was very nice and we chatted a bit. I told him I though that naming the dog "Marilyn Monroe" was funny and rather fitting, and he laughed and said that he believes she's the reincarnation of Marilyn.. "a buddhist thing" he said. I just laughed and said I thought it was karma!

We headed off to Grechia and Sarchi. Grechi was large and not quaint at all. Had a large red impressive church in the center. We drove to Sarchi, the artisan center of CR in search of the restaurant and a cute town to walk around in. We found the restaurant and while the food was so-so, the shakes were incredible! Melanie got a pineapple, coconut, mango, and I got pineapple, passion fruit and mango. Both were incredible! The man who served us is I believe the owner, and he's selling the place. Absolutely adorable older man and very nice. I was glad for the recommendation, as we never would have found the place if we didn't know where to look! Sarchi looked like any of the other towns so far. The church dominates the town in the central park, at the top of a huge hill. I was surprised as the book I read said it's pink with turquoise trim and is often said that it looks like a birthday cake. Well, the church was cream with tan trim!

We drove around a bit, stopped to get my nephew a CR shirt, and headed back. Not much to see or to walk around. We have been told the restaurant at our hotel is very good, so I think we'll check it out. The area doesn't look all that great, so I think I'd rather not go far at night.

The pool has a nice little water feature so I think I'll go enjoy it with a book for some R&R. Tomorrow we try to got o Poas. We were told that it is open and worth seeing if it's not too cloudy. Worst case the drive there is very nice and worth seeing, and we can turn back when we hit the park. There is also a waterfall nearby that I'd like to see. I found a park with a little ruin of a town, but Gary said it's far and on the other side of San Jose. So i think we'll stick more in this area and explore. There is a bird zoo nearby too, where they rehab injured birds. They do have a quetzal and it may be worth seeing one up close, though I'm a bit birded out! So, we'll see what time we spend in Poas, etc. La Paz waterfall is definitely closed, so not going that way. We'll miss the hummingbirds and butterflies there and exploring the peace lodge, a super nice and incredibly expensive hotel, but there's plenty else to do!

Hasta luego!

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