Arrival

Just in case you were wondering, we're in Costa Rica! Sitting in a courtyard surrounded by fruit trees: avocado, mango, papaya and some others that I'm not familiar with. After a long day of flights and airports we waiting in a long line to go through immigration and customs and made it through the airport into a place that is totally new to both of us.

After quick taxi ride to where we are staying, we threw our bags into our room and went in search of some dinner. We were quickly reminded that due to Semana Santa, the Easter week holidays, everything is closed. Everything except pizza hut, mcdonalds, and the supermercado. So we walked past the almost all closed store fronts, past the cathedral and across from the Parque Central to the grocery store which was quite busy, perhaps with people picking up things for the holiday weekend. With only a little trouble we got what we wanted and made it through the check out, learning in the process that we were supposed to weigh the produce before we got to the check out. Fortunately the woman who was ringing us up didn't mind keeping everyone waiting while I ran back and got the weight for the bananas. I could understand what she was saying mas o menos, but my espanol definitely needs a lot more practice.

I'm not used to it being so hot and yet being dark by 6.30 pm. So it seemed a lot later than it was when we fell asleep at 8, after watching some of Star Wars in espanol and some of House with spanish subtitles. We slept for about 12 hours and then had the Costa Rican breakfast that was provided with our hotel stay. Definitely better than the waffle bar at Super 8, which was an occasional meal on our bike trip!

Today has been a zero day as Ray calls it. We've mostly been hanging out, reading, resting, taking a few walks and a swim. Getting acclimatized before we head out to Mastatal tomorrow morning. We plan to be there for a month and will report from there when we can. Obviously, not much has happened yet, but I just wanted to write a little bit while I had the chance.

-Anna