**note: I apologize for some fragmented sentences & grammatical errors in some of these posts. The last post, and surely more to come, are written via cell phone. A four by two inch screen does not always allow for the best editing.
Home.
While wandering around our hotel, we came across these guys along the pathway.
Picking up from where I left off, TG & I ended up getting ready to go to the restaurant and decided we'd stick our feet in the pool and walk around to pass the time until dinner.
Poolside view from restaurant & bar.
We found the rest of our group at the bar, a few strides away from the pool, instead of in it, where we thought they'd be, and joined them. Pool-side never happened, but.. not complaining. There's plenty of time for that.
After figuring out the language barrier with our server (and waiting 30 minutes), we were able to order some strawberry margaritas and talk with others in our group about the wonderful things they're finding out about the hotel, like fresh fruit, espresso, and these tasty little cookies at "stations", or tables, around the hotel, available 24/7. Not shabby. Needless to say, I went off to find the bananas.
Part of the "welcome station" when we first arrived, complete with cookies and espresso.
I grabbed a banana and to my excitement/dismay, they also had these delicious looking, extremely chocolaty squares at this "station" just waiting to be eaten. Tempting. Very. Can someone remind me why this Costa Rica trip is right in the middle of lent? Really...
I made my way back. A few of the group decided to walk down to the market, which I wanted to do, but couldn't as I had just ordered my us', a rum & diet. It was worth staying for when they brought it out and served it along-side an old classic coke glass bottle. It's the little things in life, right?
"Rum & Light." Served with old-school, classic Coca-Cola light bottle.
Everything is Coca-Cola around here. Coca-Cola and Imperial. We saw one "Pepsi" sign on our way through San Jose this evening, but that was it.
We ended up having an extra hour to sit around & chat with everyone. Though Costa Rica is in the Central time zone, they do not recognize day-light savings time. We were ready to go at what we thought was "5:45," but it turned out it was only 4:45 and so we made the most of it. I'll let you use your imagination on that.
Finally, it was time to go. I was prepared for a quick little ride down, or up, or over to the restaurant. The where isn't as important as the fact that I thought it would be a quick little ride. ...Twenty-five minutes into the trip, we realized San Jose is a lot larger than we thought it was. A half-hour in, I took advantage of the long-ride and got a little siesta in. Fifty-minutes in, I woke up surprised we were still moving and thinking really nothing had changed scenery wise. We took notice to the fact there are basically no straight roads or any logical, mapped-out structure to their roads system...not to mention the complete lack of street signs for the most part. An hour in I took this pictures of a Cathedral we think we passed along the town. I wish I had taken pictures of more of the buildings we passed. For miles and miles they were all homes and businesses with bars on their windows, graffiti, and/or barbed-wire keeping people out. There's a lot of beauty here, scenically, but the part we drove through today on the way to dinner was not showing off the finer sides of San Jose.
A Cathedral & square in San Jose.
I stopped keeping track of how long it was taking us to get to dinner, and eventually after trekking up a large hill, or possibly mountain, we got there. It was quite the experience! Walking in, there was a beautiful fountain area, people selling hand-made jewelery and paintings, and more.
TG & I in front of the fountain area at dinner.
Inside the restaurant.... wow. I don't even know where to start. Walking in there was this giant face with wings above the door. I am fairly sure that it is symbolic of a saint or someone protective because there was a smaller version over each entrance & exit in the restaurant.
Face with wings above restaurant entrance.
I went in with high expectations on the food quality and hadn't really considered what the atmosphere would be like. It was a lot of things, to say the least, but I enjoyed having the experience.
The meal was a buffet of wonderful Costa Rican foods. I tried to have a little of everything. Some of the foods were really delicious, while others fell a little below our expectations. All in all, it was a great first meal in Costa Rica, and it sets the bar for the rest of our cuisine endeavors while we are here. Speaking of which, I'll try to take some pictures of the foods we are trying. No promises.
The staff was excellent & the service exceptional. The open bar allowed us to try a few different kinds of drinks and local brews. However, I would have to say the least favorite of mine would be the wine that everyone unanimously agreed tasted exactly like cough syrup. Not exactly the merlot I was expecting to taste! I did make the "mistake" of drinking their water. Our tour guide assured us that it was okay to drink the water there with no revenge to be wary of, & at this point, I'm really hoping he's right.
A few pictures from the view inside:
While walking in, a large "statue" of sorts at entrance. Later found to be similar to the "Dancing Heads" I'll mention shortly.
Candles along the table, along with their version of fruit punch & a leche, or milk,including rice and bananas in the ingredient list.
View from the windows, overlooking the city of San Jose. The "walls" were all windows along this side of the restaurant. Beautiful. Would have been extremely romantic had I been in that sort of situation.
While eating the staff came around and informed us that there would be a show! There was an area that was clearly a dance floor, and a marimba*, or xylophone-like instrument used in calypso style music (which coincidentally, is something TG & I introduced to the class during our pre-trip presentations. However, I didn't think we'd actually get to see one, let alone one being played.). That should have been my first clue that there would be live entertainment that evening.
*side note: I will never be able to hear or use the Marimba ringtone/alarm sound the same way, again.
 |
| Marimba, this one was played by 2-3 people this evening. |
They had dancers come out in couples and do a few ethnic dances for us while musicians played the saxophone, marimba, along with other instruments, and sang. It was great getting to see a piece of their culture and seeing people so passionate about it that they perform it nightly.
At this point, I was enjoying myself. I had great food, the company was fun, and the whole overall experience was going well. And then..something completely unexpected happened:
The dancing heads.
The dancing heads. It was hard to get a good picture of them, but hopefully this gives you a little bit of an idea.
Afterwards, I got to take a picture with the Costa Rican dancers and the "party" continued outside with a few fireworks. It was fun and not something I can imagine ever experiencing somewhere else.
The view.
It was magnificent.
We could see for miles and miles over the city of San Jose. The lights of houses stretched for what seemed like forever along the backdrop of the mountains and night sky-line of the city.
On the "patio" area of the restaurant, overlooking the city of San Jose..
The ride home was just as long as the ride out there. However, this time I didn't get in a siesta so it seemed a tad longer to me. It's been great picking up on all of the Spanish words and phrases, again. I'm not nearly as "fluent" as I was in high school after 12 years of Spanish, but I'm getting by just fine. It's amazing how much comes back so quickly even though it's been so long.
We got back & decided it was time to call it a night. We have a lot to do tomorrow & it's St. Patty's day! Wearing green is a must. I'm not sure if they celebrate that down here, but I do & I'm here..... so I'm celebrating! I think there was mention of trying to find an Irish bar to go to possibly tomorrow night. It'd be almost too crazy to go out, but perhaps we will. Who knows. As long as I get my siestas & some pool time in this week, everything else is fine by me.
Good night.
View of San Jose from restaurant.
Keep the pictures and posts coming! :-)
ReplyDelete