The Party Has Arrived!

May 11, 2013

 

 

     So we have finally arrived in Costa Rica!  The day started off with a flight out of Lafayette bright and early at 6 am.  We had a connecting flight out of Atlanta and finally made it to San Jose by noon without any delays.  Flying here was so amazing.  The water in the ocean was so vibrant and blue, I couldn't stop taking pictures during the flight. 

     I have never seen mountains or hills before so it was really cool to see them as we flew into the airport.  I knew Costa Rica was mountainous and hilly but I wasn't expecting what I saw.  The first thing I saw out the window of the terminal was a very big and long mountain range.   

     Once we got out of the airport, we had our travel guides, Gabby and Fernando, waiting for us.  We piled into the van and headed to our hotel, Tryp San Jose Sabana.  On the car ride, Fernando told us some fun facts about Costa Rica.  Obama had just left last week, the first McDonald's in any Latin America country was built in Costa Rica in 1970, and that 30-40% of the world's intel chips are made here.  Fernando told us about how to the west of Costa Rica is the Caribbean mountains and to the east is the pacific mountains; the two have different types of weather which allows for it to be sunny in one direction and raining in the other.  Also, Costa Rica celebrates their independence day September 15th.  I noticed that Costa Rican drivers aren't that safe.  They might even be worse than drivers back home. 

     We did make it safely to the hotel.  We unloaded our bags and checked into our rooms then met downstairs in the lobby for a little mini tour around the block.  We walked to Soda Tapia which is a local restaurant around the block.  I ordered a hamburger and fries with this really yummy fruit drink that was kind of like a smoothie and strawberry flavored.  I was so stuffed after eating that it hurt to move.  We left Soda and continued our tour to AM/PM which is a convenient store.  There was fresh fruit and bakery items along with alcohol and chips.  They had some of the biggest grapes and tomatoes that I have ever seen.  After everyone was done shopping, we headed back to the hotel and had a little recap of what the itinerary consists of and things to expect for tomorrow.