Day 3:
We woke up a little later today so we didn't make it to breakfast by 7am (did I tell you they start to serve breakfast at 3am?) Anyhoo....by the time we got to breakfast we had to dig out eggs from the bottom of the pan, luckily there was just enough for all three of us. The food is great and they have a wonderful selection of fruit which we load up on every morning.After we enjoyed our breakfast we headed over to the front desk to figure out how often the bus came by the front of the hotel. They said it came every half hour and every hour. It was before 10am so we went back to the hotel to get ready for the 10:30 bus.....didn't happen. We walked up to the main entrance at 20 till eleven and I made the mistake of going inside to get change and ask a question. At a quarter till...not 1/2 past or on the hour....the bus went by. We of course were inside and couldn't get there fast enough so we just decided to go out and wait.
It was a beautiful day and we got to watch all of the cars and motorbikes go by and just take in our surroundings. When the bus arrived we got on, paid our 35 cents and took our seats. It was an interesting ride into Alejuela and we got to see a lot of houses along the way.
Once we got into Alejuela we asked our bus driver who spoke no English how to find the bus to San Jose. After several hand guestures, much pointing, and lots of nodding, we realized that the buses were across the street and one block up (we could see them from where we were standing). We walked up the street and inquired about the buses to San Jose (which we know at this point are rojo in color....FYI, tons of red buses!). These buses were nicer, and more expensive...about 85 cents one way....so we settled in for our ride to San Jose.
We get to San Jose and they drop us off at the bus station. As we get out on the street I decide to turn around and take a picture of the landscape and the bus station to help us find our way back. We then proceed up the road and over one block. There are soooooo many people in San Jose! We were walking up the street and passing vendors in the middle of the alley/road (no cars on these particular streets) listening to the constant flow of Spanish. It was a real eye opener...but very exciting!
We make it a few blocks up and finally come to a square/center of some sort. There are people everywhere! We think that they must all come to the center of town and to the parks on the weekend and just hang out. There were people of all ages just sitting around talking and even more people walking around and shopping. We watched a street entertainer working with a rope, a spinning top and a dog for a while before we decide to head across the street to a "fast food mall".
When we enter the fast food mall we notice that there is a Burger King, Papa Johns, and Church's Chicken....there are a lot of chicken places in San Jose...practically one on every corner. Jake and I order pizza and Bob has Burger King. It was all very good. The fries almost tasted like McDonald fries and the pizza was a really thin crust. As we sat there eating I noticed that no one threw their trash away when they were done. They just got up and left then someone came around and threw all the trash away. We also noticed that there was some sort of a security guard posted in the food mall/court. When he walked by we noticed he actually had a gun! That was shocking to say the least. Once we were done eating and back on the street we started to really notice all of the police patroling the streets. Some on bicycles, some walking, some in cars, and some just standing on the street corner. It was very interesting.
Once we did a little more walking, and a little bit of shopping iin a very crowded corner store where people actually stopped to stare at us (must be the blond hair) and I purchased two items...a very full bag of chips(no air in those puppies!) and a bag of sugar cookies both costing me a total of just over two dollars...we headed back to the bus station to catch a bus back to Alejuela. On the ride from San Jose back to Alejuela we were completely split up. I got to sit with a very nice woman who managed to communicate with me after about ten minutes and who I had a lovely conversation with for the rest of the way. Jacob sat in an aisle seat and managed to prevent someone from falling over who was standing up when the bus turned the corner (not sure why the guy was standing but he was) and Bob managed to get the seat next to a woman who decided to breast feed her child the whole way back to Alejuela without using a blanket to cover herself.
The trip from Alejuela to our hotel was uneventful and we finally made it home...dragging our butts behind us....no pun intended!
Jake then wanted to go swimming so I went up with him while Bob rested his bad knee which was hurting from all the walking. Jake and I then came back and played some tennis and ping pong...both of which are right outside our room.....before going up to the main part of the hotel to talk to the young lady that works at night who not only speaks pretty good English but also is very helpful. She was able to help us find the realtors in the phone book, a list of schools, a place for Jacob to get a haircut, and directions to a couple of places we want to visit on Monday.
Then back to our room for some relaxation time before bed. It is only 8:43pm here but we are all totally exhausted...it is 10:43pm at home with all of you.
I am now off to bed so we can get up in time to not be scraping the bottom of the egg pan in the morning.
We hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter and we will post more tomorrow. Everything around us will be closed because of Easter so we will just chill at the pool, play some tennis and ping pong, and maybe be online. Who knows...you may actually catch me on line and be able to talk to me!
More tomorrow...night all!
Statues in a park in San Jose
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