On Monday evening, I left EWR for San Jose. Daniel and his son Chris picked me up at the airport; we went to their house in Escazu and there I met his daughter, Sofia. We took pictures, chatted, and finally crashed late.
We got up early this morning, were out of the house by about 6. Went to San Jose and got a tour bus which took us to the Puntarenas (Sandy Point), on the coast. We got in a catamaran and sailed for an hour and a half to la Isla Tortuga. It was AWESOME!!! We rode banana boats (I rode it twice, once gently with older people and the next time a bit more ambitiously, with younger people).
We'd stopped on the way to Puntarenas for a lovely breakfast: rice and beans, eggs, cheese, plaintains, bread, juice, and coffee -- but it was nothing compared to the lunch, which was served on picnic tables, as we dined with the whole island to ourselves. We started with ceviche, then had a pasta salad, a mixed green salad, a carrot salad, and a cucumber and onion salad. Our main course was chicken cutlets with rice, followed by cake with a pineapple sauce and ice cream, and coffee. While we ate, we had a marimba band: a guy on timbales and a guy on conga, with the audience adding in chekeres and guiros. It was great!
It rained all the way out to la Isla and all the way back, though the weather did clear up for our time on the island. The rain allowed us to bond together,and we chatted easily in Spanish and English. There was a group of 35 or 40 retired schoolteachers from Mexico, a couple from Miami, a couple from Mexico, and a two or three older American couples. On the way out, in the rain, we talked about Gilligan's Island. The people on the boat served us the best fresh papaya, pineapple, and watermelon. They were LOVELY!
There's a lot more, but it's late and I've got to get up early tomorrow morning to go white water rafting.
This has already been an awesome trip, and I'm looking forward to my return!
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