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Published: March 7th 2009
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About two blocks from the hotel. After departing Santa Ana (John Wayne Airport) it was an uneventful flight through Denver and on to San Jose. Denver was definitely chilly and our plane was slightly delayed due to ice accumulation on the plane. After defrosting the plane, we took off and arrived in Costa Rica around 7-8 am, a bit behind schedule. Our tourguide, Chris, was waiting at the airport to pick me up and take me to the hotel where all of the Chico crew were to be staying.
We took a beautiful, scenic drive through Costa Rica with some amazing landscapes, palm trees, volcanoes, and what looked like industrial and residential areas. We arrived at the hotel and it was too early to check in, so Chris and I had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. I ordered the "Comida Typica" or the typical food for a Costa Rican breakfast. This consisted of black beans and rice, corn tortillas, a fried block of cheese, and delicious plantains. As breakfast was ending, we met up with Maria, who was a close friend of Chris and was our interpreter for the trip.
Chris and Maria had been friends for several years and often do tourist trips together
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Religious statues and symbology found all over the city. with groups such as ours. Both are from Kentucky, although Maria was born in Columbia. Chris is a professor of anthropology in Kentucky and his wife designs clothing for a living. He met his wife in Ecuador and she followed him back to the states. Maria is a graduate student and focuses much of her work on human trafficking issues. Both are amazing people and it was a pleasure to hear about their numerous cultural experiences.
After breakfast, we met up with Michael Coyle, who is a professor of criminal justice at Chico State. Michael had been traveling around Central America for a few weeks prior to the Chico trip and would be traveling to the Caribbean after Costa Rica. Michael is definitely a free-spirited character and a refreshing personality.
We decided that traveling had tired us out, and as the rooms had become available, everyone decided to check into their respective rooms and take a nap until lunchtime. Our rooms were wonderful. About the same quality as a typical American hotel room. I fell asleep until my alarm sounded and then Michael, Chris, Maria and I headed out to explore a bit and have some lunch. We
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A typical main walking street in San Jose. found another typical Costa Rican restaurant and Maria helped me order from the buffet line. Once again, delicious (more plantains too!).
After lunch, we explored the downtown area a little bit, I wandered off by myself and took a few photos. I was surprised at all of the religious symbology that was blatantly present in the city. It was an interesting contrast from American society.
I made it back to the hotel, and was still exhausted. I took another nap to try and regain some energy but couldn't really sleep so I ended up watching an episode of LOST en espanol and got a little bit of exercise in. Then it was time to go meet the Chico fleet at the airport.
At that point, we had our own bus to shuttle us around for the rest of the week. The Chico crew got in on time and it was fun seeing old and new faces! There were several people I hadn't met before and many of them became great friends during the course of the trip. I ended up talking the whole way home with Jaime and Heather.
Many of the students were tired upon
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Just a cool jeep. =) arrival and went to bed, but some of us went out to a restaurant/bar across the street from the hotel and kicked back some "Imperial" cervezas. I immediately felt so welcomed in by the group. While they had all met before, the majority had never met me (with the exception of Prof. Way and Stephanie Gordon, my former resident from UV), yet Costa Rica brought us together and fostered an amazing experience for everyone.
It was a great beginning to an awesome experience in Costa Rica...
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