First day San Jose

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Today we arrived at Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. Hopped off the plane and went through immigration, then customs. No problemo. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Walked outside, hopped in a cab and headed to our hotel - the Palacio (by Barcelo).

The hotel lobby was beautiful... Lots of hard wood and furniture that I can only describe as "Cuban looking". We checked into our room and headed upstairs. Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready. We went back downstairs and told the lady at the front desk that the cleaning lady was still in our room. She apologized and switched us to a different room. When she handed me the key, she smiled and said, "I think you will really like this room."

Turns out the new room was a considerable upgrade from our original room. It was huge! Combined living room and office, seperate bedroom, 1 1/2 baths... Wow! More room than we needed, but who's complaining. 😊

After we got settled, we went downstairs and setup a combination trip for tomorrow. For $94.00 per person, we'll be touring a coffee plantation, hiking along the top of Volcan Poas, and visiting La Paz waterfall. Plus, a tour guide, breakfast, and lunch are included! Woot!

After setting up tomorrow's adventure, we asked the lady at the front desk where we could go to eat and shop. She suggested a local mall given that it was already dark and raining. We went to a mall close by to and ate at a tasty little CR chain named Rostipollos - had the 2 for 1 meal with Chimichangas and Tomato Soup w/ chicken and fresh passion fruit juice. It was delicioso! In fact, it was so delicious that it attracted wildlife in the form of a cute little cat. Shavonn said, "here kitty kitty", and it walked over. At which point, the waitress starts yelling at the cat and calling it "stupido!" It was most entertaining.

Afterwords, we wandered to a Crepe place named Qui Qui Creperie and had a Qui Qui Crepe (banana, strawberry, chocolate, caramel). Again, fantastic. Afterwords, took a cab back to the hotel. Now, about to crash... We'll have to get up at 5:30AM for the tour tomorrow. Till then, buenos noches!

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