Blogs from San José, San José, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 6

We made it safely to Costa Rica excited and with a little bit of a buzz too. Thanks to the kindness of our first friends met on our trip, Sergio and Gloria, we were given multiple airplane bottles of rum and wine and a big bottle of red to celebrate when we arrived in San Jose. We will certainly pay their kindness forward.... read more

Final Thoughts It's difficult to sum up an amazing couple of weeks in a few hundred words, but I hope this blog has given you a taste of Costa Rica, a beautiful and varied country with a lot to offer. It will soon be easier to get there from the UK, as British Airways announced that they are launching a twice-weekly route from Gatwick to San Jose from May 2016. If you're looking to visit somewhere that's affordable and interesting with outstanding natural beauty, you could do a lot worse than Costa Rica. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you've enjoyed my blog. Pura Vida.... read more

Distance driven today: 112 miles / 180 km Cumulative distance driven: 7,587 miles / 12,211 km Today’s trip: Manuel Antonio and back to San Jose, Costa Rica Motorcycle parts repaired: yes, we got a new clutch handle Today we rode the short distance from Manuel Antonio and back to the Costa Rican capital of San Jose. I had already called the authorized BMW dealership in San Jose, explained the parts needed, and made an appointment. When I drove in the motorcycle to the service area, a few of the mechanics raised their eyebrows. The bike looked like it definitely needed to be washed, clearly had a few broken and worn parts, a Washington license plate, and extra packing paniers and duffel bags. The most important thing is that the clutch handled has been replaced and adjusted ... read more

On Wednesday 27 we left La Fortuna at 8am and again we used InterBus to get us to San Jose. We were told the journey was around three hours with a twenty minute stop off. We were pleasantly surprised when this timeframe turned out to be pretty much correct and we arrived at our hotel, hotel Bergerac at 11:30. We weren't allowed to check in until later so we left our bags at our hotel and headed off into town in search of lunch. After lunch we visited the Precolombian Gold Museum which had a fascinating collection of gold figurines and jewellery dating back to thousands of years ago. The national coin museum is also located in the same building and here we discovered how banknotes are designed and printed, as well as seeing how Costa ... read more

Like many airports around the world, as soon as you clear customs, a swarm of hawkers offering lodging and transport surrounded us. Claudette got disorientated but was sound enough to choose the right coloured taxi. Thirty seven dollars Can. to downtown. Our hotel, the Fleur de Lys, www.hotelfleurdelys.com/ is a converted old colonial mansion about a 10 minute walk from the centre of town. The renovations are tastefully done with respect for the original fabric. Lots of fine wood wainscoting. Many grand open public spaces on each floor. Colourful artwork on the walls. Our room was large with high ceilings. We went for a walk to stretch our legs after our long flight. The city is quite clean. Very little litter. Not even many cigarette butts. We saw very few people smoking. No smoking in restaurants ... read more