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Published: March 13th 2007
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Ruins of the first church
Iglesia de Ujarras located in the Orosi Valley view from the outside. We know you are expecting to read the adventurous stuff like: surfing, rainforest trips, zip lines, beach outings, national parks and volcano tours. That will not be the case for a few weeks. We are trying to find a place to potentially land for the future and we are creatures of habit so we need to find the things that will keep us and Grayson happy. So hopefully the following will sound sort of like home (minus the crazy driving and language barriers).
Had breakfast at Bagelmen's. It was 6:30am and the roads were busy with the morning traffic, but the bagel store was closed. It opened at 7am. We went in and had a bagel, coffee, etc. We were the only people there for over an hour. Guess bagels aren't popular here for breakfast? The place was hopping at 7pm one evening. Certainly not the experience we’ve had at Einstein’s.
By popular demand: We visited the multiplaza mall. It was just that .... a mall. Complete with the same type of food court we have in our malls (Mcdonald's, TCBY, KFC, etc) plus a few that we had not heard of. Prices were about the same as in
the states (may even be a bit higher because of the import duties). They have all the same type of stores (Liz Claiborne, Tommy, Benetton for kids, Oscar de la Renta, etc). Cinema and bowling are onsite here as well. Of course, I visited Payless shoes instead of the specialty shoe stores. We found Grayson a pair of sandals ($12). There were not many bilingual people at the mall so communicating was a bit difficult.
Sightseeing: Traveled west a bit to tour Ciudad Colon. It was an absolute beautiful drive out of town and through the mountains. We went through a few smaller towns before we reached Ciudad Colon. The smaller towns usually consist of a soda (very small convenient store), school, church, soccer field and tons of people walking up and down the streets. I'm usually holding on to the door while Kilon avoids hitting all the obstacles in our way. I'm amazed at how no one is afraid of walking in the street and toward oncoming traffic. There is a university located here, the university for peace (http://www.upeace.org/about/). The university was very small but you wouldn't believe the long tree lined road that led into the university.
View from condo
This is the view from our bedroom BEAUTIFUL.
Took a drive to a portion of the coast we had not visited before....Puntarenas. Puntarenas is described as once a booming/lively town because it was the main port. Apparently, the port moved further south and left this town sort of desolate. The description was totally accurate. We promised Grayson we would build a sand castle, but this was not the place. We continued south to Jaco (a beach we had visited before). We found a place to build the sand castle but were only able to stay for 45 minutes because the sun was absolutely brutal.
Traveled East of San Jose to visit the Orosi Valley. The area has remnants (ruins and churches) of 17th century Spanish colonialism. The first town before approaching the valley is Paraiso which means “paradise”. We read about the breathtaking views but when we reached Paraiso we were shocked …. No views, but a lot of buildings, people, cars, etc. We turned up one road and went around a bend and WOW…..we were out of the town and into the Orosi Valley (it was very cloudy so we didn’t get good pictures). We went to Sanchiri Mirador described as one of the
Thirsty
Grayson's water bottle best miradores (lookout points). We had lunch at the restaurant perched on the mountainside with gorgeous views! After lunch we continued around the loop. We saw the Chachi dam which was built in 1960 and was once the country’s biggest hydroelectric power plant. After Chachi we were able to see the ruins of the first church in Costa Rica (Iglesia de Ujarras). The church was established in 1570 by missionaries, but the structure was actually built between 1681 and 1693. Amazing that it’s still standing after the earthquakes and flooding that took place in the Orosi Valley.
The boy’s got their hair cut at Sala de Belleza Roxi. Roxana was the stylist that assisted us. We were told there were not many bilingual stylists in the area so I was prepared to describe what we wanted in Spanish. Luckily Roxana was bilingual so we had no problems. Total cost for the two of them = $11.50. Now, this is the funny part……Roxana told Kilon his neck was furry!!! Hahahahahahahaha!
Attempted to locate the local driving range but were unsuccessful. We did find a few more schools we were unaware existed. Also found the International Baptist Church in Guachipelín
Central Valley view
View from a Santa Ana lot. Looking out over the Central Valley. (had read an article about this church in the local newspaper). This is something I NEVER imagined seeing here…….in a field there was a tractor trailer truck with “WILLAMETTE” proudly displayed! I definitely took a snapshot of this to share with the old Willamette folks.
We attended Sean and Desiree’s (Canadian couple) wedding by the pool. Absolutely perfect day for a wedding. The ceremony was very nice and the reception was a blast. We were able to meet a few people that live in Los Jardines. Grayson danced with MaKayia (watch out Isabel). They played together for hours and it was amusing to watch. The food was delicious and the wedding cake was stunning.
Visited the local market again. We got 4 bags of groceries for $6.50 (1 cantaloupe, 1 watermelon, 2 red peppers, 1 tomato, celery, 8 ears of corn, 2 large zucchini, 4 onions, 12 bananas, and a bag of cilantro).
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Ginnie
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hello
Hi Monica, Can you still get emails, or is this the only way to communicate with you other than land phone?? we are getting excited about the trip! I am trying to pack lightly in only one suitcase between us so that we will fit in your car! xoxo, Ginnie