Grecia

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March 15th 2007

Published: August 7th 2007

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CR Pura Vida 2007

Grecia Mountainside

View from a plot of land for sale in Grecia

We visited Grecia which is northwest of San Jose. This farming town has been described as the “cleanest town” in Central America. We met with Randy (a real estate agent we met last October while visiting Costa Rica) and he gave us a tour of Grecia. There are no street names in the towns. Directions are given by landmarks. There were signs on the main road which led us to Grecia and the big red metal church in the center of town was not hard to miss. We were right on time and Randy was gracious enough to offer us a Root Beer (made locally in Orotina) YUMMY! Randy drove us around the countryside. I immediately fell in love with Grecia…..don’t know anyone who would not love this place. It was absolutely beautiful. One of the stopping points on our tour was Randy’s property. Very nice views looking down over coffee fields and farm land. Randy explained a lot of details around purchasing property in Costa Rica, culture, etc. It was nice of him to share so much information with us.

2 stories from Grecia:
On the drive up the mountain to Randy’s house we encountered an older man walking

Highway 1

Looks similar to I-77 .... bumper to bumper.

down the middle of the street. Randy mumbles “oh here is the tollbooth”. Then he proceeds to explain this gentleman walks up and down the street and basically everyone stops and gives money if they have any to spare. He said everyone in the community takes care of him by giving money, offering him a place to stay, and offering him a meal. I have to admit I laughed at the “oh here is the tollbooth” comment, but was deeply touched by the outreach of this small community located on the mountainside.

Lunch: Randy pointed out a couple of good places in town to grab lunch. So, after saying farewell to Randy we ventured into a local restaurant. The wait staff did not speak English (not that they should). So, we were going to try our hand at being polite and speaking the minimal amount of Spanish we have learned up to this point. Kilon ordered a beer and I ordered a Corona. Pretty Simple right? Well, then Kilon tries to order a frozen strawberry drink for Grayson. About a 5 minute conversation takes place and the waiter finally says “sí”. The waiter returns with our drink order. He

Picture from Highway 1

We were going to Grecia via Highway 1. Just a picture I took of the roadside.

puts 2 salt rimmed glasses down with about 1-1/2” of some yellow liquid in the bottom of the glass and then places the beer on the table. Grayson doesn’t get a drink. The waiter scurries away to get Grayson’s drink? Nope….. I think Kilon inadvertently ordered something with our beer. I thought it was whiskey in the glass but Kilon said it was fresh fruit juice squeezed into the glass. (Later found out this is a Costa Rican lime…not like our limes). It wasn’t a taste I enjoyed so I twisted Kilon’s arm and he finished both drinks (hee-hee). I ordered “Quisiera el cuatro, cuatro” (I would like the 4x4). Kilon ordered a burrito. The waiter looked perplexed and paused on Grayson’s order. He pointed at the menu to confirm what Kilon ordered.
Lunch arrives. Grayson gets a side order of rice and a huge ice cream dish with fresh fruit, cookies, jell-o, etc. Also, Kilon got the burrito but there were 2 orders of the 4x4. So, we got 3 main dishes!!!! Oh well….again I twisted Kilon’s arm and he obliged (hee-hee). Grayson skipped the rice and went straight for the “fresh fruit” dish.

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