We have a plan

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Geo: 9.98333, -84.1167

Reading this blog, you know that Jeff and I are interested in meeting ex-pats and talking with them. So far we have been totally unsuccessful here in Heredia. But today we have a plan. We are taking the bus into town and we're going to have breakfast in a local place next to the town plaza.

We choose a restaurant that has several tables of folks eating and place our orders. Omelets (bad vegan!), coffee, bread and fruit. We choose a table near the door for the breeze and to people watch.

It is very odd but I'm sure I hear a live band, like a marching band. Jeff hears it too. We can also hear the voice of someone who is apparently conducting the band. The music is very nice, but it isn't moving...like marching toward or away from us. Maybe there is a music school nearby? We're thinking not because these musicians sound accomplished. Finally, I can't stand it anymore and walk out to the street. There, in the window on the second story of the building across the street, I can see musicians. Feeling a little let down that there isn't going to be a parade (haha) I return to our table. Glancing around we see that everyone in the restaurant appears to be Costa Rican. There are two elderly ladies having coffee, a small family, an elderly gentleman sitting alone talking to the owner.
Oh, the best laid plans...
But that is only part of our plan. After breakfast we walk to the plaza, stopping a moment to look up at musicians - apparently this is an adult band of some sort rehearsing, we choose a shady bench and start to write postcards. What screams "tourist" more than that?? No bites. Dang.
Okay, fine. Maybe it wasn't such a great plan after all.

We head to the post office, stand in line about 15 minutes and mail our cards.

Time for a little sightseeing.

Heredia was founded in 1706 at the foot of the Barva Volcano and is home to National University, the second largest university in Costa Rica. The church on the plaza was built in 1797 in a style called "seismic baroque" and yes, it has withstood several large earthquakes.

But the most interesting building in Heredia is its fort, El Fortin. The fort was designed in the early 1920s by the eccentric, and then President, Alfredo Gonzalez Flores.
The fort looks kind of like a beehive tower. It has slits in it for shooting - the problem though is that the design made it nearly impossible to shoot out but very easy for bullets to come in! Hope he was a better president than architect!

We head back for our bus taking a new route to see what there is to see. Oh, and we know there is a big farmer's market here on Saturdays and we purposefully didn't buy many fruits/vegies at the supermarket for that very reason, but we have no idea where the market is. Jeff spots the "Hotel America" and we pop in; surely someone here speaks English. Score! The young guy at the desk tells us how to get to the farmer's market and gives us a little mimeographed map.
We decide to walk to the farmer's market area so we will know where it is tomorrow. It's a long walk but we find the right calle. Back to the bus.

When we get home Jeff has an email from Butch (and Margarita) in San Ramon. They are going to be in San Jose tomorrow and want to know if we would like to have dinner with them? Do we want to take the bus into San Jose? Jeff responds that YES!! we want to have dinner with them, but us getting to San Jose at night on the bus is akin to asking us to meet them in Delaware. They totally understand. The bus stations in San Jose aren't safe in the daytime and are sure not the place to be on a Saturday night. (When I say "not safe" I mean that muggings and pickpocketing are extremely common in San Jose in general, but more so at the bus stations. Not violent crimes which are almost unheard of in Costa Rica.) Butch decides they will drive to Heredia. Wow! That's a ways; we're excited about seeing our new friends again.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

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