Christmas Eve travel to Costa Rica

---

Geo: 9.98102, -84.8392

It was a very early morning wake-up call to get to the airport for a 6:30 flight. Everything went well along the way. Erin spent the night at our home so we could go to the airport together. We met Shaun and Yvette at IAH and had lunch together before the flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. This was the first time for Erin and Yvette to meet.

When we got to San Jose, our smiling driver, Francisco Núñez González, also called Chico, was at the airport waiting to take us to the resort. I like him already. He brought along a young tour guide, even though we didn't expect him to. Chico is really friendly and Andrew, the guide, is full of information about the country. Although we had talked tentatively about using them for transportation for the next few days, we didn't make specific plans. During the hour-and-a-half drive to the resort, we discussed the choices of places to visit and decided on a tour south of the resort on Christmas Day and one north of the resort on Sunday. We'll head to the Jaco area tomorrow. Chico says that everything (well, everything touristy) is open on Christmas Day, and they expect to work, so we planned an almost full day.

The resort looks okay, not wonderful, but okay. The view off the balcony is of a nice pool and the Pacific Ocean. Very nice. A little disappointed in dinner tonight, but hopefully it will get better. The evening entertainment was more fun then expected. The show tonight was called the Cabaret Show with several dance numbers and an acrobat who walked and rode a unicycle on a tightrope with no net below. An EMT showed up and stood by the side of the stage during the show. Fortunately he wasn't needed tonight. I think the emcee of the program called the acrobat Ninny. He was really much better than I would have expected at a hotel show. He clowned around and had fun surprising the audience with his tricks.

---

Photos

Philip and Erin
Enjoying the sunset