We made it to Hermosas beach!

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Hola from Costa Rica! Our trip was delayed by 3 days because Continental cancelled our flight on Friday, Feb. 4th. We were due to arrive in Houston about 10:30 that morning but they cancelled all flights into Houston until noon that day. Instead of delaying the flight, we had to wait until Monday, Feb. 7th to fly out. Fortunately we plan to be out of the country for more than a month so we still have a lot to look forward to. So sorry the midwest is having such cold weather right now...

We arrived in San Jose about 3:00 in the afternoon, went through customs, etc. and waited for the people from the car rental, signed papers for that and arrived at our B&B about 5:30. This is the same B&B we stayed in last year. The owner has an agreement with a cute little restaurant named "Cherys" to drive people back to the B&B so he suggested that if we wanted to have a drink at dinner, he would take us over and we'd ask for a ride back. They don't speak very much English there but they understood what we needed and we were driven back without a problem. I had asked the owner if we should tip the driver---he said, "No, don't spoil them."

Breakfast in all of the B&Bs we have stayed at in Costa Rica and Panama consists of fresh fruit, coffee, choice of eggs or sometimes pancakes and always (in Costa Rica) red beans and rice. After breakfast we took off for our trip to the beach. They opened a stretch of highway last year (two weeks before we were here last year) which is very nice. The fastest you can go is 80 km/hr (which is about 50 mph) and often, around curves and steep slopes, it was posted at 40 km/hr (about 25 mph). The first 1/4 of our trip is on this highway which takes us to the ferry, after a 1.5 hr wait and a 45 minute ferry ride, the rest was either roughly patched asphalt or washboard gravel roads. The good news is that all of the huge potholes we had to drive around or really slow down to go through have been patched!! It's still a bumpy road but a big improvement over last year. We rented a 4X4 and paid extra for a automatic. We requested a smaller one like a Toyota Rav 4 but both last year and this got a bigger car. This year we have the Toyota Forerunner--it's not new and it is a truck, so you feel every bump but it seems reliable. The car rental place, Vamos, even gives you a cell phone with unlimited minutes within the country (and a cooler if asked) -- the cell phone is nice to have for an emergency since we are not using our cell phones for calls down here.

We have Skype on our phone and computer and it seemed to work while we were in San Jose--Jim called his mom--but our Internet connection at the beach villa is very slow (slightly faster than dial up) -- not fast enough to work for Skype calls. The internet does work for data and emails. Our smartphones pick up the wifi really well so we can read the Kansas City Star and lots of other news on our phones.

We're staying at the same villa we were in last year until next Wednesday. There are 3 villas and one 'honeymoon suite' which is a little smaller and closer to the beach. This B & B has a pool and an open cabana area where breakfast is served. It's a very short walk through some jungle trees to the beach. We like to bring a folding canvas chair (provided) and sit under the trees for shade where we can watch the ocean and read books. It's a very nice beach for walking also. The beach is very flat for the first 100 meters and the sand is packed down so it's easy to walk. There are surfers way out in the water waiting for 'the big one' but the waves are actually very gentle closer into the shore.

We took it easy on our first full day here and last night went back to a restaurant we had been to last year. To get to it you have to use the 4 wheel drive. It's straight up a gravel hill. It sits out on a balcony overlooking the town below and the ocean. Very nice place to see the sunset! I'll post some of the pictures I've taken so far.

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Comments

[Gary B]

white sands?
yeah, so friggin what? we got white stuff to walk on too!

[Jim]

Dusty Road
The road to our place does not show how really bad it is in the photos.

[Jim]

Me
As you can see, I really need a beer.

[Joy]

Hi
Well it looks like you all are settling in right where you left off last year :o) Enjoy and forget there is a place called Mission, Ks !!

[Mary Treece]

Trip
Have a wonderful time. Still frigid here but supposed to be better this weekend. Don't worry, I'll be fine!