Our pre-arranged Jamaican taxi arrived, to our amazement, exactly on the dot of 3am, and once we roused the hotel receptionist from her deep slumber, and recouped our deposit, we were on our way. At the airport the coffee shop opened early, and Moe finished off her yoghurt and juice.
A short hop took us back to Miami, where we had booked a mid-afternoon flight out to Costa Rica. There had been an earlier flight option, but we weren’t sure if we had to come back though US Immigration. It was good that we had given ourselves plenty of time, and after a reasonably easy entry back into the States, we shared a large Chinese buffet meal for lunch.
The flight to San Jose in Costa Rica is just under three hours, and a bus costing less than a dollar each took us into the city, where we found our cheapie hotel. We dropped our bags and headed out for a look around.
The city centre is busy and vibrant, with sellers all along the main shopping street with carts and blankets set out, selling all sorts of stuff. It is lovely to be back in a place where every interaction with a vendor doesn’t feel like running a gauntlet of dodgy sales techniques. Despite it’s laid-back atmosphere, Jamaica had a pretty high sales pester factor. It is so noticably and refreshingly different here.
We had very tasty Costa Rican coffee in a cafe, and bought fresh bread, cheese, fruit and veg for a healthy homemade local dinner. Three meals in one day in three different countries!
We have had a day today to explore San Jose, starting with an unusual local breakfast of rice, egg, plantain banana and tortillas! We wandered parks and markets, and headed home once the rain in the afternoon started.
We’re now looking forward to meeting Jelene and John, and flying across to the Pacific coast tomorrow morning.