We made it!!

OMG we are here!!! I am writing in English and Spanish (badly) so my bf can read too, so skip down for English.

Hola mi vida te amo!! Estamos en Perez, en el Hotel Chirripo, gracias para decirme sobre este lugar. Es barato y enfrente del parque y la iglesia. Estoy nerviosa por hoy porque voy a conocer sus padres por la primera vez! Ojala les caiga bien. Yo gano porque manejemos aquí anoche sin problemas. Yo se que estuviste muy preoccupado pero hacemos bien. La gente puede entender mi español entonces no tenemos problemas hasta ahora. El carro es bastante bien, un poquito viejo y chocado pero corre y eso es que es importante. El país es increíble! Tan bonito! Me gusta muchisimo! Adiós y cuidate.

I won’t bore you with the flight details, although one is worth mentioning. As we flew into CR we passed over 2 volcanoes, wow what a beautiful sight! I am putting up pictures but they don’t do it justice. Actually none of the pictures do CR justice, what a beautiful country!

We landed in San Jose, the entry process is really easy. A travel tip, bring a pen on the plane, there are forms to fill out and Continental would not lend pens. Anyway, we breezed through customs and quickly had our luggage. We forgot to get colones (the money here) so I ran back into the airport to exchange some. Bring your passport everywhere you go! I needed it to get back in and to exchange the money. I went downstairs first and the were giving $515 per dollar, $516 if you change $130. lol big discount! Luckily I needed a passport so I couldn’t do the exchange because I ran into a guy outside who directed me to the bank upstairs that gave the current rate of $570.

Gustavo from 4 x 4 Rentals was right at the door as promised. He was really nice (and cute) and went through everything involved with the car. The car is OK, it’s a slightly beat up 4 x 4 Tracker. We went for cheap so it’s nothing to look at and runs a little rough, but it made it from San Jose to Perez with no problem. It was a little scary coming up the mountain because it wouldn’t accelerate quickly, but a lot of people had that problem.

 Our Car

The drive to Perez is breathtaking. The valleys with the clouds in them , the plants with leaves as big as a table, the lush greenery, just WOW!

We used the GPS to get out of San Jose and come here; it was a godsend. I figured we would need it to get out of the airport, but once on the Intercontinental it would be useless because you stay on the one road. Mary referred to it constantly since it showed the curves in the road and we could anticipate what was coming. The road was fine, not anything like everyone described, we thought maybe it’s been repaved? Yes you need to watch the curves and people pass you on them, but it was not bad at all.

It took about 3 hours to get here with rain, slow trucks and cow crossings included. We are at the Hotel Chirripo in the center of Perez Zeledon (San Isidro del General on all maps). The guy at the desk here is fantastic, and speaks perfect English. The room is tiny and musty, but has a balcony that overlooks the park and church. The church bells ring for every hour and people were partying in the park until the wee hours of the morning, but it is still a great place to stay. Cost: $27 for a room with 2 single beds and a private bath.