Mike’s brother Ken drove us to Toronto on November 15th to begin our Costa Rican adventure. It seemed fitting, as we drove Ken and Calen to the Toronto airport to begin their adventure summer of 09. We were up bright and early and headed to the airport shortly after 4:00 am.
We sailed through customs and security and then flew out at 6:30 am. I had never flown over Toronto with the city lit up; and it was quite pretty to see. Within a few minutes we were over Lake Ontario; and then a short 2 and a half hours later in Atlanta, Georgia.
We barely had enough time to get to our connecting flight. In fact, they had already called the final call by the time we got there.
The flight went well; and we were greeted to a warm, sunny afternoon upon arriving in Costa Rica. Mike’s luggage got lost somewhere along the way; but it was delivered to our hotel the next afternoon.
We stayed at the Best Western Irazu and it turned out to be a good choice. On the first afternoon, we started walking around; and found a small mall beside our hotel. In the mall was a realty office; we were looking at some of their properties, when Tom from Georgia came out to say hello. We told him that we were looking for a short term (3-6 months) condo rental.
He had a couple for us to see. And one of his agents, Merari, was asked to show them to us. This young lady, turned out to be more help then we could have possibly hoped for. Her English was very good; and she was quite eager to help. She had a couple of places in mind; and was confident that we would take one of them. Having found a agent to help us so quickly; freed up the rest of our time in San Jose.
After walking back to our hotel; we had an hour or so before happy hour started in the bar. That’s where me met Jeff and Cathy from Port Elgin, Ontario. We shared all kinds of stories and ended up joining them for dinner.
After dinner, we headed down to the hot tub; and soaked away the days walk. Also met Canadian Gilles, who turns out to be renting not far from us.
Then early Thursday morning; Merari, our agent picked us up; and off to the coast we went.
The drive was very beautiful through the country side of Costa Rica. And I was glad to be a passenger and take in the scenery.
The first rental that she showed us turned out to be the one that we took. It’s in a little beach community of Jaco (hawk-o). Our condo is owned by a Canadian named Mike - how ironic is that?!?
We have the lower unit; of this 2 story chalet. We’re on the side of a hill; with a private balcony looking directly into beautiful, lush green foliage and a mountain. Pretty nice!
The town of Jaco itself is about an hour walk from here; but it’s nice to be away from the noise.
Merari also took us to the grocery store and made us dinner on our first night here. She made us a local delicacy, ceviche. Which is fished “cooked” in lemon juice with spices and vegetables. The fish is only cooked by the acid of the lemon. A little different for my taste buds. She also went shopping for us; and got us a TV, a slow cooker (to cook beans in, which she also showed us how to do); and a patio table for our balcony. Of course, this was all on Mike’s (owner) nickel.
So far, the hottest part of the day is first thing in the morning. Our balcony is facing East and we get the early sun. And boy, oh boy, is it ever hot! Seems though, that that is the hottest part of the day so far. By mid to late afternoon, the skies open up and the rains come. Since being in the condo, it has rained at some point everyday.
On Monday, we walked into town; and spent the afternoon looking in shops. We also stopped and had ourselves a fruit smoothie; and watched all sorts of people on the street. And so far, we’ve been able to get along with just English. A lot of people that we’ve had to communicate with, have some degree of English. Hopefully, we’ll start to understand some Spanish as the time goes on.
Please take a look at our pictures
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