Muy Verde!

The much awaited trip to the Central American paradise began with an uneventful TACA airline flight early in the morning, a short hour layover in San Salvador with an on-time arrival in San Jose. Customs and immigration were smooth and efficient and we were on our way in the Adventure Inn shuttle to our nearby hotel. Rush hour San Jose traffic lengthened the drive considerably, the surrounding vista instantly making me feel at home! I cannot pinpoint if it was the chaos on the road or the older buildings or just the vibe in the air, it felt like being in La India! The lush greenery everywhere was quite striking and with the volcanic peaks in the background made for some stunning views! After a quick check-in, we were off to eat dinner at the La Focaccia, an Italian restaurant 10 minute walk away. The "Al Fresco" dinner was delicious with Mediterranean pasta and fresh from the oven thin crust pizza. The stop at the "Nahua" chocolate place was well-worth it. The exotic chocolates are made right from the home-grown cocoa-beans and we had the pleasure of sampling and seeing them cut into slabs and being hand packaged individually! While at our very basic and modest looking hotel room, everyone crashed and instantly slept, I stayed up to do some more research on "things to do" and places to visit.
My only regret so far (and will be reinforced throughout the next week)- No Habla Espanol mucho! Entiende un poco! Note to self- Learn Spanish before the next trip to Latin-America!