Costa Rica Day One: Arrival

We arrived after a 5 hour flight from Toronto into tropical San Jose, Costa Rica. There was some minor turbulence and we had to avoid a tropical storm/potential hurricane headed for Florida but all in all it was a good flight that with a movie & a book went by quickly.

This resulted in a delay in our arrival but we arrived safe & sound. Customs took us a good half hour to get through a meaningless line and retrieve our bags. We met up with one of our guides - Gabi who seemed quite friendly as she took us to our bus with our bags. Eventually, another couple Jack & Rebecca from New Hampshire (now Baltimore) joined us and we made our two hour drive to Turrialba - Costa Rica Rios headquarters.

We drove through some rain which obscured part of the view but as we left the city we were greeted by hills and mountains - coffee fields & sugar cane plantations - and amazing views!


The roads aren't as bad as I heard but they are curvy. We eventually drove down into the small city and were dropped off at the Bed & Breakfast where we were pleasantly surprised. The picture below is taken across the street from Costa Rica Rios - the tan building in front of the yellow church. They were going through some renovations on the exterior but the inside was quite well done.

The compound is quite attractive (designed to be somewhat like a bed & breakfast) with sitting areas, private rooms, showers, a grotto of aquariums, and all the amenities one needs with the added bonus of hi-speed internet and Vonage phone calls home for free! We spent a lot of our lounge time in the room below and got to know R & J through our conversations and shared adventures throughout the week.


We enjoyed a delicious - home-cooked meal of chicken, potatoes, salad made by Flor the chef. We met our guide for the week Pablo who gave us the scoop for the following day. Wendy and I are excited about our day of whitewater tomorrow and know that this week will fly by quickly with it being so filled with adventure!

Some local architecture that caught my eye.

Turrialba Square - the park where people hang out in town!


Local transportation - autobus & red taxis