Okay everybody - I am having a hard time deciding how to start this blog so bear with me here!   After our first trip to Costa Rica in 2005 we fell in love with it.   We went back for 10 days in 2010 and it wasn't long enough.   We decided if we ever retired we would go for at LEAST a month.   That would give us enough time to explore the country as well as immerse ourselves in the culture a bit more (that sounds sorta nasty doesn't it?).  

John was offered early retirement last year and when we found out we booked the trip while we were still working and paid it off.  Tomorrow morning (January 26, 2013) we board our flight at 7:00AM CST and will be in San Jose, Costa Rica at 12:00PM CST.  I'm not very fond of San Jose - very few tourists are.   Tourist average 2 nights in San Jose per visit and that is only because you almost HAVE to.  It is several hours from San Jose to any of the beaches on both the Pacific and Caribbean side of the country.  The sun rises at 6:30 and sets at 6:30 every day - all year long.  You are not likely to get to San Jose before noon on any flight you take.  Unless you are very brave OR very stupid - if you rent a car it really isn't a good idea to arrive in a strange country with very bad roads and try to cross treacherous mountains in the dark.

We made the mistake of taking a bus to Puerto Viejo the last time we were there and we left on the 2:00PM bus.   There was a problem on the way - there had been a mudslide on the mountains and we had to take another route that took 2 hours longer than it was supposed to.   The driver didn't speak English so we had no idea what was wrong.   When we arrived we had a very hard time finding a cab from the bus station to the cabinas where we were staying.   Lesson learned - too hard to navigate around late at night.

The bus drivers are maniacs.   You see them whizz by on narrow, winding, curvy roads doing 90 mph.   As they pass people walking on the street look bizzare because their hair is standing up on end from the wind off the bus.   It is scary - we decided that if we ever take another bus from San Jose that we are going to sit in the back and read and never look up!

We will be staying two days at Casa 69 in San Jose before taking the Interbus (private minivan service) to Puerto Viejo on Monday morning.   We will remain in Puerto Viejo until February 28th and then we have two days that we have not made plans for before we leave.   If we get bored in Puerto Viejo we might even leave a week early and catch a bus over to the Pacific side for awhile - we are playing it by ear right now.

Our luggage is packed, passports dusted off and ready, and we are tying up the loose ends with the boat today before we leave.   It is in Pensacola Shipyard being worked on for our cruise to the Bahamas (that is our next adventure and the reason we moved here to be on the water).

I'm not taking my Canon Rebel to Costa Rica - I don't want to take a chance on getting it stolen but I am taking a decent Nikon and will post photos.   Nothing really to post photos of today but I will start posting them soon.

Leave me comments so I know that you guys are out there!!

Pura Vida!!!