Days 17 and 18:  Hello San Jose and Farewell Costa Rica

KC:  Our flight from Puerto Jimenez to San Jose was short and we were flying low enough to spot two of the hotels we had stayed at on the trip.  We decided to spend two nights in San Jose before heading home primarily to ensure all went well with getting the covid test required for entering the US.   Turned out it was easy and quick and one night in San Jose would’ve been fine.  But we enjoyed our stay at The Marriott Belen, just 15 minutes from the airport.  We had stayed there in 2013 so no surprises but the executive lounge was much better now and the food for breakfast and dinner was so good we ended up eating all our meals there.  The lounge being much improved might have been influenced by the fact that the Regional Marriott Manager was visiting.  We talked to him a bit one afternoon.  Nice guy.  He indicated there are at least four more Marriott resorts opening in Costa Rica soon.  This property is set on 30 acres of a former coffee plantation and the hotel has a very historic, hacienda feel to it.  It’s a little oasis in the middle of San Jose.  We enjoyed walking in the local neighborhood to see the homes, small stores and restaurants.  Definitely not a touristy section of town.  We always enjoy visiting local grocery stores when we travel.  Randy stocked up on japones.   This snack is peanuts dipped in a crunchy soybean paste.  They are originally from Mexico (some believe Japan) but made in Costa Rica as well. 

The flights home were comfortable.  Good to see United has returned to serving hot meals in first class again.  And it was actually quite tasty!  We mostly fly American because they have a hub in Phoenix but United’s service really impressed us on this trip – far better than American has been lately.  We may look into flying United more often in the future.  We got home around midnight so dropped the luggage in the front room, grabbed the kitties and hit the sheets.  We had a great trip and made lots of good memories.

Beanie's Dinner (Costa Rica to Houston)

RC:  Yep, no Covid test required to leave the US and enter Costa Rica, but a negative test is required to enter the US. Okay, I feel better!!  This Marriott is really a pretty cool stop.  It's in an interesting part of town, close to the airport, a bit of an industrial area, a pretty nice nearby neighborhood, but most importantly, the only Starbucks I have seen in THREE WEEKS!  Okay, I may have a slight "issue" here. There were some very nice condos being built nearby, modern, attractive, and "starting" at around $300K.

The real hidden gem for this place is it has a driving range, 350 yards or so even I can use it without fear.  Those 40 yards either side of the range may have some fear, but not me!  It was pretty neat in that the room we got this time was one floor above the room we had last time so the views were pretty much the same.  Not sure what happened with the "Beanie Maneuver" but no suite for us. After the Osa, the first thing we wanted was to feel dry.  The vast majority of our wardrobe had been sucking up humidity for the past week.  I should've got a picture, but for the first day every surface in our room was covered with clothes and the hangers filled and out on the patio.  We did keep them low so they couldn't be seen.  Hmmm, maybe that's why we didn't get upgraded to a suite.

I echo Beanie's comment regarding air travel.  It was dangerously close to feeling normal. Masks if you want to (none of the flight attendants wore them and very few passengers), predeparture drinks, complete beverage service, hot meals, snacks, and sandwiches.  The flight crews on all the United legs were superb!!  I think they are as happy as we are that the Covid thing is hopefully in the past for good.  Ditto for the service at the airport lounges, though we did learn that Texas still has some blue law on the books where the lounge bar could not open until noon on Sunday.

Entry Way To The Marriott Belen - Coffee Fields on Either Side

It Has A Very Nice Inner Courtyard

Upper & Lower Pools (Of Which We Used Neither - But They're Pretty!!)

It Was Nice To Have Air Conditioning Again!!

Ahh, Back To The Good Life - Golf Is Nearby!!

Couple Visitors Outside Our Balcony (Very Noisy Visitors!)

It occurred to us that while we had a heavy focus on the fauna side of Costa Rica, we really didn't do a very good job of capturing the flora side. There is a stunning array of flowers throughout Costa Rica.  So, to make up for our misgivings, here's a short pictorial of a small sample of Costa Rica's flora beauty.  Once again, we seldom know the names, so we made them up.

Scarlet Cored Blue Slipper

Cascading Baby Pink Waterfall (Top) and Powder Blue Iris (Bottom)

Yellow Bird of Paradise (I Think This May Actually Be Legit)

Strelitzia AKA Bird of Paradise (Also Legit)

Halloween Lilly (Note The Action Shot With The Killer Bee!)

Bad Hair Day Orchid

Blue Morpho Lilac

Okay, It's A Tucan, Just Seeing If You Were Paying Attention!

Indian Henna Art Lily

R to L, Watermelon Tulip & Coral Chrysanthemum w/ Humming Bird

The final pic below reminds us that in life sometimes rain will fall, and fall it did on several days! A good outlook and a good partner makes it all good and something you can look back on with a smile.  Thanks for taking the time to read our ramblings.  Hopefully our next trip will be soon enough that we don't have to relearn how to blog again!  Cheers!!

Some Days It Rains - Keep Smiling!!