Costa Rica Bound

Over the last four months, our lives have been in turmoil.  We sold our 'old' house, lived with our daughter and then moved into our new townhouse.  We worked like fiends to get the new place ready for Christmas and somehow booked our trip to Costa Rica to enjoy the annual AMSMIC meeting.  Theoretically, this was our final meeting since Glen stepped down as chair at the end of October and moved out of his office in December.  We made our bookings in a daze and really didn't get excited about the meeting and its tours until we arrived.

Our trip, on January 19th, was pretty uneventful except all my meals consisted of sandwiches.  The best one being a chicken panini (Glen had a burger) I ate at Bubba's Grill in the Houston airport.  We enjoyed Fat Tire beers and watched snippets of the Bronco/Patriot's semi-final football game.  We had three hours to kill and actually began to relax.

We landed in Juan Santamaría International Airport near the Costa Rican capital city of San José around 10pm and met up with some others from the meeting.  Juan Santamaría was a drummer boy who died in 1856 fighting for his country against the American, William Walker, a filibuster bent on ruling Central America.

We grabbed a minibus for the 15 minute drive to the Marriott San José (taxies are cheap, take US dollars, and don't expect tips).  I had seen pictures of the hotel so was relieved to recognize it as we drove through an industrial area.  Glen likened it to driving with Mike when he played his game, Grand Theft Auto as the buildings looked pretty scary.

After checking in, we tumbled into bed and slept in the next day with no real plans.  Breakfast was included so we dined in the hotel (turns out there was no other choice as the hotel was isolated).  They served traditional breakfast fare so over the week Glen indulged in eggs, bacon, pancakes, french toast, etc. while I had smoked salmon, potatoes, beans and rice, chicken stock (chicken broth with cilantro), fruit and a mild soft cheese called Turrialba named for a town in the dairy area of Costa Rica.

It was a sunny morning so we decided to warm ourselves by the pool.  We hadn't realized this hotel was not on a beach (remember we didn't do much research before this trip).  This meeting was based on exploring the eco-tourism that has become the focus of Costa Rica's tourism industry.  At the pool, we met several people we knew enjoying the day and ended up having a long chat with Randy and Kay who live in Denver.  They invited us to go to a museum in the afternoon but as with most museums, Costa Rican ones are closed on Mondays.  Instead, we planned to eat supper with them.  The concierge recommended a restaurant and arranged to have a minibus take us there.

After a leisurely lunch on the Antigua's restaurant's deck where Glen had a Cuban sandwich and I had the Marriott burger and a local beer, Imperial, we walked the trail that wanders through the property and past the driving range.  We had brought our golf gear but the closest course was a 20 minute ride so we decided to forego our golfing plans.  I think we just wanted to wind down before the meeting began.

Dinner was amazing.  The Grano de Oro (golden bean--refers to the coffee bean) is a boutique hotel with 40 rooms.  Originally a Victorian mansion, it now offers modern amenities and a fine-dining restaurant.  We were six and had a lovely table set so we could chat.  The booths would also hold six to eight but would not be conducive to conversation.  We ate with Randy and Kay, Jennifer and Neil (from Missouri) and Richard and Sharon (Nebraska).  The menu was extensive so Kay suggested beginning with a cheese platter and a rabbit/pork paté.  Glen discovered another local beer called Segua and I had Imperial while the others enjoyed wine.  I usually order fish when in a country with a coast but since Tilapia with quinoa was on the menu, I ordered this.  The first time I had tilapia was with the Embera Indians in Panama.  Glen had the Costa Rican sea bass coated in Macadamia nuts.  Did you know that Costa Rica produces the most macadamia nuts in the world?  They export them to Hawaii because that state can't meet the demand.

The local dessert is called Trés Leche (three milk) cake and the one served at Grano de Oro was delicious.  I had a bite of Glen's as it was far too sweet for me.  We divided the bill three ways and were amazed at how inexpensive this gourmet meal had been.  A 10% tip is included but we added to this as the service was superb.  Most Costa Ricans in the tourist industry speak English so we didn't have to use our rather bad Spanish.

Our minibus driver was to pick us up at 8:30pm and waited patiently until we finished at 9:00.  We all agreed it had been a wonderful evening.