{"id":570,"date":"2016-04-16T18:14:45","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T22:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=570"},"modified":"2016-04-16T18:14:45","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T22:14:45","slug":"our-trip-to-costa-rica-starting-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=570","title":{"rendered":"Our Trip to Costa Rica, Starting Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several months ago, I remarked to my niece, Dawn, that Nick and I had not seen her and her husband for several years. Rather than them returning to Connecticut to visit us, or us visiting them in Texas, I asked if there was anywhere they’d like to go that the four of us might enjoy together. They suggested Costa Rica. As\u00a0Coast Rica was on Nick’s Bucket List, we\u00a0decided to meet there.<\/p>\n

We chose\u00a0a Caravan Tour for many reasons. \u00a0Nick and I have taken many trips for\u00a0\u00a0which we did all our own planning, including making hotel reservations and renting cars. I didn’t want to do that again. Caravan has been running Costa Rican tours since the 1950s. My friend Mary took their tour and recommended it. Among the elements we liked were that all meals were included, so we wouldn’t have to find\u00a0transportation to restaurants. Also, because \u00a0their tour was shorter than those of other companies, Dawn and David wouldn’t have to use\u00a0all of their vacation days. Caravan’s\u00a0price was right, too.<\/p>\n

Day 1 \u00a0Thursday, March 17<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to get a direct flight, we had to leave from Newark Airport. We awoke at 2 AM, and our driver arrived at 4:30. The roads are certainly peaceful and uncrowded at that hour! \u00a0 At the airport, the United employee\u00a0was certain we had made a mistake by requesting a window and an aisle seat, because a stranger would be sitting between us. I assured her that Nick wanted the window seat and I wanted to be on the aisle, and the stranger in the middle would just have to cope! The “stranger”\u00a0was a \u00a0young\u00a0man who was going to Costa Rica for a bachelor party. \u00a0This was his first flight since his two-year-old daughter was born, and he remarked that the\u00a0word she said most was “NO!” Having been a teacher of two-year-olds, I asked him what he would typically say when his daughter start to do something unsafe. His answer was, “No, no.” I \u00a0told him that she was using the \u00a0word that she heard most often. I suggested that instead of telling her what not to do, he might try telling her what he \u00a0wanted her to do, such as “Chairs are for sitting on,” or “We need to touch the dog gently.” He looked at me with amazement and said my approach\u00a0was so logical. After that, \u00a0“Mrs. Pisarro” started her vacation.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>
We snacked beside the pool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Caravan van met us at \u00a0San Jose Airport and took us to \u00a0our \u00a0hotel, Barcelo Palacio, where we met our tour guide, Cinthia.\u00a0Cinthia told us that Dawn and David had already arrived. We want to find them, but because we hadn’t had food for about 8 hours, Cinthia \u00a0suggested that we could get a snack at the bar by the pool. Off we went. At the bar we found our companions, who had the same \u00a0idea \u00a0we did. After hugs and kisses, we\u00a0relaxed, sitting among tropical trees next to the peaceful\u00a0pool. The air\u00a0temperature was about 75 degrees. Dawn and I both remarked that we would be very happy if the temperature would stay in that range.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My niece Dawn & her husband David, our traveling companions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caravan made sure that our hotel rooms would be near each other. We made our way upstairs and before we knew it, it was time for dinner. The \u00a0large dining room had many foods available including main courses, salads, veggies, fresh fruit, and desserts. Everything was available buffet style. In my blog about our trip to France, I described the food in great detail. \u00a0However, Costa Rican cuisine basically \u00a0features rice and beans, and plantains; it ranged from adequate to okay to good. I’d rate the first night’s food adequate, but Nick thinks I’m being generous. We agree that it was the least satisfying of all the meals of the trip.<\/p>\n

After dinner, we met our entire travel \u00a0group at an orientation meeting. We were among forty-four\u00a0travelers \u00a0from all parts of the US. The youngest in the group were\u00a0nine and eleven, traveling with their parents and grandparents, and the oldest were in their late eighties. We would\u00a0depart at 7:30 AM the next morning for Po\u00e1s Volcano.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 0 Several months ago, I remarked to my niece, Dawn, that Nick and I had not seen her and her husband for several years. Rather than them returning to Connecticut to visit us, or us visiting them in Texas, I asked if there was anywhere they’d like to go that the four of us … Continue reading Our Trip to Costa Rica, Starting Off<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-costarica-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}