Travels with Hayley

Hi everyone – you have all at one point or another foolishly asked to follow along details of my Costa Rica trip so you’re getting what you asked for haha! I will not be hurt at all if you leave the group or ignore my ramblings 😂

So update number 1!

Lovely flight over here, food was great and I had a lovely chat with the flight attendants which ended in them giving me a bottle of champagne to take with me! Obviously it’s now sitting on the side warm and unopened in the hotel room but it’s the thought that counts 😂 Taxi to the hotel and I had dinner here and crashed out, I was so tired I felt seasick!

Wednesday morning I woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel (fruit and cake, I’m sure Costa Rican breakfast cuisine is lovely but a beef fajita at 7.30 am is a step too far for me…!) Then I walked the half an hour into the main centre. It’s quite American feeling in that everything is big, wide roads, big sprawling buildings and big cars. It’s not very well kept though, you have to keep your wits about you as otherwise you’ll trip over the potholes! There’s also huge drainage channels between the pavement and the road, that should’ve been my first tip about how much it rains here!

I went to the National theatre which is the number one tourist attraction in San Jose and booked myself a tour. I had a couple of hours to spare so wondered round the town centre. Lots of cheap clothes and lots of bakeries seem to be the main thing! I took refuge in a McDonald’s to use the Wi-Fi which was perfectly timed as the heavens opened like the apocalypse! When it was time for my tour I braved the rain and ran back to the theatre. Lovely building made basically in Italy apparently there’s very little Costa Rican influence in it at all. All marble and gold. The tour was slightly excruciating as they dressed up in old world costumes and did it in character which made me want to die a little bit inside but it was still very interesting 😂

I then went off to the Central Market which is a big covered building with hundreds of stalls selling anything you can think of – clothes, meat, pets, herbal medicine and then lots of little cafes (they call them sodas) that you sit at the counter and eat at. I order what I thought was a rolled potato bread but turned out to be potatoes cooked in a sauce with a few tortilla chips – delicious though!

On the walk back to the hotel the heavens opened again and oh my, I’ve never been so drenched! Once I got back and recovered, I realised I’d made a major tactical error not bringing anything waterproof! Google to the rescue which informed me there was a raincoat shop 8 minutes walk away (the fact there is a shop solely for raincoats I think indicates the state of the weather here…) and I borrowed a brolly from reception and headed straight there! I bought a top of the range poncho which I look ravishing in I have to say but knowing it will keep me dry is all I care about 😂 I proudly wore it back from the shop and showed it off to the hotel receptionists who thought it was a big improvement on my drowned rat look from earlier on!

I then braved the local supermarket for a drink- it’s amazing! Very American again, Absolutely huge, everything you can think of and more besides. Lots of American brands and everything is just big!

Dinner at the hotel last night, Costa Rican ‘Plato typical’ – pan fried fish fillet with rice, beans, salad, avocado, plantains and cheese. Very nice! In bed asleep by 8.30 – I had done 23,000 steps in fairness though. 

Today the weather forecast was sunny in the morning and grey and rainy again in the afternoon so I was up and out by 8 to make the most of the sun. I felt like I’d done the town centre and wasn’t particularly interested in the museums on offer (plus they are pretty expensive!) so I headed out to the other side of the city to a butterfly garden. Took about an hour and 20 minutes walk of solid hills through some – interesting – neighbourhoods to get there but it was lovely to be in a calm space away from the noise of the city. There was a walk down to the river which turned out to be vastly more athletic than had been mentioned, plus super muddy and I managed to slip and graze an ankle but honestly, I think a minor injury is to be expected at this point normally so I reckon I’ve got off relatively lightly!

I headed back into the city for an early lunch at the market – i’d seen a Soda yesterday selling what looked like stuffed flatbreads which I wanted to try so I got a cheese and potato one. It was soooo salty I really struggled. Managed about a quarter but couldn’t do the rest – I got it to go and gave it to a homeless girl on the street – I hope she doesn’t mind salt too much!

For dessert there’s an ice cream place there that has been making the same ice cream for 122 years – they only sell one flavour and you can have it alone, with jelly or with cake. The bar was totally full of people eating it, a couple of tourists but mainly locals. It was really unusual, the texture was more of a granita or sorbet, but it tasted of cloves, cinnamon and vanilla. I enjoyed it but I’m not sure I can say how I know it’s kept them going for over a century?! Perhaps Ben and Jerry’s has not broken through here yet…?!

The money here is quite easy to work out and I love the coins, they are so big and substantial, it feels like money from a fancy board game if you know what I mean! It’s not cheap here particularly, slightly cheaper than London for some things but dinner last night was £20 for one course and water. But nothing is so expensive so far to be prohibitive.

Back to the hotel, beat the rain by seconds! I’m hoping the investment in the poncho will mean the weather plays ball and I don’t need it – that’s how it works right!

I’ve been relaxing in the room when suddenly the door opened and what I can only describe as a very loud, very cheery whirlwind came in – the new roommate! Her name is Homa- she’s originally Iranian but lives in Canada. She seems absolutely lovely if not somewhat full on 😂 She loves my accent and is very happy I’m not American apparently. She’s come straight from the airport and wanted to head out and see the city before the welcome meeting at 6 – in the end I had to interrupt her gabbling to tell her if she didn’t leave now she wouldn’t get back in time 😂 I suspect there will not be a dull moment to be had which is lovely. It’s also lovely I brought my earbuds with noise cancellation on them…😜 (She’s just got back. She does not like San Jose on the basis of 80 minutes here. It’s too smelly and people are staring. She also thinks the bathroom is too small and can’t work the plug. This might be a long fortnight 😂😂😂) 

Welcome meeting is in an hour and then I’ll find out what tomorrow brings as I currently have no clue! Fingers crossed the rest of the people are lovely.  

Love you all millions xx