Costa Rica - 2013

Since Jamie is now in San Francisco and the other three are at Camp Highlands, Martha and I decided to spend some of my LLS windfall that remained on a "real" vacation.  That meant getting on a plane and going somewhere exotic.  

On the recommendation of a travel agent colleague, Martha decided on the Hilton Papagayo in Costa Rica.   That's Central America.   We'd thought of the Carribbean and, briefly, a cruise; but this far away was a little out of the box.  I'd heard it was a great place for American retirees, so it intrigued me to check it out.   And some other friends and colleagues had good things to say about it.  

So very early on a Saturday we had our tenant, Alex, drive us to Dulles; changed planes in Chicago and made it to Liberia by just after noon.

An interesting set-up.  The accommodations are really separate duplex bungalows spread out over rolling hills.   There is a main center with a pool and several restaurants.  And near us there is another pool area with a spa and restaurant - which is adult only and quieter than the main area.  

Several of the restaurants are open air and since the temperature never really changes here, they can get a way with it.  But the climate and culture also make for some interesting combinations.  Animals, for one.  There are cats that hang out around the tables in the open air restaurants.  And we've seen raccoons wandering through the restaurant and lobby.  Iguana's are a common site around the grounds; though we haven't seen them in the restaurants.   Wildlife seems to have the run of the place and nobody seems to give it a second thought.  

What we hadn't planned on was the weather.   It's the rainy season and it rained every day. Not until late afternoon and into the evening; but predictably every day.  And not just rain. It poured!    Then it was hot and muggy.   Interesting, though, even the residents complained about it.  Apparently this is actually the driest part of Costa Rica.....except during the rainy season.  I have a feeling it's more like L.A. during the rest of the year.

We originally came intending to chill out and not do much beyond sitting by the pool.  The numerous excursions to volcanoes, ziplining, white water rafting, horseback riding, etc. all sounds interesting, but would take full days and several hours drive.  Too much for our taste.  

So we took out kayaks and a jet ski on the bay.   One day we were driven over to Coco Beach one afternoon to do some shopping.  We were amazed at the third world quality of the village.   And we're in a wealthy Latin American country.    As usual, while we were there it started pouring.  So we sat in an open air restaurant and had a beer until it was time to meet our driver.     A couple days later we took a sailing cruise to do some snorkeling; which was about as adventurous as we got.  That was fun, though, and we got to see some of the landscape.   

Otherwise, we stayed in the resort and got accustomed to its rhythms.   Taking the "shuttles" around the grounds; using the free wi-fi in the lobby after breakfast and dinner; hanging out by the pool or beach, going to the 'buffet' spot for breakfast and rotating the others for dinner.

By far the most interesting aspect of this place is the variety of people.   There are the expected young honeymoon couples, but also asian gay couples, multi-generational family groups, gaggles of young women who are here to party and bond, asian-American families, Indian families and - most interesting of all to me - Hispanic-American -- as in U.S. -- families.  

We met several who were originally from Mexico or some other Latin American country, had become U.S. citizens and were now taking their families here.   It makes perfect sense, but I hadn't expected it.   It also made me think that the Republican Party clearly has not caught on to this.  More of these "American" families are solid middle class voting citizens who will continue to be alienated by their xenophobic bigotry.   Well, enough of that.