Last night around 10 pm I finally made it home with our new car. My three hour fifteen minute drive into San Jose took about 5 hours to return, in large part thanks to gnarly Friday afternoon traffic in the city. Only one minor non-intentional detour, which fortunately took me past the striking national football stadium. Our new ride is a 2006 Mitsubishi Montero, with the key features being 4x4 and the ability to seat seven. So we can take those of you to come to visit on some adventures with us. We found and bought it with the help of a great small business that takes all the hassle out of the process of finding and buying the car. It’s finally done.
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| Finally! |
We were up early to return the car we rented for the day yesterday to shuttle kids around. While in La Fortuna we pretty much completed the school uniforms, welcomed Madeleine into the world of her own cell phone, endured some griping having to old-school text without a keyboard (first world problem), picked up a baking dish to replace one that had broken and walked around the touristy town. The church was not especially attractive on the outside but the typical Latin colorful decor inside did not disappoint.
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| La Fortuna's bright church |
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| Church but no volcano in the background today |
We moved on to the main attraction of the day, to satisfy our young train enthusiast and to feed us all. Les Heroes Hotel, in the guidebooks, is reported as a Swiss retreat deep in the heart of Costa Rica on the shores of Lake Arenal. Founded several years ago by a Swiss couple, the grounds include the hotel, two dairies with requisite cows, a very cute chapel on the hill and a real Swiss miniature train that takes guests waaaay up the hill to what is billed as the only revolving restaurant in Central America. Was this place designed by a five year old? How crazy is that?
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| Switzerland with palm trees |
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| The Swiss mini-train grinds up the hill |
It was a pretty cool 25 minute ride up the hill and the views from the top were worthy. Plenty of the ubiquitous and ever-busy leaf cutter ants were doing their work and making trails.
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| This beats walking up the hill |
The revolving restaurant was fun and a first for our kids but seemed like a bit of an anomaly in the middle of the countryside. Sullivan, of course, soaked up every minute of the train ride.
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| Apparently the only 360 degree rotating restaurant in Central America |
On the ride back down we chatted with a young couple, doctor and nurse, from San Jose. He is a general doctor and she is a psychiatry nurse. They were friendly and Diego’s English was very good. He felt the licensing exam would not be hard for me and invited me for a tour of his hospital or a mountain bike ride sometime. Sounds like fun. First, some more sleep for all in preparation for tomorrow.
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| Ready to enjoy the view |
Fabuloso!! Can hardly wait to experience all of this with my local, native tour guides!
ReplyDeleteLa Abuelita
That's a nice looking car! Kudos to the small business that assisted you with the purchase. How difficult was the process, exactly? I know buying cars, especially if used, can be a hassle no matter where you are. Finding one in your price range is one thing, but finding a used car with minimal to no issues is another.
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