Moving to Costa Rica: July 21, 2025

Us taking a picture by a big hibiscus flower by the hotel!

This morning, we slept in late, since we had got in so early. It felt really good to get good sleep after our long journey.

I woke up and had that thing where you remember where you are and I was like, wow.

I got up and got my first glimpse of the hotel in the day time. It was really nice! There were lots of nice plants and the architecture actually made me think of Tucson, strangely enough, with the red tile roof and stucco walls.

Anyways, we slept in and did not make it down in time for breakfast, but that was ok. We were taking it easy. We also are staying very close to a restaurant “Delicias del Maiz”

The food was quite good! And we got our first taste of Gallo Pinto, the national dish.

We both had the same thing, but I forgot to take a picture till I had eaten both my tortillas

After that, we went back to the hotel to relax for a bit. Then we went on a walk around our area.

Tomorrow, we will have a meeting with a representative from the bank. We plan to set up a joint account there,  since they are down here and we are working with them for the visa process too. I say this, because Sophie picked the hotel so that we are walking distance from the branch.

We left the hotel and said hello to the gate guard (I forgot to mention, but the hotel has a gate with a guard, which was pretty interesting!)

Anyways, we walked out and first had to cross a bit of a busy street. Luckily it is only two lanes (one in each direction) but there was no crosswalk or anything, but we made it across.

After that, it was a short walk by some buildings, but then we got to this lovely park! I had some very large trees and there were lots of birds chirping everywhere.

Everything is so green here, and the mountains are topped with clouds. It is very beautiful.

After the park, we came to a bridge which went over a stream. It was really beautiful to see. It is kind of weird to think, but the only place I had ever been that was remotely similar to this was the zoo, in the sense of plants and water.

Then we got to the tall buildings and there was a lot of construction going on, which was neat.

It is a really nice area, and we saw a tea shop. I decided to test my travel credit card there to make sure it was working, as. That one was declined back at the Mexico City airport when I ordered food (my other travel card worked though). It worked well!

Now, my Spanish is not great, but I am trying and I am getting better, but Sophie and I saw this American lady at the tea shop, and we were surprised. She was buying some chips (and maybe a tea), but it seemed she did not know how much it was, because she asked how much it was, and then held out her hands with a number of coins in them and said “Is this enough?” It was not.

I felt bad for her, but also cringed with second hand embarrassment, as this was like some kind of stereotypical thing you might seem in a comedy movie or something, but it happened right there in front of our very eyes.

Interestingly, she looked like a business woman, as she had nice clothes on with a blazer and fancy jewelry and everything. I was surprised she was not just using a card, like we are (since the travel cards have 0 foreign transaction fees). But at least this was my first sight of Costa Rican coins, though I’ll stick to my plastic for now.

Anyways, we got back from our walk and relaxed till dinner. We ended up going back to the same place we did for brunch, because it was so close by (like a 2 minute walk). It was good, I had quesadillas. Interestingly, this time they brought us bottled water, instead of tap water like we got for brunch. Now, normally in Latin America, you’d definitely want bottled water, since tap water is not exactly friendly to people who are not used to it, but luckily, Costa Rica actually has really good quality water, so you can drink it even if you are not a local without experiencing any ill effects. But it was no big deal.

Now we are settling down for bed. I look forward to tomorrow, as we’ll be to try the hotel breakfast, and then head to our new home in the afternoon!