Day 2: San José (and more)

We began the day with a delicious yet simple hotel breakfast buffet. About 20 minutes later, we were dropped off a few blocks from the hotel, ready to explore the capital city of San José. The bus seen below has been with us the entire time thus far. 

We saw gardens, parks, important buildings, and we had the luxury of a homegrown tour guide in Carolina. She showed us around and provided us with some information to supplement the views. Below we are learning about this statue that represents how the common man would fight with whatever tools it had if there were a threat. In stark contrast to the nation with which we are all familiar, Costa Rica has no military. It hasn't had one since 1949. 

We also stopped by the national theater, which is as beautiful inside as it is outside. 

After the bummer of realizing that the Mercado Central was closed, we finished touring the town another park, this one across the street from a large and impressive church. 

After exploring the city, we were on the road again. We began our three hour journey to Monteverde, but after about 45 minutes of driving, we stopped for lunch. Carolina took us to a cafeteria style restaurant that had a long line. The food didn't disappoint. And as a bonus, behind the restaurant there were animals to see, a butterfly garden to walk through, and decorative gardens to experience. The view from the top of the garden was incredible, and the peacocks put on a show for us. It was quite a pit stop. See if you can spot Jenia in the photo below.

We then drove almost 2.5 hours more until we reached our host families. Before we arrived in Monteverde, though, we made our usual stop at the location shown below, which is about 20 km outside of town. Even though we were in the middle of the country and nowhere near either ocean, we were lucky enough to see the Pacific Ocean, as the weather cooperated. It's hard to see, but it's behind us below.

We also caught the first of what will surely be many rainbows we see this week. 

By 5pm, everyone was spending time at their homestays. We will reconvene tomorrow morning when we're picked up at bus stops. We'll arrive at the CEC by 8am. After some orientation and introductions, we'll begin our work.

FYI: Photos will populate in the Drive folder, but they may not all be visible until the morning when we reach the school and its wifi connection. Sadly, your blogger does not have wifi in his home.