Get Loco in Jaco!

Good morning friends and family!

What a vibrant and gritty and authentic city San Jose is! Not too many tourists, though Robert and I are far from alone, as the streets are crowded at all hours with locals and workers all rushing about. The traffic is pure chaos, but pedestrians abound, nimbly dodging transports of all sizes from overloaded mopeds to dinosaur-scaled buses, all spewing diesel clouds. Something about this place gives me the energy to leap buildings!

Yesterday noon, the rested Robert and I retraced the steps of my morning excursion, then wandered further to the Central Market -- a full city block affair of vendors and eateries, like a turkish souk or the Pike Market. We ´treated´ ourselves to an authentic lunch in the belly of the market. Appetizer was some kind of potato tortilla, fried. The entree a form of meat-ish patty on cornmeal tortilla taco-like. Dry of seasoning or toppings, both were, umm, interesting. But (rap wood) no tummy difficulties to report and it was really fun to use Roberts high school Spanish.

We ventured further to the sketchier part of town where we procurred bus tickets for the morning departure to Jaco, then scooted out quickly, safe and sound, belongings intact, back to our pension.

Jetlagged Robert spent much of the rest of the afternoon napping away the heat and humidity, while I wandered the streets near our pension, burning off excess energy buying three sarangs for the beach, and some tourist trinkets.

This morning we are off to Jaco, on the Pacific Coast, where the adventure continues. I can´t wait to plunge my toes into the ocean!

Love T