Molasses Covered Honeymoon - Day One

We arrived in San Jose on Sunday evening, December 23rd. We exchanged some American dollars for Costa Rican colones and very quickly made our way through the tiny Juan Santa Maria International Airport and found ourselves a taxi. Not fifteen minutes after we alighted from the plane, we were whisked away in a tomato colored sport sedan into the foothills of San Jose. 

 We arrived at the Real Intercontinental Hotel unscathed. Only a minor embarrassment when we attempted to tip the bell hop with colones. I handed him 700 colones in coins and he looked back at me awkwardly. I told him I had no idea how much money I had just given him. He said it was roughly the equivalent of $1.50. I quickly sifted through my stash of colones and found nothing smaller than a 10,000 coloney bill. I apologized for having no small bills to add to the 700 coloney tip, and the bell hop gave me a sort of half incredulous smile as he turned and vacated our room. 

 We quickly unpacked and spent the remainder of the evening drinking Imperials, the national Costa Rican beer. The next morning we slept in and lounged at the pool while we waited for our flight to the coast. We probably should have slept in longer because we allotted ourselves two hours to navigate through the Tobias Bolanos Airport, check our bags, and find our gate. Alas, the Tobias Bolanos Airport was only slightly larger than a convenience store. It took us all of about 10 minutes to check in to our flight. 

 While we waited for our flight, we ate a light lunch of rice & beans at the airport buffet-style cafeteria. When it came time to board our flight, Olivia and I and three other passengers followed the flight attendant out a side door to the tarmac. We watched the flight attendant stow our luggage in the belly of a cessna 208B grand caravan - a 12-seat single turbine engine plane that was easily the smallest plane either of us had ever elected to board. A plane that we both boarded somewhat reluctantly. 

 As we walked toward the plane, the captain walked up behind me and saw me snap a picture of Olivia in front of the plane. He said hello and offered to take a picture of both of us. After he handed my camera back to me, he said, "Vomonos! We go to Tamarindo!"