dee and i walked around san jose and discovered that there isn’t much to this city. the main street looked like monterrey, mexico. there were plenty of people walking around but nothing exciting going on except for when the cops were banging on a metal door to a shoe store. i guess they were saying open up. once they did, a rush of store employees armed with metal poles came out ready to fight. they came out as if they were expecting a fight from someone other than the cops. it was a crazy scene that had us puzzled as to what started it.

we went to the central market or mercado central. they sold all kinds of goods from meat, baskets, shoes, fabric, animals, flowers, etc. unlike the thailand markets where we were trying to decide what to buy, we were trying to find something to buy. we found the pet store that had turkeys

, chickens, rabbits, a really cute dog that made dee miss shiloh, and all kinds of fish.

we saw a cool fortress looking building

and a few other nice pieces of architecture, but nothing that was amazing. so, we went back to the hotel to wait for john.

john arrived just before the rain started in san jose. we made it to a nice restaurant at a busy intersection and then the downpour started. the restaurant was open air so street vendors would come up and try to sell us cigars, pens, umbrellas, etc. it was nice sitting there drinking cervezas and people watching. the women in costa rica wear the tightest jeans and tops. even the heavy set women who are showing stretch marks from child birth and sporting the tight wears.

dee and john ordered some pina coladas that came in pineapple shells. * WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 5219 *they were huge! the pina colada was very good and cheap! only 5 dollars! we got some cubans and smoked and drank and had a great time just chilling.

afterwards, we went back to the hotel to get ready to meet the rest of the group. most of the people are from the states. one from australia, but she was studying in chicago or something so she didn’t fly from australia. two from belgium visiting their daughter and a six pack from the states. another from toronto and two from boston. a girl from virginia who ended up loving costa rica and living here for a while who is named blaine was the tour leader. she is a fun and cheerful.

the rest of the night was dinner and then a last drink before heading to bed. we had to wake up early the next day to go white water rafting.