Day 8: Last Tango in San Jose

Hello everyone one last time from San Jose! Today has been another great one, and I do believe the tour ended on a high note overall. The day began leaving Jaco and the entire Pacific coast for the Central Valley once again. So goodbye to the Pacific til next time, wherever it is that we may encounter it next. Entering the Central Valley once again I am reminded that this is where the heart and soul off Costa Rica lies-- the rolling hills, towering volcanoes, coffee plantations, coupled with that day to day spartan spirit that makes us who we are as a people. In any case we made some stops in the towns of San Ramon and Sarchi to visit some stores of local artisans that craft some beautiful wood products, among other things. At any rate, this is when the souvenir shopping opened up wide, so be expecting some of these things in your home tomorrow (yep that's right, the group returns tomorrow). We then set out for our return to San Jose in a nice business class hotel in a neighborhood called Sabana Sur on the west side of town. There's a beautiful brand new stadium built for soccer right down the street from the hotel that we checked out and we spent the better part of the afternoon exploring the neighborhood. As I've said before, although San Jose is not love at first site for most, I really like San Jose and I always have. The thing is is that tourists tend to avoid the city like plague which is great because here there are few tourists and you get to go where Costa Ricans go and mingle with them. The nightcap, and really the cap of the tour as a whole was folklore dinner. And wow, what a view! The restaurant is perched on a hill overlooking much of the metro area, so the view of the lights of the city was spectacular! We were introduced to a few traditional dances, including the dances my people in the province of Limon. At the end the whole group got to go out and do some dancing. All in all a great way to close out a highly successful tour. Our guide Gustavo told me today that he liked our group very much and was impressed by how well behaved everyone was and that everyone ate well and remained in good health. And I will second that comment by saying that I couldn't have asked for a better group. No major drama and a high level of experiential learning-- what more could I ask for? Well as always I'm fading fast here, say I'll say goodnight for now, reflections tomorrow, oh and families will be reunited tomorrow. I promise you they'll be back tomorrow. Cheers!