Costa Rica - Final Post!

Yes, believe it or not, this will be my final post on our trip to Costa Rica. Day nine is our final day in traveling Costa Rica; our true final day is day ten but we're just traveling home that day. Once again I have to say what an incredible experience this was for me and Todd and what a beautiful country. I highly recommend traveling there.

Our final day was spent seeing the sights of San Jose and the nearby city of Orosi with a side trip to visit the Bomberos. If you don't know what a Bomberos is, you'll just have read this post to find out.


















Our day started in the capital city of San Jose. A big, busy, crowded city. Our tour guide mentioned that 1/2 the population of Costa Rica lives in the city of San Jose and the surrounding cities, which I believe is around 2 million. The remaining 2 million live spread throughout the country. It really was quite crowded but still had it's own beauty. I'm standing in front of one of their theaters, built many years ago but maintained beautifully.


















This is the central park within the city. We thought this structure was cool. Spread throughout the park are a variety of metal oxen. I think I mentioned that the ox and oxcart are important symbols in Costa Rica. The ox and oxcart were an important part in building this country.

Here's one of the metal oxen. Each oxen is painted to portray various things that are important to the country. I have no idea what this oxen is supposed to portray.

Here's another metal oxen. I believe this one is portraying something to do with politics. (really have no idea).

Before I go much further with my post, I had to show a picture of the bus we traveled on throughout the country. This was a really nice bus and I shouldn't complain.. but let me tell you... it was freakin' scary to ride this bus through those narrow roads and across those narrow bridges over extremely deep chasms with rushing rivers below. Whew! Ok, I feel much better. On to more of the beautiful country of Costa Rica.





















From San Jose, we traveled to Sanchiri Lodge overlooking the gorgeous valley of Orosi. What a perfect location to end our travels. The valley of Orosi was just breathtaking. It was hard to believe that it was just a few minutes outside bustling San Jose.




















We ate lunch at Sanchiri lodge and enjoyed every minute of it. The lodge was perched on the edge of the valley and was open to the outside. The temperature was perfect, around 80 degrees, with a slight breeze and relatively low humidity. It was just a perfect day.



















This is our view during lunch.

















From the lodge we could see this strange triangle house. We asked our guide, Paul, about the house and he said this house belongs to Michael Landon's family... you know .... "Pa" from Little House on the Prairie. Michael Landon used to live in the home before he died and now his family owns the house. He didn't know if "Pa" had the house built or if it was built by a previous owner. Interesting shape for a house.

















Here we are in Orosi Valley. Next to their church is a park with this painted mural. Much of the export from Costa Rica is coffee. This mural depicts the early people of Costa Rica harvesting their crop of coffee.

















Orosi was really a beautiful little town. Surrounding the town were beautiful rolling hills with houses and small dirt roads all over the hills. This was our view from the Orosi church. The picture does not do justice to the beauty.

















I took this picture for my Dad. You can't see clearly, but there is a lone house at the top of the hill. This home and the beautiful valley made me think of Papacito and his love of Costa Rica. I imagine this house as my Dad's dream home.. maybe someday huh Pop?

















Orosi is really a small town but within the town they had this gorgeous church.
























A beautiful church and beautiful valley. I must say that in my opinion, Orosi valley was the most beautiful little town. It was a town that made me wish I had a better camera to better show off the beauty. A perfect place to end our Costa Rica travels.





Before we say farewell to Costa Rica, here's some final pictures. The entire trip, Todd was hoping to visit the Bomberos, firefighters. After returning from San Jose and Orosi, Todd and I got a taxi and took a trip to visit the local fire house in San Jose. The men there were so kind and friendly. Todd brought a couple extra shirts from his fire station hoping to exchange shirts with them. They not only exchanged shirts but gave him a great belt buckle and badge.








It was really cool to see the camaraderie between the firefighters and you could feel the brotherhood between them even being from different countries and cultures. Todd enjoyed this final adventure.
Adventure is the best way to describe this entire experience. It was fun to relive it all through my posts. I'm now done and loved reliving every minute. Adios Amigos and Amigas!