Our final day in Costa Rica was a pretty slow day in San Jose. We figured out how to do our laundry - easier than we thought - by simply dropping it off at our very accommodating hostel. Given the consistently humid weather in Costa Rica we wanted everything properly dried (done by a machine, not air dried) before packing it up for Colombia. Then we headed for a nearby coffee shop to catch up on some emails and back-logged blog posts. Sarah was especially excited to stop at Viva Café because they had - you guessed it! - iced coffee.
The baristas told us they were jealous because we came from New York - a place they said had an "excellent coffee culture." I would've thought Latin America had a pretty strong coffee culture too, but I guess nothing beats NYC!
Around mid-day we headed to lunch at Mantras Veggie Café - we wanted to try something new and a little on the healthier side. It didn't disappoint. Sort of hard to find (like a lot of places in San Jose) but worth the trip.
Then we just walked around one last time and tried to see the last few remaining sites we hadn't seen on our previous stays in San Jose. The weather was actually great (the best we've had yet in San Jose) and we were pleasantly surprised by some of the views we got.
Iglesia Santa Teresita.
Parque Nacional.
The highlight of the day came at dinner. We met up with a friend-of-a-friend who grew up in San Jose for dinner at Restaurante Grano de Oro, one of the best places in town. We've been budget-conscious eaters up to this point so this luxurious treat was very welcome. It was a very fun evening and the perfect end to our time in Costa Rica.
Today we woke up early to get to the airport for our flight to Bogota. We over-estimated the amount of traffic and lines at security so we had a little extra time to take in the views one last time.
Not quite the same backdrop as LaGuardia.
Another thing we did not anticipate was the meal service on a short (albeit international) flight. We ate breakfast at the airport, but were offered a full meal on board (and a full open bar) even though we would only be in the air for an hour and a half. We'll have to keep this in mind for the rest of our flights coming up...
Airport security in Bogota did not take long and the taxi line was short; it took longer to get through downtown traffic to our hotel than to get out of the airport. We're staying at Hotel La Mansion which is in a residential neighborhood about half an hour's walk from the Zona Rosa (nightlife district). After we got settled in, we figured we'd walk down to check it out; felt a lot like SoHo - lotof restaurants and shops. We moseyed around for a bit, then grabbed a bite at Central Cevicheria. Sarah and I shared a couple different small dishes and all were great - if you're ever in Bogota, we highly recommend you stop by!
Beautiful sunny afternoon for a walk around Bogota.
Since we got free lunch at 11am on our flight we were hungry for dinner a little early and basically had Central Cevicheria to ourselves.
Obligatory food picture - we got the chowder, fried fish balls and (of course!) ceviche.
Tomorrow we'll explore more of the city; for now, we're beat after a long day of travel and are heading to bed!
One other note for anyone interested: after we leave each country, we are going to upload our favorite pictures in the Galleries page; you can check out Costa Rica and Panama now!