Vacay visitations, part 1

Friday, Dec 23 Alex flies in at 10:30pm. This long-awaited day. 4.5 months is far too long to go without being face-to-face with your significant other (I'm not talking about virtually via Skype or FaceTime or Google+ or via CMC!). Flesh and bones, in person. Por fin.

Snoozing/chilling in our chapel up on campus on the 24th,
familiarizing Alex with campus before we headed into town.

The CRC as Alex saw it, his first day in CR

It was windy and chilly and misty that day!

Saturday, Dec 24, Christmas Eve: Took Alex on a tour of downtown Heredia and San Rafael. Ate falafel at a park and perused the holiday fería (market) and walked the streets. When we got back up on the mountain, we took Feijão (our campus puppy dog) for a walk at sunset through the neighboring residential. Lovely day!

View heading down the CRC campus/mountain into San Rafael & Heredia

Scenic view (sort of cloud-covered) of the Valle Central (central valley):
San José, Heredia, Alajuela where I had just taken Alex down to explore parts.

At the scenic viewpoint, explain what was where to Alex. Reunited at last!

Sunday, Dec 25, Christmas:

• Opened presents. Among the many, many gifts sent down from family members with my pack-mule boyfriend (a homemade blanket, jewelry, scarf and other items to keep warm on our windy mountaintop, candies, etc.), was a new MacBook Pro from Alex, therefore faster everything and hopefully more blogging with all the spare time I will now have (yeah right, but seriously, everything is faster and better and I can actually Skype people now)!!!

Alex was my Santa Claus... only better!

• We spent the day at Playa Hermosa (about a 2.5 hr drive due to Christmas traffic out to beaches, which everyone and their mother tries to filter out of the Central Valley during the holidays). Took a stop at the Crocodile bridge at Río Tárcoles. Spent the day at the beach, enjoying sun and picnic snacks and waves and long walks on the beach just before sunset as the sun played games with incoming clouds.

Of course I made a stop for him on the way to the beach,
at the Crocodile Bridge 

On the Crocodile Bridge over Río Tárcoles.

Alex was really excited when we spotted an iguana on the road.
There's nothing to show the proportions of it,
but this guy was at least a few feet long!

The view at the end of our beach day at Playa Hermosa.
¿Qué hermosa, no?

Packing up Loquito to leave the beach at the end
of a gorgeous Christmas day well-spent.

• Ate fish tacos at the Taco Bar in Jacó about 20 minutes back up the road. Drove home to the CRC by 8ish and Skyped both our fams.

On the swings at the Taco Bar.

Monday, Dec 26: this was our lazy day to hang out at the CRC all day, date night at the romantic Baalbek restaurant with a gorgeous view. They opened it up just for us, since they were technically closed after hosting an all day event. It was glorious because we got to watch the sun set and the moon rise over the Central Valley, overlooking San José, Heredia, and Alajuela—all the while, planes landing and taking off at the airport in the distance to the west.

View looking out over the Central Valley at sunset/dusk,
from the restaurant Baalbek, part way up Monte de la Cruz.

Dinner with a view!

Tuesday, Dec 27: We went into San José for the day via buses so that Alex would get to know a bit of the bus system. We went to markets, walked the streets of SJ, and ate lunch at the Mercado Central. For dinner, we ate out at the mall at an Italian restaurant, and then saw the movie New Year's Eve at the theater there. Upon our return to the CRC campus that night, we had a late night packing for our trip.

Central Market in San José...

Where we ate comida típica
(gallo pinto, plátanos maduros, and Alex had carne)

In the market where we ate lunch at a soda. It was supes crazy busy.

On the bus back from SJ to Heredia. Alex likes riding buses (with me!)