Happy Valentine's Day!

In Miami, I had no problems changing planes and getting to my gate on time considering I had a 3 hour layover. I'm still debating on if I like red-eye flights or not. I like getting to the place early but I never feel rested when I do get there. It is a great excuse to try their coffee though =) The flight to San Jose, Costa Rica was only about 2 hours from Miami, which was good considering how my excitement to start the actual vacation and be in a different place was growing! The looming immigration and customs lines were not highly anticipated. Overall, I didn't have a bad experience with it at all. The lines went quickly and I had no problems.

Now, to try and find my way to the hostel, Gaudy's Backpackers. I knew a little spanish and was praying I didn't have to try to remember too hard back to my high school spanish classes.

I tried to learn before I left but didn't worry about it too much since my friend Atiba had been attending spanish classes in San Jose 5 hours a day for the past month. After I went through customs and out the door, the taxi company was right there and they knew where I was trying to get to. It was a $19 cab ride which was equal to how much the shuttle would have been if I arranged the hostel to pick me up. The original driver I talked to knew where I was going. He passed on the assignment to a not-so-confident driver. There was a slight language barrier but I could still figure out he had no idea where we were going even though I gave him the address. My cell phone worked so I sent a text to my friend to figure out the phone number to the hostel. I got the phone number, the driver called, he figured it out, I arrived safely, all was right with the world.

My friend, Atiba, wasn't at the hostel at that time but was actually around the corner at the school he had gone to. He came back to the hostel shortly and I was able to get settled in our room. The hostel was nice. It had a welcoming commons area, internet access, and a unique air about it in the middle of the city.

We were hungry and decided to go to a mexican restaurant where I had chicken fajitas and this great fruit juice! Atiba always tried to order ceviche and bruschetta since those were his favorites. The ceviche was delicious! It was very nice atmosphere and we ended up meeting two people from Phoenix, AZ area! How crazy is that? It ended up they were going to the same area and invited us to drive with them instead of taking a tour bus.

We declined since we were more on a time schedule than they were.

Back to the hostel to get some zzzzzz's =) We woke up from the nap and decided on an Italian restaurant. It was Valentine's day and it was a small intimate setting. Both the mexican and italian restaurants were within 3 blocks of the hostel. The Italian restaurant had 3 meal choices that all included an appetizer, entree, dessert and bottle of wine! I just knew I was going to eat well on this trip=) There was also a piano player that took requests and played very well.

After the restaurant it was time to check out the nightlife in San Jose. Since Atiba had been there for a month going to school, he had met a few trusted people. Jose Loco, as Atiba called him, picked us up from the hostel and we went to a nice club, Prive. We were given a wrist band that allowed us to get free drinks until 1am. There were flare bartenders that set a fire on the bar and juggled flaming bottles. It was very entertaining. The music was a mix of reggaeton and American hip-hop. I didn't last too long here between the all day traveling, drinking and dancing. It was a fabulous first day of vacation!