The time has finally come for the San Jose, Costa Rica trip with my mom. This is my last trip for about 2 months before I’m back at it again but we’ve been anticipating getting away for a bit. Coming back from Charlotte late really messed my timing up and I found myself scrounging around trying to wash clothes and pack at the last minute with the hopes of catching a quick nap. While I was able to get everything done I found myself dragging and falling behind and my intention was to leave the house around 10pm but we didn’t leave until 10:30pm (and it was because of me).

     My mom drove up from Greensboro, NC earlier and arrived around 6pm. She went to see some family members while I got ready. She followed me to my uncle’s house where she parked her car and I drove us to Dulles in my car. We had reserved parking at a nearby hotel and caught the shuttle to the airport. Our flight with Avianca was scheduled to leave at 1:05am and we got on the shuttle around midnight. I knew we had to hustle because doors close about 20 minutes before takeoff and we would still have to go through security and likely catch the train to get to our gate. 

     As we were heading through TSA we spotted Avianca’s flight crew and my mom found out that they were our crew as they were also going to San Jose so they told us to follow them which we did. When we got to our gate we saw that our flight would now leave at 2am (made sense seeing as though the crew also just got there). Somehow maybe I was slow checking in but my mom and I weren’t seated together which wasn’t a big deal. She was further up in a middle seat and I was further back on the aisle. We both planned to sleep on the plane and I was so tired after the flight attendant did her demo beside me I was out (I was sleep for takeoff and I’m usually awake at least duting that point).

     Flight time was about 4.5-5 hrs and time went by fairly quickly with a smooth flight. We arrived in San Jose around 5:26am and easily went through immigration and waited for their version of Uber which is called Didi. It had been raining and there was a faint rainbow in the sky outside of the airport. Downloading and operating Didi much like Uber but after taking it a few times while here they’re not as reliable. We were dropped off at our Airbnb and it was just as it looked in the photos. The views were stunning as we walked inside. We picked our rooms, took showers and went to sleep.

     The plan was to get up at 2pm, find somewhere to eat near the grocery store (which was close by) and come back and have time before the bar crawl tonight. Apparently you can only pay cash on Didi so we went to the neighboring cafe to get change. As we waited there for a Didi the arrival time changed so much until finally a new driver was given. We chose to go to a restaurant called “Azafran”. Our meals were delicious (my mom had steak tips with rice and salad and I had garlic sea bass, mashed potatoes and vegetables) and we left nothing on the plate. If the food here in Costa Rica is as good as that then we will be eating good.

     Afterwards, we walked across to the supermercado to get groceries and Didi’d back to the Airbnb. If we need to return it’s only a seven minute walk from the Airbnb but we opted to get a ride since it was raining at the tine and we had bags of groceries. After unloading them back at the apartment we had some down time before we needed to get ready for tonight’s bar crawl. We changed clothes and Didi’d into the heart of downtown San Jose. Our bar crawl was through Airbnb experiences and our meeting point was at Caccios. Alexa messaged us informing that she’s be our guide and how to spot her. We arrived early and met Matt who was also doing the experience. Shortly afterwards Alexa and her co-host Jackie met us and informed us it would be a big group of about 22 people and that we’d be split into two groups there.

     There were people there from Boston, California, Chicago, Minnesota, New York and more. We moved to a reserved area further back and were met with other groups coming in. It was here where we had a Costa Rican beer called, “The Imperial”. Now I’m not really a beer drinker so I drank half because beer makes me yawn and sleepy and I wanted to save room for shots (I gave my mom my other half of beer). I had four shots at the first bar Caccios one being a Cacique Guaro (Costa Rica’s sugarcane liquor) and three being the Chiliguaro (a Bloody Mary type shot with spice-it was so good).  After hanging out here for a good amount of time we moved on to the next spot La Ingrata.

     At La Ingrata there was nothing but shots, shots that came in the colors red, white and blue. I avoided all white shots for fear there may be coconut in it (I’m allergic) but indulged in the red and blue shots which were really good. After having two each 8 was four shots for me at that bar. The music seemed to be good everywhere we went and it was here that people began to dance and get loose. At the next bar Chupitos no drinks were included so my mom and I didn’t drink there but It was definitely entertaining seeing fire shots, penis shots, and helmet/knockout shots (see photos and videos).

     Last but not least we went to Quantico and of course there were more shots. It was here I got two giving me a total of 10 shots for the night. I was feeling fine but tired at that point. My mom said she was good so right before our experience was over, we chose to head back to the Airbnb. We ate a late midnight snack, got an idea of what we want to do tomorrow and sat for a breather. Tomorrow (now today) is a free day so we can sleep in and do what we please. Pura vida they say…