By Judy Pinegar
Well, really day two, but getting in last night an hour before midnight doesn’t count!! The trip didn’t start too well as they held us for an hour in Sacramento while they fixed some computer problem. This caused us to miss our connection in Denver to go to Houston. When we got there we were told we had been rescheduled on Continental, but arriving at that gate we found it was NOT reserved. We were then put on “standby” but luckily got on anyway. Then somebody had a medical emergency (heart) on our plane, but (also luckily) there were 3 Doctors on board.
The Hotel Aranjuez in San Jose is very nice and inexpensive too. Wonderful FULL breakfast included with a double room (actually two beds and a bath) for US$ 48.00. It is within walking distance of the main downtown, which is what we did today. …oh and RAIN…did I mention it was raining… (pouring) most of the morning? John and I were prepared, but several hours into it Ted realized his windbreaker was not waterproof (duh)…but tiendas (shops) abound so we found a nice waterproof Adidas jacket with hood.
Our walking tour started with the Rafael Angel Calderón Museum, Costa Rica’s (CR) President from 1940-44, and the social reforms he helped to create in that time period. Educated in Costa Rica and Belgium as a medical doctor, Calderón soon turned his back on the conservative coffee elite to address widespread poverty and poor health conditions among the working poor. He became the first Central American president to primarily focus his attention on poverty and deteriorating social conditions.