Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
This morning we visited the central market of San Jose: quite an assault on the senses. There was a massive variety of stalls selling meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, kitchenware, souvenirs, clothing, and lots of cafés.
The items stacked on the left are banana leaves, used in local dishes to wrap meat and fish to stop it burning or drying out during cooking
We stopped at a famous gelato store that has been selling its unique flavour ice cream since 1901.
The only one make one flavour:a blend of vanilla,, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. It was delicious.
Some members of the group did some souvenir shopping. I didn’t buy anything but at one of the stores some of my companions had bought items. The stallholder gave me this little turtle fridge magnet as a gift which was rather nice.
During the meal we watched while talented artist Jairo painted a picture for us: a gorgeous rendition of a sloth. Jairo was born with no hands and paints holding a brush in this mouth. I was lucky enough to be able to buy the picture. I so want to see a real sloth on this trip but there are no guarantees so this has to be the next best thing. Whatever happens, it is a wonderful memento of this trip
After the market we went to the café of the National Theatre of Costa Rica for lunch.
The theatre is very ornate with statues, art, marble floors and decorative moulding.
It was built to impress a famous soprano who refused to perform in San Jose unless they had a good enough theatre . As well as hosting various types of performance, the theatre also hosted society balls at which local debutante daughters of coffee plantation owners hoped to catch the eye of wealthy coffee importers from Europe and make a match advantageous to both families .
This evening we were invited to dine at the home of Stephanie, the head of Limitless Travel’s Costa Rica partner, Viaggio. She’s an amazing woman who also started an accessible tourism NGO and a line of accessible clothing. Her mother had cooked a sumptuous meal influenced by the family’s Italian heritage .
The house, Casa de Piedra is 150 years old, originally at the heart of the family coffee plantation. Now it is used as a wellness retreat as well as a family home. We ate in a large verandah and were served caprese salad. aubergine lasagne and a Costa Rican custard tart.
While we dined, talented local artist Jairo painted. Born without hands he paints with the brush in his mouth.
This was the result: a stunning sloth portrait.
I was lucky enough to be able to buy the painting: a perfect souvenir of this trip!
Today we visited Cafe Britt, a local coffee producer, not far from San Jose. We had a fascinating tour and learnt all about coffee cultivation and production. We discovered how coffee had originated in Ethiopia. It was first grown in the Americas in Brazil before it reached Costa Rica which had a perfect climate: warm and humid with rich volcanic soil
We saw coffee plants at all stages from seeds through to seedlings, small plants and mature trees.
The trees are pruned to keep them small, providing more fruit, easier to pick. The ripe fruit, known as cherries are a deep red colour.
The fleshy part of the fruit is quite sweet and tempting to birds but the growers try to maintain an ecosystem. Companion trees such as bananas and cocoa provide an alternative food source for the birds so they leave the coffee alone.
These trees also provide some shade increasing the humidity.
We also saw a colony of native stingless bees.
These tiny insects are a valuable pollinator for the coffee plants.
We learnt how coffee cherries are harvested by hand, how the seeds extracted from the fruit and roasted. Roasting takes between 12 and 16 minutes depending on taste. The lightly roasted beans have a fruitier. more acidic flavour
Finally, we learnt the proper way to make coffee with hot but not boiling water poured from a height to add oxygen to the drink.
Of course there was a gift shop and of course I bought some coffee! We then sat down for a lovely lunch before a quick visit to the butterfly house where I saw these beauties
It was a thoroughly enjoyable visit, informative and fun.
This evening we went out for dinner. It was an interesting place with a central dining area and various food vendors around the edge. There was a huge variety of cuisines to choose from, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Thai… something to suit everyone’s tastes. We have discovered that the hotel makes a decent piña colada so when I return some of us decided to have a quick cocktail before bed.
My epic trip is finally here! I’m planning to post a daily (or almost daily) diary here so you can follow my Costa Rican adventure
Day One: The: Journey
Up at 3am,picked up by daughter at 4am, we got to Newcastle Airport for an internal flight to London Heathrow. Daughter very kindly came in and helped me check in, incurring vast car parking charges but all went smoothly.
I had booked travel assistance and was taking my small folding scooter, which has aircraft compliant lithium batteries. Daughter and I said goodbyes and I went through security to get to departures. I was delighted to bump into an old work colleague so it was fun to catch up for a short time before we got to our gates. The assistance had worked very well and I had help with my scooter and bags both in the airport and onto the plane. The flight left on time and soon I was in Terminal Five at Heathrow.
Here I made contact with one of the staff from Limitless Travel who I am travelling with for the next almost 2 weeks we agreed to meet in departures. This company specialises in travel for people with disabilities. All the staff accompanying their trips are trained carers and will provide personal care packages for customers who need them. All accommodation, transport and excursions are fully checked as being 100% accessible. I have found in the past that things described as accessible are not so it’s been nice not to have to do a load of checking in advance.
The group on this trip comprises seven customers and three staff. It took us ages to board because of the number of disabled people requiring the aircraft lift. The travel assistance staff were great though, very helpful. Once I was on board I was delighted to find that I had a bulkhead seat with loads of legroom. Throughout my 11 hour flight, I enjoyed the company of a couple sat next to me who enjoyed a visit to Costa Rica last year so much that they were returning.
Two films some knitting and reading and several aircraft meals later we arrived in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica . Once again it took ages to unload us all and it was dark so the short drive to the hotel revealed very little of a view
This is my room for the next couple of days at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel. It’s vast !
This is the bathroom .
I’ve been provided with a shower stool so everything is fully accessible for me
I got a call inviting me to join the rest of the group for dinner and I’m glad I did this despite hesitating as I was so tired. . It was nice to meet them all properly even though I was nodding off into my club sandwich. Before long I went to bed before much longer and woke up to this view….
Day Two: Around San Jose
This is the view from my room.
Opposite the hotel there is a small park with Acacia and mimosa trees.
At nine I met with the rest of the group for breakfast: an interesting mixture of international and a few local specialities: cheese stuffed tortillas, rice and beans and tomatoes in a salsa. after breakfast I checked out the pool.
After that we explored the area around the hotel . leading a small convoy comprising a power chair, two manual wheelchairs and three scooters is no mean feat but our lovely team did an amazing job with great good humour. There were several hazards for those of us on wheels. First of all there are lots of ruts in the pavements. Then there are the storm drains these are deep open gullies that run along the edge of roads. We had to navigate between the bridges that cross these drains to get about and get across roads.
It wasn’t all bad though I was absolutely bowled over bye the kindness of the Costa Rican people. Random strangers would come over and stop the traffic on busy roads so we could cross easily.
We stopped for awhile and a little park which had at the centre a magnificent tree. It had some fascinating aerial roots and there were Bromeliads growing on the branches.
Several of the plants in the park I recognised as house plants from home, including this Monstera or Swiss Cheese Plant that was growing up the side of the large tree
These looked like air plants
We returned to the hotel to meet our guide and driver and board our accessible bus to travel to the heart of. San Jose
Our guide pointed out several interesting buildings along the way, including the former army headquarters and the parliament building
We then visited the Jade museum which houses of vast collection of ancient artefacts any of which had been returned to Costa Rica having languished in museums in other countries for many years
Although Jade has been found in Guatemala and Honduras the role material has never been found in Costa Rica which would indicate ancient trade with central American neighbours . The Jade items were absolutely beautiful and intricately worked. I particularly love this Jaguar claw.
Animals particularly predators like the Jaguar and the crocodile well often depicted on these items as a symbol of power. There were also many items carved out of stone some,
Several items were believed to have been used in shamanic healing rituals.
It was a truly fascinating insight into ancient Costa Rica.
We returned to the hotel with time to rest before dinner when most of us decided to try the cocktails
