David's South America
Wednesday Oct 21
Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile Santiago is just a big city. No character, sterile, boring. Even the food isn't interesting. You find restaurants like TGIF and all the popular American brands. In fairness to Santiato, the Seafood is suppose to be wonderful. I, of course, didn't have any of that.
Vina del Mar, Chile
Friday Oct 23
Costa Rica - the Jade Hotel
Lobby of the Jade Hotel Arriving in Costa Rica left me no doubt. I had left the first-world (Santiago) behind and was back in a third-world Central-American country.
The Jade Hotel is in downtown San Jose. And it is a delightfully latin-American place with lots of charm and character.
Apple Cow - vegetarian beef?
Never got to try out the pool.
Lollita's Restaurant
Lollita's Restaurant
Plantain-Leaf Plate I asked the boys at Avianca to take me to a traditional Costa Rican place for lunch. And they did. Rice, Beans and Meat, served on Plantain-Leaf plates (that stuff is tough) served with local beer and a two-man live Marimba band.
The boys had coffee - prepared the Costa-Rican way, and I had a traditional hot drink made from sugar cane. Actually, it was pure cane syrup, heated, served in a rusted metal can. It was so sweet that my eyeballs are puckering just thinking about it.
The very-short video clip below shows you coffee-making and a little bit of the band:
Lollita's Maramba band, and the traditional Costa-Rican way of making coffee.
Marriott CSIS Suite
The TV Room.
One of the bedrooms. Going to spend my last two nights in the beautiful CSIS suite :-) of the Marriott San Jose.
This must be a 1500 sq ft hotel suite! I could live here. If it wasn't for the fact that it's 3000 miles from home and everyone I love. But I could certainly live here for a little while. :-)
There are 4 rooms and 2 bathrooms in this suite. Two of the rooms are pictured.
Wednesday Oct 21
Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile Santiago is just a big city. No character, sterile, boring. Even the food isn't interesting. You find restaurants like TGIF and all the popular American brands. In fairness to Santiato, the Seafood is suppose to be wonderful. I, of course, didn't have any of that.
Vina del Mar, Chile
But if you drive only a couple of hours west of Santiago, you come to the coastal village of Vina del Mar.
It's still a modern first-world kind of place like Santiago, but it's pretty. Plus it has charm and character.
The Vina del Mar Waterfront
Typical Vina del Mar Scene
The local Hotel & Casino
It's still a modern first-world kind of place like Santiago, but it's pretty. Plus it has charm and character.
The Vina del Mar Waterfront
Typical Vina del Mar Scene
The local Hotel & Casino
Friday Oct 23
Costa Rica - the Jade Hotel
Lobby of the Jade Hotel Arriving in Costa Rica left me no doubt. I had left the first-world (Santiago) behind and was back in a third-world Central-American country.
The Jade Hotel is in downtown San Jose. And it is a delightfully latin-American place with lots of charm and character.
Apple Cow - vegetarian beef?
Never got to try out the pool.
Lollita's Restaurant
Lollita's Restaurant
Plantain-Leaf Plate I asked the boys at Avianca to take me to a traditional Costa Rican place for lunch. And they did. Rice, Beans and Meat, served on Plantain-Leaf plates (that stuff is tough) served with local beer and a two-man live Marimba band.
The boys had coffee - prepared the Costa-Rican way, and I had a traditional hot drink made from sugar cane. Actually, it was pure cane syrup, heated, served in a rusted metal can. It was so sweet that my eyeballs are puckering just thinking about it.
The very-short video clip below shows you coffee-making and a little bit of the band:
Lollita's Maramba band, and the traditional Costa-Rican way of making coffee.
Marriott CSIS Suite
The TV Room.
One of the bedrooms. Going to spend my last two nights in the beautiful CSIS suite :-) of the Marriott San Jose.
This must be a 1500 sq ft hotel suite! I could live here. If it wasn't for the fact that it's 3000 miles from home and everyone I love. But I could certainly live here for a little while. :-)
There are 4 rooms and 2 bathrooms in this suite. Two of the rooms are pictured.