Friday 29th and Saturday 30th
 
Friday comes and it's time to chill, the Parador is a fabulous hotel, perched high on the cliff side overlooking the Ocean with is the most perfect blue. We chill by the pool, slapping plenty of factor 30 on as the sun off the water is intense. We chat to a crowd of Americans who have left the deep snow storms of New Jersey to escape to this blissfully warm water. We bob up and down in hot bath waters and chat of weather thousands of miles away.
Later after lunch we decide to wander down the very steep hill from hotel reception (about 200 metres away) is the somewhat hidden entrance to a shady path to a small beach. It's just used by a few locals and a small crowd of travellers from the surrounding hotels. It's a bit rocky in the water but nice and warm to wallow in. Big Al is a local who rents paddle boards and kayaks and provides sun loungers for the Parador free of charge to us. He's a larger than life character who treats everyone as an old friend (we've met him once, two days ago!) but we hire a Kayak for an hour for $20 and paddle off across the bay, our first time Kayaking since Cuba, a year ago. We take it very easy and have a fantastic time. 
Saturday comes all too quickly and we are ready to fly onwards on our trip. Quepos is a small town 20 mins from our hotel and the airstrip and buildings are far better and bigger than the tiny Tortuguero outfit. There is a cafe, tiny coffee duty free, Budget car depot and both the small local airlines Sansa and Nature Air, who we are flying with today. The plane is a Pratt & Whitney Twin engine 19 seater plane. ( we learnt all this from an American pilot we were chatting to on the beach - fun conversations!) The take off, flight of 17 minutes and landing were something out of a Theme park terror ride. Why do we do it??? The ventilation prior to and after landing was from the open windows by the pilot and co pilot! I think I sweat 6 buckets and all landing at San Jose are against heavy cross winds! Not perfect but safe, somehow!
Back to the Art Deco building that is Hotel Gran Oro. Very quaint, very pretty and just a 25 minute walk from the city centre, where we head after a cuppa. It's the last Saturday of the school summer holidays so as well as tourists wandering the streets it's a chaotic melee of locals as well. The market sellers don't have stalls but a blanket on the pavements, I think this is so if the authorities get too close they can pick up the four corners and move away and deny any knowledge of being a market trader. So many of them are selling socks! Someone must have a job lot, a Costa Rican Del Boy with a lockup of undies to flog. Every type of vegetable is being sold, most of the produce looks fabulous. Superb avocados and tomatoes, onions and greens on every street corner.
Both Peter and I wanted to see the National Theatre in San Jose if we missed everything else. It's right in the middle of the city. Built between 1891 - 1897 with private funding mostly through the Coffee magnates of the time. It a beautiful ornate theatre, reminding us of some of our London buildings. We do a tour with a guide and about a dozen other Brits, 2 Americans and a couple from Germany. The girl guide doesn't have the best command of English, but we enjoy our visit and I take a load of pics in the Auditorium, of the fabulous staircase and structures inside the upstairs rooms, the main one that is used to entertain Presidents of visiting foreign countries. There is a mundane carpet protecting the fabulous parquet flooring that is uncovered when dignitaries arrive. Also there is a lovely cafe coffee shop in the foyer of the building which is definitely worth a visit.
We have dinner at our hotel's beautiful restaurant. We choose to eat in the inside rather than in the open air atrium. But all the full length picture windows are open, looking onto it. The decor in the restaurant is very grand just like the bedrooms, with highly polished wooden floors, gorgeous drapes and furniture. We enjoy an elegant and restful evening of fine dining, before another busy day of moving tomorrow. If ever you're here, the Amaretto Meringue is to be recommended!