Last morning in San Jose

It was a great day with perfect temperatures—low 70s with even better humidity around 40%. Looking out from our balcony, we noticed many people strolling by wearing pants and jackets. I did put on light pants but skipped the jacket.

We went downstairs to the restaurant and had a typical breakfast: scrambled eggs, toast, bananas, fried cheese, and rice and beans. It was delicious and gave us plenty of energy for a walk around downtown.

 We passed several small parks and noticed police officers stationed at each one. We also stepped into two churches. The largest was the downtown cathedral, where we happened to catch part of a mass. It was beautiful to see the sunrise shining through the ceiling onto the altar.

Anne Frank statue with gifts placed in her hand, a gift from Holland.

Episcopal church downtown behind gates.

Afterward, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for a while. We ended the trip perfectly—having only about 300 colones and a few coins left, maybe $5–10 total.

Our midday taxi ride had much less traffic than when we first arrived in San José. The drive from downtown to the airport took about 40 minutes. Our airline, Volaris, is quite popular—probably because of its cheap fares.

At the airport we went to the Priority Pass lounge, one of the great perks of the Capital One card. The lounge had pasta, salad, pineapple (so good!), watermelon, spinach pastries that were unfortunately as hard as a rock, along with drinks and alcohol. It was still a nice place to spend some time watching the few airplanes take off.

Leaving San Jose, Costa Rica.

Arriving in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Our taxi ride from the airport to the Holiday Inn Guatemala took about 10–15 minutes. Guatemala City looks much more urbanized than San José, and it seemed cleaner and possibly less congested—though there are motorcycles everywhere!

Our room is very nice, and they upgraded us to one with a balcony on the 11th floor so we can see out over the city. We took a quick walk around the blocks near the hotel and each got a pastry. Then we had a drink in the hotel bar, took showers, and ended the evening relaxing in bed watching TV.