Mike and Louisa picked us up at Hotel Europa downtown San José for our day trip to Coronado and other mountain views of the Costa Rica Central Valley.

At 11:00am we traveled out of the San José downtown area for the first time since our Thursday arrival. Being as I am not a major city dweller, this change of pace and sights was very welcome. The traffic was light to non-existent on the way up into the mountains due to it being Sunday and the day after Festival de la Luze.

The sight of San Isidro Labrador church was quite amazing as it emerged; first the steeple, then the people (just like the kid's finger rhyme). The intricacy of the church's construction is awesome and the thought of this magnificent structure's transportation from Germany via steamboats, trains and finally ox carts to such a remote, in-land mountain location is truly unimaginable.

Junior & Bill at Coronado Costa Rica's San Isidro Labrador church

John's friend Arnie met us at the church and we continued up the mountain to John's home in Las Nubes de Coronado ('the clouds of Coronado'). The weather was pleasant but I certainly understand why Tico's denote the area's clouds within its descriptive name … you are literally in the clouds where a fine mist combined with intermittant rain surround you as the clouds pass. I was in jeans and a tee shirt and quite comfortable, but it is understandable why Costa Rican's find the area "frio" (cold) if they are used to living at lower elevations.

Las Nubes de Coronado ('the clouds of Coronado'), Costa Rica

After spending some time at John's house and discussing life, work and play in Costa Rica with Arne and Mike … we traveled back down to the Central Valley, then over to Escazú (home of Mike and Louisa) and finally back up into the mountains to the South of San José. The view from this side of the CV is truly spectacular due to its quick elevation. Hotels and various restaurants take good advantage of this view.

A view of Costa Rica's San José Central Valley from the mountains above Escazú

We had lunch at a tipico Tico restaurant – good eats, good conversation. Mike and Louisa then returned us back down to our hotel after six hours of gracious hosting. We can't Thank Mike & Louisa enough for their generosity!!!

Louisa, Mike, Doris, Junior y Bill after a tipico Tico luch