Sitting in the Shade

Some of the hotel guests

Most of you back home probably do not want to hear this, but it is hot here in Costa Rica. Today, our first day in the country, we walked from our Hotel down to San Jose's “downtown”, about a 10 block walk.

So far, my impressions of Costa Rica is that it is a poor third world country, so things are not that fancy. Sidewalks are a constant challenge with uneven surfaces, loose paving stones and even large holes. Often when you have to step off the sidewalks to cross roads, you have to be cautious of drainage holes that could swallow small children. As well, there is no walk signals on most streets and the stop lights are difficult to see, so you have to be careful. On the way in, we passed through some very depressing neighbourhoods, one with ladies of the evening decorating each corner, but once we arrived at our hotel it was actually very good.

The Airline had lost my luggage so I was searching some of the essentials sitting who knows where in my nice teal luggage, toothbrush, underwear, socks . . . . So we spent the morning looking through the shops downtown. There were lots of choices but it made

Another door for my collection

for a tiring morning. After wandering through many shops looking for things, we decided to take a break and sit down for a rest. There was a lovely park and at first glance there were lots of places to sit on benches and cement walls. However when we went into the park, we discovered that all the empty spots were in the HOT sunshine. There were lots of trees and they provided lots of shade, but every spot with any shade was occupied. As we wandered around the city we found lots of parks and in every one it was the same. Local people had every shady spot taken. I started noticing that this was happening everywhere we looked. In one park, there was a nice circular fountain with lots of spots to sit, so long as you did not require shade. Every single spot that had any shade was full. We never did find a spot to sit.

Even the police horses look for shade

Sitting in the shade

No shade left.

On the Terrace

Our Lecce Terrace

Although I normally enjoy writing a blog entry about the weather to create jealousy in my friends back in the still-frozen north, this trip I cannot do so with honesty yet. Apparently southern Italy has had an especially wet cool spring this year, so although I am enjoying the 10 to 15 temperatures (that is Celsius for my US friends), the locals are still dressed in big puffy winter coats and wrapped in scarfs for warmth rather than style.

The Church down the street

The morning after we arrived we were able to sit outside for breakfast, but it has been far too cold and damp to do so again until today. I am writing this blog entry out on the terrace in the sun with a glass of local red wine. I could probably do the task easier inside where the IPad would be easier to see, but the sunshine was calling and I refuse to move inside.

Through the Big Green Doors

One of the nicest features of this apartment is this terrace. It is a huge 30' by 20' space off the main living area and overlooks the hotel courtyard. There are lounge chairs and a nice table for four. Off in one corner is an area for hanging out clothes.

The Crowd Outside

Although this apartment is in almost the exact centre of the old city of Lecce, and outside the main door of the attached hotel, hundreds of pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles make it one of the busiest streets in the city, but sitting on my terrace the loudest noise I can hear is the amorous pigeon looking for attention.

As you wander the narrow streets of Lecce, you will see large 20' high arched doors. These large doors lead through passageways to courtyards open to the sky, but remote from the street. Our terrace and apartment is at the back of the courtyard, so we are pleasantly isolated from the hustle and bustle of the city even though we are located right in it's heart.

Oops, time to go refill that wine glass while I wait for that cloud to get out of the way.