With JP working again, day ten was officially classed as a rest day and, my god, did we need it!
After a lazy breakfast and a chat with the lovely hosts, JP and Natty, we decided to walk along to the swimming pool that was at the entrance of the gated community in which we were staying.
JP’s father, the magnificent Fabio, who lived just around the corner from us, had walked around to the house to meet us and drive the 500 meters or so to the pool. His job was to make sure that the security team knew we were safe and part of the inner circle of trust!
The only weird thing about this little trip was that we had planned it the night before and we were 100% committed to going through with it, even though it was slightly cold and less slightly raining. That’s right, we went to visit the outdoor pool and hot tub in the rain!
The security man, having been flagged by Fabio, came over to say hello to us and switch on the pumps and the heaters in the hot tub. Fabio took great delight in introducing us to him and getting us to parrot the handful of Spanish words that we could say, the ‘Azul Azul’ football chant and ‘Vamoooos’ being the two that elicited the biggest smiles. I am unable to say if he thought we were cute, funny or just plain old crazy.
Given the efforts involved in getting the pool ready and set for us, we spent a little longer than we maybe should have given the biting cold that we faced. I can’t even recall if I got above ‘danger level’ in my shorts, but I very much doubt I did!
Eventually we gave up and headed back to the car for the 30 second ride home where JP shook his head at the crazy English guys and got back to work. We spent the rest of the morning taking full advantage of the lazy day and it wasn’t until after lunch that we ventured out again.
We walked down to the park area and football cage, which was a fully AstroTurfed 7-a-side pitch covered over in protective netting so you could take shots without any fear of a long run to get the ball back!
The kids and I spent maybe a quarter of an hour taking pot shots and having a laugh before a group of young lads entered the cage and started to play at the goals at the other end of the court. Another 10 minutes passed and we decided that it would be a good idea to challenge them to a game.
Our average age of around 27 taking on their average age of around 9, I liked those odds. We spoke in terrible Spanish, on my side, these boys were pretty good at it to be honest, and we dressed it up as England v Costa Rica.
I have never actually spoken to the FA to see if they would have sanctioned it as a full international match and so deliver us three freshly printed England Caps, but we represented the crown with honour, pride and passion.
By the end of the game I think there were about 7 kids playing with the 3 of us and we mixed teams up and had a really good laugh. Once again, we didn’t need to speak the same language as the language of sport, smiles and being a little bit silly shone through and we all had a great time, adults and kids alike.
Some of the kids were being watched over by grandparents who came to sit outside the court and watched us like hawks. Sensing the fact that they were, understandably, a little bit cautions of three weird English folks playing a football match against their kids on the side of a mountain in Costa Rica, I decided to pop out of the court for a rest but also to introduce myself.
I tried my best to explain where we were from, who we were staying with, our ages…all of the things that would maybe help to make this all make sense. Without her speaking a word of English and me not able to speak Spanish, we made sense of each other and laughed and joked for a good while.
Maybe it was a language problem, but I will take this to my grave with me – she thought my son was my brother! With me being 47 and him 16, I was more than happy with that!
Playing football in the afternoon heat was hard work on the best of days never mind the lazy day and so with warm smiles and happy waves, we left the kids to play on their pitch. I suspect they are still there playing now powered by sugary snacks and the energy of the youth….and I would like to think that they still talk about the time that ‘Peter Crouch from England’ came to play in their park.
In the evening, it was another trip into San Jose and it was a posh one! We showered and dressed and headed firstly up the mountain then down into the valley below, with the capital spread out in the valley below like a ribbon of light and vibrancy.
I pointed out to JP where we had been the previous day with Fabio and explained that we had stopped off at Rio Azul to take a look at the viewing point. JP was not a happy man, apparently this was a dangerous area and not somewhere we should be hanging about……we were adventurers and we didn’t even realise it!
Our destination was Mirador Tiquicia which was in the fancy suburb of Escazú. Being around 1,300 meters above the capital, it had absolutely stunning views of San Jose stretched below it. It seems like everyone wants to sit in the clouds and look down at the capital rather than be in it!
It was a traditional Costa Rican restaurant and I was fine with that as that tends to involve a huge amount of steak and fried items, usually cooked to perfection!
Millie, randomly, had a friend from university that lived in the area and so he joined us for dinner and was a very welcome guest. The dining area had the look and feel of a traditional Spanish or Italian restaurant, with wooden furniture and red and white chequered table cloths. There were trees and plants growing from various areas under the veranda and the side of the restaurant was all glass.
There was no entertainment that evening but there were posters and fliers up all around for traditional dancers and singers and I bet that would have been an amazing spectacle.
The wine flowed as freely as the conversation and the food was excellent. As we walked out, back to the car, there was a pathway around the build up rockeries. There were stopping points on the path where you could look out over the town below and take pictures of the most amazing scenes below.
Another day and another set of amazing memories. Costa Rica was not letting us down.
Itchy Feet and Titchy Feet 