IMAGES FROM THE NO KINGS RALLY
SAN JOSE COSTA RICA
MARCH 28 2026
On March 28, I packed my Winco Cooler Box with multiple bottles of ice with a little water on the top, a thermos filled with Liquid IV, two peanut butter and honey sandwiches, two different size personal fans, a frozen safari hat, and God only knows what else. It must have weighed 25 pounds!
I carried it 600 meters down to the soccer field, half-cursing myself all the way for having brought so much “extra” stuff. But, as you’ll soon discover, 98% of it came in very handy (and crucial!) toward the end of the rally. (Sometimes it helps to be overly prepared!) Read on!
Down at the soccer field pickup point at 11:30, I joined a group of eight San Isidro and environs- based rally goers in a hired van driven by a wonderful man named Miguel, who then drove us to Grecia, where we picked up “five more gringos” including two of my El Cajon former neighbors and friends Diane Cooner and Liz _____.
From there, we wended our way to San Jose
The highway was packed most of the way in, so we didn’t arrrive until about a quarter after 1.
On the way there, I sat with Diane Cooner so we could catch up on each other’s lives and doings. At one point she told me she read my blog about Lisa’s visit here with me in Costa Rica and then said, “I didn’t know you had a twin sister!” I responded, “She isn’t my sister.”
She was flabbergasted! “You two look exactly alike!”
Lisa and me
See it?
That wasn’t the first time we have heard this. (But IMO, Lisa is a lot cuter — and 14 years younger!) The same remark has happened so many times that I told Diane, “Actually, we could be related and just not know it. Lisa was adopted and I had relatives who I believe may have surrendered babies in the area of the state where she was born. So who knows?”
So, now I’m intrigued. This has happened too many times for it to seem unlikely!!! And both of our middle names are Marie.
IN SAN JOSE
When we got to San Jose and the Embassy, we quickly disembarked and then Miguel found a place across the street to park and wait for us to do “our thing” so he could drive us back. He had fun interacting with us “gringos” from time to time in both directions whenever he didn’t have to keep his eyes and mind strictly on the roadway ahead, beside and behind us.
Not long after we disembarked from the van, I spotted Christine standing in the shadow of the Embassy stairways. So, I climbed up to say hello and to put down my Winco bag, my “dog battling” cane, and my umbrella in a safe, secluded spot. Christine kindly agreed to keep an eye on it while I walked across the street to find a bathroom.
When I got back, I immediately took most of the following images on my phone — because you know me! I tend to forget to capture images during outings, so I wanted to be sure to get images of the gathering rally-goers before doing so slipped my mind!
Within 30 minutes, the sidewalks and plaza/courtyard area at the US Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica were filled to maximum capacity (except for a wee bit of maneuvering room) with rally goers. I estimate that the crowd was around 200 people, including those who came and went during the two hours we were there.
I will identify, below, the people I know whose names I remember. Perhaps Diane can fill me in on last names where I failed to either “get” or “register” them as I was introduced…
A great many of these images are of rally goers who weren’t in the van or from Grecia, so they can’t be identified by name. I tried to capture the best signs.
But one sign I heard about (from another rally in the U.S.) was the winning sign, hands down, IMO. It read: “If Kamala had won, we would be having brunch”.
Christine (red cone hat, upper left in yellow top)
Diane Cooner and Sherron Bloom at San Jose Rally
Liz with her handmade sign…
Christine close up with wooden musical instrument
The sign I got to wave… thanks to a kindred sign maker!
Teresa (ostrich), Kathy Neckar (iguana)
Selfie with Christine
Sherron Bloom with her handmade sign…
…another of my favorite signs!
Kathy Neckar
We Grecia/El Cajon/San Isidro folks were at the rally for two hours
It was warm, and there wasn’t a lot of shade at the Embassy, so one of our compatriots started to feel ill and went down. She told us in advance that she wasn’t feeling well, so two of us had a good hold on her as she sunk to the ground.
I quickly took out my thermos with water and Liquid IV in it and handed it to her while someone else checked her pulse. I also pulled out the frozen hat and a water-soaked neckerchief and placed them on her head and around her neck while she continued to rehydrate and recover. Finally I gave her a bread bag filled with slightly melting ice to hold against her face, neck, chest and brain (not all at once, obviously!) while she recovered.
Sherron held my umbrella over her to ward off additional rays from the sun
Van driver Miguel was called and asked to come back to pick us up. By the time he was able to make his way to us, the woman was feeling better and was ambulatory again, which was a big relief.
The trip back was faster than the trip there
…because traffic going toward Grecia was thinner. But whenever there was a bottleneck, there were vendors in between each lane of the freeway offering their wares — edible “corn wheels” and other delights! It always amazes me to see people standing right next to (or on!) the freeway waiting for a mass transit bus or offering their wares.
Miguel let the Grecia and El Cajon passengers off in Grecia
…and then he drove us back to the futbol field in San Isidro, where two drivers with cars parked there offered to transport us to our homes on the way to theirs.
Kathy Neckar offered me, an Achiote resident, and another rally goer rides home. On the way to my place, I ham-handedly entered Kathy’s WhatsApp info into my phone so I can let her know if I’ll be riding with her to the next Bloom’s gathering this coming Tuesday. I believe I will because I want to see everybody again and because I still owe Lydia about 5050 colones for the van ride to San Jose. (I didn’t have any money on me except a few colones in coins because I spent it all in Grecia at DHL last week to get my Charles Schwab paperwork sent, but she said I could pay her later. Tuesday would be the perfect time to do that!)
ADDED BONUS!
As I made my way to the top of Deb’s property line, I spied an adult coatimundi that was making its way across her lawn. It saw or heard me before I saw it, so it scurried back across the yard not 20 feet in front of me from left to right and back into the line of trees to get away from me.
I was stunned and thrilled, and it was moving pretty fast, so I didn’t have time to pull out my phone and take pictures of it. I will be watching for it from now on at about dusk to see if I can spot it again and catch a picture.
I was totally tickled to see a wild one right in my own front yard. I don’t think I even saw one at Rescate or La Paz, so it was quite the treat!!! *sigh* It’s so wonderful knowing they are right here living their lives wild and free and unmolested (at least by humans)!!
As you can well image, I slept like a log last night! It was a good day! I’m sooo glad I attended.
WHICH RALLY DID YOU ATTEND?
SEND ME YOUR PICTURES
(INCLUDE A SELFIE, IF POSSIBLE!)