Today’s plan would be to resolve an air conditioner system condensation drain issue and to update my wardrobe for a quarter of the price that I could for in Australia.
At Mike & Bek’s, they have a second storey attic mounted A/C system in which both the system condensate and drain pans are plumbed to simply drop out of the soffit, some 7 metres (20 feet) in the air and land on the back patio. While checking out what I need to complete the task, I also noticed the hot water blow off valve had a slight leak as well. In trying to reseat the valve, the leak became worse, facilitating the need to replace the valve.
I jumped online to search for a decent Outlet mall in the area and came up with Grand Prairie Premium Outlets, about ¾ of an hour’s drive away. When pulling up, I saw that the AMC – Dine In Theatre had John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum playing, so I thought what the heck ….. why not avail myself of a real comfy reclining leather lounge chair with in-seat sub-woofer, wicked next-gen Dolby audio and in-theatre dining service – can you say “Man Spa” time???
With the movie complete, I spent a couple of hours doing a lap of “retail therapy” in which I first located a roll around duffel bag and then filled with whatever caught my eye. I got quite a few funny looks when asking the shop staff to just throw the stuff in the duffel bag and off I’d go. I will say that the sheila at Nike got a little ticked off as I set off the security alarm and it took her 15 minutes to locate the one item she missed taking the tag off.
As luck would have it, the shit house installers of the A/C system appear related to those who installed the hot water system, as they did not use a barrel joint to allow the disconnecting of the drain line, which will require another trip to the plumbers in the morning.
I knocked up a quick dinner consisting of the four left over pork fillets from Saturday night, $11.65 worth of stir fry veg and a couple of packets of KA•ME Hokkien noodles, that comfortably fed 5 adults.
I reckon it must have went OK as Bek rewarded me by forcing me to not only make, but also partake in another round of fresh French Vanilla ice cream topped with frozen peanut M&M’s.
Here we are
on another slack attack Sunday, the 10th one of the trip so far, and
I really had no wish to do anything at all.
The day
started with updating the blog with the couple of days I lost in transit from
Costa Rica to the United States. I also had a bit of laundry to freshen up my
socks & jocks supply to last me the next week while I’m here.
While I was
in the laundry, I thought I’d help out by throwing on 3 large loads for Bek who
was working today, then get them dried, folded, stack & packed so that she
can hopefully put her feet up when she gets home.
I gathered up
the rest of the “Christner crew” and
headed over to the Brisket Brew for
a feed. Have to say that for a joint whose name is the business; their brisket
burger was a dry argument that was also oily from them heating up the meat on
the griddle.
In an
interesting twist, it seems the final episode of Game of Thrones has caused
some angst over here in the United States of A Miracle. The media is all abuzz
with reports of professional support networks, including councillors and
medical professionals, being available for those who may requiring them due to
the shows closing.
Dr Fitz
prescribes taking two teaspoons of concrete and harden the farq up!!!
For dinner Mike knocked up his CrawdadÉtouffée for dinner, while my contribution to the meal was fresh French Vanilla ice cream topped with frozen peanut M&M’s.
BTW – we managed to survive the evening without viewing Game of Thrones or requiring professional medical assistance.
Need to give
myself an uppercut for agreeing to a 6:15AM flight, but as I’m often heard to
say – shit happens.
I was up at
2:30AM to shower, read the online papers and sort all the fiddly stuff out that’s
associated with international travel. To say I was a bit anxious about this
particular leg of the trip, considering my last landing in the U.S., would be a
huge understatement. I have no control over US Immigration, so I wasn’t sure
why I was worrying about it so much.
I was in the hotel lobby at 3:15 to cancel the 3AM wakeup call that didn’t eventuate, which fortuitously corresponded with my transfer driver lobbing up. I reckon he must have been on a promise with the missus, as he was consistently punching 120 kph (75 mph) on 80 kph (50 mph) posted roads. No matter for me as I was glad to beat most of the queues with checking in.
Checking in also
marked a milestone with all my travel. It was the first time that I would be Skiplagging.
What is this you ask? When booking this flight, it was $859 USD one way direct
to Dallas, but when making booking with the continuing flight to Los Angeles,
it was $229 USD in total + $41 for seat selection + $30 for one checked bag.
I know for
certain that all incoming US international flights have to pass Immigration and
Customs on first port of call, this case it being Dallas, I’ll simply collect
my bag from the carousal and head to the rental car agency and “forgetting” to
catch the continuing flight, hence the term Skiplagging.
American
Airlines flight 2436 departed on time at 6:15AM and was scheduled as a 4½ hour
flight, but once airborne the Captain announced that he was pedalling a bit
harder in trying to beat a weather front in to Dallas and we should arrive ½ an
hour earlier, which true to his word, we did.
With a fair
amount of trepidation, I hit the Immigration Visa Waiver station, grabbed my
perceived lottery receipt and fronted Officer Perez in lane 1. “What’s your purpose
here sir – business or pleasure?” Visiting family, I respond. He swipes my
passport – “Enjoy your stay sir”.
Fair dinkum, 6 1/2 minutes from de-planing to collecting my
bag and clearing Customs – it’s amazing to see what happens when you don’t have
a big X on you visa waiver receipt.
I head out into torrential rains that followed me all the way up to where I’m staying and as freeway visibility and speeds had reduced to non-existent, I pulled over at an Arby’s to grab a quick bite to eat.
Whilst waiting for my order, some fella with grandma’s nasty tablecloth for a shirt, blue jeans and high heel cowboy boots waltzes in with a six shooter and a Bowie knife strapped to his hip and announces loudly “Break time is over, you have an important customer here now.” I’m like … WTF.
I’ll give the server her dues as she greets him cordially, adding “How are you sir?” He comes back with “I woke up this morning as an American and that’s all anyone could ever wish to be!” I’m like ….. DILLIGAF tosser. Never in all my years in the U.S. had I heard such shit and judging on how some of the other customers visible cringed at the statement – neither had they as well.
I collect my meal, but am missing a cup for my post mix drink.
I ask the server for a cup, to which she responds “Why?” Yeah, I know, I can’t
help myself sometimes and respond with “it makes the transportation of liquids,
especially hot ones, convenient.”
I get to Mike & Bek’s fanging for a beer and after a quick run down to the shop for a grocery run, I have that well in hand. Young Mikey gets the evening meal going and with assistance from all the family, is able knock up a pretty good garlic & lime marinated pork loin fillets with green leaf salad with toasted pine nuts, mango, and Spanish onions dressed with a lemon/lime, honey and mango juice vinaigrette.
With a scheduled 1PM departure for the nation’s capital – San José, I packed up all my gear in preparation for the 11AM hotel checkout, completed my online check-in for tomorrows early morning flight and then hit the streets of Quepos for one last time. This time I spent several hours exploring the suburbs adjacent to the town centre as well as the area around the natural inlet that harbours the local fishing fleet.
Breakfast was a local affair at the Soda Sanchez, where I thoroughly enjoyed a 4850 Colóns ($8.41 USD) an awesome Empanadas de Pollo (Chicken Empanadas), a breakfast beef burrito and some great coffee, figuring the big breakfast would tide me over until dinner tonight. I have to say, the empanadas was the best I’ve had – period!
With it
spitting rain and the heavens threatening to open up I headed back to the Hotel Le Priss Inn, where I
met up with Lila, where we engaged ourselves with the “Guess What” quiz with the
opening statement of “Guess what I got for you that you were wanting?”
With me not
having a clue, Lila says c’mon and I’ll show you We walk a couple of blocks to
a locals house, which looks like a Steptoe & Sons yard, and what appears to
be the owner seated in the middle of what could only be termed as junk. This where
Lila had procured a Costa Rican licence plate for me.
As mentioned
previously, I don’t do souvenir/trinket shopping as to me – it’s a complete
waste of time and money with the transaction often taking longer than the
product lasts. A memento for me to garner a licence plate of a vehicle I’ve
driven or driven in that country. Sometimes an incorrectly secured plate falls
off the vehicle in which I put it in my backpack for safe keeping and unfortunately
forget about it, only to find it when I return home. Sometimes simply asking a
local procures a plate or quite often I find them simply lying on the side of
the road.
I’d asked the
Budget rental agency yesterday if they had any plates lying around, which they
didn’t, so I simply forgot all about it. Thankfully Lila didn’t. While she was
out walking this morning, she asked several workshops and car deals if they had
any plates – nope, no can do. Lila had actually given up and was headed back to
the hotel when she came across the aforementioned house and on a whim, simply
asked the question. Ol’ mate says yes he has one from his written off vehicle,
heads off and come back – mangled bumper in hand, with the plate still attached
– Voilà ….. a great souvenir with a couple of great stories attached.
We set off at
1PM in drizzling rain to drive the 5 hours into San José. A couple of hours in,
we stopped at El Jardin Souvenir and
Restaurant, which for want of a better term is a huge souvenir shop with an
ice cream shop, takeaway and toilets attached.
The closer we
got to San José, the thicker the traffic got. At one point our driver got off
the freeway just before Santa Ana, drove the back streets for a bit before
finding the freeway again. I come to find out later that he was avoiding a
accident which had turned the freeway into a parking lot.
We actually
made good time by arriving at or our accommodations at the Auténtico Hotel – Sabana Norte bang
on 5PM, which thankfully for us, was an hour and a half shorter trip than the
group who left our hotel at 12:30PM.
At 6PM, the group
gathered at the hotel bar in which we all spoke of our two best trip experiences
and Siona presented all of us with a small gift. From there it was a couple of
blocks over to the Cuban restaurant – La Bodeguita del
Medio, where we held the tour farewell dinner.
As part of the dinners festivities, Sonia was introduced as the 6th CEO/Tour Guide and only current female member of the “Aussie Rugby Tequila” crew and was such a great sport about it. After a quick nightcap back at the hotel, I was in bed by 11PM for my 3:15AM transfer to the airport.
Lila and I headed out around 6:15 AM to grab a coffee and something to nibble on to start the day. As we had our own set of wheels, we decided to drop the “Planning Committee” off at the gates of Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio around 7:20 AM. Upon arrival, the itinerary changed a little to allow access to an ATM and to visit at a nearby breakfast joint. I returned back to Quepos to collect Lila and by 8AM we were strolling through the gates of the national park.
We spent the
best part of 4 hours exploring the park from the well laid out and maintained
nature trail. We were able to view white face monkeys, lizards and crabs of all
shapes and sizes and a huge array of birdlife and insects.
We decided on lunch at Samui Thai, but upon arrival we found out that it didn’t open for another hour or so. No dramas, we up the road to ride the Zip Coaster at the nearby Manuel Antonio Adventure Park, as Lila was dead set keen on the riding the sit up, bicycle style zip line ride, rather than hanging from a line and harness. Just so happens that we hit the site as they were undertaking maintenance on the line and wouldn’t be open for another couple of hours.
Not ones to
let such a thing become a setback, we rolled up at the Claro Que Si Seafood &
Grill to grab a bite to eat and take in the sweeping views of the Pacific
Ocean.
While finishing
dining, Lila noticed a Spa treatment at the adjacent Si Como No Resort & Wildlife Refuge
and availed herself of the 90 minute treatment with an accompanying 20%
discount for dining at their facility.
As no amount of Spa treatments would improve my natural good looks, I headed back to town to try and catch some shots of the “El Hefe” iguana we’d seen by the stream yesterday.
I collected Lila, and while fueling up and returnin the rental car, I received a WhatsApp message to meet with all the “Avocados” at our hotel lobby for a 7:30 PM “Group” dinner at a local restaurant.
As Lila generally does not do dinner, I mentioned that I’d probably go find somewhere else to eat or a local pub to hang out in, as I have done throughout the trip. She’s says really, why would you do that? Because when you’re not there Lila, I am no part of any conversation, my presence barley recognized or acknowledged, except for a couple of sentences with Sonia, which is generally interrupted with others wanting her attention. She says really?? I said yup.
To my surprise and appreciation, Lila turned up at the meeting point and said to me – we’re going to dinner. All six of us bundled into two cabs and headed to the Runaway Grill, a short 2000 Colóns/5 minute cab ride away. I ordered a pretty decent Shrimp Po-Boy and was treated to a spectacular electrical storm light-show, while seated at the covered open air venue.
The “Hummingbirds” had wandered off, all but abandoning Patricia, Lila and myself, so we made our leave and grabbed a cab back to our hotel. Upon arrival Lila and I spoke of the fact that in two hours, other than conversations with Sonia and herself and an offer of someone’s jalapeños that they didn’t want – not a word was spoken to me and barely anything was said to Patrica as well. I said to Lila that this has been the way for a couple of weeks, they’re off in their own little world that is largely self-centred and unless they are wanting something or are in need of assistance, you’re non-existent.
Anyways, I found a local sports bar and got into a shout with a German couple – Wilhelm & Heidi, and a Kiwi – Stevo, and actually had a great time solving all the world’s problems, while blowing the froth of a couple of coldies.
As stated
previously, my day started around 1 or 1:30 AM with the return of the late
night revellers to the hotel. Rather than waste the time, I did a bit of
research in spending the last couple of days in the Costa Rican capital of San José, instead
of the beaches surrounding Quepos.
At our
scheduled 7AM departure, we were met with a 24 seat mini-coach to transport the
5 “Avocados” and myself the proposed 5-hour
journey to the base of Parque
Nacional Manuel Antonio – you farqin beauty!!!’
After stop on
the bridge at River
Tarcoles to view a shit ton of American Crocodiles, I sought Sonia’s
assistance in swapping the two nights in Quepos for two nights in San José. We got
a hold a G Adventures
customer service representative who informed us that I would lose all ongoing
or further services, including accommodation, transport, transfers, meals and all
other activities should I chose to leave the tour, by heading to San José. I’m
like OK, forget about it then.
Not sure if
it was due to traffic or road conditions or not having to was for an extra 18
passengers to complete their 15 minute road stops in under an hour or what, but
we arrived in our hotel just on 11, an hour ahead of time. We got squared away
in out rooms and as ½ of the “Avocados”
we going to spend the arvo on a catamaran, Lila aka Miss Daisy and myself
decided we’d rent a car after a bit to eat and go exploring, similar to what we
did in Roatán.
I mention all
the aforementioned detail as this is where I say that I actually do believe
that seemingly random events, can culminate into a life changing moment – read on.
Sonia had
sent the group a few recommendations to go visit, including places to grab a
feed at. Lila had chosen Tiquicia
Delicias where I select the lunch special of Fajitas that were actually
pretty good. While eating and chatting, I heard the sound of cutlery and
crockery being rattled around on the table next to me. I glance over and see a
man face down in his main course, which in all honesty took a couple of seconds
to register as being odd and not comical as for some reason the thought of the
Monty Python skit in which a patron summons the waiter with “Waiter, there’s a
man in my soup”.
I look around
his table to see that he’s dining alone and that he’s not moved – that’s when
the penny drops that fella’s in trouble. I walk up to him, shake him on the
shoulder asking if he’s all right while lifting his face out of his lunch and
getting no response at all.
This is when
all those seemingly wasted mind numbing hours of employer mandated First Aid
and First Responder training kicks in and I begin stepping through the Dr ABC (which stands for Danger, Response, Airway,
Breathing & Circulation) procedure while I’m lifting the guy out of
his chair an yelling for someone to call an ambulance.
I place ol’ mate
on his side, tilt his head back, notice his eyes had rolled back in his head,
his lips were blue and could feel no breath or pulse. I open his mouth, remove
the trapped food and retrieve his tongue, which produced a raspy attempt with inhaling,
which stopped after several attempts, but there was no exhaling.
I cleared
some other foreign debris from his mouth and was joined by a local guide at
which point we made the decision to perform CPR, as he still had no pulse. We
had just completed two full cycles when I felt a faint pulse and light
breathing and was placing him in the recovery position when two firemen, from the
station up the end of the street arrived.
Not long
after that, the Ambo’s arrived and found his blood pressure to be 80 over 50,
sugar counts really low and decided to cart him off to hospital.
I was talking
to the guy to try and ascertain if he had any known conditions, allergies, was
on any medications or any had previous incidents – which he said he collapsed
two days ago. Lila was a godsend, as she was translating to the responding teams
and got hold of the fellas local friend to meet him at the hospital.
I paid the lunch bill and both Lila and I walked slowly around the block in silence and looking at each other, taking in all what just happened. Truth be told, it was an emotionally overwhelming moment where tears were welling up in my eyes and trying so hard not to lose it. Lila made the comment that they said the guy got to the Pearly Gates, but they were not accepting new residents.
Got to say
that I’ve been involved in plenty of medical emergencies, first aid or accident
assistance and this is the first time I’ve had to go full blown CPR mode.
With somewhat
conflicting heavy hearts and happiness, we headed in the general direction of
our hotel, running across some of the biggest Iguana’s I’ve ever seen, fossicking
around in the garbage strewn local river that runs down the street.
Rather fortuitously,
we walked past the local Budget rental agency that was reopening after lunch
and enquired about a vehicle for the day. Lila negotiated a fee of $35 for a
Toyota Yaris that upon first inspection would have been utilised as the Student
Driver vehicle, but hey – sure beats walking.
First stop
was Parque Nahomi, where
the security guard put us on to a sloth hanging out at the entrance. From there
it was a couple of inadvertent laps of the 5 block downtown before locating the
entrance to Parque
Nacional Manuel Antonio. We swung back out the other side of town with the
notion of checking out Dominical, about
40 kilometres (25 miles) away to the
south.
Talk about déjà
vu – as we passed the local hospital, I noticed they were loading a passenger
into a twin engined aircraft and as clear as day, on the stretcher was the
fella from lunch. Talk about trippy.
A little
further up the road we saw a young lady with her daughter on the road, trying
to hitchhike. On a whim, we turned around and picked them up and with Lila’s
help, we found out that the woman had travelled the 40+ kilometres (25+ miles) from her home in seeking
employment. Felt so much better for turning around.
We got to the beaches of Dominical just before the heavens opened up so decided to head back to see if we could catch a sunset and a feed at El Avion, where the brilliant sunset was accompanied with an equally great meal.
An
interesting day to say the least. I awoke to a chilly 20 degrees C and headed
the door on my morning walkabout. Breakfast was a savoury pastry and a coffee
at a local bakery.
We got picked
up at 8:30 for a ½ day meander through the La Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena
(Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve) which
was a 30 minute drive away. The reserve is 1600 metres (5250 feet) in elevation at and has 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) of well-maintained trails.
The unique part of the reserve, apart from the flora and fauna, is that it’s
privately run by the Santa Elena Technical Professional High School and
protects over 300 hectares (741 acres)
of land, specifically leased to them.
We were all
done by12:30 and headed back to the reserve office to catch the 1PM bus back to
town. By the time we got back, dropped all the passengers off it was close to
two o’clock, which left me no time to go anywhere for lunch as I was being
picked up at 2:30 to go ATV riding.
100% Adventura picked me up on
time and collected passengers along the 45 minute drive to their mountain
operations. I paid my $60 USD and went through the pre-start procedure with
them. It was at this time we ran in to a huge issue, more specifically – my
head.
They couldn’t
find a skid lid to fit my melon as the largest one they could find was a
medium. They even went to the trouble of going back to the employee carpark and
grabbing a couple off the parked bike, of which one of them smelt and looked
like a mob of jungle creatures “snuck a
few past the goalie” in it.
In the end we
just said shit happen, got me money back and was parked up at my hotel with a cold
cerveza, all in under 20 minutes. On the positive note, I hadn’t been back ½ an
hour and the heavens opened up in a torrential downpour that lasted a good
hour. Those poor buggers on the ATV’s would have been soaked.
As it was
still raining at the allotted 7:20 departure time, we cabbed it over to Pizzeria Natsha were
supposedly they were putting on a BBQ for two G Adventures groups. The place
was empty except for two diner picking at their plates that looked t have no
appeal at all. I left for the toilet to have a slash and while finishing up, an
employee emerged from the thunderbox, went past me and I followed him out,
watching him head straight for the kitchen – hopefully washing his hands.
While the
kitchen door was open, I noticed pets congregated around the prep and cooking
area. Hmmm, not good I’m thinking. Sonia must have noticed me and came up
asking what’s wrong. I’m not real comfortable was the gist of the discussion,
so I legged it over to town and eventually settled on Restaurante Don Luis.
I had pretty good Chicken & Cheese quesadilla followed by a brilliant Blue Cheese and onion salsa burger that was probably in the top 3 burgers I’ve ever wrapped my laughing gear around.
I was in bed checking my eyelids for holes until 1 or 1:30 when a herd of startled un-domesticated wildebeest decided to head home and make on hell of a racket on the stairs, walkways and upstairs floors. On the positive side – it gives me more time to complete this Blog.
We set off for our next stop – Monteverde around 8:30 this morning and rather than making the 7 hour trip around Lake Arenal on windy switchback mountain roads, we pulled into a boat ramp roughly 22 kilometres (14 miles) from Los Fortunas and climbed aboard one of Adventuras El Lagos’ twin hulled people movers.
The 45 minute
manmade lake crossing in to the Río Chiquito area shaved off nearly 4 hours of
road travel and had us arriving at our accommodations – Hotel los Jardines, just
on lunchtime.
Lunch was hosted
at the nearby Pizzería
y Restaurante D’kary, where it was “bring
your own waiter day”. The restaurant is owned by the hotel and when we
asked about eating options, it was the only venue within easy walking distance.
We said OK, so the hotel owner roused some fella out of his room and had him
walk us over the restaurant and then serve us. Are rather unique and fun
circumstance don’t you think?
A couple of “Avocados” got collected at 2:30 to go
zip-lining, while the rest either chilled out or went exploring the town, which
is exactly what I did. Maybe its me, or my directional compass was playing up,
but I swear I was walking uphill everywhere I went.
We all met up
around 5:30 to partake in the included two-hour Kinkajou Night Walk with our guide
Donal, who was both informative and knowledgeable. Admittedly there wasn’t a
huge amount of animals to get the crowds oohing & aahing, but the animals
we did see were quality none the less. Highlight for me was the juvenile two
toed sloth who seemed to put on a show for us.
We got
dropped off in town and settled on Taco
Taco Taqueria for dinner where the selection of crafted local brews got a
bit of a workout and the 6 tacos had me as full as a fat lady’s sock, all be it
that the chicken, pork and beef fillings were extremely dry and chewy. The
accompanying salsa selection was awesome with the highlight being the roasted
onion, capsicum and jalapeno concoction.
A few of us parked up at the hotel bar for a couple of Margaritas and then hit the fart sack just before the pumpkin coach arrived.
With today
being the day of the Sabbath and all, I stayed in bed reading my book with no
real intention of doing anything much at all and may have over-achieved in those
endeavours.
Around lunchtime I ventured out into the brilliant sunshine and took a bit of a stroll around La Fortuna. With the worms definitely biting, I settled on Snapper’s House for a lunch consisting of a fried Calamari starter and the Blackened Snapper fillet. The feed was great with the starter being brilliant.
More of the
same “slack attack” time in the afternoon, as a comfy bed and a great book was
too great a temptation. Around 5 PM the heavens opened up which basically saw
the town become deserted in short fashion.
As I hadn’t heard from any of the “Avocados” all day, for dinner I took a stroll out to Restaurante Cafe Mediterraneo as Trip Advisor rated in La Fortuna’s Top 10 restaurants. The best things I can say is the Imperial cerveza stubbies were ice cold and the bread rolls were interesting, which speaks volumes for what they served as a seafood marinara.
Bit of an early night tonight as we’re off to Monteverde, a major eco-tourism area about 4 hours drive from here.
First stop
was the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park where we spent a
couple of hours exploring the 3.2 kilometre (2 mile) dense jungle walk, on well-maintained paved pathways and hanging
bridges, some of which were a hundred meters up in the canopy of the rain
forest.
A short 20
minute drive and we were at Arenal Volcano
National Park,
which last erupted in 1968 with devastating effect. The 2 kilometre (1¼ mile) walk to the 1992 lava flow was
a whole lot less strenuous than the Pacaya Volcano walk in Guatemala and
you are reward with views of steam billowing from the top, but no lava flows.
Lunch was a
near vegetarian affaire at the tour company’s facilities in the city, where
took the time to walk next door to the local waterfalls of El Salto.
Our final
stop of the day was 75 metre (250 foot)
La Fortuna Waterfall, located at the base
of the dormant Chato
volcano, about 5½ kilometres (3½
miles) outside of La Fortuna. I was a leisurely 15 minute, 500 step walk to
the base of the waterfall. I spent the best part of an hour exploring both
swimming pools before deciding the head back up the stairs. I’ll be first to
admit that I struggled on the ½ hour return accent and thought to myself that
carrying an extra 14 kilogram backpack full of camera gear, is probably not the
best decision I’ve made in a while.
We grabbed a
feed at the Lava Rocks Café who charge you 50 Costa Rican Colones per US Dollar they
give you back in your local currency change – good work if you can get it.
From there it was up to the La Fortuna Pub for a few sherbets and a couple rounds of house brick Jenga before calling it a night.
