1st night in Costa Rica

Old School Church in Park Central
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Well I just lost about an hours worth of journal entry. For those of you that know how fast I type, particularly Jillian and Parkie, you know this was devestating. But here I go again. After about 15 hours of travel by bus, rail, plane, and taxi I was ready for some R & R. So I headed into a small city called Alajuela about 3 miles from the airport. I was fortunate in that Jillian, my great friend tipped me off on this safe and friendly town.  It turns out the city of San Jose is actually 15-18 miles away from the airport which ends up being an extremely expensive taxi fare. And for those that are on the travel budget such as myself I was glad I had the extra $15 in my pocket for food and transportation.

Outside view
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My first night at Hotel Pacande was run by an extemely nice and welcoming family. After I was shown my dimly lit dark stuffy room I took a long power nap that energized me to cruise the streets of Alajuela. After getting turned around various times due to limited street signs it seemed to be a thriving small city full of busy business owners catering to outside tourism and local Ticos/Ticas. I got a suggestion for dinner at a Restarant named Restaurant Volluna. Being I was the only patron I was a little weary but low and behold it ended up being a incredibly cheap and tasty Columbian style cooked dinner for only $3 U.S.. I decided to hit the sack early since I had a long day of traveling ahead of me so I headed back to the Hotel. Unfortunately for me the Hotel room had television. So what did I do? I watched a National Geographic Special on Crocodiles. Better yet a special on people telling their stories of surviving Crocodile attacks. Not one of the best ideas since I was just about to head into 'Croc' infested waters.

Indigenous folk musicians
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The next morning I was greeted with a smile and one of the best cups of coffee I´ve ever had. Along with fresh fruita and bread it was a perfect combination for my long journey up to the North east Mountains of Costa Rica. After a bit of a stuggle communicating with the Hotel owner-due to me flunking out of high school spanish-I was able to catch a bus to the town of Heredia where I ended up stuck with a 5 hour wait for the next bus out. This was a blessing because I ended up having an excellent vegetarian meal at a Restaurant called Vishnu Mango Verde. Notice how I talk a lot about food, get used to it. My bus finally arrived and I was very excited to finally get out of the city and into the part of my travels that I was really looking forward to, La Virgen.