Costa Rica, San Jose (San Jose to La Fortuna by bus)

Leaving Los Angeles at silly o'clock in the morning we arrived at San Jose in Costa Rica at 8am. We flew with Delta airlines which is supposed to be America's best airline, as voted by Americans but it was one of the worst flights we have been on so far. First of all they allocated Kathy and myself seats in separate blocks. We managed to get these changed so we could sit either side of the centre aisle but then they had the cheek to say these were preferred seats and would incur a further $14 each. We were already getting over having to pay $50 extra in baggage fees. They had said on the website when we booked the first bag of baggage was free but what they actually meant was hand luggage was free which it is with all airlines so how is this a perk? Anyway, we had no intention to pay the surplus charges just so we could sit together, so blagged the customer service agent by reminding him it was Kathy's birthday and he kindly waived the charges.   SWEET!

Who's been smuggling doughnuts in their trousers then? Or maybe something much bigger.......

 The seats on the plane were comfy enough and the legroom acceptable but as it was flying so early in the morning most people want to get some sleep. So we started to nod off when all the lights came on at 2am and they started handing out nuts and cheese with crackers. Who the hell wants cheese and crackers at 2am?  Then they wanted to charge us for booze. Who charges for booze on a long haul flight? Eventually we got off to sleep but at 5am they woke us up again to serve breakfast which was a coffee and a bag of nuts. Oh whoopee! By the time we strolled through immigration with their feeble questions about our intentions to defraud the whole of Costa Rica with a Dell notebook and a bag of nuts from Delta airlines, we were knackered. We stood around in baggage reclaim for about an hour trying to collect ourselves before we could face the outside world. "Lets get some money" Kathy chipped in. Good idea I thought, but guess what , the ATM was offline.  No worries, lets get some maps etc from tourists info. No-one there! What about a sim for the phone? Can't see anyone selling them!
  We walked in circles a couple of times more and by this time the ATM was back online, the tourist info woman had showed up and we remembered the SIM at the airport was a rip-off as quoted by our bible The Lonely Planet. We then had to get into town for our hotel but the only way we knew was shuttle bus or rip off taxi. The shuttle bus had no drivers so that was a no. We were then accosted by 35 taxi drivers who hustled us on the street but being tired and low on fight we plumped for a guy who looked trustworthy and agreed to a slight discount for a fixed price for us rather than using the meter in what would be rush hour traffic. Turns out it was not far into town, in fact only 3 miles and we paid $25. The hostel reassured us it was usually $30 for most people but it was still a bitter pill.
   As we arrived at Hostel Columbus so early our room was not ready. Luckily breakfast was still being served so the owner said we could have some brekkie gratis. Result! Luckily our room was ready by 11.30am so we installed ourselves into it. Then it was the travellers dilemma. Do we go to sleep and catch up  with the problem of being out of sync with the local time or do we try to stay awake and integrate into the normal day/night sleep pattern. We opted to stay awake as it was Kathy's birthday and headed out into town to get supplies and then went for a meal at some roast chicken place which turned out really nice when we ordered a sharer platter. We scored some more beers and went back to our room but the party fizzed out when I fell asleep at 7pm and Kathy partied alone until 8pm until she succumbed to tiredness and we both slept through to 8am next day.

The fat lady with strangely positioned breasts attempts to sing.

   After a nice buffet breakfast in the restaurant downstairs we ordered an UBER taxi and went to explore downtown. First we got a sim for the phone from a jazzy company called Movistar which were very helpful. The sim was 60p and we topped up with a months worth of data and calls for £5. We then walked to the bus terminal and bought bus tickets to out next destination. That done we strolled into town to look at all the big ticket attractions......a church......a theatre......a telephone exchange.....a town square.....and a fat lady statue. WOW! Kathy found it all too exciting so went shopping for new trainers while I done the dutiful snaps of said above attractions but to be honest I wish I never bothered as they were so average and boring. We also visited the central market which was also boring and dull so stopped for coffee which was appalling for such a coffee producing nation and an empanada. (cheesy pasty type thingy). We then decided to walk back to the hotel which was a big mistake as there were no toilets and by the time we got back to the room we were fighting each other to be first on the throne. Again it was another early night to align our sleep patterns.

Kathy's birthday party rocks out with a teddy orgy. 

   Next day we had a' I really can't be bothered day'. and desperately tried a crash course in Spanish as no one except the hotel we were staying in speaks English. We even tried to watch a Tom Hanks film that was dubbed into Spanish. Didn't understand a word! Eventually by the afternoon we ventured out into the city park which was conveniently across the road from the hotel. We walked the whole lot watching adhoc football ,basketball, baseball, cyclocross, roller skating, boating, bootcamp workouts as it was the weekend so all the Ticos(that's what the locals are called) were out and about. After meandering about for a few hours it looked like rain was imminent so again took refuge back at the hotel where beer and wine was retrieved from the fridge and consumed with gusto until it was shut eye time. A real lazy do nothing day but totally satisfying mentally.

At least Padre won't have a problem for a taxi home. 

   Next morning was another glorious sunny day and we were awoken by the sound of some street nutter hollowing outside our room at 6am telling drivers what he thought of them for parking there. He went on for hours and we even had him barking outside the breakfast room. Amusing for 10 minutes but painful after that for the next 3 hours. Luckily we were off today, so packed up and called an Uber taxi to take us to the bus terminal so we could catch our bus to our next destination La Fortuna. Bye, bye street nutter. El es loco!