Alajuela - our last day

After taking a bus back from La Fortuna (~4 hours), we checked into a pretty crappy hostel. I think this one suffered from Lonely Planet syndrome, where they get a good review in the guide book, a bunch of people come so they jack up the prices, and stop maintaining the place as well as they should. We were not too concerned about it though, because we had booked a whitewater rafting trip that was going to take 11 hours in total so we would not be hanging out there much at all.

At dinner last night, we looked up from the table to see rafters getting rescued from a ridiculously swollen river, running brown with all the mud run-off. This was the first omen that today might not go as planned. This morning at 6 am, the rafting tour operator called our hostel to inform us they had to cancel because of heavy rains, which are very unusual this time of year. No problem, I thought... I will take that money we got back and go rent a car and we can explore the countryside with our own wheels. After trying 9 different car rental agencies, nobody would rent a car to me for one day, they all have 3 day minimums in high season. By this time, it was too late to get any other one day tours in the area, since they had all departed already. Damn. Time for plan F. I grabbed a cab, headed back to round up Christie at the hostel, paid our bill for one night, and checked into a pretty swank 20 room spanish colonial style hotel with a pool and hot tub.

From Alajuela

We ate really well there, and had a couple drinks by the pool and laid in the sun. Overall, it was a nice way to end the vacation (not as exciting as rafting though). Marilyn kept us company.

From Alajuela