COSTA RICA Alajuela

Alajuela is a town near the airport for San Jose.

We stayed there for 2 nights at Hotel Pura Vida which had a lovely garden.  After  getting colones (money) and a SIM we took a cab to Grecia, a supposedly attractive town. We didn't realise it was so far away, $32 fare.  The town had nothing to offer but ordinary shops.  I asked 5 people as we wandered about a bus to Sarchi, another tourist destination nearby.  The bus cost $2.  A policeman told us where to find the House of the Painted Ox Cart.  Here David was happy, as he wandered through this old carpentry shop driven by a water wheel.  I liked the end product and the good souvenir shop.
We got a bus back to Alajuela and alighted into heavy rain.  Taxis were full so we took shelter in a cake shop serving coffee.  The girls there were very nice and directed David to the nearest grog shop for a bottle of Chilean red, $9.  Aussie wines sell for around $18.

At breakfast next morning our Toyota (Daihatsu) Bego was delivered.  Cost is $1230 for 2 weeks, including $350 for total insurance.  It`s a very neat 4WD.  Then we set forth on the 4 hour (we got lost) drive to La Selva Biological Station.  Hmmmm....  We had to negotiate the busy often one-way streets out of Alajuela with me using the GPS (note: NOT a vocal navigator).  My problem was sheer terror - driving on the wrong side of the road.  I really felt that we were always about to plough into parked cars or rip through pedestrians!  David`s main problem was me crying and screaming.  I couldn't shut my eyes because I was navigating.  For most of the drive I looked left.