I've never been a big fan of Denny's Restaurant, but when we arrive at 5:30 a.m.in a foreign country with no idea where or what we are doing, the familiar “Denny's” sign on the airport wall was screaming “Go Here!” So we caught the free shuttle and spent the next few hour sipping coffee and searching the web for car rentals, accommodations, and ideas of what and where to go. We decided to focus on surfing for a few weeks which meant getting a car so we could easily get to the best break at the right time (depending on the tides). We had resigned ourselves to the fact that Costa Rica was simply going to break our daily budget and was going to be almost three times the cost of Bali or Asia in general. Oh well, we are starting with somewhat of a splurge. We found a reasonable car rental and emailed them. Shortly they replied – no cars available but recommended another company. As we were highly sleep deprived, we decided to head into San Jose, get a room at a hostel, get a little sleep and then try to find a cheaper car in town. While waiting for the shuttle back to the airport where we could catch the bus into the city we noticed we were actually right next to a row of car rental agencies. So, we split up and methodically hit each place allowing only the briefest discussion “how much for 2 weeks” “sorry too much” When we were about to give up a man stuck his head out of an entrance to Poas Rental Car and made us a great offer - $250 a week including insurance. Certainly not the $13 dollars a day we got in Bali, but reasonable based on the alternatives (if booked from the States it would have been $450 a week). Its a deal, and they will pick us up at our hostel in the morning.
We spent our first night in Costa Rica at the Tranquilo Backpacker's Hostel in San Jose The room was Basic, with a capital “B”, but it had a bed and came with a pancake breakfast and friendly staff. We had dinner up the street at this adorable house converted into a a restaurant called Cafe Mondo and as our tradition has become, we had to start our dinner with a sample of the local cereza - Imperial. mmm bueno!
We spent our first night in Costa Rica at the Tranquilo Backpacker's Hostel in San Jose The room was Basic, with a capital “B”, but it had a bed and came with a pancake breakfast and friendly staff. We had dinner up the street at this adorable house converted into a a restaurant called Cafe Mondo and as our tradition has become, we had to start our dinner with a sample of the local cereza - Imperial. mmm bueno!
