A good breakfast of Gallo Pinto relieved the slight hangover and I loafed around chatting with Sean who had done a lot of travelling (we had Egypt in common). Many foreigners get confused about Gallo Pinto translated as (Spotted Rooster or Cock). Most would say it is just rice and beans, but that is far from true. And Costa Ricans might even take offense if you call it just rice and beans.
Gallo Pinto is the ultimate Costa Rica breakfast; they say if you can make it, only then you are ready to get married. That is the extent to which Costa Rican food defines the rest of the culture. Topped with two fried eggs, cooked rice and beans are also mixed with red pepper, onion, garlic, and chopped cilantro (Cilantro is an herb from the fresh leaves of the coriander plant).
Salsa Lizano might be the secret ingredient to this famous food. Sold by the bottle in local grocery stores, this sauce is a smoky, tangy and subtly sweet condiment that Costa Ricans toss on just about everything… But especially on Gallo Pinto. In fact, some people in Costa Rica will tell you that it isn’t Gallo Pinto without it.
At 10:00 hrs we went downtown to sort out a number of things. Firstly, I went to the OTEC Travel Agent and forked out the $270 U.S. dollars for a plane ticket to Quito in Ecuador for next Tuesday 23rd February 1988. Then Sean made an international phone call, and we went for a juice to combat the dehydration caused by last night's drinking session.
Sean then left me to find a bank that would change Travellers Cheques for U.S. dollars cash and I went off to find the Coca Cola Bus Terminal to check the availability of buses to Manuel Antonio National Park.
Costa Rican Tourist Information promised that Manuel Antonio was one of its jewels that you absolutely need to visit. An amazing flora & fauna that you can discover visiting the National Park as well as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. A veritable tropical paradise! Pura Vida!
I eventually found the Coca Cola Bus Terminal by the market on Avenida 1 junction with Calle 16. It was a bit of a challenge to find the Ticket Office which was cunningly disguised amongst the market stalls. I bought a ticket for tomorrow at 06:45 hrs., paying ₡ CRC 250 for the 165 km journey from San José.
My next mission was to check out Casey’s Secondhand Bookshop on Calle Central, Avenida 7-9. There seemed to be a lot of tramps (homeless rough sleepers) around the Bus Station area, sleeping on the sidewalk or walking around muttering (mental health issues), dressed in imaginative combinations of ragged clothes and plastic bags.
Casey’s had masses of books to browse around, while four fat Yanks played cards loudly in the back of the shop. I needed to urgently make use of the toilet facilities here and the Yanks thought that I was German because they couldn’t understand my English when I asked them where the bog was.
I bought “IT” by Stephen King for ₡ CRC 175 and on the way back to the hostel I bought some new biros (ball point pens). I am really splashing out the cash today! I also bought what I thought was milk but turned out to be some sort of nasty sour milk or natural yoghurt.
I sit here in the Youth Hostel writing while our “gardener” plays football with some Canadians, using a rolled-up paper bag as a ball.
Sean and I got talking to some other Canadians and Americans and after dinner at the Youth Hostel we all went to the flicks. It was not a film I would have chosen myself, but it was reasonably entertaining.
It was “Every time we say Goodbye”, or “Mil Veces Adios”, a love story about a girl descended from Spanish Jews and an American in the RAF stationed in Jerusalem in 1944. Research today reveals that “Every Time We Say Goodbye is a 1986 American drama film starring Tom Hanks and Cristina Marsillach. Hanks plays a gentile American in the Royal Air Force, stationed in mandatory Jerusalem, who falls in love with a girl from a Sephardic Jewish family.
The film has the unusual distinction of being partly in the Ladino language. With young lovers of very different backgrounds with religious/cultural differences, the film is an account of a forbidden love, and the sacrifices that are made in the face of prejudice.
Afterwards we were joined by some other hostel residents for a few beers in a Chinese Restaurant. Later the girls went back to the hostel and Sean, an American called Devon (because my ancestors came from there), the Youth Hostel receptionist and I went to a pleasant bar. This place did beer served with unusual and tasty bocas (tapas or snacks) for only ₡ CRC 45 a beer.
We got back to the hostel at midnight and crept into our dormitory.
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