We were up and doing our laundry at 07:00 hrs. Then we had a good breakfast in the hostel café for ₡ CRC 75 and then walked into town. We went to the Tourist Office, the Post Office and numerous airline offices as well as an English book shop.
I picked up two postcards from my friend George in New Zealand/Australia and we ascertained that the cheapest destinations by air from here are Columbia via San Andreas and Quito in Ecuador.
On the way back I bought some fruit from a corner fruit stall, of which there are many, usually in conjunction with a vendor of National Lottery tickets.
In the afternoon we investigated the Ferrocarril to Puntarenas. Costa Rica’s Pacific Railroad (Ferrocarril al Pacifico) provides an important link between the capital of San José and Puntarenas, one of the country’s most important port cities.
There are two a day at 06:30 hrs. and 15:00 hrs. for which you can buy tickets on the day, 30 minutes before departure. We then trudged back to the Youth Hostel to relax. Out of the centre there are a lot of wooden plank-built houses. I sat in the spacious common room and tried to work out a realistic circuit of South America using our two guidebooks, while Declan snored in the dormitory.
At 18:00 hrs Declan decided that he wanted to phone his ex-girlfriend Karen, so we walked back into the city centre to the Telecom place near the main Post Office. The guys behind the desk were friendly and helpful and spoke English.
They were interested to know how Declan got his battle scars, but he was reluctant to discuss the Nicaraguan fracas. The three-minute telephone call boosted his morale, especially as Karen (who he never wanted to see again when we left London) said that it was freezing cold in the U.K.
We went on to Ye Pub with a couple of teenage girls scrabbling to undo Declan’s daysack which was over his shoulder. Luckily there was nothing of value in the rear pocket. In the pub we had a couple of bottles of pilsner and watched the television with it’s banal adverts while listening to good music on the radio.
We stopped off at McDonalds for a Big Mac on the way back and some fast bugger nicked Declan’s Big Mac while he was paying for it! Luckily it was replaced for free, and we ate our burgers in the Plaza de la Cultura by the metal snorkel pipes reminiscent of the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
It is impossible to miss La Plaza de la Cultura if you’re walking along San José’s Avenida Central Pedestrian Mall. It is situated in front of the Grand Hotel and on the north side of the National Theatre. The Plaza is a great place for people watching.
Construction began in 1977 and the plaza was officially inaugurated on February 26, 1982. While it was being built the critics jokingly referred to the large hole at the construction site as the “hueco de la cultura” or “hole of the culture”.
One story that I omitted to record at the time occurred when we were on the bus to San José. Declan bought three green coconuts which were chilled with a straw inserted so you could drink the juice (coconut water). These were purchased from an elderly lady. She buggered about trying to get change and when the bus left Declan still owed her ₡ CRC 10.
She ran after the bus howling and trying to balance her tray of coconuts on her head for a few hundred yards before Declan tossed her the required coin.
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