Soda Alfaro

Above: Hotel Lucy, Montezuma, Costa Rica, Central America.

Thursday 11th February 1988

We had breakfast in the usual place, having scrambled eggs rather than fried, for a bit of variety. An exciting change! We then went to pick up Micheal at the hotel. It was only 09:00 hrs. but he was already (or still) drunk.

We walked down to the waterfall with him picking his way slowly along behind us on the riverbed. We swam in the pool and Micheal told us tales from Iowa, of how he liked to ride around on his 3-wheeler motorbike blasting things with his pump-action sawn-off shotgun.

He had seen some service with the U.S. Marines in Cambodia. The Cambodian campaign (also known as the Cambodian incursion and the Cambodian invasion) was a brief series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia in 1970 by South Vietnam and the United States as an extension of the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War.

Thirteen major operations were conducted by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) between 29 April and 22 July and by U.S. forces between 1 May and 30 June 1970. As a result, Micheal was now a likeable alcoholic with a demented giggle. He loves our English accents and is delighted to meet Europeans.

I climbed to the top of the waterfall to create a human dam by cutting off the main flow with my body. Without the tumbling water the resulting quiet is startling in the canyon. I managed to get down safely despite the crumbling rock face and we explored the pool using Chris’s snorkel and face mask.

At midday we went back to the Soda Alfaro café for Coca Cola and fruit salad. Micheal headed for the hotel bar. Here we met Chris’s friend who had finally arrived, and he set off with them to do some snorkelling.

We sat on the veranda of our hotel enjoying the breeze. I had recovered my bush hat from Alfaro’s, hurrah! As the sun went down a bit we moved onto the nearest beach and dozed in the shade.

We went out swimming in the warm, undulating sea, just floating about and sculling gently. Some kids played under a large green parachute on the beach. It billowed like a huge jellyfish. We went on to Chico’s Bar where we drank beer and ate fish in the company of two Alaskans and two Canadian girls.

At 21:00 hrs we went next door to the hotel bar for some rum’n’cokes. Micheal was well pissed (drunk) and spent most of his time slapping a chair about. We finally called it a day at 23:30 hrs. after a very quiet Thursday night drink-up.