1-4-11

Oh boy. Today we left our house near Lake Arenal and drove about 3.5 hours on very curvy roads to get back to Alajuela. Potholes the size of plastic swimming pools. This is downtown Alajuela, the city with the airport next to San Jose.

Checked into our hotel then went to lunch. The majority vote was for a ceviche restaurant. We ate raw fish, shrimp, squid, and clams. Hm. Ok after that I said I deserved some chocolate so we went to a grocery store called Auto Mercado. We though it might sell cars, but no. Expensive groceries. I got chocolate. After that I got my way again (which usually backfires) and we drove on roads that were shaped like intestines to a town called Sarchi. It has the world's biggest ox cart. Here is a photo of a wheel.

That was ~real fun~. Exhausted now, back at the hotel. We leave at 6am. Goodbye summer. I can't imagine flying into the cold winter north tomorrow. This place is another world. Such beauty, such poverty, such basic living- people in touch with the land and each other.