Costa Rica: the pura vida

Dinh told me that most everyone speaks English in Costa Rica. 
Um. I'm not running into many English speakers here. Is this like China where they CAN speak English, but they DON'T? Well it's different this time around, I have a secret weapon: I speak their language!! Ha! Gotcha. 
Besides, I'm looking forward to improving my Spanish. 

my bible

The bus journey from Nicaragua to San Jose, Costa Rica took about 9 hours.
There was a noticeable change in scenery once we crossed the Costa Rican border. Lush green flora speckled with brightly colored flowers created a pleasing scenery. It wasn't Hawaii, but I was impressed. 

I tried to push out the thoughts of hearing people tell me how Costa Rica was over-priced, touristy and Americanized out of my mind. I wanted to find out for myself. 
There was a reason why it's such a popular travel destination. I mean, you don't see hoards of tourists flocking to North Dakota, do you?
No offense, North Dakotans :) 

The motto for Costa Rica is "Pura vida", which means pure life. The locals spurt it out to tourists left and right. I think they get a kick out of it.  

Let's see what kind of "pura vida" I can find here.....

The bus halted to a stop in San Jose and preceded to kick everyone off. An untimely heavy rain storm kindly greeted us. This is why Costa Rica is so green. It is a rainforest, after all. 

Unfazed, I huddled in a dry corner outside the bus station, dug my raincoat out of my bag, swung it on and traipsed through the unyielding buckets of rain. I found a hostel a few blocks away and entered the lobby, dripping wet, albeit smiling. 
There was only one other person staying at the hostel that night. I sulked a tiny bit when I learned I would be the only person sleeping in the dorm room that night. I was looking forward to socializing with fellow vagabonds. I guess that's what I get for traveling in the low season. 

the hostel

San Jose itself is not too happening of a place. It's a nice city to jump start your vacation because of it's center location. If it wasn't for that, I would have never stepped foot in the city. 

After settling into my hostel, I braved the rain again and went scavenging for food. Dinh told me everyone took American dollars. This was not the case. I got so excited when I found a natural smoothie shop, but was shot down just as fast when I learned that they didn't take American dollars. The only thing I ate on the bus journey was a dark chocolate Toblerone chocolate bar that I had bought at the duty free store at the border, mucho hours prior. My nerves had taken care of any hunger I had earlier. But now I was famished!
All the money changers had gone home for the day, I wouldn't have access to any Costa Rican colones until the morning. 

If Dinh was here, I could gripe to him about this nonsense. Dinh was not here. He was in Nicaragua, surfing. I'll gripe to myself. 

With a growling stomach, I headed to the grocery store to try my luck. With a can of black beans, tortillas and a bottle of water, I placed my items on the counter. With the best puppy dog eyes I could manage, I asked the man if they took American dollars. The answer was YES and I silently rejoiced. I would be eating tonight!!

With a full stomach, I slept like a baby. I looked forward to taking the bus to Manuel Antonio national park in the mañana. 
My second night alone and it was better than the first. 
Zzzzzzzz......