Must Shop For Gifts

We went back to town upon leaving the waterfalls. We asked William our trusted taxi driver to take us to where the locals eat for some grub. We were in need of sustenance after a whole day of activities. We've only been munching on fruits all day.

It was pouring.

William took us to a local soda (restaurant) that was almost empty except for two locals who were there reading newspapers. We met Dona Flora who works in the soda, very friendly and chatty. We engaged in animated conversations with our broken Spanish and her almost nonexistent English. She was happy to see Indian faces, my companions are all Indian looking, because at that time her daughter was backpacking in India and she was only too happy to share this experience with us. Our companions allayed her feelings about the safety of travels in India. She seemed relieved.

However, too much talking expelled hunger from our system. We weren't hungry anymore. We excused ourselves from Dona Flora and the "chef" with a promise we'd return after making rounds in the stores in the neighborhood.

Across the soda was a grocery store. We went inside to investigate.

Look they have flavored mayonnaise.

Right there and then we agreed to do our shopping for friends here. They have coffee beans packages at reasonable price. Costa Rica is known for their coffee, hence we decided what better gift to give our friends than coffee from Costa Rica. Local chips also went into our cart. I find shopping for pasalubong (gifts) in grocery store especially for packaged, canned foods in grocery stores. It's cheaper. We bought most of our gifts for family and friends in a grocery store in Barcelona when we went there.

Our decision to buy the coffee packages in the grocery store paid off dearly when not ten minutes later we saw the same packages at twice the price in a souvenir store not too far from the grocery store.

We returned to the soda, but we concluded that getting food to go was the best thing to do at that time. It was late, we were tired, the rain kept on pouring. We needed a little soak in the tub.



A moonlight walk around the plaza was not to be.


This is WILLIAM the honest. If you find yourself in Arenal-La Fortuna area, find him. He's a good guy.


Then there's Kaylor, another friendly face in this foreign land.

I must say that Costa Ricans are so friendly and warm. Even though they are in the hospitality business, you could feel the sincerity in their dealings. I'm pretty much blown away.