Post Arenal: It's Good to Know Alonzo

We spent the last two nights of our trip in Alajuela, a city not too far from San Jose and close to the airport. When we arrived we were not exactly sure where we would spend the night. George's parents had spent their first night in Costa Rica in a hostel run by local named Alonzo. They had messaged him asking if we all could stay over, but had gotten no response. We figured at worst we could just stay at one of the many perfectly good hostels around town. Pura vida!

When we arrived, Alonzo informed us that unfortunately his place was full at the moment. He was already hosting other tourists, but he could hook us up with someone else who did have room at a place called the Hotel Villa Bonita, and for the same price. He put in the necessary phone calls and then we all talked for a bit on the street about our plans to see the Poás Volcano the following day. Alonzo was informing us of a great place to have lunch on the way back when his friend Aaron arrived to fetch us. We bid Alonzo goodbye and then followed Aaron to the new location.

After following a twisty path through the streets, we drove through a large white gate and parked in front of a grand building nestled into the side of a mountain. Villa Bonita was very nice indeed, with a spacious central area and a front porch which offered a grandiose view of the city of San Jose down below, which glittered and shone brightly in the night. Turned out we would be staying in a fairly posh hotel. And we were getting it for $15 per person per night. We enjoyed our good fortune, ate some dinner and went to sleep in our comfortable rooms.

We decided it was good to know Alonzo.

Pretty sweet place

In the morning after breakfast we had our excursion to the Poás Volcano National Park. At first it was underwhelming; the volcano was mostly covered in clouds as are pretty much all high things in Costa Rica it seems, and the ease of getting there by a flat paved road disappointed Nick and George who are always jonesing for a challenging hike.

The volcano's highly acidic and cloudy lake.

Meh

On our way back to the parking lot we decided to take another path that went into the forest. This we agreed was much more satisfying, as it was narrow, had a good amount of climbing, and the dark, thick forest itself had nice character. George said it reminded him of Middle Earth's Mirkwood, while Sherri was thinking more along the lines of the forest of Grimm fairy tales.

Which fantasy forest is this?

Satisfied with our find we headed back to our hotel. On the way back we stopped at the restaurant Alonzo had recommended. It was run entirely by a woman named Regina and she made us all sorts of great casados there (a popular dish in Costa Rica involving beans and rice). As promised, the food was terrific and we topped it off by buying a big cheap bag of strawberries nearby.

We decided to take it easy and relax at the hotel for the rest of the day, having had an eventful week. Nick, George and I set up our laptops on the porch outside, plugged in our internet sticks and did some much needed emailing for our business for a while.

Time to work!

In the evening Nick went to the airport to pick up Chloe who was visiting for a week. Nick had considered taking the bus or a taxi, but Aaron came in and offered to drive him there himself, and Nick accepted. On the way there, Nick tried to pay Aaron $40 for the ride, which was close to what he would have had to pay to a taxi, but Aaron wouldn't accept it, even to pay for the parking at the airport! Eventually Nick managed to convince him to accept the payment, but only on the condition that it would also cover Chloe's stay that evening. He's a hard bargainer.

The hotel kept doing this throughout our stay really, giving us ridiculous value for what we paid them. I was given coffee while I was working that afternoon, no extra cost. We got free tasty breakfasts each of the mornings we were there. The staff was great and very helpful. And the place itself just looked all around awesome. We spent a fair amount of time during our stay trying to figure out how in the world it could be profitable. It didn't make any sense, until we finally figured out the real price was about five times higher than we had paid; we had gotten a very special deal.

It's good to know Alonzo.