Day 8 Tuesday 2nd October: Red red wine (reggae version!)

Mike writes:

The hotel continued to maintain its high standards last night. The boast of “international cuisine” was justified by the inclusion of burger & chips on the menu.  We thought it was going to redeem itself as, despite it clearly being the sommelier’s night off, we obtained a quaffable bottle of red wine after some negotiation with the sole employee in the hotel.  Second and third bottles followed but the festivities came to an abrupt halt shortly after as we had drunk the hotel’s cellar dry. And it was only night one. To add insult to injury, the lone worker locked everything up, closed the bar and went home at 9.00 P.M. adding yet more ammunition for Chris’s Booking.com review.

[Mike and Chris aka Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show]

Another earlyish start was required to allow John to dial into a board meeting in Edinburgh – such is the dedication of our captains of industry. The wifi signal and the mosquitoes both behaved for long enough for him to complete the call and we then set off south along the coast towards the Panama border.

The road and scenery improved the further we got from Limon. First stop was Puerto Viejo, a reggae inspired Caribbean beach town wreathed in marijuana smoke and festooned with pictures of Bob Marley.

John felt completely at home.

 After a quick stop via the supermarket for wine in case the hotel has failed to restock, we headed further south to Playa de Punta Uva, where we enjoyed a few hours on the stunning beach and swam in the sea.  Lunch at an overpriced beach bar relieved us of the few colones we had left so we returned north to the Westfalia Hotel just as the weather changed and the rain started.

Tomorrow its back to San Jose on the final day of our Costa Rica adventure.