This staying one or two nights thing is for the birds. Such a hassle to unpack and then pack up the next morning. But Aserri was unusual in that, except for the hotel change in Golfito, this was the only time we were only staying one night somewhere.
Ramon needed to make an appointment for a replacement passport, and since he wasn’t getting a human on the phone, he decided to go to the Embassy. We would meet him at the next Airbnb in Atirro, near Turrialba.
We left Aserri and drove through the southern part of San Jose. The trip back in time continued, as we drove towards Curridabat, even down the same street as our first Airbnb, and turned around at the Fresh Market shopping center.
When we rented the Rush at the start of the trip, our Enterprise guy, Bryan, had offered for us to trade it in halfway for a new car, at no extra charge. Just so they could make sure we had a well-maintained car, since 6 weeks on Costa Rican roads can be so hard on cars. This pass through San Jose was the perfect time to trade the car, so we met Bryan at the same Enterprise. Now that we didn't have Anna, we could use a 5-seater with more power than the Rush, so he got us a Suzuki Grand Vitara, stick shift. It was a little tighter to get all our stuff in the back, but the increased power was immediately noticeable when we hit the road. And the 4-wheel drive could come in handy.
We bought some overpriced mamonchinos from a roadside vendor. Lesson to other Gringo tourists: don’t buy roadside fruit unless they have a sign with their price posted, because they will inflate the price when they realize you’re a foreigner. 3000 per kilo for not-great looking mamonchinos. Highway robbery.
We passed through Cartago and the basilica. We stopped for lunch in Paraiso, at a lovely place with lots of parking (that’s kind of a big deal here) and a great view of the coffee growing on the hillsides.
At some point on the way to Atirro, we passed Ramon and he eventually caught up with us. We drove over a dam on the way to Atirro.
We arrived at Casa Quinto Atirro, and for the first time, the pictures on the Airbnb listing did not do the place justice. This place was gigantic! It was big even by U.S. standards. A bit old, maybe built in the 70’s, but the gardens were immaculately landscaped, the veranda was gorgeous, it had a massive pool (not filled with water). We passed a sugar mill on the road to the house, so we assumed that this house was once owned by the owner or manager of a sugar plantation. The house was even ducted for AC, though it no longer worked. Most of the windows had screens, and our room had a big fan, so the temp was going to be manageable. And hot showers. We would be in this house for 5 days.
We went to MaxiPali for groceries and found beach towels with images of Costa Rican money (which, unlike U.S. money, is colorful and pretty). They were a little pricey (5800 colones each) but we needed some thin towels that would dry fast, and these would be useful souvenirs. I do prefer useful souvenirs and not tchotchkes that will just add clutter. We picked out four. When we got home, we realized the cashier had only rang up two of them. So they turned out to be a much more reasonable 2900 colones each!
We made a simple dinner of salad and fruit (and a little soup) and called it a day.
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