Off to Fortuna

Dentist

Last day in San Jose. This was fast and thank God. Margot stayed back at the hotel and Karl and I headed off to the dentist. Karl's inspection was done in a minute. Maurice took him off to photograph some graffiti while I had 35 years of cigarette and coffee stains blasted off my chompers with 25% hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet light. I'll spare you the details of the procedure and my white burned gums.

Off to Fortuna

Volcano time. We rented a car and headed out to see Volcan Arenal via Volcan Poas. Just north of San Jose lies Volcan Poas. It's a lovely drive from Alejualah; the drive alone is worth the trip. As we climbed the volcano things were looking pretty sketchy. The afternoon clouds were coming in. I pulled up to the ticket gate and asked the lovely Tica “Do you speak English?” Her response was very clear and very carefully enunciated but it soon became apparent that this was her most practiced phrase. She then told us it was partly cloudy at the top. Partly? Partly? That hardly seemed likely. Nobody in the car wanted to say, “Yeah, let's give it a shot anyway.” or “No, you have got to be fucking kidding me.” We bought tickets and took the walk. Arriving at the summit, where one would peer down into the volcano, see the bubbling sulfur on the far side of the lagoon the visibility was maybe 10 feet. No clue we were near a volcano. NEXT!

Back to the car, I drove for three hours to Fortuna. We arrived at the ApartHotel at which I had formerly lived. Karl got out and greeted Rudy with “Fuck you, my friend.” With Rudy, that is entirely appropriate. I think it's one of the phrases he teaches his English language students as a typical American phrase. My room, #7, was occupied. He wanted to place us in another room a single room with no couches, no refrigerator or kitchen and no TV, basically a really large closet with a bed. We went out for dinner, it's not hard to please a vegan who is more than happy to eat rice and beans for every meal.

When we returned a sofa bed had been carried down into the room. “Karl can have the couch, you can have the bed and I'll sleep on the floor.” This won't do. “You are so high maintenance.” Off to find suitable accomodations, returning. “Let me get Rudy to move this guy's car.” “It's less than half a mile, my backpack isn't very heavy, the guy might be asleep, are you always this high maintenance?” What a trooper.