Exploring Costa Rica: Pura Vida! Part VII

Read it from the beginning:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

This right here was a funny little group of palms in the backyard of our vacation rental. Notice that one of the trunks is missing a head?

It cracked me up. Headless Palm.

We spent the rest of our Costa Rican vacation living by the philosophy and enjoying the sensational tropical weather. It was raining and cold in Los Angeles while we soaked in this pool under the hot sun. Notice it's a mere hop-skip from the ocean just beyond it.

And avoided what we thought was an angry pig. It was just the docile mascot at Lola's Bar & Restaurant.

That's a fully grown man in the picture next to Lolita, as she's affectionately called. So you can imagine how large she is. And how very unangry she is. She was clearly bored by us.

As lovely as Lola's was (who doesn't love a bar on the beach?) it was clearly a tourist trap. Where outside of Los Angeles clubs do you have to pony up $12 for a drink? Lola's. L'sigh. Thankfully most of the other watering holes we found ourselves in were much more modestly priced. Beers were two bucks and came with a free snack or boquita. At one point I found myself eating tripe, which I usually detest, but for some reason was completely tolerable with Costa Rican beer.

But all good things come to an end. Eventually we had to come back to the States, back to work, back to $12 drinks everywhere. Though not before having one last $2 Imperial and Costa Rican nachos at the only non-fast food restaurant in the San Jose International Airport. At Malinche, you can have authentic Costa Rican food, but I was curious when I spotted nachos on the menu.

They tasted exactly like their American counterparts. Not surprising, I guess. The guacamole squeezed out of a tube was interesting. But the meat was really yummy. And that was my last Costa Rican meal.

A mere 2 hours later I was back on native soil. So far away from our private beach. Memories...

That was my winter vacation. Full of much drink, good food, great times, wonderful people, and a really huge pig. At least I came home with an awesome tan.