Costa Rica day 8 (early)

Jo stayed up late last night and began planning the next leg as we leave tomorrow. Unfortunately Jo's sister Marion and her husband Don can't make it down here this month due to committments so we're going to head South to a place called Playa Conchal which is on this coast. It's not far but that's ok as we've got lots of time. I think because we're not going to Arenal volcano as soon as planned we're going to follow the coast for a while and maybe work our way over to Limon just to see it. It's on the Caribbean side and pretty remote with few amenities. It's also a lot wetter over there but we have our rain gear and it's only water right?
Not sure how often I can keep the blog going for the next few days as it will be up to the "free wireless" but I'll catch up as soon as I can.
Closing log at 7 a.m. stardate Jan. 16
NO PICS TODAY I'M TOO TIRED. Leaving in the morning on the chickenbus for Playas Grande south of here. (Turtle country) Hopefully we'll have internet access down there
Update for yesterday at 5:37 a.m. Yesterday we along with Soleiha (I'd been spelling it wrong) walked down to the beach and into town. Stopped at the souvenir place & then went to the banco. Man that was a real experience. Lots of people out front and a guard w/ a shotgun. Another guard opened the iron door to let someone in so we thought maybe they only allow 1 in at a time but that wasn't the case. Going inside we took a number like in a grocery store. My number was 93 and they were working on 50! Fortunately they had air (although the thing was dripping water all over the floor). They had 3 tellers, two of whom were doing commercial deposits etc. 45 minutes later it was our turn. Converted $200 into colones and we were out of there in 30 seconds. To complete the transaction we had to show our copies of our passport and sign for the money. No idea why all the other transactions took so long in front of us. Also when we entered the guard at the door told both Jo and I to remove our hats and she had to open her purse & show him the contents. turns out I could have put my hat back on but only if the brim was facing backwards so the security cameras could see our faces. Like who's going to tangle with a shotgun in a small room?
We then walked back to the souvenir store and Jo bought some real nice thongs to replace the flipflops and a pair of reversible shorts for under $10. It was then time to hit the little bar across the Golden Gate bridge which crosses over the famous Rio Septic.
Out in the bay was a gorgeous Windjammer Sailboat that carries 200 people up and down the coast for 7 days. They were picking passengers up in a zodiak who'd gone into town. The zodiaks were offloading into the stern of the ship.
When we got back we found that sister Lynn and Godmother Anne had been waiting for us for 4 hours. Manuel had let them into our unit after he got here so they had a/c and something to eat. We spent the afternoon with them as we won't see them again down here. They leave today for Ont. and that's why we chose this spot so we could hook up w/ them. They're staying at the brand new, all inclusive Hilton and were delivered here in a brand new BMW. Now that's class!
Last night I put a dvd together for Serge the owner of Villa del Sol and then got packed up. Now it's time to finish the packing and get ready to catch the cab at 7:30 to take us to the chicken bus. I'll post yesterdays pics on face book later.
LINK OF THE DAY
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25933&l=94057&id=680056043