We finally got the car, and after going over it and having the fellow make a note of every mark, then sending it back into the shop to have a brake light replaced. We drove back to the Hotel Villa Tournon to check out and exchange money, and finally hit the road by 10:30 a.m.

The trick to driving in Costa Rica is being aggressive. In San Jose, the pedestrians watch out for the cars--a driver has to watch out for the other cars and for the stop signs and other lights that aren't as apparent as they are in the States. We had some fun navigating to the hotel, and then back to the Pan American highway, along one-way San Jose streets that our map didn't show as single direction lanes. But we persevered.