Is it insulting to a hotel and its employees when you refuse the ice in your glass? And then, when they just dump the ice, leaving water in your glass, you drink your warm Coca-Cola out of the bottle? Glen asks, is it a matter of pride to have good water? Hard to know. I drink my coke from the bottle anyhow. It is not worth getting sick just to be polite. Right?

After lunch today, we roamed the book stores and a few other shops. The bird book I had been wanting (A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica, by F. Gary Stiles and Alexander F. Skutch, Cornell University, 1994) was 11,000 colones, around $50--more than I wanted to spend. I should have ordered it in the U.S. for $35! Then again... I may pick it up after rafting, since I wouldn't need it until then.

By that time we were bushed, so we headed back to the hotel for a nap, then the pool/hot tub. After a shower, we both felt infinitely better. Overnight travel gives you an extra day of holiday, but the first day has to be pretty low key! Still, we arrived in daylight and got to tour San Jose. It was worth it for the gold museum alone.

I am actually enjoying this writing process. While I was the first instigator ("Let's write an article about our trip and keep travelogues about it."), Glen has been the diligent one about writing (not surprising, considering he is the aspiring author). So, what to do but write/sketch while he does.

Calculating the true book price leads to: Oops, we are making everything cheaper with our mental mnemonic. How about:

So, to convert colones, divide by 100 and multiply by 0.6.