Alajuela

We almost got up in time for breakfast today!! I had to make a skype call to our bank in England to try and set up a joint account, the cheque we had gotten for Bertha was in both our names and therefore my dad couldnt put it in either of our accounts!! With some quick thinking on the bank's manager's part we came up with a solution and she emailed me the paperwork for us to print out, sign and return to her....a job for the day!! Anyway, due to the time difference, I did this as the first thing when I woke up, therefore the reason we didnt make breakfast!! We did get coffee though which was good and I managed to speak enough disjointed Spanish to get the guy to agree to let us leave our bags there while we went out for the day...the plan being to try again at the airport that evening after sorting the bank stuff out and having a look round the town. Alajuela is much smaller than San Jose and although the roads seem in slightly better condition, the buildings are much shabbier in general and there aren't so many shops or public places. We did find an internet cafe to print out our documents and a post office however, so once that was out of the way we were free to explore a bit. We bought more airport food at a supermarket and then sat in the park for an hour or so, writing blogs and watching a group of students learn how to walk on stilts, rollerblades and those weird false leg, springy things, as well as several men getting searched by the police for no apparent reason. When the sky clouded over menacingly we thought it time to go and headed back to the hostel for an hour or so while it rained before making our way to the bus stop with our bags. A bumpy ride later and we were back in the airport with nothing to do but write blogs and wait for morning!!