Cafetal

We decided that we should stay near San Jose on our final night, such that we’d make it back to the airport in plenty of time. With that in mind, Natalie found Cafetal, a boutique hotel on a coffee plantation only 20 minutes from the airport. We were all immediately impressed by the beauty and tranquility when we arrived!

It’s amazing how deceptive first impressions can be! It turned out that our rooms were situated directly above the restaurant and bar, so even though we turned in for an early night around 9 PM, some of the other patrons had a different idea; it didn’t get quiet until about 11:30 PM.

At around 3 AM, I was awoken to the sound of someone taking a shower. Given that it was just Kristy and I in our room, I was rather confused as to why she decided 3 AM would be best suited to her showering needs. As it turns out, it was our neighbour’s shower; but with the style in which our room had been constructed, the wall between us and our neighbours didn’t meet the roof, hence it didn’t provide adequate (read “any”) shielding of noise. To make matters worse, there was at least three people in their room, which meant the showering continued for at least half an hour.

My only theory is that they had an early flight, because after the shower, we heard noises of packing and departing from their room. It finally got quiet around 4 AM, and we drifted off into a very light sleep. The Cookes told us in the morning that it was around then they heard them all walking along the loose gravel carpark, which kept them all up for the next twenty minutes or so. *sigh* Our hopes of a decent night’s rest had been dashed!

We had breakfast at the hotel, and then made a half-spirited attempt to explore their grounds; but running on hardly any sleep, and with the temperature around 32°C, we really just wanted to head to the airport and wait for our flight.

The single thing that made our day was our final lunch at a tiny little road-side cafe. We all enjoyed a very “tipical” meal of marinated chicken with rice, beans, and salad – very fresh, very tasty, and very cheap!

Despite a few restless nights and a not-so reliable car, Costa Rica was an absolutely fantastic trip away, made even better by the wonderful company of the Cookes. We were there for nine nights in total, but they all seemed to zip past faster than doubles on a zip-line!