Volcan Poas

Today, as well as yesturday I have been hanging out with Gabriel. He is a such a good guy, who is my age and incharge of security at the Hotel. Yesturday, he took me around the city of Alajuela and helped me send off a letter and get some dinero (money), before setting off to the Mall, which is much nicer than Chahko Miko, and getting some good ol´2 for 1 pizza. We cruised the mall for a bit but when I remembered I had only brought enough money for food, we walked back up town to the central market. The city was at its busiest being around 4 or 5pm; people everywhere. To end the day, we went to the pool hall, where after 3 horrific games I managed to come out on top. Before I went back to the hotel and Gabriel bussed home, we decided we would go to see the active Poas Volcano today. We planned to meet at 6am at the park so we could catch the bus and get back to town in time for him to work at 2.
Today, we did meet at 6am, and it turns out the bus for Volcan Poas doesn´t leave until 9am, so we killed 3 hours by just walking around and sitting in the park listening to music, mostly Manu Chao. I was surprised he hadn´t heard it before, but definitely likes it. He also really likes the Bee Jees and Eminem…we get along well. He took me to a modest restaurant for some beans and rice which was very satisfying and filling. After that we went to the bus stop and played the waiting game…apparently in the wrong place, but we managed to get on the bus for a slow and steady journey up the winding, mountain road, to the cloud forest. The bus wasn´t coming back down until 2, so Gabriel had to call and say he would be late and he managed to get the entire day off. When we got back to town, we bought some chicken and bussed it to his house, where we ate our chicken and some rice. Following a taxi ride back into town, we played some more pool—just as awful as yesterday—and stopped after we had won 2 games apiece. It´s be a looong day, so i´m looking forward to bed. Good night.

Picture: Steam pouring out of Volcan Poas, and surrounded by green, cloud forest.