June 7: San Jose (Washington, DC & Newark)

(1) The Costa Rican adventure began early in the morning with a flight from Washington to Newark. There, I spent several hours hanging out with my cousin, Lenny, who lived in nearby Kearny, New Jersey. Later, he drove me back to the airport where I met up with Jerome as he walked off his flight from Denver. We quickly slipped into a bar to catch up over a couple white Russians - Roger Clemens was going for his 300th win on the TV. Soon, Jerome and I were on our way to San Jose. Once we arrived in this bustling city, we cabbed it to Hostel Pangea, unloaded our things, and hit up a bar by the university for a foam party with some of the other hostel people. It sounds like more fun than it actually was, but still managed to be a healthy, immediate dose of the local energy. (photo: www.esrs.wmich.edu)

(2) Jerome had heard from friends back in Denver about the Hotel Del Rey and its Blue Marlin Bar. So, we ditched the foam party and cabbed on over to gringo-haven. Basically, this place is a hangout for American men, as it offers gambling, sports on tv, booze, and hookers. We weren't looking for the latter, but we settled down anyway to a table, ordered some beers, ate some nachos, and tried to avoid the prostitutes as best we could. Of course, they're working hard, so they saddled right up to us at our table. It's not that we were the two biggest studs in the whole bar - we were simply fresh meat. Anyway, we hadn't been in San Jose three hours when Jerome discovered that one of those tramps stole his wallet (and he laughed at my money belt). Needless to say, the trips was off to a wonderful start. (photo: www.1-costaricalink.com)