It feels like I haven’t slept since I’ve arrived. The amount of new experiences I’ve had so far leaves no time for rest. I’ll start from where I left off last time and work up right to this minute.

Randall and Emer got to the Royal Dutch at around 5:30. After some quick introductions we went out for dinner and some drinks. We went to an Asian restaurant for dinner and then bar hopped for a while. We ended up at a casino on the top floor of a Holiday Inn which had an amazing view of San Jose. It’s really unfortunate that it takes about 15 stories to make San Jose look beautiful. After a few drinks here we went back to the hotel. I was weary from my travels but Emer and Randall continued to another casino.

We woke up at about 12:00 thanks to the lack of natural sunlight in our windowless hotel room, and began our trip to Bagaces. We stopped along the way for food and to get a birthday present for Randall’s sister. We arrived in Bagaces at about 5:00pm and I began my tour of this gorgeous town. We began at Emer and Randall’s house and explored the main attractions of the town, including an amazing pool with a swim-up bar and gigantic water slide. I got my first glimpse of Costa Rican wildlife as we viewed some monkeys in the trees on the outskirts of the pool area. We hung out at the pool for about two hours and then continued to the bull ring that sits on one end of the town. We took our seats and our drinks and watched as some brave souls rode these enormously ill-tempered beasts and sacrificed their bodies to the sound of our cheers. Some of the spectators like to stand inside the bull ring and taunt the bull after the rider had “gracefully dismounted”. When the bull charged these amateur matadors would scramble to climb the fences as quickly as possible.

After about three more beers I decided these bulls didn’t look that tough and went down to join them (sorry mom!). I stumbled home after the rodeo and slept in the guest room at Emer and Randall’s.
The next morning I woke up unusually early, I took my acoustic guitar outside and played a few songs while the town children walked to class. Randall got up a few hours later and drove me to my host families house. I am living with a man named Don Carlos, a retired French professor. His house is quite beautiful (again pictures to come), and my room is surprisingly spacious. I have also been told he is an excellent cook. Once I had dropped off my bags Randall and I headed to the office. I was eager to see what a Costa Rican web development company looks like.

Our offices are two small rooms which are mercifully air conditioned. I began work building an animated map of Costa Rica in Flash. At lunch we were served a delicious dish prepared by Randall’s aunt. I ate while I worked on my map animation but was interrupted only minutes later by Randall who offered to take me to go tubing in one of the rivers around the town.

The company running the tubing excursion were current clients of ours. Most of our dealings with local tourist organizations involve some sort of bartering of services rather then currency. This has provided the team with some interesting and cost-efficient trips to popular attractions in the region. The inner tube ride was about a 30 minute trip down a swift river with alternating rapids and smooth flowing water. I was told this river was one of the cleanest in all Costa Rica, and the wildlife in the surrounding area was a testament to this fact. The team has spotted sloths in the area and during my trip, our guide managed to collect a shrimp so large I initially thought we had discovered some sort of rare fresh water lobster.

After the inner tube ride we went to visit another client, local artist Tony Jimenez who skillfully creates statues from wood, stone, marble and some unlikely urban materials. My favorite pieces of his were these gorgeous wooden statues of the female form that seamlessly employed pieces of barbed wire and bicycle chains as hair.

Once we arrived back at the offices we learned the power had gone out, a rather frequent occurrence in Costa Rica. This, unfortunately meant that all work had to stop and we had to travel to one of the many local bars to drink beer before it got warm. Once we had saved enough beer from an untimely fate we came back to the offices to begin the ritualistic Monday night poker game. I held my own for quite some time but went out on attempting to call a bluff.

I stepped inside to check my e-mail and blog about my last two days before I had forgotten too many details. I then walked back home where I quickly fell asleep, envisioning what might be in store for tomorrow.

Goodnight!