What do the guidebooks know anyway.

Last night we went out to the red light district and did some gambling. All of the guide books say in particular “Don’t wander around the red light district at night.” While walking around down there I had my leatherman in my hand and was fumbling with it so that people could see something metal and shiny. If someone attacked us I would have to ask them kindly to hold on while I open one of the blades into its full locked position. Hey, we made it. I didn’t feel any less safe than being on Burnside at night.

Prostitution is legal here so there was a nice mix of hookers and gambling. Roberta and I only partook in the gambling. We went into this nasty casino called the Horseshoe and hit the slots. We started off with $10 and walked out with about $24. That paid for our cab and dinner. Amazingly the drinks they served in there were really strong. At 9:00pm on a Wednesday the central square by the Grand Hotel Costa Rica was about as packed as Pioneer square during the day but by 9:30 it was dead as a ghost town.

Roberta and I are starting Spanish language classes next week. I am taking one on one lessons at the house and Roberta is taking classes over at the college. Hopefully this will help break down the language barrier. It is actually surprising how few people speak English in and around our neighborhood. That was exactly what we were looking for.

We had a really nice time last Sunday out with some friends from here. They are old time Costa Ricans and own a fair portion of the Costa Rican coffee production. They are potentially the nicest people I have ever met. They had about 12 people over and most people spoke at least 3 languages. People were mixing French and Spanish and English. It was fun to listen to but sometimes hard to understand. At one point I thought that everyone was talking about pasta but it turned out they were talking about the grass in the yard.

Here are some pictures from Sunday and some action photos of the cat:

Click link for pictures