8. CR - Dominical - no Pura Vida today..

You have probably heard the Costa Rican phrase "pura vida", or pure life, which loosely translates into "the good life". Craig and I have been enjoying the pura vida - until today.

Craig had a number of things that he did not need regular access to stored in a water-proof soft cargo bag affixed to the roof rack, including a few things I gave him before he left so as not to have to transport them on the plane. We finally got around to opening the bag to find a few small rips that allowed enough of the occasional torrential downpours over the last few weeks to sleep in. Clothes were drenched, smelly, mildewed and moldy. Kinda gross.

We asked at the front desk about local laundry facilities in the area. They told us there were none around except for the on-site facility that would do laundry @ $1 per item. Yikes! With very little additional research, we located 2 public laundry options within a mile of the hotel, and used one of them. BTW - when I say public laundry, the one we chose consisted of a guy in a garage with a few washers and dryers hooked up, and a few bags of laundry ahead of us I'm the queue. We left the clothes, crossed our fingers, and later retrieved a bag of freshly laundered, 95% mildew-free, folded clothes. Although a few things could not be salvaged (Craig's hiking boots for one), we came out relatively unscathed.Read more