Alex’s 50th started off pretty much like every other day: quietly. Which was a lot for me to hold back, as I really wanted to say “Happy Birthday” as early as possible.
But it’s her day, so if she wants to sleep in, that’s okay with me.
I shuffled the laundry a bit before breakfast. Almost there, but we still need one more day. I had to use the electric radiator to accelerate things a bit, despite the clear warnings not to put anything wet on it.
It was some quiet time, mostly. But really leading up to what we were doing after lunch: Amadeus.
You might recall that Alex absolutely loves this movie. And because they had it on DVD meant we could watch it in the theatre, all to ourselves. (Choo Choo opted not to join us. I imagine she has a less-than-positive view of the movie.)
One advantage of Amadeus – it’s so long that it occupies two sides of a DVD. That meant intermission! We got popcorn.
As we exited from the matinee, we had a chance encounter with a man we’d seen roaming about the hotel over the last couple of days. There was something different about him: he wasn’t a tourist, he was doing something business-y. We couldn’t quite figure out what, until he happened to ask us about our stay, which led to our history with Villa Blanca, at which point he introduced himself as Max, the owner.
Well, Max had to offer Alex a birthday beverage. He took us personally to the bar. Alex, still miffed for not getting her elderflower cocktail. With the boss watching, the bartender had no choice but to crack open the St. Germain and pour out a drink that had Alex floating. Max offered me a Mango IPA from a brewery down in San Ramon, the nearest city. I gotta tell ya, Mango IPA could break me of not drinking right now.
Thanking Max heartily for his hospitality, we returned to the cabin to turn laundry one last time, got Choo Choo, and returned to play games. Specifically, Scrabble.
For dinner, I took Max’s recommendation and had the BBQ. It seems like an odd thing to have in Costa Rica – my prior experience with BBQ here has been highly debatable outside of Argentinian asado. Max swore he was determined to teach the cooks to make proper American BBQ, and had even brought down a pitmaster to teach them. The platter of ribs and pulled pork (brisket will be a challenge with local beef) really proved they’re on the way.
I finagled my way outside for a bit to get a few night photos, as the fog had rolled in. Despite being in the cloud forest, we hadn’t had much cloud.
Tomorrow, we head back to Liberia.