If I had known what I was getting into on this day I might have flown back to Chicago early! After sleeping in our wonderful $12 garage storage rooms we traveled South from Cortés to Osa Sierpe, Costa Rica. Sierpe has a similar layout to Cortés with a small town square and several blocks of unattractive commercial buildings … however, Sierpe has a good amount of tourists due it's being the launching point from it's "Las Vegas" restaurant and marina for one hour boat tours that take travelers down the Rio Sierpe (Sierpe River) to the Pacific Ocean hotels and attractions in the popular Babia Drake beach area.

Junior and I had breakfast while Junior's family members appeared from many different directions to visit with those that had gathered for the common cause of moving Junior's grandmother from Cortés up the Pacific coast to Quepos – where Junior was born and more of Junior's large, extended family lives. All these 'strange' people kept coming to our table and yelling out "Junior" while giving him big hugs. Junior had no idea who these people were because of his age when leaving Costa Rica, but they obviously knew him … so he hugged them all while seeming to enjoy meeting his family and being the center of attention.

Junior gets 'mucho amor' from friends and family he hasn't seen for a very long time.

After about an hour of breakfast and hugs a box truck arrived and it became my understanding that the truck would be taking Junior's grandmother's household items from Cortés to Quepos. What I didn't understand was that Junior, I and Junior's grandmother Maria would be riding in the truck cab along with Ademar the driver for the 3+ hour trip. But wait, it gets better … the truck didn't even pretend to have a working suspension. I guess such a luxury is an afterthought when you are about to travel on an absolutely punishing 'rock' jungle road between Dominical and Quepos (silly Norte Americanos and their luxury vehicle suspensions ;o)

Junior's Grandmother Maria & family get ready for the move from Cortés to Quepos.

So with no suspension to speak of, it's only reasonable to ride the entire spine-crushing route with Junior on my lap – don't you think?! Ya, me too! By the time we pulled into Quepos I'm sure my kidneys where bleeding and my already sensitive back was begging for a shot of morphine.

After surviving the truck ride, there was one more little detail that proves truth is stranger than fiction; the entire contents of the truck needed to be moved onto small water taxis and ferried across a ship channel to Maria's new residence out on the Quepos peninsula where she rented a home for $75.00/month. Seeing a refrigerator, stove, sofa and mattresses piled onto small boats was truly a sight I won't forget for a long time … even with my kidney's bleeding, I managed to take a couple pictures – assuming full well that nobody would believe me without photographic evidence.

Grandma Maria's household items being loaded onto a water taxi for the final move to the Quepos, Costa Rica peninsula.

When the move was finally complete it was time to find a hotel for us to stay. We advised the taxi driver that an inexpensive tipico hotel was our preference … but with the $12 nightmare from the night before still fresh on our minds, we were a bit more specific as to what type of hotel we were looking for. The place we ended-up cost 10,000 colones or approximately $20.00 USD. But the place wasn't much better than our previous night's accommodations, including other hotel 'guests' appearing to be of questionable integrity. Junior fell asleep as soon as his head hit the bed and I made up my mind that the next day we would be finding a more comfortable place to stay as well as enjoying a well deserved day of rest.

Our $20 "hotel" room in Quepos, Costa Rica