Friday Day 4

Today we made a provision run to the Maxi Pali in Puriscal. We needed everything—the cupboard was bare. Groceries, household supplies, wine and beer and vodka; but maybe most importantly, we needed pet food and litter boxes for our menagerie of animals. Daphne is okay but the cats can get surly when they miss a meal or their facilities after the meal.

Damaged Santiago Apostle Church and Maxi Pali in Puriscal

We drove thirty minutes back to Puriscal. Maxi Pali is the Wal Mart of Costa Rica. There are Maxi Pali’s and regular Pali’s both owned by Wal Mart. They are mostly a grocery store, but they have a little of everything; school supplies, camping gear, bicycles, and bulk items like flour, sugar, and corn.

When you have a grocery list with specific items, Maxi Pali probably won’t have what you really want. They have salsa but not Pace. We found syrup but not pancake mix, and we bought the one and only jar of peanut butter, but they had cell phones and large screen televisions and tires.

Paying for groceries with a U.S. bank’s debit card provides a good exchange rate—Colons to dollars—but you may have to pay an International Exchange Fee. (3% at our bank; Wells Fargo.) Credit cards may not have an International Transaction fee, but Wells Fargo and most other banks just see the fee as another way to make some money. My advice, shop for the best deal and be prepared to use a MasterCard or Visa to pay for groceries.

Even though we had somewhat caught up on our sleep we hadn’t eaten a good meal since the Chick-Filet that Lana had brought us when we missed our flight in Jax three days ago on Tuesday!  We made roasted chicken from the Maxi Pali our meal—along with a vodka screwdriver, an Imperial cerveza, some homemade toaster-oven nachos and a late-night bottle of Clos Cabernet from Chile. 

Sleep came easy that night.