Bar The Rolling Stones, Tibás, San José, Costa Rica

The Rolling Stones is the best bar we've seen in Tibás so far. Located about 300m west of the park, open from early enough till midnight. Uncontroversial rock music, playstation, relative tranquility. The bartenders actually know what a gin tonic is, and the gin is actually good (tanqueray, beefeater's, not cacique extra concha).

The owner is from Scotland, suffered from homesickness one day, and bought the toilet from the film Trainstopping.

The urinal is from a scottish ghost-movie from the 1920s

Closing time, seen from the IWCRP point of view, after several delicious gin tonics

Unknown Soldier

Another pic from the archives. No idea where it's from, but it looks nice enough.

Latin American Poker Tour 2008 - San José, Costa Rica

Rumors had it that the LAPT guaranteed functioning WCs, so the IWCRP jumped on a plane from Madagascar to see if this was true. And, to our satisfaction, so it was.

According to the LAPT home page, this player is swedish.
According to the IWCRP, he is not.

This specimen worked just as intended by its inventor

Hotel el Gran Impala, Río Claro, Costa Rica

Inexpensive place by the Panamerican highway, OK for a nap if you're driving from Panama to Mexico, or if you're going shopping in Golfito. I think they charged about $20/night. Private bath, cable TV, fan. Rooms with a/c available.

Our room included a sleeping cleaning-lady who had to be poked with a pointed stick to wake her up.

Another McDonalds: Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica

Not much to say about a McD WC, really. It's probably the most trivial thing in the universe. We try to compensate this by giving you a picture of the church in Perez, taken through the window of a moving car.

MCDWC

If you've ever been a tourist in PZ, you already have this picture

Bars in Heredia, Costa Rica: Bar Mulos & El Botecito + Unknown Soldiers

These are old pictures from back when the IWCRP were still a young, confused organization without a defined methodology. Thus, we can not say with absolute certainty which WC belongs to which bar. Nevertheless, since we love human beings, we try to improve their everyday conditions by providing them as much information as possible, regardless of its credibilty. So here we go:

Bar Mulos: a very old bar with a bartender who has been working there since at least 1974

Bar El Botecito: tiny bar with a lot of tipsy fellows who seemed to know each other since they were old enough to buy their first beer. Excellent place, one of our favourite chinchorros in Heredia.

This is almost definitely the Botecito WC

Possibly the Mulos WC

From a bar not far from the mercado central in Heredia. The name has unfortunately been erased from humankind's collective memory.

Rest. Cocolores, Montezuma, Costa Rica

This Restaurant has good seafood, decent prices and a serious insect problem. Before sunset, the food must be protected frantically against large amounts of huge, disgusting flies, after sunset there's just a lot of different small bugs seeking the lightbulb and then falling down on the table.

Apart from that, the location is good; centrally located and practically on the beach. And less expensive than fancier options like Playa de los artistas, which probably has the best food I've ever eaten in Costa Rica, and Ylang Ylang.

Cocolores is open Tue-Sun 17-22

Montezuma centre; Cocolores on the left

The entrance

Cosy urinal

Restaurant Ylang Ylang, Montezuma, Costa Rica

Ylang Ylang is a fine restaurant on the beach, about 20 min walk from the town of Montezuma. Although ridiculously expensive, the food was really good and the service excellent. And it's a really nice place to sit and enjoy the happy hour from 3 pm to 6 pm.

However, since it's a 20 min walk along the beach to get back to town, responsible drinking is advisable after sunset. In our case, we were given candles, and one of the waiters walked us through the first, difficult ten minutes with a flashlight. Waiters don't do that in San José or New York anymore.

In extreme cases, it's also possible to rent a bungalow and spend the night.

A great place to relax after a day at the beach

A real towel!

The Bakery Café, Montezuma, Costa Rica

Good breakfast and decent prices, and strange, tropical birds who come and steal your food or poke your eyes out if you don't have any. According to external sources, lunch is not so good here, though.

Bar Popeye, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

About one block from the ferry, thus convenient for a quick beer while someone else is watching the car.

This is the room where they torture children

Cubism is king at Popeye's

Fancy entrance

Rest. Puerto Viejo

A public WC in Puerto Viejo. I love that they spelled it "rest. room", as if it were a place where they cook and serve food. Brown gravy on everything, then. La Princesa Marina in Moravia copied the idea.

La Ronería, Cartago 2008

Roneros observing a strange, unknown construction

The IWCRP recently decided to document the hitherto undocumented WC situation in Cartago, Costa Rica. We sent out this invitation to our associated members:

Estimados feligreses. Os invitamos a celebrar el 9 de agosto conmigo, conmemorando el día de nuestra queridísima Puta Gorda de Los Angeles.

La leyenda dice que la Puta Gorda, también conocida como la negrota, estaba en un chinchorro en Cartago la noche del 9 de agosto hace suficientes años como para que no se pueda comprobar nada, y se tomó un misíl de ron.
Se fue al baño, y cuando volvió, la botella estaba ahi... llena otra vez! Le pareció muy extraño, pero se la tomó como si fuera agua y después salió a gritarle a un señor que le debía dinero por un trabajo que ella le había hecho.
Milagrosamente, cuando volvió a la barra, ahí estaba la botella que había dejado en una mesa. Y lo más increíble de todo es que estaba llena otra vez! Se la tomó toda, y de repente ya no estaba de goma.

La negrota contó la historia a un borracho que por ahí andaba, y a él le pareció un milagro lo que había pasado.

De esta historia podemos deducir lógicamente que hay que ir de ronería; caminar por toda la bella ciudad de Cartago cada 9 de agosto, visitando la mayor cantidad posible de chinchorros. Se puede pedirles el favor a los bartenders de llenar la copa con una bebida, y hay muchos testimonios afirmando que conceden el favor, sobre todo si entras de rodillas. Además, los 9 de agosto el guaro tiene el poder de curar cualquier malestar, por lo que hay que aprovechar.

Es un acto de guarofeo.

For those unaquainted with the spanish language, Costa Rica and catholisism, la Ronería is an event resembling la Romería, which takes place every year on august 2, in honor of la Virgen de Los Angeles. Hundreds of thousands of people walk to Cartago to ask her favors or thank her for already committed miracles. La Ronería is a similar concept, concentrating on walking from bar to bar, asking the bartenders for beers

1. Bar Nueva Lira, San José

The first stop on the tour was Bar Nueva Lira, by the San José-Cartago bus stop in downtown San José. Despite being nueva, the place appears to be rather old. What we liked most about this place was that the tables had little doorbells we could ring in order to get more beer. Unfortunately, we do not have pictures from the WC, but the ladies' room can be spotted in the back on the second picture.

Pablo in front of Bar la Nueva Lira

Bar and bar-lady.

2. Bar & Licorera El Jardín, Cartago

Our second stop, El Jardín, is a classic chinchorro. The cheapest alcohol available in this universe, combined with a relaxed and unambitious atmosphere. We made a friend here, Edgar, who is approaching his 80th birthday. He did not recommend going to our next scheduled stop, Bar el Veinte next door. Lots of bad people there, apparently. So we skipped it and went straight to el Gato Negro instead.

Entrance to the gardens of Eden

Classic urinal

3. Bar El Gato Negro, Cartago

For some of the participants, this was the highlight of the Ronería, the nicest bar of all. Undisputably a genuine chinchorro, with ridiculously low prices, completely random decoration, the urinal without a door in a corner, and, most notably, a sign saying that the presence of women is prohibited, just to be 100% sure. El Gato Negro can be found inside el Mercado Central in Cartago, and closes at 8 p.m.

No girls allowed in the clubhouse

Useful AND decorative

More decorative than useful

More useful than decorative.

4. Bar Las Brisas, Cartago

On our way to La Bicicleta, we found Las Brisas just across the street, and therefore decided to investigate. A bit slow, perhaps, but by no means a bad place. The entertainment consisted of DVDs of spanish and latin american singers from the 70s; lots of glamour and heartache.

Beautiful from the outside

Beautiful on the inside

Beauty within; the cook and the bartender

Beautiful urinal

5. Bar La Bicicleta, Cartago

This bar is a landmark in Cartago, which was confirmed when we asked for the address. The owner looked a bit confused, and said "well, la bicicleta!" The bar is used to locate other places, not the other way around. Still, we think it's about 3-400 m east and 100 m north from the mercado central. According to our friendly bartender, the place could easily be over 100 years old, since a neighbour who also reached that age remembers going there with his father as a child.

Classic architecture

The house cat, Sonia, having a drink

A guest and our friendly bartender

Another bartender, one who loves to be photographed

6. Aquel lugar #2, Cartago

Another famous place in Cartago, this one, and very popular. Perhaps a little too fancy for us, especially compared to the other places we had visited so far. Still, highly recommended for a normal night out.

Handsome bartenders

Smallish urinal

Official IWCRP models Pablo and Victor help make this an outstanding picture. The two smiling persons in the back are in no way affiliated with us, and were later given a severe beating for smiling sheepishly and without reason.

7. Bar el Cartaginés, Cartago

El Cartaginés fills up for 15 minutes every two weeks, on sundays at 11.45, during half time in Club Sport Cartaginés' home games. CSC has not won the championship since 1940, but that will change this season, for sure. Status so far is 2 points in three games. The bar has a very friendly cat and good bocas, both of which can be enjoyed in peace when no game is on.

Optimism is one of the main characteristics of CSC fans

This is where the high hopes end up every season


8. La K-Baña, Cartago

Since both Lalo's and Titos's bars were closed, we ended up here at la Cabaña, which is probably spelled "K-baña", since that's how you spell things nowadays if you want to show that you're hip. Personally, I'd rather K-strarme than going to this place again, it's an utterly meaningless place without any sign of personality.

Boring WC

Young hipsters being bored

9. Bar Royal, Cartago

Bar Royal, about 1 km north of the mercado central, is better known as La Tencha, or donde Tencha, and is a mandatory stop on every tour to Cartago. Not because it's a particularly nice place - it's actually a brothel, and a very unexclusive one - but it's an institution and a part of the collective identity since about 1502. And it's basically the only place open in Cartago after midnight.

Not the classiest place in town, but no doubt the most famous


10. The Unknown Soldier:
Somewhere in San José, possibly Kerri's.

Memories fade away. That is not less true after a night of continuous drinking, but this picture could be from a place called Kerri's bar, behind the more notorious choice for those who are out late, namely the night club la Pantera Rosa. However, since the IWCRP does not associate or identify with anything pink, we chose the place with the cheap beer.

Unknown soldier

11. End of the Night: San José - Heredia Bus Station

Surprisingly clean at 7 a.m.

Panoramic view of this impressive fusion between avantguard architecture and modern technology.

"Aproveche", the imperative of the verb "aprovechar", which according to my dictionary means to make the most of an opportunity, or to make progress, to become useful.