Homemade Polish Pierogies in Paradise

January 27: 92 degrees

First up today was to try and move rooms.  Luckily Mandy got online last night and found a hostel with the desired combo of great reviews, availability and a private bedroom.  We head up the hill to Vista Serena.  Great view.  Cool people.  Clean room. What a find! 

Sunset view from Vista Serena Hostel

As we stay in Manuel Antonio, we are too close not to visit the town of Quepos.  Before we left for Costa Rica, we thought that Quepos may be a place to spend 3-4 weeks of our time.  We were told of a great little restaurant right next to the bus station.  We take the bus there and split some food and drinks there.  The restaurant is open air and is located on an intersection which makes for some great people watching.  The street is busy with both vehicle and foot traffic.  Vendors are selling fresh fruit out of the back of their truck across the street.  We casually enjoy the stop but someone along the way had told us of a place called, "Wacky Wanda's".  We decide to check it out. 

We walk into Wacky Wanda's, sat down to have a drink and then, our lives were changed. Mandy notices a sign behind the bar about Polish people and points it out to me.  A woman at the end of the bar notices and asks if we are Polish.  Not knowing what answer she is expecting, Mandy decides to tell the truth.  "Yes, we are Polish but Kasia is VERY Polish."  The woman gets up and moves towards us.  We are now talking to Wacky Wanda herself and she is LOADED.  However, she seems genuinely excited to be talking to a couple of gringos.  She very quickly goes into a rant of deep-rooted Republican conservatism, assuming we share her point of view.  We listen intently as we begin to notice signed photographs of Bush senior and junior on her wall.  She explained how a few musicians have come into and out of Wacky Wanda's as well.  We listen politely but I know Mandy and I are thinking similar things right now.  Both of us are smirking in curiosity of where the conversation will take us.  We can't stop Wanda now. She prepares herself another drink.

We continue our conversation with Wanda and decide to just make the most of it.  By this time, Wanda began to talk about Polish food.  Before we knew it, she was packing us a bag of a dozen perogies, a stick of butter and a lime.  Holy shit, we just scored dinner for tomorrow night.

We leave Wacky Wanda's a little later than we expected so it was time to catch a bus back to our hostel.  We walked and laughed about the crazy conversations that were just had. We also wondered how it is that where we end up in these situations where people offer us, help us or accompany us in some unforgettable times in our life.

Definitely won't be forgetting Wanda anytime soon!