Met 2 Spanish guys in the room next to mine, both really nice, and one of them lent me his mp3 player, so the other night I mainly spent listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (which I failed to bring with me and was missing like a friend). Jorge continued to feed me well, apparently for free, although I have become very cynical about this town...
I also met a guy called Oscar, who has been in Manuel Antonio for a while selling tours to tourists. He´s from Buenos Aires, used to work as a flight attendant, went to a British boarding school in BA, is set to marry a Tico lady, and various other interesting things like that. At first I really liked him, we were talking about music and politics, and either agreeing or disagreeing interestingly. But before long it became apparent how much he was simply after a tip for the information he gave me about the area. He kept pointing out that he hadn´t sold any tours that day, and that people always tip for his ¨good¨ info. That info included that Musmani is the cheapest place for food (it is indeed, but it is obvious to those who have been in the country for any length of time), the wrong bus times, an expensive and low quality batido recommendation, etc - basically he did not know his onions. It annoys me so much because it kind of typifies Manuel Antonio - a friendly place on the face of it, but entirely phony and quickly see-through. He also told me that I, as part of the young generation, need to be the one to make a difference and change the world (as many old people say). Frankly that is a load of cojones - everyone has a responsibilty to act responsibly, and practicing certainly comes before preaching.
