Cantina Mulo

I guess I overestimated the change in the weather. I had hoped to go to the coast this weekend. But the weather forecast was terrible. The hourly forecast as hilarious, listing rain, rain, rain hour after hour, interrupted by the odd thunderstorm. So I stayed put in Heredia.

France 0 Costa Rica 2
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OK, so that’s only the half-time score. Costa Rica played our group toppers, France in a friendly during the week. We had the TV on watching it during our weekly meeting. However, France came back in the second half to win 3-2.

Cantina Mulo
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Those of you of a certain vintage from Irish Life will remember Blacks. The pub on Talbot St that was always a bit of a dive, but was well-loved by many of us who frequented it for many years. I remember one work colleague telling me that he used see Jim, the proprietor, more often than his own father. And he lived at home.

Well the good news is that Cantina Mulo is the Blacks of Costa Rica. It’s directly opposite the school. It’s a very typical old Tico Cantina, which is a type of spit-on-the-floor bar that serves drink and food. ‘Jim’ over here is called Jorge. We’ve had many a good Thursday that starts off there. Barbara my boss usually ends up behind the bar serving drink. I was going to say pulling pints, but alas there are no pints, and only one beer is ever on draft, Imperial. So it’s usually bottles. With the odd shot of ‘Guaro’ (the local drink made from sugar cane) to round off the night.

One very curious, but typically Tico, fact is that there is a Gents urinal just in the corner of the front bar. But it’s basically right in the bar. It’s a tiny cubicle, and you’re just screened by ‘saloon type’ doors. It’s the sounds that are most disconcerting when you’re sitting there drinking your beer however.

The other bars
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After Mulo, it’s usually on to Bulevar. Which is a big American style bar, open to the front, and with two floors, and a back bar with live music. It’s very gringo, meaning that a lot of Americans, usually students, go there.

An alternative is El Chozo, which has several floors, and a stunning view from the top bar, looking out over Heredia, San José and the Central Valley.

After everything else is shut, if the night continues, it’s on to Miraflores Disco Bar. To which all the late-nighters of Heredia beat a trail. This is where Jack and I came on our first night in Heredia, when he sang Downtown on the Karaoke. In all the times I’ve been there, I haven’t sung Karaoke. Well, maybe I’ve sung along. But I’ve never taken the mike!

El Cholo
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Still my favourite bar by a long shot (not of Guaro!) is El Cholo. The gay, but very straight-friendly, bar down the road. It rarely forms part of the trail on a Thursday, although many teachers love it. It’s quite Spanish, rather than Tico. It serves tapas rather than bocas. The owner is from Barcelona, and it has a picture of the Nou Camp and lots of Barca memorabilia.

I’ve got a lot of feedback on the weekly emails in the early days that all we talked about was bars and beer. So I haven’t mentioned it for a while, and I actually have been living a quieter life, believe it or not. I guess I’ve blown all that now.