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Left the Arenal area, headed south. Had lunch at Soda la Catarata somewhere between San Ramon and San Isidro after driving over a sketchy bridge. Meghan had little tortillas w/ stewed meat. I had casada con bistek, which was, of course, bistek, served with a hard boiled egg, sauteed onions, rice and black beans and cold pasta salad. Had fresca pina drink and Meghan had fresco de tamarindo. The whole meal w/ tip was $6 for both of us. Nice view too.
At one point we passed 105 cars stopped on the CA1 because one truck broke down and stopped the southbound lane.
We turned off in Esparza to find the road to San Mateo but the elder gent at the POPS ice cream shop said to not go to San Mateo but to instead go to Puerto Caldera. This was a great drive until we tried to get on hwy 27, which was marked as hwy 24 on the National Geograpic map. We turned around 3 times before getting on the right road. Also, we have determined that the GPS maps’ accuracy for paths of highways is about as good as the anatomical correctness of a 3-year-old’s crayon portrait. Then again, at least it had a few Costa Rica highways pre-loaded.  Between Quepos and Manuel Antonio, we stopped at hotel Mono Azul to stay for a couple days.