San Pedro is a great place to fart around with no plans. The town is small and friendly, the surrounding geography is absurdly cool (a giant lake surrounded by volcanoes) and the drinks are cheap.

A few of the other hostelers and I went down to a resaurant called La Piscina (aptly named as it has the only pool in town). On Sundays, they have a Southern style BBQ, which was absurdly good. After a nice long rest, we went down to the lake for a quick dip amongst the locals doing laundry.

On the way back to the hostel, we ran into a bunch of Aussies and Brits who were trying to organize a football (you know, soccer) game later in the night. They somehow got me to join them, knowing full well that all these guys play all the time and are in good shape, while I’m a lump who hasn’t played since first grade. We ended up playing Britain (two from England, one from Wales and my old Scots friend Angus) vs. The World (two Yanks, an Aussie and a Kiwi). The game started off well enough, but in a 4-on-4 game, there’s a bit too much running for me. Thankfully, just as I was about to die, a pair of fresh legs showed up to take my place. We played with an extra sub, but The World won fair and square.

Exhausted and drenched with sweat, we all went back to our respective hostels, showered, changed, and rested up for a bit. It happened to be the last night in town for a few people in our crowd, so we all went out together; first for awesome Israeli food, then for some drinks at a cool place called Buddha.

San Pedro is just like being in one giant hostel. Everyone is really friendly, even the locals. Not that the locals haven’t been friendly in the rest of the places I’ve been, just that there seems to be less of a noticeable divide between resident and tourist.