Our first night in Costa Rica was spent in the capitol, San Jose. We got picked up at the airport and were driven to our hotel, which was downtown. Orientation and a welcome dinner were scheduled for later, but before then, I wanted to get some local currency. With some direction from the hotel’s desk clerk, we headed out in search for a money machine. Our path took us down a street that was closed to cars and was packed with people. We had to ask for directions again, but eventually found what we were looking for, an ATM parlor.

In this corner room, there were about a dozen machines built into the far wall and each one had a line about ten people deep. We got into line, but the machine at the head of this first line did not work for us. We asked the armed guard who was overseeing things there and he directed us to one machine at the end. After some fumbling, we got the ATM to spit out the pictured 10 MIL Colones bill. We had withdrawn it from our bank account in Saint Louis. Looking at it, I began to get worried. Did the 10 MIL mean 10 million? The exchange rate normally runs between 500-600 Colones to the dollar. So, 10 thousand Colones is roughly $20, but 10 million is more like $20,000. I was confused, because I knew that we did not have anywhere near $20,000 in our account, but then going to a worst-case scenario, what if the bank’s overdraft protection had kicked in? I was troubled by these dark thoughts on our way back to our hotel.

Returning there, I checked my checking account app and saw a transaction for about $23, twenty for the Colones, plus a three-dollar transaction fee. I was most relieved. As it turned out this money changing exercise was completely unnecessary. Most things were covered as part of our tour and the few times that we bought stuff, I always used plastic. In the end, I ended up giving the bill as a tip to our driver, Oscar, the second-best driver in Costa Rica. This appellation begged the question, who is the best driver then? The answer was, “Oh, he is in the hospital.” This joke kicked off a week of dad jokes that our various guides would tell us along the way. Oscar was a very careful driver.