After Leslie and I left crossed the border into Costa and arrived in San Jose, we stayed at a hostel in Paseo Colon that I used to stay at during my border runs from Panama.

We stayed there for about 3 nights and then I took Leslie to Hostel Bekuo to stay for 3 more nights and to introduce him to my friends in Costa Rica.

Hostel Bekuo is on the other side of San Jose from the first hostel we stayed at. This part of town has a vibe that’s different from Paseo Colon and I knew Leslie would enjoy.

My friends at the hostel loved Leslie, especially Jane! Jane was a Tica and she ran the hostel with another Tica. She and Leslie played video games and danced together on several occasions.

One night we went to the supermarket next door and purchased groceries to do a BBQ. We did the BBQ and shared with the travelers and staff at the hostel.

We went back inside and Leslie started coughing by the front desk. I overheard one of the persons present in the hostel say to another, in Spanish, ‘he’s not going to last much more than 10 years.’

The other person said, ‘what’s wrong with him?’ The first person replied, ‘heart and lungs!’

This was the second diagnosis my brother Leslie received on his first solo trip to Latin America.

Author’s note: The exact date and time of the following events are not known. They have had to be approximated in order to post the content.