Apparently, we were as gullible as we looked.

From GopStopTravel

Event Stats
Victim:	Wahrena Pfeister
Scam Type:	confidence scam
Date:	2004-January
Location:	San Jose, Costa Rica }

San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica. Like most places awash in politics, it is the sewer of the country. Due to an obligation we had to stay in the area longer than we wanted to, which meant longer than the time it took to arrange transport out of there. Since we had to be near town for a few days we figured we’d take a day trip to one of the local volcanoes. It’s eight thirty in the morning and already steamy. After walking in sticky circles for a bit we finally find the bus station from which we can catch a bus to Poas. We climb on the bus filled with sweaty, cranky gringos like ourselves and find seats. A few minutes later a guy in a uniform climbs on the bus and comes directly to us speaking rapid Spanish. Our Spanish is elementary; we don’t know what the hell he’s sayin’. The guy in the next seat tells us that he’s the driver and asking for change. He, the driver, wants water but the tiny convenience store won’t take a bill that large. Whatever. It’s the equivalent of about ten bucks American, but we don’t have quite that much on us. He takes what we have and heads off. We kind of wonder why he came all the way to us, but shrug and start talking to the guy in the next seat, a Canadian who is staying at the same hostel that we are. A few minutes later a different uniformed guy climbs on the bus and starts handing out tickets. As each person pays he holds the bill up to the light, checking its authenticity. As soon as he does this the first time we know we’ve been had. Ironically enough our conversation with the Canadian had turned towards scams and counterfeits, a common problem in Costa Rica. In retrospect this was probably because the whole thing just seemed off. Fortunately, we were able to borrow the necessary funds from the friendly Canadian. Costa Rica is a stunning country and by far most of the people we met were amazing, generous and delightful in every way. I look at it this way: The counterfeit colon note was the most interesting souvenir that we brought back from our trip and it only cost us six dollars.