Our first morning in our wonderful home, we woke around dawn to the music of the jungle as it awakes: howler monkeys calling in the distance, cicadas singing, scarlet macaws squawking. We were very groggy after our 9 hour bus ride marathon. The trip is usually about 6 hours. Unfortunately, the traffic was more than unusually insane. (Read the funny article from El Residente about driving in CR.) The journey started around 8 am as the cab driver & M loaded up our 14 pieces of luggage in front of the hotel. We wanted to get to the bus station early: 1. the streets around our hotel were being barricaded for the Festival de la Luz parade; 2. we weren't sure how to jockey all our luggage from the taxi into the bus station.
The transfer from taxi to bus station went smoothly. Costa Ricans (Ticos) are very friendly & helpful. I took a suitcase into the terminal and commandeered a couple square meters of territory near the departure gate while M & a very helpful Tico ferried the bags inside. Of course, the helpful Tico was very grateful for a tip for his effort.
The Tracopa buses are very modern & very comfortable with lots of room underneath for all our bags. We are allowed 1carryon & 1 checked bag. The additional baggage charge was equivalent to $20. Our bus tickets were $14 (Senior discount) & $22. We carried on our backpacks & the crystal bowl carriers. The backpacks fit under the seat. However, the overhead was too small for the bowls so we had to sit with them on our laps.
The bus makes 2 stops in the first 4 hours. The first is a "pit stop" about 1.5 hours outside of SJ. No bathroom on the bus. The 2nd is an half hour stop in Uvita for a meal break. Almost every seat was occupied with a variety of Ticans. At the meal break stop, we were so tired of hauling our packs & bowls around that we just left them in our seats on the bus. We felt a high level of security from our fellow passengers. After Uvita, the bus becomes a "local." Passengers "ring the bell" to notify the driver to stop at bus shelters at the side of the highway.
Arrival in Paso Canoas at 7:30 pm and the place was jamming. Paso is a border crossing town to Panama. It was Saturday night close to Christmas with people strolling, cars vying for parking, transport trucks rolling into the border checkpoint. The bus barely pulls off the main highway and our luggage compartment is on the road side of the bus!
Roy, our dear neighbor & building contractor, was waiting with our 4-wheel drive across the street. M was unloading suitcases as vehicles whizzed by. I'm guarding the luggage as Roy, M & another helpful Tico ferried the cases from one side of the highway to the other.
Roy looked at all our stuff and started dialing the # of a friend to come with his vehicle. M was confident that we could fit it all in our car. And remarkably, we did. The massage table & surfboard strapped to the roof. The 3 of us and the rest inside. I still had a crystal bowl bag on my lap.
It is about 40 kms (25 miles) from Paso Canoas to our house. I'd say 60% of the route is on paved road. After one more stop in Laurel at the MegaSuper to pick up a few fundamental items of food, we arrived about 9:30 pm at home.
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