...to San Jose. “Do you know the way to San Jose, la la lala....’ I hear Dionne Warwick’s lilting voice in my head. Why is it that phrase is an Instant Recall yet I can’t remember my cell phone number. I don’t really need to know the way as I am riding the Tracopa bus from Paso Canoas to San José. This is the ‘Costanera Directo International“ scheduled to depart at 9 am and today left a 10. Tracopa offers 2 routes from La Zona Sur to San José. The Costanera runs on a highway along the coast and the Cerro follows the Inter-American Highway up into the mountains along the Camino de los Muertos (translation Road of the Dead.) We prefer the Costanera route that rolls gently along the coastal edge. The Cerro is a winding, climbing, narrow highway that occasionally over a precipice. The 8:30 am Costanera Regular usually departs closer to its advertised time. However, regular means that it stops at any roadside bus shelter where a customer waves it in.
This is my 2nd trip to San José in less than a month. On the last day of February, Mum and I travelled on the 8:30 Regular bus and sat in the front row. Costa Rican drivers are generally aggressive with bus drivers exhibiting definitive, "Quién es más macho" behavior. If a bus driver finds himself behind a slow moving vehicle where he will take the 1st opportunity to pass. A double yellow line is merely a suggestion of caution. Occasionally on this trip I had to close my eyes when our driver went for a pass. I had my seatbelt on and hoped for the best.
Our driver was very friendly. He would make brief comments over his shoulder to Mum, commiserating about bad traffic or bad drivers, all in Spanish. She smiled and nodded not having a clue what he was saying. Bus drivers all honk, "Hola!" to each other. Sometimes they will stop for a quick chat. Our driver need change to give to a passenger. He signaled an on-coming bus by flashing his lights. They both stopped dead on the 2 lane highway, opened their driver side windows, made change and drove on.
As I mentioned, today I am on the "International Directo" signifying that this route originated in Panama. Passengers traveling from Panama into Costa Rica must clear Customs and Immigration for Panama and then present themselves to Customs and Immigration for Costa Rica. Panama's process for C and I is very efficient and the building is newer. Costa Rican C and I not so efficient and definitely not a new building. Also the distance between the 2 offices is about a 1/4 mile along the Inter-American Highway with huge transports passing and no sidewalk just a dusty, hot gravel shoulder. The passengers have to walk this distance sometimes carrying their luggage. Once all the Panamanian passengers have cleared Immigration and the bus is ready to board, all passengers (including me) shuffle into a large covered enclosure with vertical iron bars in lieu of walls.
Near the entrance/exit of this enclosure a high cement tables where passengers place their luggage to be searched by Customs. As I originated in CR, the officer barely glanced at my backpack. An American couple traveling from Panama were thoroughly searched. I could see that the officer was confiscating 3 large ziplock bags with what may have been leaves or coffee beans. The wife could speak Spanish and as the officer patiently explained what the issue was, the husband who only spoke English was making frustrated comments. As they were the last to leave the enclosure and the bus driver was impatient to leave as we were already 50 mins late, the couple gave up their protest and boarded the bus.
Meanwhile in the truck bay next to our enclosure, the Red Cross ushered 100 Africans. A mixture of men, women and children. Some carrying brand new baby bathing tubs. CR Immigration was lining them up for processing. I don't know what their final destination is, maybe "The Caravan."
The bus trip is about 6.5 hours depending on road construction and traffic. The buses are modern and comfortable with strong air conditioning but no toilets. Going up to San José, the first stop is La Flor de la Sabana in Uvita (about 2.5 hours in.) It offers cafeteria style meals that are quite tasty and reasonably priced, free WiFi and a small variety store that sells delicious coconut cookies. We pick up a package of cookies every time that we stop. This is a 25 minute stop that gives you a chance to stretch your legs. The structure is open air and is hot. You look forward to the bus air conditioning. The 2nd stop is one of the many fruit stands that run along the highway north of Jacó . These stands have bathrooms (top priority) and sell cold coconut water in the shell, BBQ meat on skewers, fresh fruit, chips etc. This is a quick 15 min stop.
Last segment into San José Central can be smooth sailing or a stop-and-go mess of merging traffic. This section of highway has a series of tolls where the two lane highway expands out across 10 toll booths and narrows back to 2 lanes. As I say, Tico bus drivers take no prisoners and jam their hulking vehicles through the morass of cars.
I have traveled up to San José about a half a dozen times. There is assigned seating and I don't always get a window seat on the "right" side of the bus where I can catch glimpses of the Pacific Ocean. All the scenery is pleasant open fields, small towns and crossing the Crocodile bridge. I saw a huge croc lying in the sand by the river this time.
Generally, M & I ride this route when we are flying out of the country. We arrive at the Bus Terminal near downtown San José. Order an Uber (which are outlawed in Costa Rica) to travel to a B&B in Alajuela, the town nearest the airport. This time, I am on my own with a small backpack and I decide to ride the bus from SJ Central to Alajuela Central. Before leaving home, I researched the bus lines, routes and bus terminals and discovered that there are several private bus companies that run buses over different routes. Grupo Tuasa has several routes to Alajuela and their main bus terminal was only a few blocks walk from the Tracopa Bus Terminal with a fare of 665 colones (approx. $1USD). A regular taxi from Tracopa Bus to Alajuela can cost $50 (but you can negotiate to $30) with a trip time of over an hour in rush hour. Uber will cost about $18 with same trip time. The buses have priority lanes and as I mentioned bus drivers are very aggressive. The bus trip was about 20 minutes in rush hour!
Determining which of the many buses pulling into the Tuasa terminal was the route I wanted was a challenge. It was 5 pm, top commuting time, there was a line of over a hundred people snaking along the edge of the semi-circular bus stop. I asked a young woman if this was the line to catch the Alajuela bus and she said yes. After standing in the slow moving line, I observed several buses pull in that advertised different stop names along with Alajuela. As some of these buses pulled in, the snaking line broke up as some passengers created new lines to board the buses. I saw a bus that said Alajuela Central and no other names pull in, this bus disgorged its passengers next to us and then a few people broke from my line to board this bus. I went for it. I didn't even quiz the bus driver as I boarded because there were so many people trying to board. I hoped for the best. Fortunately, my instinct served me well. This bus let me off just a few blocks from the B&B that I had booked.
That was my 2nd trip on a local bus. Earlier in the week, on my return from The Great White North, I caught the bus from the airport to an area near the B&B for that night. Though the drop off spot was over a mile walk across La Sabana Park. I had been traveling for almost 20 hours and my rolling suitcase weighed close to 23 KGs along with a heavy backpack. I was exhausted by the time I got to the accommodation. I'm pretty puffed with myself and my great bus adventure.
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