Colombia dejavu
Trip Start
Oct 25, 2008
1
37
49
Trip End
Dec 31, 2008
San Jose,
Province of San Jose,
Costa Rica
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
I never made it to the pacific coast so im spending a night in san jose costa rica.
Bus journey
So on the bus today i was traveling with a swedish guy and his gf from new zealand they have over 43 countries and just spent 4 months in africa they are pretty travel savey.
At our first stop to let people off and some people on a guy came on the bus Dressed really nice Nice white dress shirt Black dress pants hair well done and clean shaven. looked very close to the men who work for the bus company in apearance.
This man Grabed my swedish friends carry on bag the bag that had there laptop cameras money and passports... He grabed it moved it a lil then a lil more slowly moving it along the way in the overhead compartment... When he was close to the back exit The swedish guy Yelled out HEY HEY!! get back here! and the guy came back returned the bag and Took off.
Several seconds later there was 3 police on our bus for a reason unkown to me, and unrelated to what happend, There are always police at bus terminals in Costa rica as far as i´ve seen.
2 more tries
Through out the bus ride this happend to this couple 2 more times and managed to really freak out all the gringos on the bus about there belongings, we even had a dutch couple so scared they asked if they could join us, at this point everyone was huging onto there backpacks.
Irony.
i think its funny that its always the countries with the best reputation that have the highest amount of petty crime against tourists reminds me sorta of all the bus scams on thailand, I think its easy for people to take advantage of the tourists in costa rica coz they come expecting paradise and don´t have there gaurd up as high as someone who would goto el salvador might, The laid back easy going puravida lifestyle tends to rub off on people and they let there gaurd down, as well This is these peoples lifelyhoods ripping off tourists they are damn slick at it and look like they work for the bus company.
Now im not saying costa rica is a unsafe country by any means it still feels very safe and is a great place, just stating that petty crime can happen anywhere anytime.
Big bathrooms
So this hostel has a massive bathroom so big you could literally get lost in it and not even know...
So after having arrived my swedish friend had to use the bathroom so bad he ran in and started to number 2, Unknown to him there was someone in the shower because the bathroom was so large... So the guy came out of the shower and well he was on the toilet, Can you say awkward for meeting...
So tomorrow with some luck im on the 10 30 bus to jaco costa rica the cost where its suposed to be NOT AS BAD, still rainy just not nonestop downpour, And work my way to panama over the next lil while, i really feel the time runing out, However with the rain and cold I am ready to Enjoy Uruguayian Summer!!
Cheers
Brian
