In Transit
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
66
141
Trip End
Ongoing
San Jose,
Costa Rica
Thursday, May 10, 2007
We woke up with the roosters to catch the early bird 6:30 AM bus from Monteverde to San Jose. Our preferred destination was the Caribbean village of Tortuguero. Costa Rica is a really beautiful country }, very green and lush. It is also one of the wealthiest (if not THE wealthiest) of all the Central American countries. It has a very high literacy (97%) rate, free public education, and good clean drinking water. What it lacks, though, is a good transportation infrastructure. Some roads are nice, but some are just terrible (including the one up to Monteverde - it takes almost 3 hours to go 30 kilometers!). The Costa Rican portion of the Pan-American Highway is the worst of all the countries - only 2 lanes with no divider or painted lines. The bus system is designed like a starburst - almost all routes originate from San Jose, the capital. So even if the town you want to visit is only 30 kilometers away as a crow flies, you are stuck with a 5 hour drive back to San Jose - then overnighting in the capital - then catching another 3 hour bus ride the next morning. Costa Rica's transportation department could learn some lessons from their poorer neighbors like Guatemala or El Salvador - their chicken buses ROCK!
Anyways... We ended up in San Jose for the night in order to catch another bus to Tortuguero the next morning. After wandering a few blocks downtown to check out a few hostels, we ended up at the infamous Hostel Pangea. We had picked up a flier of theirs days ago with a picture 3 chics from Girls Gone Wild, a boasting line about being the only hostel in the WORLD with a Mechanical Bull, and a slogan of "The Hostel Your Mother Warned You About". We are sad to report, though, that the Mechanical Bull was not in operation during our stay. Darn. They did, however have free Internet as well as a refreshing swimming pool to cool off in. At $10 per person per night for a dorm bed, it was one of the best deals in town.
After a dip in the pool to cool off, we grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby Soda. A Soda is the Costa Rican term for a small little restaurant. Usually only four to 6 tables, with the same person cooking, cleaning, and taking your order. The Soda we chose was run by a Colombian and decorated in Colombian colors and flags. Frank and I picked something from the menu that sounded the strangest and hoped for a good surprise. We were pleased - it smelled like bacon and turned out to be a smoked fatty piece of ham/pork/pig. The cook said it was a Colombian speciality. It was fantastic! So bad for you and your arteries, but so yummy - it melted in our mouthes. It was served with a nice salad, rice, beans, papas fritas (french fries), and a bowl of veggie soup for the bargain price of 1500 colones ($3.00 US). The veggie soup had mysterious pieces of white meat nd body parts floating in it. Frank recognized some of it as tripe (pigs intestines) and pig skin ("chicharron" in Spanish). I tried a bit of the chicharron (the unhairy pieces) but couldn't muster the courage to try the honeycombed looking tripe. Jessie and Mark happily gave all of theirs to daring Frank who finished it all for us.
Our roommate at the hostel was yet another ...errrrr... interesting.... person. A gringo from North Carolina who introduced himself, then threw a wad of trash on the floor behind Frank's bed and said in the worst Southern drawl "There ain't no trash can in here so I've just bayn throwin the shit bayhind the bayed. Hawww, hawwwww, hawwww. " Oh god, were we in for a treat. This guy gave us all the eeebeegeebees. He told us that he was supposed to go to the mountains that morning, but his "female companion" bailed out on him so he had no one to travel with. He said he was hanging out in San Jose to find another "companion" to travel with before returning to the US in a few days.
Side note: We have seen several highway banners announcing that Child Prostitution is Illegal in Costa Rica and they will Persue and Prosecute those who participate.
Our North Carolina buddy later said he really likes Thailand and is planning on returning soon. Hmmm... what do Costa Rica and Thailand have in common? Creep-oh Gringo Perverts and Child Prostitutes, maybe? It is really sad, actually.
That afternoon, we went for walk around the main plaza, just down the street. I stopped by an optician and picked up some contact lenses (no prescription needed here!) for half the price than in the US. We got caught in a tropical downpour and made our way back to the hostel for an evening of cards with Mark and Jessie.
The next morning we caught a 9:00 bus to towards Tortuguero, where our adventures continued and we experienced our first robbery in Central America.
Cheers,
Kay
