SAN JOSE
I got in late in the afternoon on the 3rd and wasted no time in meeting up with Leif and Eli, two high school buddies who had come down for a couple weeks to tour Costa Rica. We caught up over a mediocre dinner and then headed out to the party spot, a collective of discos called El Pueblo. It was worse than the dinner, with a seedy fenced entrance and a group of mostly vacant discotheques blaring non-stop reggae tone fo
r small groups of teenie-boppers. I was stunned, I had been there two years ago with my girlfriend Naomi and it was the place to be, with every bar full, dance floors going crazy and bilar-inas and DJ's leading the festivities. Apparently a lot can change in two years.
And that is the sense I got with San Jose. Where before we could walk the streets at night a feel completely safe, I now heard horror stories about armed robberies and doggy side streets. A friend of mine was walking home to my very hostel with her brother one night when two Ticos pulled a gun on them and demanded money. They were starting to hand it over when one of them hit her brother in the face, not knowing that he was an ex-marine who didn't like to be hit in the face. He then grabbed the guy with the gun and beat the shit out of him while his friend watched in horror. Not to be out done, my friend clocked the other guy, breaking his nose. The assailants ran off and my friends were ok, but that kinda stuff was very rare two years ago and now it seems to becoming more and more common place.
HIGHLANDS
The following day we took a bus out to the Northern Zone to meet up with Leif's mother and sister, also along for the vacation. We met them at a posh hacienda hotel set on the Rio Sardinal river in the foothills of the La Virgen. It was way out of my budget, but I splurged myself and enjoyed a refreshing dip in the pool, a real hot shower (I'd only had about 3 in the past two months), and a full dinner and breakfast buffet.
The following morning, around 8:30am, we took a taxi from our hotel out to the main road and waited for a bus, supposedly ar
riving any minute, to take us to our next destination, La Fortuna. Then, searching though his bag, Leif asked, "Did anyone bring the Lonely Planet?"
"Damn it," I exclaimed, "I forgot it on my bed."
I had been reading it the night before and left it along with my other book when we checked out in the morning.
"Well, I guess its lost then." Madaline (Leif's mother) signed.
I felt bad. "I can run and get it," I said.
"What if the bus comes while your gone?" Eli asked.
"If it comes take it, there will be another one, I'll just catch up with you there, plus I think I can make it, if I run fast enough." And I set out, running at a brisk pace back down the side road toward the Hotel.
I hadn't realized it on the way out, but it was a hilly road that was a lot longer than I thought. Moreover, it had started to rain and that, coupled with the humidity left me soaked in seconds. I ran on, picking up speed worried now that I would indeed miss the bus. I can tell you that in my three months of traveling I have ran about half a dozen times, usually to the gym and back in Antigua which was about five blocks and at about 65 degrees, now I was in a full sprint in the rain on some muddy road with the temperature at about 85. As I descended to a bridge crossing I was getting light headed and starting to slow down considerably. Still I pushed on, I had to make that bus! I was on the verge of passing out when I heard a truck engine behind me and turned to see a pickup truck bumping down the road. I stopped,, turned about and stood in the middle of the road making the driver come to a skidding halt right in front of me. I came around to the driver's window to find three very perplexed farmers staring back at me.
Forgetting my Spanish, and too winded to speak anyway, I mumbled the words "Nesesito... go ... the Finca... Por... Fa...vor."
They looked at me blankly for a second and then one of them spoke.
"Quieres ir al Finca?"the driver asked.
"Si!" I mouthed back.
"Si, si, es muy cerca, esta al otro lado de-"
I didn't even hear him, I just ran to the back of the truck and threw myself in the truck bed. They all looked back at me, more perplexed then before, then each other, then back at me. I gave them the thumbs up sign and singled for them that I was ready to go on. The driver turned back around and with a slight shake of his head started up the road... about another 25 feet around a bend and to the entrance to the Hotel.
"Oh," I muttered dismounting, "Esta muy cerca."
They all gave me the thumbs up sign with a slight shake of their head and rolled off down the road.
I ran up the dive way and yelled for a taxi as I dashed into the room and grabbed the books. I came back out and jumped into the cab telling him to double time it back to the road. The trip had taken twice as long as I thought it would and I was sure if I hadn't missed them already it would be close. We raced back down the road, and arrived back at the bus stop to find them all still standing there relieved that I had made it back in time. I emerged from the car covered in mud and sweat and had to change on the side of the freeway. But at least I would make the bus which should have arrived by now. We waited, we waited, and we waited. The Hotel had told us 8:45-9:00am, the taxi driver told me 10:00am, then a women waiting along the road told us 11:00am. The bus actually arrived just before noon, right on time according to the bus driver. I couldn't be mad though, at least I hadn't missed it and I got some much needed exercise to boot.
I got in late in the afternoon on the 3rd and wasted no time in meeting up with Leif and Eli, two high school buddies who had come down for a couple weeks to tour Costa Rica. We caught up over a mediocre dinner and then headed out to the party spot, a collective of discos called El Pueblo. It was worse than the dinner, with a seedy fenced entrance and a group of mostly vacant discotheques blaring non-stop reggae tone fo
r small groups of teenie-boppers. I was stunned, I had been there two years ago with my girlfriend Naomi and it was the place to be, with every bar full, dance floors going crazy and bilar-inas and DJ's leading the festivities. Apparently a lot can change in two years.And that is the sense I got with San Jose. Where before we could walk the streets at night a feel completely safe, I now heard horror stories about armed robberies and doggy side streets. A friend of mine was walking home to my very hostel with her brother one night when two Ticos pulled a gun on them and demanded money. They were starting to hand it over when one of them hit her brother in the face, not knowing that he was an ex-marine who didn't like to be hit in the face. He then grabbed the guy with the gun and beat the shit out of him while his friend watched in horror. Not to be out done, my friend clocked the other guy, breaking his nose. The assailants ran off and my friends were ok, but that kinda stuff was very rare two years ago and now it seems to becoming more and more common place.
HIGHLANDS
The following day we took a bus out to the Northern Zone to meet up with Leif's mother and sister, also along for the vacation. We met them at a posh hacienda hotel set on the Rio Sardinal river in the foothills of the La Virgen. It was way out of my budget, but I splurged myself and enjoyed a refreshing dip in the pool, a real hot shower (I'd only had about 3 in the past two months), and a full dinner and breakfast buffet.
The following morning, around 8:30am, we took a taxi from our hotel out to the main road and waited for a bus, supposedly ar
riving any minute, to take us to our next destination, La Fortuna. Then, searching though his bag, Leif asked, "Did anyone bring the Lonely Planet?""Damn it," I exclaimed, "I forgot it on my bed."
I had been reading it the night before and left it along with my other book when we checked out in the morning.
"Well, I guess its lost then." Madaline (Leif's mother) signed.
I felt bad. "I can run and get it," I said.
"What if the bus comes while your gone?" Eli asked.
"If it comes take it, there will be another one, I'll just catch up with you there, plus I think I can make it, if I run fast enough." And I set out, running at a brisk pace back down the side road toward the Hotel.
I hadn't realized it on the way out, but it was a hilly road that was a lot longer than I thought. Moreover, it had started to rain and that, coupled with the humidity left me soaked in seconds. I ran on, picking up speed worried now that I would indeed miss the bus. I can tell you that in my three months of traveling I have ran about half a dozen times, usually to the gym and back in Antigua which was about five blocks and at about 65 degrees, now I was in a full sprint in the rain on some muddy road with the temperature at about 85. As I descended to a bridge crossing I was getting light headed and starting to slow down considerably. Still I pushed on, I had to make that bus! I was on the verge of passing out when I heard a truck engine behind me and turned to see a pickup truck bumping down the road. I stopped,, turned about and stood in the middle of the road making the driver come to a skidding halt right in front of me. I came around to the driver's window to find three very perplexed farmers staring back at me.
Forgetting my Spanish, and too winded to speak anyway, I mumbled the words "Nesesito... go ... the Finca... Por... Fa...vor."
They looked at me blankly for a second and then one of them spoke.
"Quieres ir al Finca?"the driver asked.
"Si!" I mouthed back.
"Si, si, es muy cerca, esta al otro lado de-"
I didn't even hear him, I just ran to the back of the truck and threw myself in the truck bed. They all looked back at me, more perplexed then before, then each other, then back at me. I gave them the thumbs up sign and singled for them that I was ready to go on. The driver turned back around and with a slight shake of his head started up the road... about another 25 feet around a bend and to the entrance to the Hotel.
"Oh," I muttered dismounting, "Esta muy cerca."
They all gave me the thumbs up sign with a slight shake of their head and rolled off down the road.
I ran up the dive way and yelled for a taxi as I dashed into the room and grabbed the books. I came back out and jumped into the cab telling him to double time it back to the road. The trip had taken twice as long as I thought it would and I was sure if I hadn't missed them already it would be close. We raced back down the road, and arrived back at the bus stop to find them all still standing there relieved that I had made it back in time. I emerged from the car covered in mud and sweat and had to change on the side of the freeway. But at least I would make the bus which should have arrived by now. We waited, we waited, and we waited. The Hotel had told us 8:45-9:00am, the taxi driver told me 10:00am, then a women waiting along the road told us 11:00am. The bus actually arrived just before noon, right on time according to the bus driver. I couldn't be mad though, at least I hadn't missed it and I got some much needed exercise to boot.
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