I bet you're glad I cleared that up, aren't you? Anyway...
As I said, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, just finished. You knew that - Easter! In Latin America, schools are always off for the whole week, so our "spring break" moves around. (Next year, it's almost three weeks later - how's that for a home stretch? It's a huge week, especially among IST teachers, to travel.
There were three groups that went to Guatemala, 4 or 5 folks that went to the Carribbean coast, two groups that traveled down to Costa Rica, a handful that either went home or had loved ones come down here...and me. I didn't have anybody to travel with, due to the dearth of guys down here and the awkward logistics of a guy traveling with three or four girls. So I was going to travel by myself and love it, dangit! No one else to hold me up, no opposing opinions about timetable, ease of slipping into hostel during an inherently busy time, time to just read by myself and (hopefully) spend with God... I found a great deal on airfare to San Jose and prepared my full week in Costa Rica - other folks with similar deals only even managed to find Monday to Saturday itineraries! Score!
Traveling by oneself kinda sucks. Especially during the long hours of waiting between your bus and ferry in a rather uninteresting town. I had two decks of cards packed in the false hope that I'd find someone to play with. I did read all of The Kite Runner (much enjoyed) and read about 2/3 of the nonfiction Under the Banner of Heaven (an enlightening, yet disturbing view of Mormonism and Mormon Fundamentalism), but I still found myself with an unfortunate amount of down time.
How about a reference map?
The trip started off great - wonderful views of Nicaragua from the plane, breathtaking first glimpses of the natural beauty of Costa Rica, and being able to feel savvy when I passed up the 21-dollar taxis at the airport, walked to the main road outside, and caught a bus going basically the same place for the equivalent of ONE DOLLAR. It was Saturday afternoon, and by the time I hit the hay on Sunday, I needed to be in the semi-distant beach town of Santa Teresa (Near the town labeled "Montezuma"). I had to play things by ear - once in San Jose, there were 3-4 legs of trip to Santa Teresa - bus to Puntarenas, ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera (sorta southwest across the gulf from Puntarenas), and then one or two buses, depending on my luck. I made it to San Jose by around 4:45, and I knew buses to Puntarenas left hourly and took 2.5 hours. I thought the earlier I could get to my hostel on Sunday, the more time I could bum around the beach, as un-beach-bummy as I may be. The timing couldn't have been better - I got to the bus station and purchased my ticket with about 8 minutes to spare before the bus left, got a hotel room (sized 9 feet by 4 feet, seriously) for 10 bucks, had dinner, and crashed. It was VERY hot along the coast - inlands of Central American countries get much cooler with their elevation, and I wasn't in San Jose any more.
My plan to catch a 7 am ferry, freshly baked bread and OJ in tow, was thwarted by the fact that there WAS NO 7am ferry. Schedules changed for the holy week, and I was left twiddling my thumbs until the 9am ferry. By this point, I wasn't feeling so great. I began to feel like traveling was getting the best of me, and I felt stiff and weary. I napped and read on the hour-long ferry ride, felt even wearier as I disembarked, and caught a bus to the town of Cobáno. My bus continued to Montezuma, so I needed to transfer to head to Santa Teresa. The vessel for travel was continually getting to be lower quality, yet the fares continued to rise. After awaking at 5:20, I made it to S. Teresa around 1:00. Then I couldn't find my hostel. Famished (no lunch), I had to snag some food before I undertook my search in earnest. My weariness was only worsening, and the added strain of digestion seemed to make things even tougher. But I finally did find my hostel, about a 13 minute walk from any of the stuff of interest in the town. I immediately collapsed in my bed.
The plan was to spend half of Sunday and all of Monday in Santa Teresa, hit the beach a bit, read, sample the restaurants, and hopefully meet some people worth meeting before leaving early Tuesday for my next location. But I ended up alternating sleeping with reading and eating; that's about all I could manage. The folks sharing my room were nice, and I spent about an hour and a half on the beach with them, but by the time I'd been up and about enough to eat, I had to lay back down again. A pitiable existence.
On top of that, the bus I was planning on taking at 7:15am Tuesday never came. The man at the hostel said based on my travel plans, even leaving that early wouldn't ave been early enough. I think he was full of it, but I found myself spending ANOTHER achy, downtrodden day in Santa Teresa, popping ibuprofen and watching 3:10 to Yuma. The one upshot to this was that Kristin and her roommates, traveling separately, were arriving that evening, and so I spent a good deal of time with them once they showed up.
I finally got on my way again Wednesday morning, after spending 2.5 days at the beach town, yet only 1.5 hours on the beach. 6am bus, lots of picking up people, and what should have been a two hour drive took us to the boat launch with just enough time to board the 9am ferry. Once back in Puntarenas, my remaining leg was a bus to Monteverde, near the dot curiously marked "Ciudad" on the above map. I got to Puntarenas with nearly 3 hours to kill before my 1:15 bus. Booooooring. I found the bus marked Monteverde, but it didn't look ready to go anywhere at 1:10. Turns out it wasn't ready at 1:30, either. It didn't leave until 2:30. At this point, I had long finished The Kite Runner and was well into my other book. I got a lot of reading done on this day.
But oh, when the bus started and we got out of the Puntarenas area and into the mountains, I was breathtaken by the landscapes. Costa Rica is the most beautiful country I have been to. Even in the midst of dry season, the rolling, somewhat lumpy mountains are just such a singular sight, covered in places by rich forest. The temperature dropped, and although half the bus ride was on terrible gravel road, that bus ride ended up being the highlight of my trip. I was refreshed to arrive in Monteverde, in a beautiful hotel, with crisp wind and traces of rain in the air, eager to salvage what I could from my time up there, having lost a full day of time in that location. Little did I know that bad news was awaiting me...
Stay tuned for Part II of Aaron's misadventure in Costa Rica! It might not be as bland and step-by-step as this part!
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