We got up before dawn today and got all packed to leave Montezuma. Got to the bus stop at 7 a.m and the bus was to be there waiting at 7:45. It showed up at 8:15 and after much shoving, elbowing etc. we got on. There's no such thing here as manners apparently and we have to get more aggressive than we're used to. The driver was busy most of the time talking to the guy across the bus and behind him. Problem being he had to look at him while he was talking. When he wasn't doing that he was on his cell or stowing stuff under the dash & driving w/ no hands! The bus took us to Paqueral where we boarded the ferry to Puntarenas It was a big ferry and held a pile of vehicles. It took just over an hour to get to the other side and then we boarded a bus to the bus station. The ticket office was a couple of blocks from the depot and we were lucky a lady showed us where to get the tickets or we'd have been sitting there out of luck. The bus got there at 12:30 and we thought we were going to Jaco where we would catch another bus in the morning as it was getting too late to catch a bus w/ no reservations in Quepos which is just outside the game preserve of Manuel Antonio. It's hard to make reservations ahead as you never know how far your going to get.
We hadn't gone more than 45 minutes out of Puntarenas when the bus stopped. After about 15 minutes people started getting off. Turns out it had broken down but the driver hadn't said anything. We all piled off and stood under a tree for shade and waited for another bus. Fortunately our tickets gave us a seat number so we were ok although we kept our backpacks between our legs and the seat in front of us for the three hour ride. People were standing and the lady in front of us had two seats. One for her handbag and another small bag. She did this for the whole 3 hours even when there was a lady standing beside her holding her little girl in her arms! Another girl had asked if she could use the seat and was told no! These were local people and we've witnessed this before. I can't understand how such great people can be so inconsiderate of each other! I'd have given the lady my seat but she couldn't get in for the backpack.
The 2nd bus came by about 45 minutes later and off we went. I was concerned that we wouldn't get our seats back but it worked out. We don't like to stow the backpacks under the bus as nothing here is secure. I never let go of my laptop or camera. The stuff in the backpacks is all expendable as far as I'm concerned. Well we got to Jaco and the bus keeps going South! Well hey that works for us so we go all the way to Quepos where we intended to go anyway. On the way through town we noticed a bank and we were running low on calones so that was our first stop. It was open! Yahoo and right close by. I went to get $500 on my m/c and had to show my id. I pulled out the copy I'd made and it had deteriorated to the point of no face. Not that that's a bad thing but it's the only one I've got. It got soaked yesterday from persperation while we were hiking. I kept it in my fanny pack with the camera and the orig. passports which now no longer have the C.R. stamps in them. I finally got the money. $500.00 is 215,000 calones! now that's a lot of dinero. Jo's got half of it in a pocket she made in her bras. She's now a 38ddd on one side.
We checked out then to find a hotel. The first one was booked solid and this is scarey. I don't want to spend the night in an open ditch cause I know what's in the ditch! Better to go to jail maybe. Well we got one of the last two rooms in a place across the street. It's got tv and air so that's ok but no electrical outlets that I can plug this thing into. There's an internet place right across the street but my laptop doesn't work there. (I think it's a dial up thing) Now this really pissed me off cause I dont know how to access my hotmail account on a different computer. Jo managed to send a couple of emails but guess I'll have to wait. I was hoping to download all my pics and it was so handy. Just too good to be true I guess.
The manager of the hotel didn't recommend paying for a tour guide in the park tomorrow. The bus there is only .23 so he said take that and follow a tour so we'll know where to look and save $45 ea! Nice guy. Hope they've got another room here for us tomorrow. We have to check with the lady on the desk at 7 a.m. tomorrow. If not we can't go to the park as we'll have our backpacks. We'll see what happens.
LINK OF THE DAY http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28366&l=84ec1&id=680056043
No comments:
Post a Comment