Breakfast this morning consisted of a granola bar and coffee each before saying our goodbyes and heading to the bus stop to head to Limon. We'd planned to spend a night there and then head to Torteguera by boat for two nights. Well it now seems no one will touch a master card and we were getting low on money so the only option was to catch another bus to San Jose, the capital. Surely a bank there would fix us up. We did more backpacking today looking for money than anywhere else. It's very frustrating to stand in a line of 75-100 people for hours only to find out they don't want master card. The ATM's wouldn't work either. We finally found the Bank of San Jose would bail us out so we got $500 in colones (259,000 of them) and then caught a cab to the B&B where we stayed the last time we were here. This time we were clever enough to request a room at the back of the bldg rather than the front where you get all the street noise (and there's lots of that!)
The bus to San Jose was first class and the first one I've seen w/ a bathroom. These things sure have power as we passed everything on the road (mostly tractor trailors going uphill). You really have to hang on as these guys only slow down when death is imminent. That's one of the things about the chicken busses. If you don't get a seat and it's an hour ride over rough winding roads it's tests your strength to hold on with one hand while holding onto the laptop bag with the other. You don't want to use the overhead rack as things get stolen quite easily from there.
When we got off the bus in San Jose Jo went to use the banyo and there was a lady sitting outside the door that you pay and she gives you a small amount of toilet paper. What a job! She's got a big bag of rolls of toilet paper and she just tears it off and waits for a customer. Guess it pays to help keep the bathrooms clean. I wonder how she decides how much is enough. I think I'd be tempted to waddle to the door with my pants around my knees and ask her for some more.
After checking in we headed out for our first meal in two days. There's a Nicaraguan restaurant just down the street so we went in and ordered bifstek. You'd think I'd know better by now but Jo hadn't tried it yet so thought we'd give it one more try. Well Jo got the hoof of the bull I missed and I got the hoof that he bangs into the ground to toughen it up.
We're going to stay here for a couple of nights and check out the museums and art galleries before heading up North to Arenal and the cloud forests.
Jo just heard there's a tour from Arenal to Torteguera for $35.00 which is a lot cheaper than the trip we'd planned from Limon so that's probably now an option for us.
The bus trip today was the best yet as it was half empty so we each had our own seat and a place to put our packs. While having supper we were quite close to the Coca Cola bus depot. I'd estimate there are at least 60 busses an hour passing through there, sometimes coming in 4 at a time. I was able to get a few good pics from the bus window. One of the barrio on the outskirts of San Jose which we'd passed by on the way going to Limon. We also saw a local homeless guy down the street who we'd seen last time but this time he'd improved his living conditions. Instead of crawling into a garbage bag this time he had a cardboard box to put his head in. Things are looking up as there's no shortage of garbage bags or boxes. Unfortunately most of the bags are empty and litter the streets. We've been told there are two museums that are a "must see". One of them is the gold museum which is the largest collection in Costa Rica and the other one is the Jade museum. I'm taking a hammer and chisel to both just in case.
LINK OF THE DAY
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28454&l=0c9ef&id=680056043
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