Okay, I admit that I am a little late in the game with blogging about my adventures here in Costa Rica. It's already been a month and some odd days, and I have experienced more than I previously thought I could handle. So these will be my best efforts in retracing my steps and bringing y'all up to speed. Yes, I did just use y'all; I do that sometimes.
My time in Costa Rica started abruptly with adventure. I flew in with a few of my friends also in my program--Dana, Shawnté, and Amy--a week early in order to spend some time with a couple Fox alums in Cahuita, a chillaxed reggae town where they live.
The plan: Land in San José, take a taxi to Dana's dad's friend's best friend, Andy's house to leave our surplus luggage we didn't need for the week in a 'safe' place. I'll pause momentarily for you to process that last sentence... Alright, let's continue. From Dana's.. friend's house, take a taxi to the bus station, then take the bus to Cahuita, and meet Chris and Jenn (the Fox alums) to stay with them for the week. Easy, right?
Immediately upon exiting the airport we were bombarded by taxistas trying to grab our luggage in order to secure our business. Fortunately, the one with the micro-bus reigned victorious. We gave the driver the 'address' to Andy's house and we were on our way. I say address with care because here in Costa Rica, there really aren't addresses. More so directions via landmarks, whether they currently exist, or did once upon a time. We ended up making it in relatively good time. This is where the news was broken to me that I was supposed to have my carry-on packed with a week's worth of clothes.
While frantically re-arranging my luggage the girls tried to figure out where the bus station was that we needed to get to. It was just when we were losing all hope that Andy's daughter (who speaks English) walked through the door. We quickly eased her anxiety of the four strangers in her house by introducing ourselves, and sidetracking her by pleading for help. She kindly agreed, and began researching. She figured out that the bus station was in a nearby province called La Huela. However, she doubted that we would be able to get tickets for the same day as buses on this route tend to fill up quick. Nonetheless, we were determined. She called us a cab, we said our goodbyes, and headed off. In the San José rain.
That is when the taxi driver got lost. He had made a call to his company asking if they knew where the Caribeños bus station in La Huela was, but to no avail. Dana, being quick on her feet had the taxi driver call Jenn to ask for help. She made the driver aware that the station was indeed in San José and not La Huela, and we were back in the race. An unnecessary stop to the ATM and a currency explanation by our driver later, we were at the bus station. We thanked the driver, exited the car into the rain, and began to search for the correct ticket window. For the sake of time--we found it, bought the last four tickets, grabbed the last four seats with just under ten minutes to spare.
The ride went smoothly, minus the Tico (a person from Costa Rica) showing his abs off to Shawnté, and being obnoxiously loud for its duration. Then we get to our stop in Cahuita--about 4 and a half hours later--where they let us off. It was pitch black, we were on the side of the road, and Chris and Jenn were no where to be found. Should we walk somewhere, or stay put? We saw a car pulled off the side of the road down from us a ways, was that them? After deciding it probably wouldn't be the greatest idea to approach a foreign car, in a foreign place at night we decided to walk the opposite way. Soon after, we see two bikers who three people with backpacks, and one with a rolling suitcase. They questioned our names, and we responded in elation. We had made it. Alive.
They lead us up a steep and rocky road into the jungle where their humble abode awaited our arrival. Jenn made us an abundant amount of patacones (fried plantains), the best possible meal we could have asked for after a days travel, and a continual craving of ours since. We enjoyed each others company for a short while and then headed to bed for the first time in forty-eight hours.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment