I haven't had time to write for over a week. Our plan here in Costa Rica is to settle into
daily life and make a go of living here permanently, but since last week we
have been acting like tourists on a whirlwind trip.
Last Saturday, September 14th, Bryan and I ventured out of our area for the first time by
public transport. We took a bus into the
capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, and then changed buses to go to Pavas. We were invited to a party hosted by someone
Bryan had met through a Yahoo group who wanted to get back into turntables and
vinyl records. So, when Tom and Chris
invited us to their home in Pavas to meet other expatriates and some locals, we
decided we would brave out on our own and go for it.
We first caught the 11:00am bus from Santiago de Puriscal into San
Jose. The bus was packed, and Bryan and
I couldn't sit together. We got the last
two seats near the back of the bus. A
couple of minutes later, the driver let one final passenger on board. She was an older lady, and there was no
seat. She had to ride standing, and I
felt bad that no one offered her their seat.
Then at the first bus stop, a young hero emerged. A tall, well-dressed young man offered her
his seat. She gladly took it, and he
stood for the next few stops. After a
couple of people got off the bus, he came to the back and sat in a seat next to
me. I smiled as he came closer. He smiled and nodded to me. I hope that he realized that I was
acknowledging his good deed and wasn't thinking that I was another crazy
gringa!
After about 1 1/2 hours on the bus, we arrived in San Jose where we walked
a block and caught a bus headed to Pavas.
We had directions of where to stop, but there are no street signs, just
landmarks. We were told to get off the
bus at the stop with the blue ICE (pronounced ee-say) building on one corner
and the orange bombaro (fire station) on the other corner. After a while, we began to worry (out loud)
whether or not we had missed our stop.
The young Costa Rican (Tico) couple in the seat in front of us turned
around and asked us if we spoke Spanish.
We replied, "a little," and had a broken conversation where we
found out that we had, indeed, missed our stop.
The young couple was getting off the bus and told us to follow that they
would get us headed in the right direction.
I will admit, warning signals were flashing, and I was a little nervous
of getting off the bus with complete strangers in the middle of nowhere. I got a little more nervous as they crossed
the street towards a lone black SUV that seemed to be waiting............then
they turned the other way to a waiting bus.
They told the bus driver what stop we need to get off at, and he nodded
that he would help. After a few
"gracias" and "much gustos" we were on our way. The bus driver made sure that we got off at
the right stop. Once we saw the correct
stop, we were like, "duh -- we should have seen that!"
We walked the few blocks to the designated home and met our hosts. We then spent a happy few hours at Tom and Chris'
home. We met several other couples and
families and had some pleasant conversations about being new to Costa
Rica. We met a young couple with two
children who also live in the Puriscal area.
We are hoping to get together again with them sometime soon. We left the party a little early so that we
could catch a bus back to Puriscal before dark. On the way back to the bus stop, I had to
snap a picture of the mountains looming above the street. I love it here!
When we returned to Santiago de Puriscal, it was just about 5:45pm, and
this was the night before Costa Rican Independance Day! We walked to the area of the square just as a
parade was starting. There was a drum line
and many citizens with lanterns all heading to the square. I snapped a picture or two and caught a bit
of it on video for a memory.
Then,
because there were no buses back to San Juan de Puriscal, we decided to get
dinner. We decided that pizza was in
order and ended up at El Tulin. We
hammed it up for the camera a bit and enjoyed our pizza with the garlicky
sauce.
Then we took a taxi home to San
Juan. It is amazing how well you can get
by with knowing only a bit of Spanish.
As long as you can say where you are going and what you need (as well as
'please' and 'thank you'), I have noticed that the Costa Ricans are happy to
help and appreciate that you are trying to learn.
This trip helped to prepare us for the mammoth trip that we took last Tuesday through Friday to visit Bryan's cousin, Kerry, at Cabo Blanco National Reserve. More on that later!
Pura Vida!
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