Post from Tim:
Off to Costa Rica!
It was still dark when we hopped on the 6 AM bus from the town of Boquete to the regional capital of David. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to drink coffee. (Coffee is an important part of my balanced diet.) As we headed out of the mountains on the old school bus, the sunrise almost woke me up!
By 8:30 we were headed to San Jose on a larger bus. A couple of hours later we arrived at the Panama / Costa Rica border. Here we walked around aimlessly, never sure of where we were supposed to go and what stamps we needed. Wishing I had studied a little harder in those high school Spanish classes, we made it thought on broken Spanish and sign language. We continued down the Interamerican Highway.
The Interamerican Highway provides a much needed link through Central American countries. But don't think of it like a US interstate. Although urban parts are indeed highway, you should picture most of the highway as a small country road. This small country road is shared by huge trucks and buses and is without shoulders, dividing lines, or guard rails.
So we continued down the road and into the Costa Rican mountains. We rose above the cloud line, where the heavy fog and rain made the visibility terrible. Normally, passing a slow moving tractor-trailer on a country road around a blind curve with a cliff on one side makes me a little nervous. But add fog, rain, and front row seats, and you can imagine how I felt.
Fortunately, we made it through just fine. Others didn't. The driver of a car we saw crushed by a bus in the mountains was not so lucky.
On a lighter note, we found a great place to eat dinner in San Jose. We spent way too much on dinner, but sometimes you have to.
It was still dark when we hopped on the 6 AM bus from the town of Boquete to the regional capital of David. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to drink coffee. (Coffee is an important part of my balanced diet.) As we headed out of the mountains on the old school bus, the sunrise almost woke me up!
By 8:30 we were headed to San Jose on a larger bus. A couple of hours later we arrived at the Panama / Costa Rica border. Here we walked around aimlessly, never sure of where we were supposed to go and what stamps we needed. Wishing I had studied a little harder in those high school Spanish classes, we made it thought on broken Spanish and sign language. We continued down the Interamerican Highway.
The Interamerican Highway provides a much needed link through Central American countries. But don't think of it like a US interstate. Although urban parts are indeed highway, you should picture most of the highway as a small country road. This small country road is shared by huge trucks and buses and is without shoulders, dividing lines, or guard rails.
So we continued down the road and into the Costa Rican mountains. We rose above the cloud line, where the heavy fog and rain made the visibility terrible. Normally, passing a slow moving tractor-trailer on a country road around a blind curve with a cliff on one side makes me a little nervous. But add fog, rain, and front row seats, and you can imagine how I felt.
Fortunately, we made it through just fine. Others didn't. The driver of a car we saw crushed by a bus in the mountains was not so lucky.
On a lighter note, we found a great place to eat dinner in San Jose. We spent way too much on dinner, but sometimes you have to.
Photos From This Location
Related
- Other stories from Costa Rica
- Other stories from Month 1