The next morning near the Tourist Information Centre we bought some bottled water and groceries for our trip to Manuel Antonio Park. We ate our breakfast at McDonalds, after which we walked, lugging all of our luggage, the 18 or so blocks, through crowded and chaotic streets to where the buses were parked. The bus we wanted was scheduled to leave at 11:00. It took us some time to find where the tickets were sold and where the bus would be.
While we were waiting, a guy approached and warned us to watch out for a man he inconspicuously pointed out. He told us the man was a snatch and run artist. We kept our eyes on the thief until we finally boarded the bus and picked out some good seats, only to discover that the seats were assigned, which separated us.
It was shortly after getting out assigned seats that Joan discovered that she no longer had her fanny pack, which contained money, car keys, and a camera lens. We never did find out if it was lost or stolen.
All of the bus drivers we have experienced in Central America must have gotten their driver’s training at the same place, because like them, this one drove like a bat out of hell, screaming down the mountain road full of curves. We did finally began to see some tropical country once we got away from San Jose. The bus took us up into the clouds (literally) which was cool and moody, then travelled down into the warm moist seaside and palm plantations.
Once down on the coast, the racing bus driver slowed down to a crawl when it got to a rough gravel road. The bumpy road hammered my back brutally, causing me a lot of pain. At a turnoff, I noticed a sign for the Hotel Jaco. When we were booking our Costa Rico flight over the phone, the travel agent tried to book us into the Hotel Jaco, for when we landed in San Jose. She mentioned it was on the ocean, which didn’t sound right to me, I knew that San Jose, was in the middle of the country, not on an ocean. I’m glad we had caught the problem, it would have meant an additional two hour drive, after a long day of flying.
We stayed on the bus until we got to Manuel Antonio Park. We got off of the bus to discover that the clean, reasonably-priced hotel that we wanted to stay in was closed, so full of anxiety, we began walking back to the road, seeking some other shelter for the night. We could find nothing with a room that we could afford. Fortunately, as we walked down the road with our bags, we were approached by a friendly guy, who showed us a funky little cabin in the woods for $15. With great relief, we happily took it.
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