San Jose to Sierpe

Today (2/15), we arrived in San Jose after our overnight flight and hopped a bus to the south. Many people had said that San Jose is not a good place to be and to leave as soon as possible... We thought "how bad could it really be"... Well they were right, it really does make you want to leave as soon as possible. Everywhere you look there is razor wire, electric fences, and police with big guns. Luckily our taxi driver knew where we were going, even though we did not. Costa Rica has a variety of bus systems and each has their own set of stations, so we were very confused. We arrived in time to get a bus and get rolling.

The buses here stop anywhere along the way to drop people off or pick them up, just on the side of the road. Sometimes a vendor will hop on selling drinks and chips and stuff, then get off up the road, presumably to get on the next bus. Our bus was slow going through the mountains, as the highway is only 1 lane in each direction and passing was very difficult. Once we arrived in the town of Palmar, we were able to get some money from a bank and continue to Sierpe, a sleepy river town an hour's boat ride from our final destination. The final bus leg was on an old yellow school bus and it was completely packed with locals making grocery runs, since the village in Sierpe is really small. It was really hot and sweaty, with people in every seat and standing throughout. Bumping along the dirt road, we came upon a police blockade. The bus had to stop and men with large assault rifles came on and asked everyone for identification and searched their bags. By this point, we were feeling exhausted, hot, and we did not smell very good at all. Christie had to remind me not to try and take a photo of them, lest they take my camera, or something worse.

Finally we arrived in the village, only to realize we had missed our stop for the cabin we were staying in that night. Back up the road we walked for about an hour in the sun, finally arriving in a stinky wet mess. Nonetheless, our hosts were really happy to see us. Josh and Ashley, a couple from Canada, had moved here two weeks ago to run these cabins with their son Trevor (he was about 6 or 7 I think). We took a much needed shower and came to chat with them. They explained they were just getting started, and still doing a lot of work on the place. It turns out we were their first guests, and Trevor was very excited to have someone who spoke english around, since all of his new friends at school only speak spanish.

From Sierpe

For dinner, Josh and Ashley prepared a traditional Canadian favorite, poutine. It is basically french fries covered with cheese and gravy, along with rice and beans. They couldn't believe we had never tried it before, and it was really good, if a little salty for our tastes. We stayed up and chatted with Trevor until his bedtime and then we retired to read for a bit and crash for roughly twelve hours. Tomorrow we are heading to the remote village of Drake to stay for four nights.

Here are the rest of the pictures from Sierpe