Today is Moving Day (well, day #1 anyway)!
While Rick went to the apartment to meet with the landlady, I went to meet our Taxi de Carga and move our stuff from our friend’s house. I caught the San Pedro bus into San José, then walked the pedestrian mall (the section of downtown that is open to pedestrians only) towards the Alajuela bus terminal. I had checked on my map, and the terminus was just a couple of blocks past the end of the pedestrian section. So, I didn’t worry about counting blocks, looking for landmarks, etc – all the things you normally do. Well! Lucky me – the pedestrian mall had been extended – it went a few blocks further, and so (of course) did I. Arg! I walked about 10 minutes longer, past the hospital (a veeery long block), and finally asked an Alajuela-San-José bus driver where the terminus was (it was a StationWagon bus). He started to tell me, but then said to just hop on and he would take me – whoo hooo! I did just what I had seen so many others do – I got on, but didn’t cross the bar (the light bar that counts passengers). We went *all* the way back to the end of the pedestrian mall, and turned one block. Geez. He pulled into the StationWagon terminus, and pointed to the directo bus – I thanked him (profusely!). The tough thing is that I needed the Tuasa directo bus – its terminus in Alajuela is just a few blocks from where I was to meet Arturo (our moving guy). The StationWagon terminus was *quite* a few blocks more. So, I ducked around a bus (out of sight of my so kind driver), and walked a block to the Tuasa bus. The bus left shortly, and I got to Alajuela with no problem (bus fare is now about c425). I walked to the Palí, but I was earlier than planned, so I bought some snacks for later. When I called Arturo, he picked me up and explained that there was *another* Palí – he was expecting me there :-(. I still don’t know where this is…
We drove to Bodegas (a small town between Grecia and Alajuela), and loaded up the truck. It looked like everything was well-padded and tied down, but at the end of the day, our bedframes got pretty dinged up – paint scratched off and some connections bent. Some of the bolts had come out, and we lost a nut – but Arturo had a replacement (and a wrench), so we at least got them working again.
It took us less than an hour and a half to drive to our apartment (including a stop in Los Yoses to pick up our monster suitcases from the apartotel), then just a short time (certainly less than an hour) to unload and set up.
Apartments in Costa Rica are not usually clean when you move in – often you can get the keys a day or two ahead and clean it yourself, but we had forgotten this. Besides, we were in a hurry to get into our own place :-D. So, we were very happy to unload some storage bags and find cleaning supplies! We had expected that our friend would use these, but she knew we would use them right away – she was soooo right! We spent some time doing a little bit of cleaning – we still don’t have a new broom or mop, so we were somewhat limited. But! we got the living room set up, bathroom necessities available, and the beds made – what more do you really need? The kitchen can wait for tomorrow!
All told, I left San Pedro at 10:15, and we were cleaned up and out for coffee and a snack by 3:30. The trip totalled c185 (bus) + c425 (bus) + c1500 (moving snacks) + c50,000 (mover).
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