December 11, 2008 - Moving Day # 2

We finished our move today :-D.

We spent our last morning in our apartotel, finished our breakfast food, got our small remnants of suitcases together, and got a taxi to our new apartment. This was our first taxi ride since coming back (not counting the airport taxi on arrival). The base rate is now c470 – the few blocks ended up at c650. But at least we didn’t have to cross the circunvalación (this is the freeway-like, *very* busy street that circles San José) lugging suitcases!

I measured our apartment, just for curiosity’s sake – it is 525 square feet plus a 65 square-foot pila. Quite a bit smaller than our 1600 square-foot house in California!

December 10, 2008 - Moving Day # 1

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).

Still Moving…

After a lovely week of visiting family and finalizing our address changes, shopping, re-packing, and doing all those infinitely-added-to list of thing to do, we are ready (almost!) to fly to Costa Rica.

We got up at 4 a.m., and threw the last items in our bags. Then (arg!) we weighed the final bag – 54 pounds! 4 pounds over! We hurriedly decide we don’t really need that toiletry bag, this item can go in carry-on, and that shirt can pad the banjo. We now have 3 bags at 50 lbs, one at 70 lbs, 2 max-sized carry-ons, a banjo, another carry-on, and a medical equipment bag that doesn’t count. Plus, we have coats and an umbrella (these count either). Are we the ugly travellers now, or what!?

We leave by 5:15, and notice the temperature is 36 degrees – okay! Time to start thinking about warm Costa Rica!

We get to the San Francisco airport in good time – 3 hours almost to the minute. We unload the car and say goodbye to Mom and Brother. We still don’t know when we will return, so it was a bit more difficult this time.

Well! So we get to the counter – no line! But (BUT!) OMG… I could have *sworn* I read the website correctly, but it must have been wishful thinking – San Jose (Costa Rica) flights don’t allow *overweight* bags! This is now (barely) peak season, so only 2 checked bags each, and only 50 lbs each bag. ARG! We sort through the heavy bag, looking for small, heavy items – succeed in pulling out 20 pounds, and re-distribute in carry-ons. I cannot get my sling bag zipped. Too bad. It’s going. (oh, soooo ugly!)

In all this chaos, we now can’t find our baggies of liquids. At least the line in security is also not bad – we keep telling people they can go around us – they didn’t seem too PO’d. We finally find one baggy – we figured we must have left the other one at the house. We proceed. We have to:
- take off shoes
- take out 2 laptops
- take out the CPAP
- take out the DVD player. Yes, we brought it – padded with 4 pounds of clothes :-)
- take out the baggy of liquids
- go back through the beep-beep machine, empty pockets…
Then we get to do the reverse! People *really* love us now, and it’s only gonna get better.

So, we get to our gate, relax, get some juice and a bit of food. Rick starts to look for his pack of important papers, and *CAN’T FIND THEM* - we’ve now used up our quota of panic. We find the USA cell phone and Mom’s cell phone number – call. They pull off the road and look – they find. They are 50 minutes away, and our flight boards in just about that amount of time. So – plan B. We’ll deal with all this later…

Now we get to make more friends – carrying on all that *stuff!* Some anxiety later, we are safely ensconced in our seats, “stuff” stowed. This time we fly through Houston, Texas – never done it before. Houston is *lovely* from the air! Trees all over the place, river and delta gleaming in the sunlight. The airport has *got* to have the longest taxi distance in the world! But our connecting flight is not very far, and there is a food court in between. After a little more anxiety, we again get all our stuff stowed, and away we went!

Got into the San Jose airport with no problem, about 10:00 pm. Went through the resident’s line at immigration and showed our old passports with the residency stamp, our copy of our cedula renewal appointment, and my cedula. Rick’s cedula is in the “pack of important papers,” but all the other documents we had seemed to suffice. We got our entry stamps in our new passports, and we’re off to collect our many suitcases!

What a line! We had no problem finding suitcases, but had to wait for 2 carts for them. Then the line for customs was all the way to the back of the baggage claim area – I stopped looking at the time… The lovely customs lady came down the line collecting our customs papers, we got all our bags through the viewing machine, and rolled on – no one seemed to be checking any bags other than that. So, pretty smooth.

We got our taxi to Los Yoses ($30). I had looked into using Interbus – it was advertised as $7 each to San Jose, but we would only be allowed one bag each. (something for others to keep in mind tho – you just need to reserve it 72 hrs ahead). Our taxi driver knew right where the hotel was – thankfully, since I had emailed for directions, but not yet received them (they were in my inbox when I checked it the next day – from the hotel - LOL).

Got checked in, and conked out a bit after midnight (75 degrees)…

December 18, 2007 - Day Trip to San Pedro

Yesterday, Rick had a dentist appointment in San Pedro, so we thought we´d make an afternoon of it. Good thing we planned to be gone so long, I guess...

We started out trying to take the express bus to UCR (the University of Costa Rica is located in San Pedro, and San Pedro is on the far side of San José). They had just changed the schedule because finals were last week, so we found out that the first bus wasn´t even scheduled until noon! We got there by 11:40, and figured that wouldn´t be too long a wait. Well, by ten after, others were giving up, and so did we. We went to the bus station to San José, caught the direct bus and were in San José soon after. We decided to get lunch at a soda we know, and were done eating (I think we wolfed it down) by a bit after 1:00. Then (yikes!) we had to get across town – we went back to Paseo Colón and waited for the periferica (the intrabus system we knew would get us to UCR). Well, we just missed one, and the next one just whizzed by (arg!). We finally decided to ask a fellow traveler which bus he would recommend to get to San Pedro. He said to catch one to the center of San José, then catch one from there to San Pedro. We were just about to take his advice, when the next periferica bus came by (and stopped for us!). Whew! We got to San Pedro, then it looked like the bus would go right by Mall San Pedro (our ultimate destination), so we stayed on past UCR. Well, there is a huge, nasty traffic circle right where Mall San Pedro is – it has about 6 entrance/exits, all multi-lane. AND our bus went right on past the mall, and onto the freeway. We frantically buzzed to stop the bus, and he finally did stop – at a bus stop ON the freeway! We got off, and walked back towards the mall. This was not too bad until we got to the afore-mentioned traffic circle (traffic circle of death, I should say). We got past two of the entrance/exits, but at the final one, Rick said ¨this is suicide!¨ And I agreed! Well, we got across. Without dying. We *did* notice that on THE OTHER SIDE, there was a sign that said walking across there was prohibited – hmmm.

It is now 3:00 – 3 ½ hours after starting our trip. And Rick still has a dentist drill to look forward to :(. Well, we´re at a mall, so we look around a bit, get some coffee (yum!), and look for a phone to get our final instructions. This is starting to feel like the amazing race… We find a phone, but it doesn´t take coins (cards only). We ask a fellow standing in line, and he said there was a coin phone outside. So we go outside, find the phone,… And it doesn´t take our coins! It is supposed to, but it doesn´t! So, we go back inside the mall and buy a phone card (not bad, you can get them for as little as c500 - $1). Then back outside, wait in line for the phone, and call. Our dentist says to go through the mall, out the back, and he will meet us. That was amazingly kind; I don´t think we would have found his office on our own (next time, yes).

Our dental visit was amazing! Rick filled out a form while we talked, and we got to know each other for quite a while. Then they decided to take an x-ray to make sure he really needed work done. So no drilling today :).

Our trip back to Alajuela was much nicer. We caught a taxi at about 6:00, got the direct bus to Alajuela by 6:35, and were at Jalapeño´s in Alajuela for dinner by 7:30. Whew!

November 27, 2007 - Expedition

CRASH! What a way to wake up! Yesterday we got a mirror, and used it for all of half a day - this morning, a high wind sprang up and blew it right off the wall. Since *we* didn't break it, I am maintaining that we *don't* get 7 years of bad luck...

We had planned to meet friends for coffee, go on to Volcán Poás, then have lunch at Chubasco's - a highly-recommended restaurant. Even with the high winds, we decided that you can never tell whether you can see anything until you get there.

Well, we walk to the restaurant, and hear the now-familiar refrain "no hay luz" - central Alajuela has no electricity :(. So we go to another soda, have breakfast, and call our friends - no problem, they meet us at the new place for coffee!

And we're off! We hit the mountain road - BAM! The water hose jumps off the radiator and steam pours out of the hood! We all get out, check the damage, and a taxi driver offers help. We re-connect the hose, fill the radiator, limp to his house, and he adds more water. It becomes obvious that the water pump is not working, so he fiddles some more, pours more water... Ultimately, he fixes the water problem AND a problem with the horn - then smiles and waves as we thank him and drive off :). (no more problems - with the car...)

At the final turn-off for Poás, it becomes obvious that we will see nothing but clouds at the top. So, we blow off the mountain, and turn towards La Paz gardens to see butterflies. We are thinking that we would spend perhaps half an hour or a bit more there, but when we get there, we find that the main trail takes 2 1/2 hours (too long) and they don't have a partial-tour price. So we would be spending a *lot* for our little stroll ($29 for non-residents and $15 for residents). Guess what we did - yep, went to the gift shop instead :).

On the way back, we stopped at Chubasco's - they are *closed*!!! (not shut down, but *closed*!) We head back to another restaurant we passed, and had a *great* buffet lunch instead.

Then we decide to see if the Christmas tree farm will sell us a living tree (dug up, not cut down). No luck.

So by now, we're asking ourselves "was this a completely failed trip?" Believe it or not, the answer is NO. We had a very nice visit through it all, we drove through gorgeous countryside, had an unexpectedly nice lunch, and met even more wonderful Ticos!

(Again, *we* *didn't* break the mirror!)

May 22, 2007 - Day trippin´ to San José

Yesterday we spent the day in San José (and a *lot* of that day getting there and back). We had a list a mile long, and accomplished only a fraction of what we intended. But, it was more a day trip than a "must do this list of things" trip.

Our list:
- look for / buy Tums, Liqui-Gel Advil, Tinactin, Salad dressing (Ranch and Blue Cheese), different scotch or bourbon
- get information on CPAP machine replacement (for when mine breaks; it's ok now, but I dread it breaking again, and want to know exactly what to expect in Costa Rica)
- get shoes that fit
- go to ARCR; get El Residente magazine, set up mail forwarding, buy ¨Costa Rica by Bus¨ book, get info on medical insurance, get directions to shoe place and return bus to Cartago
- talk to a guitar-maker recommended by a neighbor
- go to a book store
- go to a museum

What we accomplished:
- no Tums, salad dressing, scotch, or bourbon; found a possible replacement for tinactin; found that Liqui-Gel Advil is sold (as is, different name) as a remedy for ¨woman´s troubles¨
- found the ¨Praxair¨ (c 4y6, A16 - SW of Clínica Bíblica) place, and talked to a woman about CPAPs. She said they are just starting to handle them, and the person who knows more wasn´t there just then. We got her card and need to call back. BUT! she did mention perhaps providing a loaner if we had to wait for a replacement machine.
- got cowboy boots that fit great (even with my orthotics) on the first try! Off-the-shelf even! Skipped the custom-boot makers. Went on to the custom-shoe-makers, but couldn´t find them.
- got info, etc from ARCR; skipping medical insurance questions until later
- skipped the guitar-maker, bookstore, and museum...

Our loooong day (7 bus trips and a taxi ride, PLUS walking, walking, walking):
Caught the 9:15 bus from Orosí to Cartago, then found the San José bus with enough time to spare for a bathroom break. Landed in San José at 11:00, spent a few minutes flailing around figuring out where we were exactly (asked a few bus drivers, bank guards, and unfortunate passers-by). Walked to Praxair, then caught a taxi to ARCR environs and had lunch. Found out about the Periférica bus line from ARCR, and took it - got off and on THREE times and saw a bit of San José and San Pedro. Went to several malls, walked around looking for stuff. HUGE help from the last Periférica bus driver, who pointed out our Periférica stop, and more help from a fellow passenger who walked us down to the San Pedro bus stop for Cartago. We left San Pedro at 4:40, and got to Cartago at 5:30; immediately hopped on the bus for Orosí, and got home at 6:00. WHEW!

Some items:
Our bus driver from Cartago to San José was pulled over for speeding. Almost all of the buses started before we were seated - we both have numerous bruises and wrenches. At the San Pedro bus stop, we saw all sorts of interesting attractions: another guitar-maker, foreign-film festival, books, used DVDs and CDs, Indian food...

Buses and Taxis

Being from California, I am new to bus systems, and a bit anxious about them. So, we took taxis to and from the hotel in Alajuela. What a mess that was! The taxi to San Jose was ok, but not the return... The first taxi we hailed said he would call a taxi that could take us to Alajuela (instead of just around town in San Jose). When that taxi showed up, we got in, and were half way to Alajuela, when we were handed a cell phone. Someone on the other end explained that since this was a city taxi, and it was taking us to Alajuela, it would cost more – and the meter meant nothing. Grrr. (and this was no place to just get out of the taxi in protest) So, the return trip cost us $17 (going to San Jose cost us $15). Knowing that the bus would have only cost less than a dollar, we are determined that when we go again, we take the bus (no time pressure…).

We found the bus station for San Jose – buses leave there every 15 minutes, so no real wait time. Norman had told us how/when to ring for a stop, and so we naturally confused the heck out of the bus driver. But he let us off (didn’t kick us off) right across the street from our bank (now *that* sounds strange – ‘our’ bank, in Costa Rica). It was a very busy street, but we just followed others when they crossed, and made it (it’s good to be a lemming sometimes ).

We asked at ARCR for directions to the bus stop to return to Alajuela. We got there just as the bus was ready to leave, so no waiting! I think that “waiting” circumstances happen so often, that “no wait” is surely a time for celebration!

This was the bus that went to the “antiguo hospital” – it let us off only ½ block from our hotel – yay! We beat the rain!

On later trips, we walked a visiting family through their first Costa Rican bus ride (they got to skip the taxi ride to San Jose), and rode the buses to several outlying towns for day-trips. I think I'm getting used to this!

The bus system is amazingly complete and convenient, but the stops are a maze - different locations, and signs that are obvious to the experienced.