feliz navidad

---

buenas dias amigos...
i hope this finds everyone doing well and having a great holiday and wrap up to 2005!
i have moved on from San Juaquin de flores, traveling northwest to the towns of la fortuna, monteverde and santa elena, in the mountainous regions of the north central coast.
after calling the bus department on the 23rd to ¨"confirm" that schedules were running the same for the holiday weekend (like any good little traveler would..), i rose early, said my goodbyes to the Fallas Ramos family and headed into the San Jose bus terminal to catch my direct transport to the mountains where i would spend christmas enjoying the view of volcan arenal and taking advantage of nearby hikes, rafting, and waterfalls.
HA!
i was soon introduced to the first (not totally unexpected) lesson of costa rican time and travel schedules. apparently, the 24th IS christmas day in costa rica (who knew) and within minutes of reaching the bus terminal i was kindly informed by a taxi driver that i had JUST MISSED the last direct bus to La Fortuna (schedules change, schedules change...)
seeing a miriade of options flutter thru my head, most of which included me spending more time and even the night in san jose (not high on the list), the taxi driver explained with conviction, that one of the buses first stops was at the airport before heading out of town. We both agreed that we would make a valient effort to reach the airport before the bus, allowing me to get on before they officially left town. (great idea, no?)
If i haven´t mentioned before, there are only 2 speeds in costa rica. GO...and STOP. or some might argue that could be ammended to FAST and FASTER. same difference really. you get the picture.

thus ensued the HIGH SPEED chase down the highway AFTER the bus. i am not sure if it was a blessing or made it worse, that his spedometer wasn´t working. on one hand, i was not able to tell how fast we were going...but blurred, streaking images to either side of the cab gave away a lot and enforced quite a braced grip on the head rest in front of me.

BUT....we caught the bus! after frantically and valiently, waving it down, we were informed that they were completely full. no more room for me. again, seeing it was xmas and multiple changes in schedules, not a complete surprise.

onto plan C. and then D. and then finally E...long story short. we drove to a few other stops, looking for other secondary routes, and even made another "official" call to the bus department. again, schedules change, schedules change...and the information was incorrect for the hoilday (we were informed by another bus driver)

i eventually boarded a local bus and took three routes, that landed me in the lovely town of La Fortuna...just before dusk. after about 5 hours of standing with both bags, no AC, over bumpy back roads and mountainous curves and dips..I was VERY happy to be there!

La Fortuna is a touristy little town at the base of Volcan Arenal, full of tour operators who can conjure up a zillion different attractions and sites to see at whim. after walking arond a bit and feeling overwhelmed at the miriad of choices, i ran into a friendly fellow traveler from austin, TX (!!) and we decided to ditch the tour companies and head to one of the local hot springs. LOVE the hot springs! there are several to choose from, from glitsy zupped up springs with bars and slides and music all night ...to a more low key setting, in the open air, with 15 or 16 different springs of varying temperatures. within minutes, the soreness and arduous task of the day´s travel had disapated and the fresh spring water went to work.

a lovely way to celebrate the holiday afterall! natures church!

i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family, friends, good food and tons of cheer.

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

---

Photos

main drag of la fortuna
with half a volcano in the back...;-)

los cocodrilus!
there was a fence in between us ;-)