Costa Rica

---

Tuesday

We had an early breakfast at Dorling's Bakery, our favorite place for morning baguettes. We had a table right on the edge of the Tortuguero River. Very picturesque. This river flows one way into the sea, and joins with the Suerte River in the other direction going past La Pavona. Today our final destination was San Jose, so we just took the reverse route we took to get here. So from Tortuguero to La Pavona to Cariari to San Jose. We got the boat tickets separately, about $3 apiece, very inexpensive for a great one hour trip. When the river is low, the trip can take up to two hours.

Saw many shore birds, similar to blue herons and egrets, but no crocodiles this time. We did, however, see a young man swimming in the river. This didn't seem too smart with crocodiles in the area. Saw a few fishermen in boats, and a couple of canoes. Saw several cows with their bird friends in one area. There is controversy here about the amount of rain forest being cleared for pastures for the cattle. The eco-people say "eat less beef" almost the same as the ChicFilA commercial where the cows say "eat more chicken".

When the boat arrived in La Pavona, the Cariari bus was right there. Great connections. Paid separately for the bus to Cariari, $2 each, so the same as the combined bus/boat combination coming from the other direction. Transportation here is so reasonable. On the drive from La Pavona, saw several signs that said "Private property SFCO Dole," so this must be a big fruit area.

When we arrived in the Cariari bus station an hour later, the San Jose bus was right next to it, another great connection. We had a very comfortable, double-decker, air-conditioned bus ($7 total). We sat in the upper deck, good views. The road was good with a middle lane for passing in the mountains. Our running joke was "Does he know the way to San Jose?" Took a little over two hours to get to San Jose, despite a ten or fifteen minute delay for road construction and one-way travel.

Took a taxi back to our original hotel, Quinta Avenita. This is a $3 or $4 ride. When we arrived at the hotel, the meter said 1490 calones ($3), but just at the curb it popped up to 4990 calones ($10). We told him it was too much, but he just pointed to the meter. This was the only case we were overcharged, so not too bad I guess.

Checked in, picked up our stowed luggage, then walked around San Jose. Stopped for a good dinner just down the street from the hotel.

We go home tomorrow morning. The time went by so quickly. Had a great time.

---