Parrita and Costa Rica Craig's

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Geo: 8.53622, -83.3051

s taxi ride there and then up the hill one more time

Had taken the bus from Tortuguero to San Jose and then a taxi to Casa Maki in Alejuela where we spent the night before catching to bus to Parrita.

There is an informal bus stop along the road toward Parrita, Montezuma and other points south of San Jose. Depending on your luck, you can get on the bus for your destination but if the bus is full, you could be out of luck. We have caught the bus to Montezuma here in the past but had not used this stop in a while. The advantage of this stop is not having to go all the way into San Jose to catch a bus.

At present, there is a bridge under construction and the delays for buses makes this even more chancy but we decided to try our luck. The bus was supposed to come by about 9:00 am but had not shown by 9:30 am and a taxi stopped at the informal stop and we negotiated with him for a ride to Parrita. He was heading back to Manual Antonio empty and was looking for someone to help pay for the gas and we were glad to get moving toward our destination.

Interesting ride. Jose could speak some English and he and Robert communicated with each other via Google translate on their phones! Because we were in a car, we stopped at the bridge famously known for the large crocodiles that hang out right by the bridge. They were specimen size indeed.

Craig picked us up in Parrita, we did some shopping and had a lunch before heading up into the hills to his place. Got to him place and settled in

Spent two days catching up on stories, washing clothes and walking around looking at the various birds and scenery and fixing some world class dinners! The final evening was the best with Robert fixing a delicious sauce of ginger, garlic and butter which was used to cook the shrimp and used some in the stir fry. Was a pleasant stay before heading back down the hill where he dropped us off in Quepos for the next part of our adventure.

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Photos

one of the bus stops
change bus for San Jose

trinket salesman at Crocodile Bridge
river below has several larger than usual crocodiles in the water. On previous trips were on bus and did not stop

the very large crocodiles
notice part of upper jaw is missing

beach at Jaco
do not think this is the big touristy area

nice ginger here and there
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