Chapter 3: Costa Rica…How to figure out where a bus goes in Costa Rica in 2 steps
We were trying to learn the different bus routes and schedules. In the States, we would normally pick up a nicely printed brochure and look for the area we want to go and find the appropriate bus stop and go. It’s so simple and many bus lines are even color coded.
In Costa Rica, there are no schedules anywhere. There are no color-coded lines or maps on the side of the buses that tell you where the bus goes. I believe the routes and schedules are passed down, like folklore, from one generation to another. You see buses all over, but there is no way to figure out where that bus goes, you must already know the route before you get onto a bus. And, even when you get on a bus there are no routes inside of the bus that helps you know where the bus is going. It’s a vicious circle of confusion for newbies. So, we decided to figure out where just one bus goes.
Here are the two easy steps to finding where a bus goes in Costa Rica:
Wave at each bus that passes until one stops for you.
Get on the bus and ride it to the end of the route or until the driver makes you get off.
We decided to see where Route 2 (Routa 2 in Spanish) went. So, we walk to the nearest bus stop and we wait and wait and wait. Other buses are stopping but we WANT route 2. To pass the time we start watching these construction people putting a new cement side walk. I want to get a picture, they were so happy to have their picture taken, they stop their work and smiled for the camera. I must say there are no friendlier people in the world than in Costa Rica.
We are still waiting for the bus…… One of the construction workers finds a 5 colon piece of money in the dirt and calls me over to give it to me (worth about 1 penny in Dollars). I am, to this day, still not sure why, did we look that bad that this man wanted to give us money? I will save that 5 colon piece to remember the happy man working very hard.
As time goes by, we are still waiting for the bus…..
So, after at least 30 minutes Roger’s idea is to walk up the same street about 100 meters to the next bus stop and wait at another bus stop, ok? Yes, that didn’t make any sense to me either since we were on the same street. We see a Route 2 bus coming and we start waving! He stops and we pay our fee and sit down.
We feel quite proud of ourselves. Although we have no idea where the bus is going.
I start counting the turns Left than right than left than right for 6 times. I am trying to figure out if we had to walk back how we could retrace the route. So now there are only 2 other people on the bus and it stops at the last bus stop. The 2 women tell us in Spanish to get off. We are in a residential area far from the city and far from where we started. I must have looked shocked because I could feel my heart beating fast but we were just going to stay with our strategy. We smile and continue to sit on the bus. Smiling is a wonderful technique to avoid doing something, or when you have no idea what you are doing. You may borrow that idea for future times you just don’t want to do something or don’t know what to do…and you’re welcome. The driver comes to a cull de sac in the middle of nowhere, and parks the bus.
We’re still smiling, which has become my strategy. The driver says something and motions for us to stay on the bus. So, we sit and smile some more. He gets off the bus leaves all his money there in front of us and walks away. Oh yes, the bus drivers make change for each passenger, and the money sits right by the door next to the driver in a in a foam box sorted by the different values of coins. As he is driving he will reach over and make change for larger currency. All the coins are sorted by their denomination.
We wait on the bus for about 15 minutes. We are still smiling. He finally comes back and starts the bus again and does a reverse of the left and rights he took to get us nowhere. He says San Jose and we say Si.
Finally, we end up in downtown San Jose and he tells us to get off, which we understood even if it was spoken in Spanish.
Accomplishment of the day:
No need to ever take the Routa 2 bus again!
The sidewalk got finished
