Backpackers Journal Part 8

Costa Rica Part 3

Another amazing day spent so far away from home. I can't believe that this was something that would freak me out before I started my backpacking adventure. Being so far away from everything i knew made me a little nervous to say the least.
Now, here I am exploring a different country on a different continent. Costa Rica is truly amazing.

Today I decided to move closer to the pacific coast of Costa Rica and so i booked my tickets to La Fortuna ( El Burio) ; a very well known town and one of the best parts of Costa Rica. The locals changed its name after the eruption of the Arenal Volcano, which erupted on the west side of the mountain. Although the damages were very high and there were 82 people killed, lava never reached the village. The Government decided to rename the village to "The Fortune"- La Fortuna.

I packed my backpack and after saying goodbye to people I met in the hostel I started walking towards the bus station. I have noticed that there was a taxi standing right in front of the hostel and so i thought I take it so i have time to eat something before the ride. I have asked the driver to quote me with the price for the distance of around 4 KM. He was unable to tell me the cost of this journey simply because He used a meter calculator. He assured me however that the ride wouldn't be expensive and I so naive bought it, entering the taxi a second later.

It wasn't a long ride despite the high traffic. It took us a maximum of 10 minutes to reach the destination. I wasn't surprised to meet a very talkative taxi driver, they happen very often back home. I felt lucky as the driver seemed very knowledgable about the town. While we were driving he pointed at cool places worth visiting. I have gotten a little bit fascinated as we entered a very poor area of San Jose and I always preferred this abandoned and forgotten kind of beauty. If it wasn't for the fact that I was running late for the bus I would probably get out there to see more of it.

I was checking the map on my phone to see if we were going in the right direction the whole time so that I avoid any scam. When we arrived to the bus station I grabbed onto my 5 thousand colones bill ( 10 dollars ) before he spoke the price out loud. I had to ask him again to reassure myself that I heard it correctly. he asked me for 30.000 colones which is around 60 dollars.
I laughed a little bit, saying that I won't pay it especially that this ride shouldn't cost more than around 3 thousands.
He started yelling at me using words I couldn't understand. The only thing I could understand however was his very dangerous face expression which made me wonder if 60 dollars is worth my life, having in mind that we were far away from any kind of help. I stored more valuable things in my backpack and so when i envisioned loosing it i threw the money onto him and escaped the car, swearing as much as possible.

I can still recall how angry I was for this situation. It completely destroyed my mood for the rest of the day. I found a bus, ate a doughnut and still swearing found my sit where I continued to curse the hell out of him.