Heading East

We somehow managed to make it to the 7:15 boat back to Sierpe on the 1st. I was really afraid I was going to blow chunks on the boat ride, but I managed to maintain composure--mostly because I was still drunk.

We saw a few more crocs on the boat ride but nothing too exciting. We collected our car and headed off in the direction of the Caribbean--well not exactly. There aren´t any roads that go from the Osa Peninsula directly to the east so we had to drive back up to San Jose and then across. We took a road that the guide books advised against taking. It goes up through the highest part of Costa Rica and there are many landslides, fog, and crazy drivers. It also happens to be part of the major highway in Costa Rica--and the rest of Central America--the Pan American Highway. We decided that we had been lucky so far so we pressed on with our plan.

Unfortunately, before we got to the fun part of the road, we were pulled over at a police check point. Apparently, our license plates had expired and the cop wasn´t going to let us go before we called the rental car company to straighten it out. I guess our chariot was turning back into a pumpkin. The guys at Budget told Isaac on the phone that the cops were just trying to get money from us--but the truth was that the plates were expired--if only 1 day expired. The cop agreed to let us go without any money changing hands and the manager of Budget told us we would have to go to San Jose to switch vehicles. This was quite disappointing considering we were just planning to skirt around the city on our way east. But rather than have to bribe every cop in Costa Rica, we agreed to make a stop.

The drive was spectacular through the mountains. The road wasn't too bad. We only saw one section where our lane appeared to have disappeared off the edge of the cliff. We did come across a cow standing in the middle of the highway which was quite a shock. Anyway, it was lovely and if we had more time we might have stayed in the area to check it out more.

So we called the rental car manager back to find out where the budget office in San Jose was located. We had picked up the car at the airport office, so we weren´t familiar with the main branch. He assured us that we couldn´t miss it--just stay on the road we were on and it would take us right there.

Ha exclammation point.

We followed a sign directing us to San Jose and that´s where the trouble began. Let me just sum it up by saying there are very few--as in 1 or 2--streets that are labeled, streets become one-way without much notice, at an intersection there might be both a stop sign and a green light, you often can´t turn onto a one-way street even if you want to go the correct way, etc. etc. I think you get the point. Somehow, we managed to find the Budget office after about a half hour of very tense wandering. I´m still not sure how we did it. San Jose is a very big city.

When we arrived, the agent told us that there were no cars at that office and we would have to go to the airport office. I thought Isaac was going to jump across the counter and have her for lunch. What could we do? Luckily she sent us with one of their employees--we made him drive--which made route finding much easier.

Well all that took a couple hours off of our travel time. This and our exhaustion made us decide not to push to the east coast tonight. We picked a town on the way and looked in the guidebook for hotel ideas. The comment about Guapiles in the book was that it was the largest city in the Province and there was absolutely no reason for tourists to go there. Well with that great review, how could we resist?

We found our chosen hotel--ok we didn´t find it--we drove around aimlessly in the dark until we broke down and decided to ask for directions. It didn´t seem like it would be too difficult when on the map the town consists of 2 parallel sections of highway about 1 mile long. The hotel is very out of place in a town that supposedly has no reason for tourists to visit. It is quite large--300 rooms--and has an olympic sized pool, a casino, a spa, satellite tv--but a lousy internet connection. All this and its one of the cheapest hotels we´ve stayed in so far.

So now you´re up to date. Sorry no pics. Maybe tomorrow.

Happy New Year