A Long Drive

First, the drive.  The kind desk attendant in our hotel in Monteverde advised us that the drive to Puerto Viejo would be approximately 4 hours.  Now, I didn't believe him, primarily because I knew the drive down from the mountain town would be as bad a it was up.  I also had developed a good understanding (yes, in only 3 days) of travel time in Costa Rica.  I was surprised that it took us well over 9 hours. 

Driving down the mountain from Monteverde was the worst.  I am not sure where all of the heavy construction trucks were going, it certainly was not to work on this road.  The road was worse than on the way up, and the scenery was better.  With better mountain scenery, however, steeper cliffs on the roadside are generally the norm.  There were sheer drops on these switchbacks, enough to make Switzerland jealous.

We stopped at a little soda/souvenier stand on the way.  The owner was an american ex-pat.  We talked to him for almost a half hour.  He told us about how Costa Rica had changed over the years with increasing tourism.  He also showed us his souvenier prices.  The EXACT SAME wood bowls, heart-shaped mirrors, jewelery, etc for less than half (75%-80% cheaper in some cases) of what we had seen in Arenal and Monteverde!  Now, I am all about helping out the local economy, but this was pretty bad.  Oh well, as he explained, if the rico gringos were willing to pay, so be it....  Unfortunately this was all also resulting in higher costs of living for Ticos.

The best part of the whole drive, I say with as much sarcasm as I can muster, was getting lost in San Jose.  The highway just turns into a one-way downtown street.  I ended up driving in the exact wrong direction.  No thanks to a local tollbooth operator (he sent me to a shopping center when I asked how to get on the road to Limon), we found a Comfort Inn.  I was given excellent directions, complete with map and a highlighted route.  All I had to do was find the right streets to turn on.  This is where anyone who has been to San Jose starts cracking up.  There are no signs with street names on them anywhere!  I don't even think the locals know the streets by their names.  We asked many people (who were only 1 or 2 streets from the one we were looking for) where Calle Central was.  NOBODY KNEW!  The downtown Best Western gave us directions with street names too.  I finally had to get gas.  I met a local ADT courier on a motorbike.  This guy actually waited around for me to fill up, then led me directly to the correct freeway.  Truly one of the kindest acts I have ever experienced.

We drove through one of the most amazing areas in the country next, and one I will certainly go back to experience more of - Braulo Carrillo National Park.  A much better cloudforest than Monteverday, and far more beautiful.

Continued in next entry