RoJo in Costa Rica: The Bridge Over the Rio Pacuare and Grano de Oro Bus

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Bridge Over the Rio Pacuare and Grano de Oro Bus

The bus out of Grano de Oro could be such a beautiful peaceful ride. 2 1/2 hours going up and down through the mountains......it's a pace too slow to make one car sick, the windows are generally open with fresh air blowing through.

BUT ..... there is only one time a day the bus leaves - 6 a.m. Sometimes if there is a lot of people there are 2 buses. Our district has 6500 people in it and our town of Grano de Oro is the main center. The only center with a bus....2 buses that leave at the same time at 6 a.m. and return from Turrialba at 2 p.m.

The bus has 35 seats on it. This day on the bus there was 86 people and a few chickens. Joe and I always show up at 5:20 in the morning to be the first people at the bus stop. The bus never picks up in the same place but varies....so we spread the distance and have been lucky to get on first so we get a seat. If we don't get there early you end up standing like Vienna sausages stuffed into a can, sweating profusely. On the way home we show up at 1:00. Usually people are already waiting.

If you don't get in line early...you get aced. The people are vicious. It actually gives me anxiety trying to get on the bus (Robyn here!) People elbow push and shove women with tiny babies out of the way....women send their kids through the cracks with bags...so you can be the 4th person on the bus and 18 seats are saved with plastic bags. Far to much aggression for me....when I am an aggressive person. It seems like such a lack of consideration. So that's why we get there early. The people in our town think we are freaks for showing up so early and getting in line. It's just not how it is supposed to be done... but we get our seats and enjoy the laid back ride with beautiful scenery, a seat and the fresh air.

The way home is worse because it rains and then the windows are shut. It's humid, hot and your smashed up against people. And the smells of fire from cooking and alcohol...usually there are a few drunks on the bus.

The journey takes 2 1/2 hours because the bus goes slow.....but also because they stop at the fried chicken shop, stop along the way to pick up and drop off stuff to the bus drivers family....and midway a woman gets on and sells what is like a Popsicle made with milk for 20 cents. At first we were like "Let's get on with it. Let's hurry up and get home." Now we have come to like the stops....and enjoy the frozen Popsicles when it is so hot and humid. We still haven't gotten used to everyone throwing the wrappers out the window.

There are frequent landslides in certain areas and it is always under construction. Here they are clearing one.

The Rio Pacuare is a Class V white water rafting paradise; in some parts. To pass over the river in bus from Grano de Oro, everyone has to get off the bus and cross the bridge first. Then the bus passes without people in it, only the driver, who has his head out of the window right now to make sure he doesn't run into the side of the bride. It is a tight squeeze.

Walking over the bridge.

There are also plans to fix this bridge. They have been in the works for a few years, but they are hoping that soon the plans will be finished and they will start construction this year.

THINGS THAT MAKE US LAUGH......NOW:-))

They keep washing our tennis shoes and hiking boots. We've never had white tennis before. Only the day after we walked out of the store.
We have grass growing up between the floorboards in our room. It adds to the natural environment we live in. We are from Montana and thought we were pretty hard core, but this is really with nature.
Robyn's counterpart, the doctor in charge of the health clinics for the territory calls his horse salchicha....because it is old and will soon become bologne. We are just hoping it will not become the deep fried bologne that we are frequently served.
There was a 4 x 4 inch spider on our bedroom door. That still isn't quite so funny. What is funny is that our the father in our household herded it out of our room with a stick and to the cracks between the floorboards. It also eats cockroaches. The cockroaches have found their match between that spider and the kitty cat Manchas.
There was a mama bird flying in the gap between the ceiling and wall in our bedroom. The bird had a nest in above our bed. During the night we wondered what the hacking sound was....we later figured out it was the mama bird puking up food for her babies. They have gotten big and flown the coop. We thank them for it.
I had a bot fly, and a video to prove a larvae was growing inside me. Joe put the video to Star Trek music. He does want to name our child Tiberius.
Never have we inspected our bathroom trips so thoroughly. Lots of people in our area get worms. It won't be on the list of things that make us laugh if we find something.
When we first came our little brother told us it was raton poop. Mouse poop. Later we found out it was cockroach poop. Who knew cockroaches pooped.
The kitties eat the cockroaches. Sometimes we have to maim them a little bit with our flips flops but then Manchas and Gary move in for the kill.

WE AREN'T LAUGHING.... YET

The kitties are once again....bolsas de pulgas....flea bags. We have treated them twice and hopefully they will be clean for a while.
Some nights we find 10 cockroaches all over our clothes. They especially like our tooth brushes and toothpaste.
We still find cockroach poop all over our clothes.
The roosters love to sleep in the tree outside our window. They like to start between 2-4 a.m. Then they move to just sitting under our window.
The kitties are still pooping under the floorboards under our bed. It stinks.

VALUABLE THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED

Rinse all glasses before pouring a beverage in. The slugs that look like miniature snakes have no nutritional value.
This is another don't look too closely but it must be mentioned. Don't look too closely at the drawers on the shower floor. Sometimes they contain turds. Now we just push them to the side without looking.
There is a reason Costa Rica is so green. It rains all the time.
One can never know how fast humans can actually move and get their clothes on until you've felt an earthquake.
Intense thunder and lightening storms in Costa Rica can make one believe that a Volcano is erupting. Joe didn't think so, but I had to check and see if Volcan Turrialba was still there the next morning.
Sometimes it's better not to look too closely. Nuff said. It applies to everything. Looking in your underwear bag, looking at the food, looking in the cracks in the floorboard at the cat poop, looking at your poop. Somethings are better left unkown.
Masking tape all bites that last more than 1 week. It might be a Bot Fly.
Keep headlamp on bedpost just an arms length away at night. It helps to avoid the toads in the kitchen on the night trip to the toilet. It also gives light to see what the noise near the bed is. Usually it is just frogs that hop in the hole in the floor. We herd them out with a stick.
Clear all winged flying insects and cockroaches out of the bathroom before going at night. Especially out of the toilet bowl.
Always shake your clothes out before putting them on. You never know what is going to come flying out. Supposedly it might shake off Bot Fly eggs also.