Bus Trouble

I woke up and got breakfast at the soda next door. Gosh I really love a good banana milkshake. I hit the ATM and picked up my laptop from the info office where I had dropped it off prior to Corcovado. I made it to the bus stop, and got a little worried when it didn't show. A block away I saw a bus passing by, and waved it down. Luckily the ticket guy saw me and heard me shout "San Jose" at him. I read and slept for a bit before it stopped at some po-dunk town called El Brujo for people to get lunch. 20 minutes, the driver had said.

I watched my bus over my shoulder as I ate to make sure I wouldn't miss it. Only while I wasn't looking, an identical bus pulled in front of it, which I was now watching. I didn't notice when my bus pulled away, and I thought it odd when this impostor bus didn't have any one on it, not even the driver, when the 20 minutes was up.

Eventually people started piling on and I followed suit. When I looked towards the back of the bus where my bag was supposed to be stowed overhead, I flipped. First I had thought someone had taken it, but I realized that all the seats were not the same color as they had been before. Wrong bus. And mine was gone, my bag still on it.

I got the gas station attendant to call the operator for me to get the number of the bus company, and I used a pay phone to call them. "Se habla Inglés?" I asked them, but to no avail. So in Spanish, I told them I had missed my bus, gave them a description of my bag and told them to hold it there till I could get there. They closed at 5:30, so I wouldn't be able to get it until the next day.

Next I had to find another bus to San Jose. The first three were all going to different places, and I just wanted to get there as soon as possible. So I did what any stranded gringo in a foreign country would do. I hitchhiked.

Or at least, tried to. My little sign that read "San Jose" got me one taker, but he was only going to a town about an hour out. No go.

After an hour of standing around in the sun, I finally caught the next bus and paid another $8 to get to San Jose. I hoped my bag would still be there when I got there. It wasn't a complete disaster, I still had my day bag with my laptop, mp3 and passport with me. It could've been a lot worse.

We pulled into the valley at about 7pm during a thunderstorm. The thunder didn't simply roll through for a long time like I was used to in the States. Here, it dropped on you like bombs, even if the lightning had flashed nearly a minute before. The little kids sitting behind me squealed with delight every time.

Eventually I reached the hostel and went to sleep, fuzzy contacts still in, same clothes still on, bag hugged tight like a teddy bear. I wasn't about to let this one go too.