…Must come to and end and here I am back in the states writing this from the comfort of a nice warm house to protect me from the -6F weather outside. Quite the difference from the 70+F days I was having. Anyways, Cahuita was a nice small beach town that is more laid back than Puerto Viejo, more my style, and it has some great things to do. I did not have but ~3 days there so there was the beach walk in the national park, swimming, walking around town, checking out the black sand beach (playa negra) and taking a short trip to Puerto Viejo.

Then it was the bus ride day from hell. Riding the buses is not the worst part, it never is, it’s just the time involved, road conditions, purchasing the next leg of your trip and dealing with the weather. It started raining oh… right about when I stepped out of the room to go to the first bus station in Cahuita. Cahuita to Puerto Limon, rain. Limon to Siquerres, rain. Siquerres to Turrialba, rain. Turrialba to San Jose, rain. FINALLY in San Jose the rain had cleared and the stars were out and we hopped a taxi to Alajuela since Ben and Josh had their massive kayaks. Walking around in Alajuela we ran into a pimp-tourguide-drug dealer who said anything was possible. No thanks, just go away. The joys of the night.

In most places of the world, and in nature, the night creates a different atmosphere for the nocturnal animals to roam. Creatures you would never see during the day come out to prowl and have their fun and those day creatures are asleep or securely in their homes. In being a day creature one most be on guard at night since this is not their domain, a mistake here or a few there could result in one being lost, mugged, ordering a strange dish of food or somehow finding yourself trying to tell a pimp that in fact you do not want whatever girl he has. Either way, give the night a try.

Ben and Josh left for the coast so I decided that a few last minute gifts were needed and I wanted to check out a little of San Jose… a little. I hopped on the bus from Alajuela to San Jose and I should have gone to the bus station and found a directo bus rather than the collectivo bus that stopped seemingly everywhere. Oh well, I thought I had missed downtown San Jose which seemed impossible but with all the stops I had no idea so I stayed with the bus since it felt right. At the end of the line that is where I jumped off, in the heart of San Jose. My destination was Mercado Central to check out what goods and gifts I could find there, hopefully mas barato.

My handy dandy fancy schmancey Lonely Planet had a map of the place but I found that pretty useless since asking a person on the street seemed to be far more efficient.  Walking around that part of the city reminded me of Chicago and other large cities of the world.  Lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of stores, lots of everything.  After checking out some of the sites and moving I went to Mercado Central which was what seemed to be a city block full of small stores, eateries and all things ending in ‘ies.  Narrow hallways were the choice and there was no shortage of people.  Here you can buy fresh roasted coffee with 1kg costing between 2200-3300Colones ($4.5-6.5USD).  As far as good coffee, straight from the source and roasted that day, goes you really can’t beat it.  After the shopping I wandered around more, and decided to stray from the main road by a few blocks which wasn’t a great idea.  You can see the city deteriorate a little more each city block.  The main street is lively with merchants, shoppers and commuters.  Go back a block and it’s generally the same with more people looking to find a good place to eat.  Another block and you start losing the shoppers and commuters.  One more block and the people that were so inviting before seem to have disappeared into a more roustabout nature.  Gone are the places to eat and things seem to have a different vibe.  On the last block I visited before I decided to head back everyone is looking at you, homeless people are littered here and there and of course the inevitable panhandler will approach you.

I was approached but have no fear I turned directly around to head back to the bus station and leave as I had been in the city for 3 hours already.  He said his name was something and his english was fair but he wanted money for food.  Why he needed food was a question of much discussion since he was eating something at the time he was asking me for money… to buy food!  Apparently he had visited Chicago once or lived there, I don’t know and it’s quite possible but I was not aware that these type of people were able to cover such vast distances.  Perhaps he part of a panhandling exchange program.  His tactics changed after he found out I was no good for food money.  Temporary tattoos were the new and hot thing I had to have.  I told him I had no tattoos and I was not going to start with these tattoos that looked like if I put them on I’d get a skin condition.  He had a friend that started following us and I was gaining ground on the bus station where I knew they would dissipate since that is not their territory.  Like a fish out of water, it can only survive so long before it has to go back to it’s own habitat.  I gave him 100Colones ($ .20c) and told him to have a nice day.  I think my act of charity was more of a snub to him.  However, that’s his problem.

Back in Alajuela I read and relaxed for the rest of the day, caught some tv and prepared my bags for flight.  At 6:30am a taxi was called and I was on my way to the San Jose airport.  Checking in and paying the airport exit tax (seriously) went smoothly and the biggest problem was security.  Unlike most airports who have a large open room for miles of the movie theater people maze, SJO was devoid of any such people herders.  It was simply a long line that went OUTSIDE onto the sidewalk.  However, it was not as bad as it seemed.  There were a few times I had to laugh at the people, and you can tell they’re the type of people… ok they’re assholes, that think they deserve or can somehow get ahead in line if they can talk to the person in charge.  Or they stake out the front of the line trying to jump in.  However, for the 10 minutes they wasted doing this they could have been waiting in line, like everyone else.  In the end though they had to wait in line and suck it up.

Such began a long day of travel.

San Jose to Newark, through customs and all the ridiculousness that is the American system of TSA (Transportation Security Administration).  In its infinite wisdom there are underpaid, undereducated and most of all BORED people screening our airports in the name of security.  My 1.5oz of hand sanitizing gel was not allowed so I was bummed out about that.  I’m still not quite sure the reasoning behind this but I could have brought the gel onboard if it had been in a plastic bag… but not by itself.  Rather than give a reason for this they simply say this is because of “extensive research and understanding of current threats.”  Right… I digress.

Then, Newark to Denver, once again I have to gather my bags, and try to get on a flight to Chicago that I wasn’t supposed to be on until 6am the next morning.  Luckily they have room and a very nice lady at United changed the ticket for me so I could leave that night.  Through security/TSA AGAIN.  However, when you’re going through security at 8:30pm it is amazingly quick, friendly and non-confrontational.  Airlines, I ask of you, add more night flights.  After a small delay I was off to Chicago and that’s where I am now.  It is cold.  After the 8th I will be back in Grand Junction which will bring this whole story full circle and to a close.  I will be adding pictures and maybe some short stories as the more I think about it the more being a travel writer sounds appealing.  Keeping looking every now and then for updates!  Thanks