Crazy shuttle ride

We traveled from San Jose to La Fortuna - took a shared shuttle for the 5 hr trip thru the jungle/mountains. The motto here is “Pura Vida” - pure life, which they say is a way of calm, tranquil living. EXCEPT when they’re driving. They are insane - fast, jerky, outright scary. It’s been EVERY bus, Uber and taxi driver we’ve had yet. So … the 5 hr drive was … challenging. But we made it safe and sound.

La Fortuna is what I pictured when I thought about coming to Costa Rica. (Compared to San Jose). There are jungles, you hear the tropical birds everywhere you walk, and it sits at the base of a “sleepy” volcano. Not dormant, just sleepy they say. Last time it erupted was 2010, and in 1968 it took out everything around it. There is authentic Costa Rican food here, too! So, we’re much happier so far.

We rented a 2 bdrm Airbnb for the week - it’s in a residential area and is nice. They are all in a “compound” setup. Did our laundry, as they said they had “laundry facilities”. Everything on this trip is an experience - even the laundry. They only have a washer and it’s outside, and it’s a machine, but far from automated. You have to manually take it thru every cycle, controlling the water, when it agitates, drain it by hand, etc and then move the clothes to another area to spin them. And of course, line dry, which is hard when you’re in a rainforest and it rains every day. So we had to hang all the clothes inside to dry all night. BUT … we got it done.

So we got settle in, we’re enjoying our evening watching our one English speaking channel on tv, feeling pretty comfortable … when a MASSIVE bug comes crawling into my bedroom. So big, I was scared to get too close to kill it. But I managed. It wasn’t the best thing to happen, right before turning off the lights for bed. 🐜 🐛 🥺😳😩

Heading out to the jungles in the morning. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for us.Read more