Vamos a Monteverde!

We were originally planning to leave Puntarenas after one night. The second morning (Sunday, April 27, 2014), we planned to stop at the bank and then catch a bus to Monteverde. We stopped at Bancredito and Hugh put his card in the ATM. Nothing happened. He put in his PIN. Nothing. Pressed cancel. Nothing. The machine just showed various incomprehensible (to us) Spanish advertisements and refused to spit out Hugh's card. It was a Sunday so the bank was closed and our Canadian phones didn't work so we couldn't call the emergency help number. Eventually, a local family came to the bank and let Hugh use their phone to call the emergency number. The guy on the other end said that everything was closed because it was Sunday and nobody in the whole country could help because nobody was working. We were forced to stay in Puntarenas another day.

The second day in Puntarenas was much different from the first. A cruise ship had arrived, and there were finally other English speaking people in town! This huge influx of foreign tourists meant that many locals had set up shop along the beach right next to the pier where the cruise ship had landed. Now people were selling a variety of handmade souvenirs and all of the vendors were speaking English. We decided to go to the map of the town which happened to be right where the cruise ship was docked. 

As soon as we arrived, we were approached by a boy who looked to be 16 and introduced himself as Brian. He clearly was looking to earn some money off us and offered to find us a hotel. When we told him we already had a place, he asked "I can also get you tours, weed, cocaine, whatever we need". I was quite taken a back to have just been offered cocaine by such a young looking kid. And he was persistent. He just wouldn't accept that we didn't want drugs or girls, even when I told him that I don't use drugs and I have girlfriend. He still wouldn't leave, so we eventually asked him to help us find a store we were looking for, just hoping we could get rid of him if we let him do something to help us. When we reached the store, he finally asked for some money. We told him we really couldn't since we had trouble at the bank - at least something positive had come out of the ATM situation.

The next day (Monday, April 28, 2014), Hugh went to the bank and got his card back, so we could finally move on to Monteverde! We checked the bus schedule and both thought the buses were at 1:15 and 2:30. When we arrived at bus terminal, the bus was gone; the actual times were 1:30 and 2:15. At this point, we were really anxious to leave Puntarenas so we did or best asking everybody at the bus stop if there was any other way to get to Monteverde. Some people told us that we had to take a taxi that would cost $100; some people told us that we could take a bus to Sardinal and get a transfer to Monteverde. It turned out that Sardinal was on the west coast of Costa Rica close to Nicaragua - several hours out of the way. 

Eventually, a man who spoke good English told us he knew two buses we could take and he was taking the first bus with us. This man, Joel, was a lifesaver. Joel was originally from New York city but had moved to Costa Rica six years ago when he retired. He even offered us his number and said we could contact him if we ever got lost in Costa Rica again. Joel showed us where to get off - a gas station called Ranchogrande - but unfortunately he was staying on the bus. We were told by numerous people that a bus would come from San Jose en route to Monteverde and would stop at the gas station at 5:00. We arrived at the gas station at 4:00. At 5:15, the bus still hadn't arrived, so we asked a man walking by how to get to Monteverde. He told us that the bus comes at 5:00 and we missed it so we were out of luck and would have to wait until the next day. We had been at the best stop long before 5:00. The bus definitely hadn't come. I guess sometimes Costa Rican buses just don't run.

Where is the bus?

Stuck at a gas station at the intersection of two highways, there was no hope of waiting to catch a bus the next morning. Besides, who knew if the bus would even be running. The nearby road sign said Monteverde was 40km away. We decided to hitchhike. The second car that passed us stopped and let us in when we asked if they were going to Monteverde. They were an elderly couple who only spoke Spanish. We tried making conversation, and despite the language barrier, we learned that they had 3 kids in their 30s and 5 grandkids, and that they were returning home after visiting their family in San Jose. After 20km, we stopped for a bathroom break, and the driver let some of the air out of his tires - apparently the rest of the drive was going to be rocky.

The remaining 20km was probably the scariest hour I have ever spent in a vehicle. All the roads were bumpy dirt roads with tight corners and step inclines. The speed limit was 40km/h, but we were going 80. Beside the road, there were steep drops off the mountain, with no railings to stop cars from falling off. Several times, we passed other vehicles only to round a corner to just narrowly avoid a hear on collision with a car headed down the mountain. While me and Hugh clung on for dear life, the driver and his wife didn't even wear seatbelts! Apparently this was a normal way for Costa Rican grandparents to drive. We eventually made it to the town where the driver dropped us off at his brother-in-law's hotel, where we started the night. I was just glad to get out of that car and finally be in Monteverde.