So we left Isla Boca Brava and started our day of travel first on a small boat across to the mainland, then the back of a pickup truck, and then in a posh brand new Toyota SUV to the bus station and finally a cab ride to where we had made a reservation at The Purple House Backpacker Hostel in David. The hostel was truly a purple house with everything in it collected and organized throughout the house was all purple as well, all the sheets, pillows, walls, cups, plates, wall decorations by the owner a New Yorker. We spent the day eating Chinese food, playing the slots at the casino, watching TV and the movie The Soloist and caught up on our plans on what we would do in Costa Rica.
The following day we woke really early as the bus from David to San Jose, Costa Rica leaves at 6:30 AM. We arrived at the bus station and ran into a fellow traveler Mark who we met in Boquete, and a couple from Costa Rica, Jose and his girlfriend. We waited at the ticket counter as people that pre-booked their tickets organized their seating arrangement and soon found out that the bus was full (it was the day after new years, which happened to be a Sunday also) and as well the only other bus at 12:30AM was also full... we were in a bind as Jason and Tanya were arriving that night in San Jose. Jose managed to talk to the bus driver and determined there were two seats left on the bus and that the driver was going to sell those seats to the girls, Shannon and Jose’s girlfriend and that the boys, Jose, Matt and myself could sit in the aisle way... we were all ecstatic that we had a ride. It ended up that Jose took a pillow and sat in the aisle at the front of the bus, Matt was at the back on a tiny padded stool and I had a 5-gallon upholstered bucket... the steal of the raw deal. Sitting in the aisle on an upholstered 5-gallon pail sucked... as well the ride which we thought was going to be 6 hours very quickly turned into a 13.5 hour trip (7am – 8:30 pm) which included a 3 hour stop at the boarder where we had to stand in line waiting as only one person was working the emigration booth to get our passports signed off to leave Panama... oh Central America... everything gets done when it gets done (Menena Menana). During this trip we now had an appreciation for the roads and times for travel in Costa Rica. During the wet season (December to May is the dry season) they get a lot of rain and thus roads get partially or fully washed out and rutted and repair is either non-existent or it gets done when it gets done. Roads wind up and down mountains for hours but hey we made it to San Jose. Due to the hours of travel and being on a bus Shannon slept for a bit and I waited up till 11PM when Jason and Tanya arrived on the air porter with their 14 hours of travel already under their belt we were all due for some drinks at the hostel bar Pangea, which was particularly posh.
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