bus ride through the mountains of costa rica

i sometimes wonder why i do things and wonder if i'm not out of my mind. i used to be so sensible and practical. now i find myself going off on different adventures with no goal in mind and wonder what i will find at the end of the road.

i have spent the last few days visiting a friend in puriscal who was returning to canada today. she offered to drive me east to san jose where i could catch a bus to jaco that would've taken 2 hours.

rather than go with her i wanted to see a bit of the country i hadn't seen yet so i decided to take a bus from puriscal heading west to jaco. while i sat at the bus stop waiting for the bus i realized i had no plan. although i knew where the bus was going i didn't know where that was or what to expect or do when i got there. i started getting a little nervous but it was too late to back out cuz my friend was long gone.

i wondered where God was in this plan of mine. was He also shaking His head wondering if i was out of my mind. i wasn't doing anything for Him. i was just taking off on my own.

it was so incredibly beautiful it brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. this country is so beautiful it really touches my heart and it really feels like this is my home. i don't know where i belong anymore but this sure feels like it. we passed through the mountains over gravel roads that had steep banks on one side and dropped off to lush, verdant valleys on the other side. sometimes the road was at the top of the mountain so there were steep dropoffs on both sides. or we passed through dense jungle that closed in on us. we stopped once for a bathroom break and 3 times for the bus driver to stop and pick fruit from the trees at the side of the road. it was so simple and peaceful. God has made this an incredible garden and i want to live in His garden.

when we got to the highway the bus turned south and the first signs i saw a sign that said 23 kms to quepos (which is where i knew the bus was headed) and 45 kms to jaco (north which was my actual destination).

panic set in. we passed a large community and i thought how i started out with no plan and i was now heading away from where i wanted to go. i had expected a quiet little village where it wouldn't be hard to find a place to spend the night. then as usual God's amazing peace settled on me. i wonder if He was shaking His head at me as i was at myself.

it was past 5:30 when we arrived here in quepos and it's dark just after 6 and i have a heavy suitcase (i really have to learn to travel light) and a backpack so i knew i needed to find a hotel first.

i don't know what the population is here but it's filled with tourists and it's a large noisy beach town. i would rather be back on the dusty mountain road with the locals. i would rather spend time with ticos than listen to the tourists talking about gambling and real estate and cruising and fishing.

tomorrow morning i will head up to jaco. it's also a tourist beach town but it's much smaller, at least it was 3 years ago.

when i go back to san jose in a couple of days i would rather take the bus back through the mountains. even though it took over 4 hours and the other way is only 2 hours the drive it well worth it.

most tourists come here for the beaches but there is so much more to costa rica than the beaches that most tourists never see. the beaches actually pale in comparison to the beauty of where i was this afternoon.

if i had doubts about whether i was coming back here after going home for a month i don't now.