Monteverde, CR to Leon, Nica

Ok so a little on where we've been and how we got there . . .

Early morning as in 5am arrival in San Jose was an easy introduction into a sleepy city before the hustle and bustle of the day got underway. We went straight to the bus station to purchase our tickets for the 2:30pm bus to Monteverde and then with plenty of time to kill went wandering the city stumbling onto the auto-free boulevard where the city dwellers could walk and sit and find reprieve from the surprisingly courteous morning traffic.

The general heresay doesn't seem to be drawn to the the big cities, but they're such great places to people watch, find all those things that you may have forgotten, and discover snippets of culture you can't find anywhere else.

By the time we boarded our crowded bus it was down to standing room only for some on the 5hr ride to the mile high mountain village which included long stretches of winding dirt roads. Lucky for us and the friends we made at theh bus stop we all had seats.
My confession: (which though i've spoken to my parents pretty regularly i still have not mentioned to them) by the time we arrived I was nauseous and shocked to see that my usually weak stomached travel companion was as strong as an ox. In the last 100yds to our friend Ginna's mountain palace I wretched something awful in the roadside drain ditch and felt world's better for the next 20 minutes before needing to pass out and spend the entire following day tied to the bed. Welcome to Costa Rica!

Needless to say, I survived, and enjoyed getting lost in overgrown trails just outside the reserve, contemplated silence and the intuitions of fellow mountain dwellers at my brief but enjoyable attendence at the local quaker meeting, and sipped fresh mango juice overlooking the Nicoya Penninsula from the mile high views that stretch to infinity and beyond.

Today I spent shaped like a chair riding 3 different buses and arriving in Leon, Nicaragua. There is so much more to say, but it will have to wait till next time.