Costa Rica - San José - Poas

Our last day in Bocas del Toro, we start the day with a good breakfast at a cafe called 'Pukalani' right across from our hotel, Residence Alba. I treat myself to a fruit salad with yogurt and muesli, along with a coffee and freshly squeezed papaya juice... 😋, the place is great! I would be a regular customer in Germany. This is how I like to start the day, nice and relaxed with a good breakfast.

Yesterday, we had arranged transportation to San José through a friend of Habibo's, as I mentioned before, the locals here leave nothing to chance, tourists are 'money machines' here. At 11:45, we set off, each of us received a wristband with the imprint 'San José' and then we were taken to the mainland in a water taxi with other tourists. There, a small bus the size of a VW bus from the 70s was waiting for us. There was a line of tourists waiting to board. The luggage was loaded and everyone got on board. The small bus was now full with about 20 tourists. Rayk and I stood outside and I said to a local, 'There is no room left...' Then one person unfolded an emergency seat, Rayk got on board and I was supposed to sit in the front with the driver. The second person sat slightly at an angle between the driver and me, and off we went. Reggae music was played and the ride with the overcrowded car started. During the ride, we were supposed to fill out forms for crossing the border. When we reached the border, we were supposed to leave the bus and take care of the paperwork. One of the reggae men accompanied us through the whole process and explained what we needed to pay attention to. On the Costa Rican side, he left us alone and said we should continue to San José with the big bus. In the bus, we met two German women who are taking a break from work and traveling in Central and South America for 6 months.

After about 5 hours of driving, we arrived in San José at a bus station, where the first taxi drivers were already waiting for their new 'victims'. The two women asked us if we wanted to ride together and share the taxi, we agreed and I waved a taxi over, because we were suspicious of the pushy taxi drivers at the bus station. During the negotiation with the taxi driver, he agreed to a price of dollars per person, then we got in and he drove off. He dropped off the women first, and after a long drive, we were supposed to pay 8600 colones (about 16 dollars). When we arrived at the hotel, Rayk realized that his bag with his expensive hiking shoes and the new travel guide was missing, probably left in the taxi, so we had to suffer another loss.

The next day, we explored San José, the capital of Costa Rica... not a beauty this city. Many gray and ugly buildings, but there are also some beautiful old colonial houses and nice parks here and there, the streets and sidewalks are in a catastrophic condition with huge potholes. On the streets and in the narrow markets, the vendors loudly advertise their goods.

On the following day, we want to explore the Poas volcano and take public buses there. After about 2 hours, we reach the volcano, unfortunately, we have some bad luck with the weather, it's raining the whole time and we can hardly see anything through the fog... very disappointing, but we can observe some hummingbirds, they seem to be really active in this weather.

And the journey continues, next stop Nicaragua...