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| Puerto Viejo de Talamanca... you will be missed... hasta luego |
It's funny, the same people who were polite enough to wear deodorant a week ago are now so relaxed that they eschew any artificial fragrance for the 5-hour unconditioned return bus ride back to San Jose. The hot bus smells sour after just one hour. It’s such a beautiful ride that I notice the smells only peripherally.When we leave the town of Cahuita, the sun is beating down through the windows and everyone is still in the heat. We are sloths. However, a cooling storm moves in as we begin to climb toward the mountains surrounding San Jose and Alajuela--the final destination for many of us on the bus.
After 3 hours we enter the cloud forest nearing San Jose. Mere hours ago, we left the lowest points in the country, on the southern Caribbean coast and are now so high up in the mountains that we drive through clouds.Well, the photos taken from the bus were pointless, this is the same location from dozens of kilometers away:
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| The highway runs through the mountains, up in the clouds |
The 2-lane highway is bordered on either side by nearly 90 degree mountain face that disappears upwards. Trees, flowers, and rocks cling to the face and it’s climbed by unexpected waterfalls. If it were less dangerous to travel this road, there might be hoards of cyclists testing their lung capacity and endurance on it… Intermittent waterfalls cascade down it….waterfalls on the highway!!!!!
But sadly there are white crosses every 20 km or so, where some pedestrian biker or driver lost their life. This is not the place for a languorous stroll.
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| the view from our 5th floor window in Hotel President, San Jose |
Five hours and we’re back in San Jose. A short ride to the hotel and meal and then we are on our way to the two airplanes that will take us home to the USA.
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| And back at home |
