Dos Pinos...?

Why is the bus stopping to let more people off? When are we ever going to get back to San Jose?......Is that the sound of the bus not starting? Why is the bus not starting?

So, on the way back from Monteverde, the bus broke down. On a highway outside of San Jose. At 8:30pm, in the pitch black of night. Impossible to get a taxi. We don't have a cell phone. Next to a...Dos Pinos factory? Great.

Eventually we did get a cab which we managed to share with some other people. Then we realized that we were near the airport. Our first cab from the airport cost $23. We only have a little less than $20. Cabbies aren't really nice about this kinda thing. (Last week a cabbie tried to get us to believe that a $4 ride cost a ridiculous $14 because there was traffic. We, luckily, didn't have enough money and so only gave him $4, but he threatened to call the police. Not that he would have since they would know we were right, but I'm just saying, Tico cabbies get grumpy when you don't pay them enough. Bad News Bears.)

So now we don't have enough money for the cab ride home and we have no other way to get home, and no way to contact anyone. What did we do? We got dropped off at the airport and used the ATM there, and then got another cab home.

Crisis averted. And we survived. Yeah.

Butterflies

We went to a butterfly farm at Monteverde. There were butterflies all around, but they're pretty hard to take pictures of. Here are some.

These are cocoons. I think the grey/black one and clear one are empty, but the two below them might still be full. The orange butterfly has just come out. It has to hang onto the cocoon in order to strengthen it's wings with more blood so that it can fly. If it doesn't hang on until the wings are strong enough, it will die.

This one definitely still has a butterfly in it.

They say that this butterfly might actually be where we get the name for the animal in English (in Spanish it's completely different - mariposa), because the lighter part of the wings look like butter. Butter-fly.

Mating butterflies. This is the only way butterflies can mate and also the only way they can poop. Wow, of all the things to have to do while in the same position.

While male butterflies are polygamous, female butterflies are usually monogamous. The exception occurs when the male butterfly isn't strong enough to fill the female butterfly with his sperm. In this case, another male butterfly will take his place.

Cartago and Orosi

We decided to go to Cartago today. It was the capital of Costa Rica a long time ago, before they switched to San Jose.

First, we decided to go to Orosi, a small town past Cartago. We got off the bus at a lookout and were disappointed to find out about all the things we couldn't do at this mountain-top park: roller blade, bicycle, and make "love scenes".

Orosi, from above


Now, in Orosi:

A town with garbage is a town without culture.

We should leave our children a cleaner future.

This church dates back a few hundred years.

Thanks to Jennifer for that sweet shot.








This cathedral, rebuilt in the early 1900's after an earthquake, is in Cartago. Thousands of Costa Ricans migrate here every August 2 to pray to La Negrita, the patron saint of Costa Rica.


Jennifer likes to bond with sacred statues.