Rules of the Road

Driving is crazy in Costa Rica. Just to give you an idea, I've written up a list of the 5 basic rules that I've noticed it's imperative to be aware of when driving here, especially in San Jose.

1. Stop signs and red lights are optional - you only need to stop at them if a car is approaching from the opposite direction.

2. As you will remember from physics class, "an object in motion will remain in motion until stopped by an opposing force." This law of science is obeyed in various instances.

Since this is true, a car approaching an intersection with a red light has the right of way to go through that intersection, rather than a car stopped at the intersection with a green light. This will work out better for everyone involved than if the car waiting at the intersection had attempted to act as the "opposing force" that stops the vehicle approaching the red light.

3. Never fail to follow Rule #1 by not going through stop signs and red lights, or you will become the enemy of everyone behind you. Similarly, assuming that you have the right of way just because you have a green light or have been waiting at a stop sign, and therefore disregarding Rule #2, can have disastrous consequences for your health.

4. As a pedestrian it is even more important that you try to avoid becoming the "opposing force" in Rule #2.

5. Although Rule #4 is true, you will never succeed in crossing a street unless you run (or walk, once you're experienced enough) in front of oncoming traffic that's not slowing down.

In order to arrive at the beach at some time during the same day you left, you will also need to: scare cows off the road by honking at them or lurching at them with your car, use the left side of the road to pass someone while you're going around a curve, and not drive off the side of the mountain on the way there.

On the other hand, maybe you shouldn't take suggestions from me on how to drive here because I've never been crazy enough to try it.

Good Roads and Fast Buses

So our trip to Monteverde was the first long bus ride we took and on the way back the bus broke down. In my book that means we're 1 for 2 on bus rides. 50%. Not great.

But of course, we couldn't have luck that bad for the entire trip. Surely we wouldn't have any more unfortunate and unlucky bus experiences during the rest of our trip.

However, the definition of "unfortunate and unlucky" in terms of bus rides in Costa Rica is very different from what you might imagine it being in the U.S.

Jump to last Friday. This time we decided to go to Dominical on the Pacific coast for a leisurely weekend on the beach. As it turned out the bus was somewhat leisurely as well. In a way.

We were taking a 9:30 bus and had to make a connection at 1:30 which we thought shouldn't have been hard since it was supposed to be a three hour ride according to our guide book. Except that when we bought the tickets, the guy at the bus station told us that it was actually a 4 hour trip. Oh shit. The next connection wasn't until 4pm. We didn't really want to wait in the connecting city for 2 and a half hours so we were just hoping a lot that it wouldn't take quite four hours and that we would make the next bus easily.

It was going fine until we slowed to a stop about an hour and a half into what should have been a four hour bus ride. After a few minutes the bus driver got up and told us that there was a crash ahead of us on the road and that it would be quite a while until we got going again. So he opened up the doors and everybody who wanted to got out to walk along the side of the road. And we sat. And waited. After half an hour we hadn't moved. After an hour nothing had happened. We heard a rumor that half the road fell off and there was no way we could get through. Great. So now what were we supposed to do? After an hour and a half cars started going by us steadily in the opposite direction. The bus driver turned the bus back on. We got excited. Everybody got back in the bus and we got ready to go.

Then he turned it off again. We waited some more. Cars and trucks drove by us going in the same direction. Why weren't we moving? Finally the bus driver turned the bus back on again. This time we really did start moving, but it was probably at least half a mile until we got to the site of the accident. When we did get there the bus stopped again and we were all told to get out while the bus drove across the narrow strip of road between the crashed tractor trailer and the part of the road that fell off. Here are some pictures.

Did I mention the road broke? Probably caused by all the rain that has come recently. It is the rainy season.

The yellow rope was running parallel to the double yellow line in the middle of the road. The bus went on the right side of the green post, but without crashing into the crashed truck that was still in the middle of the road. Actually, the bus driver messed up a little bit the first time and had to back up a bit so that he didn't scratch the side of the bus on one of the big cement cylinders. He got it right the second time. After that the ride was pretty normal. What should have been a four hour ride turned out to be about six hours. When we got to the bus terminal, it was about 3:45 and we needed to make the 4pm bus to Dominical. We searched frantically for our next bus but as it turned out, it was a bunch of blocks down the street, although our guide book implied that it would be right in front of us when we got off the first bus. We walked fast and eventually found a taxi which got us there with just a few minutes to spare. Phew.

Pictures of the beach to come later.