After the Wal-Mart adventure, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect regarding the drive to La Fortuna. As it did earlier, the GPS tried to send us to the place with the guards and I ignored it. After that, it did a fine job and we soon found ourselves on a Costa Rican highway that was in great shape and afforded an excellent drive.
The entire drive was not on the highway, however, and we soon found ourselves off the highway and driving through the town of San Ramon. This was an interesting larger town and what stuck me the most was the large church in the middle of the center. It was the largest church we’d seen in Costa Rica.
After a couple turns here and there, we found ourselves leaving San Ramon and heading along a two lane road. This would be the way most of the driving in Costa Rica would be from then on. The road took us through hills and valleys and teeny towns. At many points along the way, the road would narrow to a single lane for a bridge where our direction of traffic had to “cedo” (yield) to oncoming traffic and only cross when there was none… fortunately it was rare that there was any oncoming traffic.
Karen noticed a waterfall, and so we pulled over to have a look. Karen and the boys took a walk down the road and ended up on the one lane bridge. I stayed behind and when cars approached I yelled to them… it was slightly amusing to watch them scamper across the bridge to the other side.
The teeny towns were interesting in that the road we were on, was also the main strip through a collection of about two or three buildings that made up the town, and it was also the only paved road in the area. As such, people would walk along the road going home from the market, school, work, etc. At one point we saw a group of men carrying machete’s and nets and rubber waders walking down the road. In other areas we sow women wearing Nike running gear listening to their iPod running down the road. In the US, this would be a road that was too busy for pedestrians, but in Costa Rica, this was the main mode of transport via car, foot, or motorcycle.
At one point we had to stop as a road worker was directing traffic down a stretch of the road… when we finally got to go, the work being done was road painting… road painters were becoming an inside joke for our family.
When we finally arrived at La Fortuna… the sun was low int eh sky. I did not want to drive at night, but we were close enough that I was fine with it. So we pulled over and ate at a roadside steakhouse. Aidan had requested we eat there because as he said, “I like steak, and I like houses.” The food was good and the boys got to see a couple batches of puppies that were behind and next to the steakhouse.
We as the sky darkened, we were unable to see the volcano, but there were many low clouds that were obstructing the view. After dinner we made the short drive to the hotel where we checked in and set about to write in our journals.