Transition from Monteverde to Cabuya

Well we had our eyes opened to Costa Rican public transportation today.  We were up again at 5:00am to catch the 6:00am public bus from Monteverde to Puntarenas.  It is the size of a grey hound bus (not quite as nice) and extremely full of backpackers making the move from the mountain to the beach.  Bill purchased 4 of the lasts seats on the bus for 5500 colones which works out to be $11 US.  It takes approximately 3 hours travelling down a rough,curvy, narrow gravel road which was only about 32km until we hit an acutal highway that was paved.  First one we have seen all trip.  Because it is public transit we made several stops to pick up the locals including a chicken being transported in a reusable shopping bag.  Once we arrived in Punteranus we grabed a taxi to the Ferry terminal and stood in yet another line.  The ferry was similar to ours with vehicle and foot traffic.  The trip to Paquera took about 70min and by the time we got off the temperature had risen about 30 degrees.  We then hired a taxi to take us to Cabuya instead of taking another bus.  This taxi driver was absolutely insane.  He was flying around corners and pot hole at speeds I don't even want to think about.  We made it to Cabuya safely, however he did not speak any english and following the map I was given was not working.  We finally stopped and Bill and Serena went inside a building (which just happended to be the bakery we were looking for).  A tourist was able to help and we found the place we were looking for.  Cabuya is very small so speaking spanish would have definately been an asset.  Serena is doing very well with her Spanish, she is remembering more and more the longer we are here.  We found our rental house and were given the 5 min tour.  It is wonderful.  It is located deep in the forest about a 5 min walk to the beach.  We have a full kitchen and our own small swimming pool.  Noa, the owner gave us a brief description of where things were and we were left to unpack.

The girls were missing my home cooking so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the bakery and then walk to the grocery store to stock up.  Noa and the tourist that helped us earlier recommended the bakery as a place to eat.  So off we went.   When we arrived the whole menu was in Spanish, thank God for Serena and her knowledge of Spanish.  We were able to order cold cafe mochas, cappaccino freia, banano y chocolat con leche de soya and sandwiches and I tried my first Casada.  A casado is the traditional Costa Rican meal at lunch and consists of rice, black beans, salad, fried plantain, and chicken.  The portions of both the meals and drinks were large enough we haven't had dinner tonight.

We stocked up on breakfast and snacks and will find the fresh fish down the road tomorrow right from the fishermen as they come in from fishing.  We were suppose to have naps this afternoon, but that didn't seem to happen so I am surprised we are all still awake, with the early morning, heat and travel.  We are off to explore the southern Nicoya Peninsula for the next week.  That consists of Montezuma, Cabuya, Mal Pais, Santa Terersa and maybe Manzanillo.  To do this we must rent a vehicle either a car or a quad.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family.