Yesterday we arrived in Costa Rica. I said it looked like Kentucky (complete with Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, all on the same intersection), its rounded blue mountains in the distance, its moderate development impact on the green but unspectacular landscape. This, of course, but a first impression in the central valley around San Jose, not yet into the eco-tourists’ cloud forests and surf-crowd’s beach scenes.
It’s just how people told us it would be: confusing but the locals would help us finding our way. And not like some other cities where anyone “offering help” is looking for a handout. At the airport a young guy asked if we needed anything and then directed us out to the street and around the corner to where the public buses run into the city. At the bus stop an older man directed us to the right bus to catch. When we approached downtown I told the bus driver the stop we were looking for (called “Coca Cola”) and he called out the stop for us. We waited till the bus emptied before struggling with our luggage, but a young man stayed behind and carried the heaviest bag out behind us. It was, as advertised, not the choicest part of town.
We asked a cab driver to take us to the next bus station and he directed us instead to walk just the two blocks from where we were. Another man on the street directed us the final half block. We caught the bus to Puriscal, and again a taxi driver asked if we needed anything. We asked for a good restaurant and he showed us the way. We walked there, hesitated because there were two or three choices, and there he was, honking from the street, pointing to the right one. After a great local meal the restaurant owner let us keep our heavy luggage there while we went shopping for groceries. I offered an extra tip and he looked at me like, “You must be kidding.” On the way back we saw the same taxi driver and he took us with our groceries to retrieve our bags, then drove us right to the door of our destination, with the help of directions by phone from a neighbor of our landlord. Not easy, but in the end, so smooth, because of the friendly people.
