El Autobus de Moravia a San Jose (The Bus from Moravia to San Jose)

While living in the suburbs is nice in terms of comfort and safety, it's not much for convenience. Today, I made my first commute by bus downtown to work. The following is a summary:

1. I walk the few blocks from our casa to the bus station. There are several bus stands in a row, and there's a congregation of several people standing by one of them. That's probably the one to San Jose, I assume, since most everyone's commuting downtown, right? Wrong. A bus putters around the corner and pauses at a stand further down the street. Este bus va a San Jose? "Does this bus go to San Jose?" I ask a man next to me. Si! I scurry down the street and climb aboard.

2. I ask the bus driver if he's going to San Jose and how much the fare is. He nods and mutters something that sounds suspciously like "as much as you have." I hand him a 1,000 note to be safe... and get a ton of coins back in change. Well, at least it's going to be a cheap commute.


3. Six blocks in, and we've made about a dozen stops. This may take a while.

4. The man in front of me, probably in his late 20s or early 30s, sporting a black T-shirt and dark sunglasses, begins crossing himself. I wondier if we're passing through an exceptionally dangerous neighborhood. Or perhaps by a church. You never know.

5. A larger, cleaner-looking bus cuts us off and motors past. Why couldn't I have gotten on that one. (Note: Costa Rica has a number of private bus lines, but no primary public ones. So you never really know what you're going to get)

6. The little old lady sitting next to me gets off, and a much larger man takes her seat. Are there trade backs?


7. Looking around, I notice we've entered San Jose proper, and I'm actually close to my stop. This wasn't so bad after all. The rest of my commute is simply a 5-10 minute or so walk from a park, down a nice pedestrian walkway (see picture), past the main judicial buildings, to my office, which looks something like a house (see below).

As for my first commute back from work, it was relatively uneventful, except for the fact that I was not exactly sure if I was on the right bus (it said Moravia, but you never know) and there was traffic, so it took longer. But I saw several interesting places between San Jose and Moravia (our suburb) that I'd like to check out, including a dance theatre that apparently offers breakdancing lessons, a boutique that looked like it only sold man-thongs, and a Taco Bell (I'm just happy to know it's there, if/when I need it).


That's all for now. Expect a post on our casa to come soon...