After months of saving, selling, packing, and moving, I’ve finally made my leap and so far so good. I left Atlanta yesterday morning on a 7am flight and arrived into San Jose, Costa Rica by noon. San Jose is not the prettiest of cities, but it’s where most travelers go through to get to their final destination – be it beach, volcanoes, or jungle. I’m doing the beach route.
While I debated attempting the public bus to get to my San Jose hostel cheaply, I decided to splurge on a cab ($20) to ensure that I got the trip off on the right foot. Mi Casa Hostel ($13 a night) is right next to the Sabana (one of the city’s parks or “lungs” as they are called). Not the prettiest surroundings, but the hostel itself was welcoming with a beautiful courtyard that had a tiki bar area and hammock (great wifi, hot water, 24 front desk and a pancake breakfast that I missed due to early bus, but would definitely recommend.)
Just as I started to wonder if my decision to travel solo would translate into some serious bouts of loneliness, I met a Mexican-American biochemist from Austin and a French Canadian who builds concrete silos (8 months on, 4 off – pretty sweet deal). I tagged along with them to the mini-mercado where I bought some chicken and rice (today’s lunch), the cheapest meat and cheese that I could find and coupled it with a loaf of french bread topped off with Lizano salsa (the best stuff on earth). With 3 large Pilsons, that more than covered my beverage needs for the day and night, the total was only $20 ($9 in beer, $11 in food that will be my meals until tomorrow).
After spending a couple of hours with my new friends, I met up with Karen (a friend of a friend) who offered to take me out to dinner with her boyfriend and some friends. We went to an amazing Argentinian restaurant called La Esquina de Buenos Aires where I had bife de chorizo (a steak sirloin the size of my hand) and delicious sangria.
Now this was not part of my budget plan, but Karen and Esteban kindly offered to feed me for the night which I am so appreciative for! While they offered to show me the San Jose nightlife, I opted to go back to the hostel as I has a 5:30am bus and had woken at 4am that day to catch my 7am flight. I did have a beer with the boys before hitting the sack and acquired a mosquito net in exchange for my glass beer bottles (he’ll get a few bucks for returning them).
Catching the bus in San Jose was really daunting, especially before sunrise as well as my very limited Spanish. The hostel kindly called me a cab ($3) and as we sped through small side streets, we passed a number of buses – compounding my worry that I’d accidentally take the wrong bus – but we pulled up to the bus with Nosara on it so the first hurdle of the day was cleared.
It was quite hectic and I could see the bus quickly filling up. I gathered that I was supposed to drop my bag to get checked in the hull of the bus. After I received my bag ticket, I walked up to the driver who said a number in Spanish that sounded like 4,200 colones (about $8). I handed him the money and hopped on (not realizing that other people had tickets in hand). I saw an empty seat and tried to ask the woman next to me if it was available to which she said a few Spanish words and pointed up. I assumed that meant, put your bag up top and sit on down! I realized after our first stop that the tickets have seat numbers on them and was promptly booted from my seat by the ticket holder of seat 23. For the next two hours, I stood in the aisle in a row of other standing passengers – have I mentioned yet that I was the only gringa on the bus (and a head taller then most of my fellow passengers). Thankfully a seat opened up so I got to sit for my final two hours to Nosara.
I hopped off at what I thought was the bus stop, but realized I probably could have ridden a bit longer to avoid the half kilometer walk to my hostel, Kaya Sol ($13 a night), but I better get use to walking with my back pack. My backpack weighs in at about 30 pounds and as a planner, I have pretty much everything that a gal could need on the road and then some – though that short walk already has me thinking about how to drop weight.
So here I am, in Nosara, sitting by the pool writing my first post from the road – I know it’s a bit long, but hopefully as I write more, brevity will get easier.
I move in with my homestay family tomorrow and begin two weeks of 4 hour a day Spanish classes on Monday at Nosara Spanish Institute – which after my bus ride, I’m really looking forward to not feeling like a mute in every social situation that I encounter. I’m going to eat my cold chicken and rice from yesterday then hit the beach to check out the surf. Hopefully, I’ll meet a few people to hang out with tonight as there are more groups here than solos it seems – but I have no doubt that I’ll make some fast friends and am looking forward to meeting my fellow Spanish students on Monday.
My next post will give you a bit more background about how I came to this decision which began as a seed in my brain sitting on this very same beach almost a year ago.
A few folks have asked for my packing list so below is a brain-dump for those that are interested. Pura Vida!
Kim’s Round the World Packing List
Gear -
- Osprey 65 Liter Porter bag
- Osprey DayLite pack – that attaches to Porter bag
Clothing -
- compression bags are KEY here
- 1 pair of convertible pants (because looking like a dorky traveller is part of the fun, right?)
- 2 pairs of black stretch pants (dry fit/ under armor)
- 2 pairs of long leggings
- 1 pair of black stretch capris
- 3 pairs of shorts (denim, safari style, and black cotton)
- 2 pairs of Smart Wool long sleeve shirts (smart wool
- 5 t-shirts
- 3/4 tank tops
- 2 button up collared shirts (black and white)
- A caftan/ tunic cover-up
- 1 colorful cotton dress
- 1 colorful onesie (those of you who know me, know that I love my onesies!)
- 8 pairs of undies (a few are the kind that
- 4 bras
- 4 pairs of socks
- 4 bikinis (I just couldn’t chose!)
- 2 rash guards (for surfing, one long-sleeved and one tank)
- 1 rain jacket
- 1 synthetic down jacket
- hiking shoes
- slip on flats (gotta represent my fave story Payless)
- flip flops
Technology
- Ipad 2 and Zagg built-in keyboard case
- Surge Protector with 3 plugs and 2 USB plugs
- Power Convertor
- Ipod/ and mini travel speakers (which have already been put to get use)
- Unlocked Iphone 3GS (for local sims card and to use Google Voice to talk to my peeps!)
- Emergency battery case for Iphone
- Camera (little purple point and shoot)
- Camera connectors to upload photos to Ipad
Toiletries
- Dr Bronsons All in One bar soap (for my face, body, and hair)
- The basics (toothbrush/ paste/ deodorant/ q-tips)
- Baby powder
- comb
- sunscreen
Medicine
- 4 months of anti-malarial pills
- Cipro
- Aleve
- Bengay
- bandages/ neosporin
- multi-vitamins
- anti-itch for bug bites
- anti-fungal creme
- bug spray (100% deet)
- Pepto/ Imodium
Miscellaneous
- Pocket Kite
- Travel alarm
- Locks
- bandannas
- carabeeners
- ear plugs
- eye shade
- wet wipes
- zip lock bags
- bag for laundry
- luna bars
- platypus collapsible water bottle
- couple journals and small books
- silk sleeping sheets and pillow case (to avoid bed bugs in hostels)
- a travel purse that folds up to the size of my fist
I’m probably missing a few things, but the beach is calling! Check you later!
