Costa Rica Journal - Wednesday, 4-22-09

Today we made our first successful trip into Arenal by bus. The bus was rather strange as it turned out to be a minivan. I wonder what happened to the regular bus? Perhaps it was getting worked on today.

When we got there, we walked around the town, making a big loop then stopped in at the German bakery. Here we got online and had coffee and apple strudel for breakfast. One of the many cats that resided there, snuggled up between me and Joe and slept almost the whole time. We stayed there for a long time, and once we decided they were probably getting sick of us, we left and headed up the street to where the Lava Java, the internet cafe was.

Although we weren't hungry, we felt inclined to buy food for our internet usage, so I ordered a green salad and Joe ordered caprese. Both were absolutely horrid, and we couldn't eat all of it. Still, we were happy to sit in the cafe and use some more internet time for another few hours. By the time we were done with Lava Java, we felt we were done with Arenal, so we headed up to the bus stop to wait for the return bus.

Figuring out what time the busses arrive and leave can be a tricky business, and seem to be known by word of mouth only. After waiting at the stop for a while, we decided to ask someone at a shop, who told us that the bus wouldn't be there until the next morning! After that, we hunted down a taxi and made our way back home. It was a very rainy day, but it was nice to get out of town and communicate with friends and family.