Bus for Quepos...Maybe Not

The last couple of days in Costa Rica I was not able to get on the internet because of the shops being closed for the holiday. After Dominical Kyle and I took what should have been a short bus ride north back to Manuel Antonio. We arrived at the bus stop with plenty of time to spare to catch the bus north. When the bus came it read, "Quepos", which is where we were heading. Kyle went in front of me and paid for the both of us. Here is a rule that can save any of you some time if you ever find yourself travelng in a foriegn country. Always double check the destination of your bus with the driver! : ) Even if the bus says the name of where you want to go on the top, this does not necessarily mean that it is heading there. I think we assumed that if the bus has a city's name across it, than that is its destination. Not exactly. I soon realized that we were definitely not heading north in the direction we should be. Long story short, what should have been a 2 hour bus ride , was an 8 hour day of over crowded bus rides. It was all good though. We got to see the city of San Isidro and take a pretty hilarious bus ride back. I counted over 100 people on a bus that has seats for 45! Men, women, children, and even a dozen baby chicks were crammed inside this sauna on wheels. It was an adventure just wondering if we would make it up the next hill! Like, The Little Engine That Could, we slowly climbed up and down the mountians at a brisk walking pace. It is amuzing things like these that keep traveling interesting. It's important to look at it this way, otherwise you can find yourself way too stressed over things like deceptive bus destinations. No matter where you are in the world, you can always find an adventure on the public bus! The last couple days where nice to just relax and reflect on our time in Costa Rica. Kyle and I surfed one last time in Manuel Antonio and also saw the elusive sloth that we had been wanting to catch a glimpse of. We were able to get pretty close, and man are those guys ugly! It was quite a site to see the sloth doing what they do best. I guess the best phrase for this behavior would be slothing around? Anyway, it was trying to climb a telephone sign and not having much luck. Imagine someone trying to climb a well griesed fire pole and you will get an idea what he looked like. After our sloth entertainment we went to the La Mariposa hotel for lunch by the pool. As one of the "1000 places to see before you die," I thought I might have already passed and gone to heaven! The hotel sits on top of a mountain that has a 270 degree view of the national park and the Pacific Ocean. There is an infiniti pool around the entire deck and views that I will never forget. The hotel was a nice ending to a great trip. Above are some pictures from the trip and a video below. I hope you enjoyed reading about Costa Rica as much as I enjoyed being there! I am set to graduate in May so there will be many more adventures to come!