Through the Looking Glass

Sorry, but things are going to get a little out of chronological order for a bit!  This is one of those blog entries I kept meaning to write while I was in Costa Rica or after I got home, but didn’t find myself writing until now.  Where am I now?  Sitting on the train to Granada, looking out the window…

This entry is about those cool and/or memorable things I saw through the windows of the buses I took in Costa Rica.  On buses, as on trains, it is hard to take pictures of the things outside due to the reflective nature of the glass and how quickly things go by.  However, I did my best to take some mental images and now I will try to remember them all to record here.  Keep in mind I may very well add to it in the future if/when I think of other things.

- On the bus ride back to San Jose from the beach town of Jacó, I saw the most amazing sunset-double-rainbow I have ever seen.  This was on the weekend that I ended up spending by myself, going to Jacó after the tours I wanted to do in Arenal didn’t work out (but don’t worry, one of those was Rio Celeste which I went back for later).  Of course, this was one of few bus rides I had to spend not in the window seat and the girl next to me didn’t open the window and kept getting in the way of my attempted pictures.  This was during a part of the ride that is already breathtaking, as the bus winds through the mountains with the clouds sitting in the valleys.  Add to this already amazing view a gorgeous sunset, and then to that, a perfectly complete double rainbow.  The bus wound through it for maybe 20 minutes before the sun actually set and it faded away.

- On that same weekend on the shuttle from Arenal to Jacó, I saw an armadillo.  I mention this here because it is the only armadillo I have ever seen and it was through a window.

- I think this next one was early on in my trip because I am pretty sure I saw it from the ISA bus and we only had excursions the first 3 weekends.  You know how sometimes you see someone riding their bike with their dog on a leash, running next to them?  Take that image and replace the dog with a horse.

- Families sitting in their living rooms, watching TV with the front door open.

- Numerous houses that look as though they are falling apart right next to very nice restaurants and hotels and stores where the people who live in these broken down houses probably work.

- The smiles from children and women sitting on the porch or playing/working in the front yard that I received after smiling and/or waving at them.

- The eruption of Volcan Arenal, though is was just smoke.

- A LOT OF BANANAS

- The flooded roads to Tortuguero

- Many small fires that I think were from people burning trash, but I kept forgetting to ask someone to find out for sure.

And of course I am writing this as I stare at the rolling hills and fields of the Spanish countryside :)