We have been continuing our spanish studies and they are good but can be frustrating at times. We would like to move faster, but cannot absorb it faster.
Jerry and I decided to try a little venture to the local Paseo de las Flores Mall. We had been there on previous trips and wanted to look at the spanish books in the bookstore. We also were looking for something for our kitchen.
Nick Wisdom offered to help us get there as he would be glad to meet friends and hang out for a while.
Renee gave us a ride to San Isidro a little town 2 miles or so from their house. The same town we had gone to the market to buy food at that morning. Us three got on a bus from San Isidro to Herredia about 3pm. In Herredia we walked about 5 blocks from the Pizza Hut by the town square with the church. We boarded another bus for the mall. It was a red and yellow bus. Nick told us that we could catch the bus back to Herredia accross from the mall. He said a red and yellow bus would get us to the same bus stop but any bus marked Herredia would get us there, and it was so small it would be easy to find Pizza Hut on the square.
The mall was a success. We got a couple of spanish-english dictionaries and the small stuff from the store. We sat and ate a really delicious ice cream cone. Mine was coconut with actual coconut pieces in it.
By the time we were done it was dark and we felt time to leave. We went accross to the bus stop on a busy street, and a bus to Herredia was there. It was not the red and yellow one, but I thought Nick was right that we should be able to find the Pizza Hut from another bus stop. Jerry was not so sure, but he agreed.
When we got to Herredia, it didn't look so small. We did not pass by any business or lit up areas that looked like a square. It looked just like all dark streets, especially with the dark and rain. There was no place that we wanted to get off. By that time, we were through Herredia going to who knows where.
I kind of thought it would be a bus like the town I grew up in that has a small route it travels once an hour. It seemed likely that we would retourn to Herredia shortly. After 30 minutes and several small towns it became apparent that we were not returning. Then we saw the airport. We were now looping through the San Jose Airport. Hmmm that was not planned. I asked the bus driver how to get to Herredia, but didn't understand the answer, or he didn't understand me. A nice man who heard the conversation came up and told us that it would take an hour to get to Herredia. We went to downtown San Jose to a central terminal. It was not a place that I would like to explore from. It looked very downtrodden. The man showed us a bus that was going to Herredia. We got on it and it left shortly. But wait, here we go again to the airport.
We looped through the airport for the second time that night. Thankfully the bus headed back the way we had come. We started naming off familiar buildings that we remembered. "Oh I remember that Shell station."
When we got near to Herredia, I asked a lady in front of us if this was it. She said she would show us. She spoke english. We had told her we needed the town square. There is was!! We got off at the town square and there was the church. We looked all around, but no Pizza Hut! We asked a man where Pizza Hut was, and he indicated 300 meters straight ahead. So we went that way, and saw only a bus. We asked the driver of that bus where the bus to San Isidro was, and he had us turn and go another direction. When we got there, there was PIZZA HUT, ta da! Around the corner was the bus to San Isidro which looked wonderful.
We also saw another town square and another church. Apparently Herredia is not so small. While walking around it, it seemed rather large. Especially at night.
We had been riding busses around for a couple of hours. They were all crowded, and some of them were not gringo sized. On one Jerry and my derrieres barely fit the double seat, but his knees did not. He had to put one leg twisted under the seat ahead. Like sitting in the back area of an import pickup truck.
Well our adventure was winding down, and we felt pretty good. The bus to San Isidro went straight there and we found a taxi right away to take us to Wisdom's.I read off my little note to tell the driver where to go.
The whole time, we knew that we could get off the bus and hail a taxi home from whereever, but we wanted to try and get there as planned. And we did it!!
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