On the buses

xLes>en Googlec

[click to translate] Rev.

Regular readers of our blog will have noted that we spend a lot of time on buses. Below we list some of the things that make buses special in Costa Rica.

We have liked travelling by bus as it immerses you more into the way of Costa Rican life. It allows you to be amongst people going about their day-to-day lives. In our few days of travelling by hire car, we quickly noticed how much more cut off from other people you become as you just get in the car, go to where you want and get out again.

A lot of people travel by bus in Costa Rica because it is so cheap. Usually the fares are fixed regardless of how far you are travelling. The fare from Heredia to our house takes about 10 minutes and costs a fixed 165 colones (about 20p). The journey from Heredia to San Jose, which can take anything from 30 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes depending on the traffic, costs 340 colones / 45p (from the cheapest of the bus companies). In fact, our bus journey from San Jose to the Caribbean, which took four hours only cost 3900 colones / £5!

The buses in Costa Rica are run by lots of different companies, so you can often travel to your destination via a number of different buses and routes. Even within the same bus company, the buses can range in size and quality from former US type school buses with hard seats, to coach size buses with soft reclinable seats. The bus that we usually catch from Heredia to our house is one with hard seats, this is especially unfortunate as the route it takes involves going along some very bumpy pot-holed roads. If the driver is in a hurry it can be a real bone-shaker.

It would appear that the same bus drivers often run the same routes every day with the same buses. So a lot of the drivers have decked out their own corner of the bus with family photos, stickers or flags. We even rode on one bus where the driver had pimped his stereo system to include full size speakers and a subwoofer. This might be an idea for a new TV show "Pimp my bus"!

Buses in Costa Rica also seem to be far more reliable than their UK equivalents. Some of the buses only run every 20 or 30 minutes, but you can rely on them leaving/arriving at that time. On the most popular routes (such as between Heredia and San Jose), at the most popular times (rush hour) you will even find buses lined up behind one another at the first stop. When one fills up and drives off, the next one immediately takes it's place and it fills up.

Buses in Costa Rica usually have two doors - one at the front and one at the back. So when getting off you can select the exit most convenient - usually the one that doesn't send you down a big hole in the road. Most people get on the bus at the front, but we have seen folks get on at the rear then walk inside the bus to pay the driver.

You can get change from Costa Rican bus drivers. True, they wouldn't accommodate you if you handed over a 5000 colones note, but it's likely that up to 2000 colones you would get change. The bus drivers have to account for their days takings and if they are short then they have to make up the difference themselves. The total amount of passengers each day is known because at both sets of doors there are electronic detectors that count every coming and going. The ones at the front can either be right at the doors or after the driver - it's best not to hang around these areas as it could count your passing more than once, which will only upset the driver.

On the major bus routes you will often get someone come on the bus to collect money for a charity or organisation. They will give a short speech about what they are representing and then "sell" little items such as pens, pencils or stickers for a donation. They seem to get a lot more donations than we would expect a similar attempt on a UK bus would get.

They have a reverse gear on buses in Costa Rica. Ok, so the buses in the UK will also have one, but how often do you ever see a bus reverse? Here in Costa Rica, it happens all the time - pulling out from stops, trying to get round corners, etc. And if you are a pedestrian or the driver of a car behind, you'd better keep out of the way or take evasive action because the bus won't pay much attention to you.

Last but not least, politeness still exists on the buses in Costa Rica. Many years ago when we were children travelling on the bus in the UK, it was not uncommon for males on the bus (including boys) to allow women and elderly to have their seat. Well this still happens in Costa Rica. Even male teenagers will often give up their seat on a full bus to allow a female of any age to sit down. This is all too rare in the UK nowadays.

We would also like to state that we have not seen any chickens or any other farmyard animals on buses in Costa Rica.

Toros a la Tica

Having not had our fill of farmyard animals, Colin thought he would find out whether he was allergic to bulls as well as horses. So yesterday, we went to see Toros a la Tica. Las corridas (literally: the runnings) of the bulls is the Costa Rican answer to bullfighting. This event takes place in many locations around Costa Rica, but at this time of year the main event is at the Fiestas San Jose (which opened on the 25th December and ends on the 4th January). Toros a la Tica is very popular and is shown live on national television.

Fiestas San Jose is a huge party with fairground rides, megabars, concession stands and of course Toros a la Tica, which takes place in Zapote on the other side of San Jose to where we live. To get there we had to take a bus into central San Jose and then another bus out to Zapote. Total cost one way, for one person, was 480 colones – a bargain considering that parking at the Fiestas costs between 2500 and 7000 colones. We weren’t quite sure where to get off the bus in Zapote but it became obvious when we saw the cordoned off roads, police officers and tall structures of fairground rides.

We arrived shortly before 12 noon, and as we wandered through the quiet fairground – most of the stalls were still closed or just opening - we saw a queue forming at the boleteria (ticket office) of the redondel (bull ring). So we joined it without knowing how long we would have to stand there.

Fortunately for us, the ticket office opened shortly after 12 noon and the queue started to move. Upon reaching the front of the queue we encountered an improbably small and low down hole in the wall (you had to bend down and even then it was difficult to see the person you were talking to). We managed to get our tickets for the afternoon toros without a problem, they cost 5000 colones each.

After leaving the fairgrounds in search of something to eat (we stumbled across the Zapote branch of Vishnu, a nice vegetarian eatery which has a branch in Heredia), we returned just before 2pm to find small queues at each of the entrances to the redondel. So once again we joined the queue without knowing how long we would have to stand there. Again, fortunately for us, the doors opened about 20 minutes after we joined the queue (just after 2pm).

When we entered the redondel we were greeted by about 8 rows of “seats” – somewhat like an amphitheatre where the “seats” are also the steps. We made our way to the top and sat down. In hindsight we’d have entered at a gate slightly further round the redondel so that we had a seat in the shade as it quickly became very hot. We dutifully applied more suncream, but being in the sun also meant that Colin had the opportunity/perfect excuse to buy a cowboy hat to provide some shade (Zoë had taken a hat with her).

I’m a cowboy. Howdy, howdy, howdy.

The first hour was filled with pasayos, oxcarts and a marching band from Guanacaste advertising the Fiestas in Santa Cruz in January. There were also some folk on horses (the horses appeared to be marking time – though Colin thought they were moonwalking), an announcer wearing yellow, and another guy dressed as a clown with a red nose. There was also a man in drag who arrived on an oxcart and made frequent appearances throughout the afternoon running with the bulls, acting as a cheerleader and jumping on and kissing men in the crowd after leading chants of “Beso, beso, beso” (“Kiss, kiss, kiss”), after which he would give them a prize of a stuffed toy.

At 3pm, about 100 young (mostly) men* entered the ring. They gathered together while a prayer was said, and then it was time for the first bull. They huddled round the gate, from which the bull would enter, before running away as soon as the gate was opened. Several seconds later the bull came careering out, to cheers from the crowd. Once the bulls initial charge was over, the men proceeded to try to get as close to the bull as possible and provoke it into charging at them.

They employed several methods to achieve this: waving an article of clothing at the bull (for example a scarf or t-shirt) like a Spanish matadors cape, kneeling down with arms outstretched in the bulls eyeline, jumping around waving their arms, or running quickly past the bull (brave men ran in front of the bull, those not so brave ran behind it patting its buttocks a they passed). Most of these attempts at provoking the bull had no effect whatsoever, and the bull just looked on with either disdain or confusion (depending on the age and experience of the bull). However, occasionally, the bull would enter into the spirit of the game and charge at one of the young men. This would always encourage large cheers from the crowd.

On the very odd occasion that the bull caught up with one of the men and either trampled him or tried to gore him with his horns, the crowd would go silent until the man got up. Whereupon, there would be a really loud cheer. We are not sure whether this cheer was for the man or for the bull.

Whenever one of the men did have a close encounter with the bull, their first stop was to get interviewed (and of course show their battlescars to the cameras) and then on to visit the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) for treatment if necessary.

Each round lasted between 10 and 20 minutes, whereupon two cowboys on horseback would come out to lasso the bull and take him away. Then it was time for another bull to come out. Sometimes, there would be a different challenge: occasionally, the bull would come out with a rider on his back, and there was a strange game that involved three men standing on beer crates while another man ran around them being chased by the bull (the object seemed to be to stay on the crates).

The last round finished at about 6pm, and the unluckiest man in the ring (who had turned his back on the bull thinking it was all over) was attacked by the bull as the cowboys were coming out. He was taken out of the ring by his fellow young men, and although he was then scooted off to the Red Cross on a stretcher he did have the wherewithal to ask for his cap back (which the bull had trampled in to the dirt) before being taken out of the ring, so we don’t think he was that badly injured. And we didn’t see any blood as he was taken past us.

Overall, it was a fun (if somewhat bizarre) afternoon. We didn’t want to see people being trampled or gored, but at the same time when the bull charged it did add some excitement to what otherwise looked like 100 young men running around playing “tag” in the playground. To the Ticos, this is a national sport and a fun, family, day out. When you go to the toros you are hoping for something to happen, but at the same time, hoping it won’t. As with many spectator sports a lot of the attraction is the atmosphere.

This bull decided to change the game by entering the "safety zone",

causing the men to flee into the ring, rather than out of it.

All in all, it seems that this is a somewhat more civilised (if you can call it that) way to mess about with bulls in a ring than anything involving a matador. The word matador comes from the Spanish word matar, meaning "to kill". At least here the bulls seem to be the stars of the show, and leave the redondel alive (and often kicking), if maybe a bit miffed or bemused.

*There were no women in the ring. Either they are not allowed to take part, or they are just more sensible.

Horsing around in San Jose

December 26^th was not a typical Boxing Day (for us). We took the bus into San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, to see El Tope. The bus journey into San Jose was unusual because it only took 30 minutes – normally this would take at least an hour. El Tope is an annual horse parade which travels along the main avenues in San Jose.

As we were having a general wander around downtown San Jose, we noticed that people were already filling up the sides of the streets in order to get the best positions for viewing the parade. So at 11.30ish, an hour and a half before the scheduled start time, we joined them.

While everyone was waiting for the horses to come, there were numerous street vendors making their way up and down the parade route selling items varying from drinks and snacks to seats and hats (oh, and little nodding horses). It was only a matter of time before we purchased a couple of little seats for ourselves (3000 colones for 2).

Just before 2pm, the parade reached us (we think we were about half way along the parade route). Yesterday’s La Nacion stated that 4000 riders were expected and we certainly have never seen as many horses at one time before. Just as we thought they were finishing, a new herd would come along. The guide book says “many Ticos come from outside the capital to show off their specially trained horses”. Let’s just say that some are more trained than others and there were times when the horses were in control of their riders rather than the other way round.

Many of the horses and riders stopped to allow members of the public to pet them (the horses, not the riders!), much to the delight of the children in the crowd. We don't think that the occasional habit of riders picking up small children out of the crowd and riding with them would have got past the Health & Safety Executive in the UK, and we're not sure that the use of mobile phones or drinking while in control of a four legged vehicle would have been allowed either.

There were little horses, big horses, young riders, old riders, riders with chickens on their heads and even a gladiator (on a horse, of course)!

By 4pm Colin was feeling the effects of being around so many horses (we suspect he is allergic to horse hair – there was a lot of it about) and even though the horses were still coming, we packed up our stools and went to catch the bus back to Heredia.

¡Feliz Navidad!

Christmas arrived in Costa Rica before we did. Certainly by the time we arrived here on December 2nd, there were already distinct signs that Christmas was already here. We are not sure what gave it away: maybe it was the giant inflatable snowmen, or the illuminated candy canes in peoples gardens, or the fairy lights strung around houses and in the trees, or the pop-pop of fireworks going off every night, or the giant plastic portales (nativity scenes). Whatever it was that gave it away, it was clear that Christmas here lasts at least the entire month of December; probably helped along in good measure by the aguinaldo (an extra month’s salary paid to all workers in December).

With the exception of the giant plastic portales, much of the above is often seen in the UK. But for us, celebrating Christmas outside of the UK for the first time, it all seems a little surreal because of one important additional factor: it’s hot and sunny!

Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) is usually the time for a family get together, exchanging of gifts and, for many Catholics, attendance at Misa de Gallo (Christmas Eve mass, traditionally at midnight but now often earlier). We were invited to share a meal with our friends, Peter & Victoria, and their daughter, Caty. We have to admit that in spite of all the decorations, the feeling of Christmas didn’t actually hit us until we were welcomed into their home last night.

To start with Colin was treated to a lovely mulled wine, warm and very Christmassy. The main course was pretty traditional (in UK terms; this and the mulled wine were probably influenced by Peter!) in that it was roast chicken with various vegetables. It was also very tasty and did make a nice change from rice and beans for us. (Zoë would like to point out that we aren’t JUST eating rice & beans … sometimes we have beans & rice, and maybe even a salad too ;) )

After a break to let our main course digest, during which we sang some villancicos (Christmas songs/Carols) in Spanish, and then English, it was time for pudding (postre). Imported apples are a special treat at Christmas time here, and every year Victoria makes a Christmas apple pie. This was served last night much to the delight of Colin, who reckons you can’t get a better postre than apple pie and ice cream.

Following the meal, as midnight approached, it was time to open presents. Zoë thinks this is fantastically civilised; she has forgotten how many times she has asked to open “just one present” on Christmas Eve, and always been denied.

Children here traditionally receive their gifts from niño Jesús (a.k.a. el Niño), but with traditions all over the world now becoming mixed up it is unsurprising that dear old Santa Claus is now a popular figure here. In order not to lose the niño Jesús tradition, it is often said that Santa Claus is his messenger.

Although we had a fantastic time and really delicious meal on Christmas Eve, we wanted to try something that in Costa Rica is very much associated with Christmas: tamales. Apparently, Costa Rican tamales are different from Mexican ones. But since we have never had Mexican tamales we can’t comment on this. Basically, a Costa Rican tamal is a mixture of corn dough with vegetables and meat, wrapped in plantain or banana leaves and then boiled. Tamales here usually come as a pair tied together with string (called una piña de tamales)

This video will give you the general idea: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2j-hRcmfUdY

(We do wonder why the dog in this video is so quiet. Our experience of dogs in Costa Rica suggests they like to bark. A lot. Perhaps this one has eaten too many tamales already?)

And this page has a great description and recipe if you're feeling adventurous: http://www.cocori.com/library/crinfo/tamal.htm

We clearly didn’t make our tamales from scratch (too much work and not enough experience!) so instead purchased readymade ones from the supermarket and had them for lunch today (December 25th).

Verdict: quite tasty, but like post-Christmas Turkey we wouldn’t want to have them every day!

Mini Festival de Las Flores

Yesterday evening we went to investigate was happening for the Mini Festival de Las Flores in Heredia. This festival was on from the 18th to the 21st but we didn’t have the opportunity to go until last night. We were amused to see many people (especially children) wearing woolly hats, scarves and gloves, because to us this was a lovely, warm, summer evening with long sleeves being optional!

We were treated to a performance by Chester the pasayo, and were pleased that we understood all of what he was saying (of course it was mainly aimed at the children). In the background of the pictures you can see La Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción built in 1797 which, due to its squat, thick-walled design, has managed to withstand several earthquakes which destroyed other churches of this period. Chestercito waited until evening mass (misa) had finished prior to starting his show immediately as folk streamed out of the doors of the church.

After the pasayo, one of the organisers sat down and read some childrens stories:

Then it was time for a very nice firework display (fuegos artificiales – sorry, no pictures) and a live merengue band (not that we are experts in latin music, but the main singer of the band did mention merengue and he did seem to have a güira …).

Please note that the video clip below is so that you can hear a short clip of the music, the video itself is very dark and you won’t see a lot!

We enjoyed the fact that everyone was in good humour, singing along and really dancing to the band (even though this made it a little difficult to hold the camera steady to get good photos!) Those that didn’t want to dance made sure that those that did had plenty of space, and it was a really nice atmosphere. Zoë enjoyed it even though she usually avoids crowds whenever possible. She was also very happy when the band played a version of a Juanes song (La Camisa Negra) and she was able to join in with singing along!

As we left the parque central to go catch our bus back, we were reminded that this is most definitely not the UK as we walked past 3 police officers with guns standing unobtrusively at the edge of the park. And then on the way past the casino, we saw a guard with the biggest gun we have ever seen (apart from in the movies). One day we will take pictures, but coming from a country where guns are a rarity we are understandably a little unsure how folk with guns react when you take pictures of them!

Existen Dos Costa Ricas

Last night we attended the "Fiesta Navidad" of the Tai Chi Society here in Costa Rica. There was a good turnout with more than 30 people there to eat some food and sing some Christmas songs (villancicos). There were bocas for starters, turkey, mashed potatoes and salad for the main course, and various tasty cakes for pudding (including one type of cake that must have had an 80% alcohol content). The food was followed by some singing of Christmas songs, first in Spanish (which we did not participate in, if only because we didn't know the words) and then some in English (which we did sing).

Members of the Taoist Tai Chi Society here have been donating various food and essential housekeeping items to give to some local needy families for Christmas. There were also some Christmas presents bought and wrapped up for each member of the families (including a toy car which we bought for one young boy). The families were selected by one of the Society's members who works as a nurse here. Today we accompanied some members of the Society to the see the families and give them their Christmas gifts.


This gave us the opportunity to experience working with Costa Rican addresses (see an earlier blog entry). An address of 300 metres west and 200 metres north of a landmark is not enough to help you find somebody’s house, especially in a densely populated area. So what do you do? Why, you ask of course. Unlike many parts of the UK, folk here do actually know who their neighbours are. So, you can get to the general area and start asking for the family you are looking for and soon enough, you will find them.

Costa Rica is one of the most developed and richest countries in Central America, yet it was clear to see today that poverty, real poverty, still exists here and not just in the slums on the outskirts and riverbanks of San Jose. The families we visited today, all in the San Rafael/Heredia area, were living in "houses" that were smaller than most UK garages. In one case the "house" was essentially part of a ramshackle garage sectioned off, boards had just been placed on the earth to provide a floor; a mum (aged 38 but looking much older) and her two young children lived in this tiny one room space.

One thing that has been noticeable in Costa Rica is that there are often small, almost derelict houses right next to large modern houses, which are right next to shacks, which are next to a 5 bedroom house... and so on. So in many streets you can find the very poor living next door to the well-to-do, separated only by a few feet (and a large wall and barbed electric wire fence). It is something that you don't often see in the UK – both the mixture of housing and the barbed electric wire fences! – where the well-off and poor each have their own, very separate, "estates". However, unless you are homeless, as in really homeless and living on the streets, in the UK you are probably living in better conditions than the very poor here. As one of the Tai Chi members said today "existen dos Costa Ricas".

Las Aves Locas

This morning we were awoken at 6.15 am by a loud banging sound that appeared to be coming from inside our home. This was particularly unusual, as we have been awake before 6 am every morning that we have been here so far…

After wondering what the noise was for a few seconds, we thought we ought to go investigate. So we got out of bed and put on our house shoes (having first shaken them out to remove any critters that may have made their home there in the night!) and cautiously went to investigate. Checked the upstairs – nothing. Checked downstairs – nothing. Yet still the banging went on. Loud. And in the house. At this point, we were somewhat what nervous and wondering what to do. We started back up the stairs and came eye to beady eye with the culprit. As he looked us in the eyes he made as if to try the window once again …

In the years that they lived in this house, our friends, Peter & Victoria, had never had an attempt at forced entry. And here we were, 5 days into our stay coming face to face with a BIRD trying to enter the house!! We think it was attracted to the rather beautiful stained glass window and was actually pecking at it because it thought it could get something tasty to eat. It flew off shortly afterwards, and all was silent again. Well, as silent as it ever is in Costa Rica.

Sunday is market day in San Rafael, the town closest to our home in Costa Rica. So, after we got over our rude awakening, we paid the feria a brief visit this morning to take a look. There were a lot of people out to get their fruit and veg for the week, and many of these people were trailing "granny trolleys" behind them so that they could wheel their purchases home. We only saw one that was of the traditional style that we are accustomed to - red tartan. Both the prices and quality seemed pretty good, so we plan to make this our weekly fruit and veg shop ourselves - although it is yet to be decided whether a granny trolley will be required. On this occasion we only bought a pineapple (piña), cost 300 colones (about 40p).

Please note: This the actual pineapple and not a stock photograph.

In the afternoon we went into Heredia to see a festival that was on in and around the main park in the centre of town (parque central). The festival consisted of various shows, dancing and singing, all performed by the students of Universidad Nacional (UNA). UNA has its main campus in Heredia city, and also has several other campuses around the country. Students from all campuses had come to take part. Here are some of the highlights of what we saw…

Baile Folclórico: Así es Nicoya, Campus Nicoya

We saw a very similar performance when we were here last time, in March this year, though we don’t know if they were the same people. Our understanding is that in this dance the men and women take it in turns to hurl insults at each other … we are not entirely sure why. However, there was always much appreciative whistling from the crowd after each one was thrown! (If anyone can translate the one in the video for us, we would be most appreciative).

This little group, from Campus Pérez Zeledón put on a section of the Christmas story for us. Somewhat of a challenge for our Spanish, and even more so for our ears during the parts where they sang carols. Angel Gabriel couldn’t sing for toffee, but he did put everything he had into it….

More traditional dancing, this time from the Liberia Campus. We were told they had been up since 3 am in order to get there to dance for us.

And finally, we simply couldn’t leave out the group UNÁnime. We probably shouldn’t say too much about this because some things are beyond explanation.

Dings that make you hmmm

From next week we are going to be attending Spanish lessons for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for 2 weeks. So today we went into Heredia to scout the location of the school so that we don’t get lost on our first day. Addresses here are not like addresses in Scotland. That would be too easy. The clue is in the Spanish word for address: dirección. Addresses here are given as a set of directions e.g. 100m east of the football field, white house with blue trim. This is great, as long as you know where the football field is. And as long as you know that 100m doesn’t actually mean 100m (it actually means one block, which could be any distance at all, really). And as long as there is only one white house with blue trim in the vicinity…

There was also disappointment today when we discovered the microwave that we bought yesterday did not work. We bought the cheapest one in the shop (seeing as we are only going to need it for three months), so it is an old school turn the knob to set the time type. Unfortunately all it did when you turned the knob was go “ding”. Cue a return trip to the shop and a swap undertaken. Now we have a microwave that heats stuff up as it’s meant to (and still goes “ding” when finished).

And so to...

Zoë’s Spanish Phrase of the Day
Compramos este ayer pero no funciona. No hace nada.