Costa Rica by Bus

Someone recently asked me about getting around the country by bus and I think I referred them to the Bus Schedule website which lists all of the option when you type in the “From” and “To” spaces on that website with all bus companies included.

Well, I forgot about an even better help beyond schedules, the Facebook Group Page Costa Rica by Bus on which you can post a question (may have to join group first) and some of the many people who travel by bus will share their experiences and advice. And of course they also recommend the bus schedule site above. And by the way, that bus in photo above is the one I took to Turrialba.

I plan to go to a birding lodge near San Isidro del General in May, so anticipate my report on that bus experience then. I use the bus almost weekly to go from Atenas to Alajuela for many different reasons and have gone to San Jose by bus many times. Some of my other bus adventures have been (with links to photo galleries):

All of this was to simply say that you can travel on a “shoestring budget” and see a lot of Costa Rica whether you live here or visiting. Buses are cheap here! That is the way most Ticos travel! And you can do it without the Spanish language, though much easier and a richer experience if you speak at least a little Spanish.

Now, as a retiree who has made seeing all of Costa Rica my main activity, I do not do everything the budget-way and love to go the longer distances on Sansa Airlines or to places less than 3 hours from Atenas by my favorite driver here in Atenas, but I do not have a car and have basically quit renting cars because of the high insurance cost, thus seeing Costa Rica by bus is one option I still use when I consider it the most practical way. The next bus report comes in May!   🙂

“Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets”    ~ Oscar Wilde

I just realized that I did a similar post in 2017, Seeing Costa Rica by Bus   🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Orosi/Tapantí Trip Book

Click to See Free Preview Online

This was not my most exciting trip nor favorite lodging, but I got 10 new species of birds photographed on this trip, so a big deal! Sometime in the future I will return for 3 or 4 days birding at El Copal when I can get a reservation in their lodge. The two oldest churches here are enough reason for a visit or the spectacular miradors or vistas! That’s if you are not interested in birding.  🙂

I also discovered one really good restaurant with a hotel attached or visa versa, “Tapantí Media” on the highway going out of Orosi toward Tapantí National Park. It is a first class Italian Restaurant with excellent pizzas and pastas and much more plus great service. It will be my hotel next time I need to stay in Orosi. The B&B was simply too far from restaurants and the 3 big dogs and 2 cats are not my cup of tea! Nor the do-it-yourself breakfast. I’m now spoiled to full-service hotels. 
The bus trip there was easy even if it did take 3 buses and more than 3 hours! Atenas to San Jose to Cartago to Orosi. As a senior adult 2 of the buses were free and one cost only 500 colones or about 75¢. Not bad!  🙂  One of the perks of being old here!
¡Pura Vida!

El Copal Nature & Happy Valentines Day!

A Valentine from Nature
Photographed along a road or trail in the
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

Or maybe you prefer an Exotic Wild Flower for Valentines
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

Reventazón River Valley 
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

One of Many Tributaries 
El Copal Area, Costa Rica
My Guide Cristhian Ureña Martinez 
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

More FlowersEl Copal Area, Costa Rica

More Flowers  
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

More Flowers 
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

Mosses and Ferns of the Cloud Forest 
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

A Horse Farm Where We Found Birds 
El Copal Area, Costa Rica

A Horse Farm Where We Found Birds 
El Copal Area, Costa Rica
Nature is the art of God.

¡Pura Vida!


This exact same set of photos in my TRIPS photo gallery:  El Copal Area Scenery


And related is the gallery El Copal BIRDS in this same TRIPS gallery below


Or see all of my Orosi Trip photos in the TRIP Gallery: 2018-February 6-10–Orosi/Tapanti



~ ~ ~ ~ ~


TINY SERENDIPITIES KEEP ME SMILING

On the bus to Alajuela Monday a Tica mother with little girl about a year to 18 months old sat down in the seat next to me. The little girl kept looking at me and finally reached out and touched my arm and smiled. (Yes I had already said “Hola” and smiled at her, but she was slow responding.)

Later after mother and child got off the bus, an older man in the seat in front of me began playing his harmonica and quietly singing a beautiful, tranquil song in Spanish.  ¡Pura vida!

The greatest self is a peaceful smile, that always sees the world smiling back. 


Bryant H. McGill


~~~~~~~
JURASSIC PARK?
ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS ARTICLE:
Isla del Coco, Costa Rica

This is our island in the Pacific Ocean that is similar to Galápagos Islands of Ecuador without
tourism. It is a national park and research center and many say is more significant scientifically than the Galápagos Islands. (Darwin missed it!) It is also the island that the fictitious dinosaur project was on in the movies of the Jurassic Park. See this brief YouTube video of THE REAL JURASSIC PARK for a 57 second glimpse of the real island. 


The island is 300 miles offshore and you sleep on the yacht and scuba dive around the island in the largest colony of sharks in the world! They let you on the island for brief day trips from the yacht but no nights there. Not a regular tourist spot! It costs 3 to 5 k per person for a minimum number of people on different boats for 7 days and just the shore excursion to the island costs $250 to $500 depending on which boat you are on! Cost includes bus from San Jose airport to Puntarenas dock. 

UNESCO World Heritage Site          I would love to see it, but doubt that will ever happen!

¡Pura Vida!

El Copal Area Birds

Click an image to see larger. Here in order shot, no other priority.
Note: El Copal is a private reserve & closed on day we were there.
So we drove & walked the same forest around their property.
Broad-winged Hawk 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Red-billed Pigeon 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Scarlet-thighed Dacnis 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Lineated Woodpecker 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Passerini Tanager male 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Rufous-tailed Jacamar  
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica
First Photo for Me

Squirrel Cuckoo 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Tawny-capped Euphonia Eating a Berry
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica
First Sighting for Me

Crimson-collared Tanager 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica
First Sighting for Me in Costa Rica (1 in Nicaragua)

Black-cheeked Woodpecker 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Social Flycatcher 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Olive-sided Flycatcher 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica
First Sighting for Me

Double-toothed Kite 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica
First Sighting for Me

Southern Rough-winged Swallow 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Tropical Mockingbird with Flower Petal 
On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica
First Sighting for Me

Tropical Mockingbird 
On Roads & Trails around El Copal, Costa Rica

Great-tailed Grackle male

On Roads & Trails Around El Copal, Costa Rica

Meadowlark
On Roads & Trails around El Copal, Costa Rica
First Sighting for Me in Costa Rica (1 in Nicaragua)

Groove-billed Ani 
On Roads & Trails around El Copal, Costa Rica

Black Phoebe 
On Roads & Trails around El Copal, Costa Rica
When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all. 
~E. O. Wilson


My photo gallery BIRDS

This exact same set of birds in my TRIPS photo gallery:  El Copal Birds
Or see all of my Orosi Trip photos in the TRIP Gallery: 2018-February 6-10–Orosi/Tapanti

Birding Near El Copal

Enroute to El Copal area we passed this vista or mirador of Reventazón River below the clouds.
Most of the rivers around Orosi and Tapanti flow into this which flows into the Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean.
Today was kind of like hiking through “Middle Earth” in The Lord of the Rings. As much of Costa Rica is!  🙂
Reventazón River, Costa Rica

We went further away today and did more mountain walking for a longer time, so I am quite tired! For those who know the area, El Copal is a famous private reserve in these mountains the other side of Tapanti where we were yesterday. The reserve takes visitors on a limited reservations system and they were not even open today, so we did not go inside the private reserve. But we birded all around it and saw about as much as I can handle in one day!  🙂   There is a rustic lodge in El Copal and in the future I will schedule a 4 or 5 day visit there with Cristhian. And yes, that is how he spells his name which I spelled wrong yesterday. I have two friends in Atenas who spell it Cristian, but in this culture (or language) they never spell the name Christian which would be considered English.

We drove and walked on dirt roads through the jungles of this mountain area in south-central Costa Rica most of today. Quite an experience! I just love it here! We even walked by Cristhian’s hermit uncle’s little cabin in the woods. Cool! There is so much to explore in Costa Rica!   🙂
Tomorrow I explore some more of Orosi with the old colonial church ruins expected to be the highlight and the Orosi Mirador.

¡Pura Vida!

An unusual jungle flower today. Click to enlarge.