Day 3 - 7+ hour bus ride to David

I was anxious to get packed and going this morning, but others in my party weren't on board at first.  Eventually the resistance faded and we had breakfast, cleaned up and spent a good portion of our time getting repacked. We were finally into the taxi bound for Albrook Terminal at 9 a.m.  I was watching the clock in the taxi as it neared the hour of 10 o'clock when we finally arrived to catch our bus that in my mind, I thought was leaving on the hour.

We had 5 minutes and I still had to attempt to purchase an onward travel ticket for Costa Rica from Tica Bus.  I split up at the windows, giving Correen the task of purchasing today's bus tickets and I purchasing the Tica Bus tickets.  Only I was struggling with my conversation en espanol and eventually learned with the help of Tegan that we can't purchase tickets that far in advance.  Another obstacle of Central America... I am only talking about 2 weeks in advance.  Oh well, race to the left to where the platform is, nope back to the right... we show up at the platform and were scolded a little as the bus was loaded with luggage and doors closed.  We got on the bus, but only with seconds to spare, we didn't even get seated and the bus started moving away from the terminal.

We were sitting at very back of the bus and had most of the seats to ourselves.  I told Tegan she should come back to sit by me so she could talk to the girl in the seat in front of her.  She was reluctant until I told her that the girl had her DS and was playing Mario Cart.  I suggested that they could link up and play and she was excited to do try.  Well they ended up being the best of "bus friends" sharing in drawing, tic tac toe, hangman and what ever their imagination came up with.  Elliot was playing games for some of the trip and slept for a good portion as well.

Typically when the bus stopped someone would hop on selling jewelry, food and drinks.  We didn't have time to grab anything before hopping on the bus, so we were especially happy to get some water and try some of the snacks they were selling.  The bus itself was a double decker bus and we were on the top.  You had to climb a winding staircase to get to the top and below us sat more passengers as well as the bathroom.

Watching the sights outside was enriching and varied from the cities and towns we drove through to the remote houses where families sat at tables outside or continued on their chores around their home.  Once we landed in David, we jumped off the bus, were asked by a few taxi drivers if we needed a taxi and eventually got our bags from the back of the bus into the taxi. David isn't the prettiest town, but it is full of life.  It was dusk when we arrived and Friday, so things we're just getting started for most of the residents of David.  The streets and sidewalks were uneven and broken and traffic etiquette has created a new paradigm for which I am yet to understand.

When we arrived at our Hotel/Hostel we at first were left to figure out how to get into the property.  The gate was closed, it was getting dark and it didn't look like there was signs of life until we found the doorbell and rang it.  A man came to our assistance and opened the gate for us.  We were let in and there was a little confusion at first as to if we had a reservation, but in the end we were placed in a room that boardered onto the street.  The noise from the street was a little intense; trucks with engine brakes, people celebrating, horns honking and loud music could be heard from the open bars down the street.

The best things about the Hostel were the animals and the pool, in the eyes of Tegan and Elliot.  There were to labs, a toucan and 3 parrots on the property.  I took the kids swimming in the pool and then we went out onto the streets to find some dinner.  Correen said later that she felt unsafe, but I didn't feel the same, there were so many people out that it just felt we were immersed into their lives.  We had fried chicken for dinner and then went to a couple of bakeries before settle in to our room for the night.