THINGS I MAY NOT HAVE EXPERIENCED IF I HADN'T BEEN ON THE BUS FOR 16 HOURS THIS WEEKEND:

1) There are lots of narrow, one lane bridges around Lake Arenal. When we came up on one, there was a small herd of cows on it. A teen aged boy had to chase them out of the way and up into a nearby driveway.

2) We traveled most of the way to Liberia with a woman, her daughter and their Chihuahua. It had its own little travel box.

3) We stopped to pick up passengers at a tiny airport. It was so small and empty that most of the workers were just sitting around outside.

4) Laura and I were in Tilaron on the way back for 3 hours between busses. We ate lunch at a soda where the waitress was apparently the local amazon goddess. Men just periodically came in the restaurant to ogle her and flirt.

5) The same restaurant had homemade hot sauce, decoratively displayed on the table in an old hair gel container.

6) My watch alarm hadn't been working, so I got it repaired and a new battery for less than 2 dollars at a local watch shop.

7) I also bought a three inch long switchblade from a nearby jeweler. It cost 5 dollars. I wanted something to peel fruit with and ended up with a deadly weapon. Now I can shank anyone who gives me problems.

8) The landscape in Guanaste (the province above the one I live in) reminds me of Africa. It is really dry and scarcely vegetated. All of the cows there were white.

9) We saw a parade as we passed on town on a side street. I'm pretty sure that it was a Tope, a kind of agricultural procession to show off livestock. There were tons of gaited horses, cattle, and several ox carts. The music was pumping.

10) I began to notice that nearly every town and city here is set up similarly with a central park backed by a large catholic church. They have numerous geometric paved walkways and cement benches every 10 meters. There are usually vendors selling pipas frias (coconuts to drink) and chicharones (fried pig skin).

11) There are lots of random vendors around bus stops. People sell tooth brushes and sandals from duffle bags.

12) In another town, I bought a pumice stone from a little old abuela. Laura said that she'd seen her for the past two years and that this is all she sells.

13) Busses just don't transport people. Apparently through some kind of prior arrangement, our bus dropped off a shipment of chain-saws, weed whackers and other yard/construction equipment. It must have filled the entire space under the bus.

14) One of our bus drivers was flying around the corners and an older lady fell out of her seat and into the isle. Everyone around jumped to help her and everyone else yelled and glared at the bus driver.

15) I saw my first wild parrots - a flock of 5 medium sized green ones.

*16)When I got back in to Ciudad Quesada, I saw a group of teenaged boys awkwardly passing a football (American) around in their back yard. As the bus passed, they were charged by another boy riding a horse.... also in the yard... in the middle of the city!