Bus Trip to Grecia

Monday, March 11

Today we are off to visit Grecia - a town in the hills north of here, in the foothills below Poas Volcano. We had explored Grecia via Internet when we were planning our trip, looking for a place to stay for a month. We had seen a place that looked promising, but in the end we selected the place in Atenas instead. Did we make the right choice? We were curious to find out.

Grecia is almost directly across the valley from Atenas. We can see the lights at night. It looks close, as the birds fly. But, it is not at all close by bus. To visit Grecia by bus, we first had to take the bus from Atenas to Alejuela and there transfer to another bus to Grecia. We left Atenas on the 9:00 am bus and arrived in Alejuela around 10:15.

The ride wound mostly downhill from the Atenas hills into the Central Valley. The roads are narrow, curvy, and very steep in places, with ditches or steep ravines on either side. The bus is large and tall, and it often seemed as though it could easily tip over when rounding some of the steep switchbacks.

Though I felt nervous at times, the Costa Rican passengers seemed totally unconcerned, and that helped me to relax a little. On one of the first bus rides we took from Atenas, there was a saying in Spanish written on the top front panel of the bus. Translated, it read, "I go with God. if I don't return, you will find me with Him." Perhaps this explains the Costa Rican acceptance of these treacherous roads and the risks they take whenever they travel them. As the French say, Que sera, sera. What will be, will be. Here, it's reflected their notion of La Pura Vida.

In Alejuela, it took a little banging around - a few questions in Spanish (Bob's) - to find the spot where we would pick up the bus for Grecia. There appear to be at least three different bus depots, depending on the bus line and destination, each one about a block apart. None of them were well-marked, nor did they have posted routes or schedules that we could find. But we were lucky. When we found the right spot, there was a bus ready to pull out for Grecia, Sarchi, and Naranjo - all towns in the the foothills northwest of San Jose and Alejuela. We decided to get off in Grecia as planned, but to come back again another day and continue on to Sarchi, a town known for its Costa Rican crafts.

The bus ride from Alejuela to Grecia wound through mostly rural farmland, with some villages interspersed. Here we could see many sugar cane fields, in various stages of growth, as well as coffee farms (fincas), and banana groves. We were traveling mostly uphill to Grecia, as it is in the area that is the base of the Poas Volcano. (Visit to Poas is on our bucket list, but for another day.) Bob's video captures sections of the round trip ride from Alejuela to Grecia and back. (The song on the video is "Gute Laune" by Tosca and Tweed.)

Scenes of bus ride, Alejuela to Grecia and return, Costa Rica. (Video by Bob)

 

Grecia is a larger and more bustling town than Atenas. We spent about three hours there, enough to get a good sense of the town. Our first stop was a small cafe near the central plaza, Cafe Delicias, where we revived ourselves after the two bus rides with refreshing beverages - a limonada (lemonade) for Bob and an iced Mochachino for me. Then, we walked over to the Central Plaza (Parque Central) to view the large red metal cathedral which is Grecia's prime attraction. This church was prefabricated in Belgium, shipped to Grecia in pieces, and assembled here in 1897. It is in immaculate condition today.

Cathedral de la Mercedes, Grecia, Costa Rica. (Photo by Connie)

 

After checking out the park and cathedral, we decided to see if we could fine the small rental casita we had viewed over the Internet months before. Bob pulled up a map of Grecia from Google Earth on his iPad, and he pinpointed the exact location of the property. It was only a few blocks from the church and we walked over to see it. Unfortunately, we arrived to find that the entire property - a main house, three guest casitas, and some lovely-looking grounds - were all obscured by a very tall concrete wall and a heavy iron gate at the entrance. All we were able to see were the rooftops. The casita rental had seemed especially appealing at the posted rate of $600 per month. But after we had checked out Grecia and the location of this property, just off a noisy thoroughfare, we both decided that we had made the right decision in choosing Atenas. This alone was worth the trip.

We made one more stop in Grecia before catching the bus back to Alejuela. We stopped for lunch at BRO, a bar and restaurant across the street from the park. The food was good, and the banos (bathrooms) were very clean and quite welcome, considering the two-hour bus trip ahead of us.

Four hours of bus riding is a long time, and we arrived back in Atenas in the late afternoon, tired, thirsty, and a little dusty. We were very glad to get back to our very comfortable apartment. Still, we are planning other bus trips. Bus travel is a very affordable way of getting around Costa Rica. Almost any other option - taxi, private vans, tours, rental cars, airplane - is not. Our next bus ride will probably cover the same route we rode today but will extend on to Sarchi.

 

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