LIVIN' ON THE RIDGE and WALKIN' TO THE BUS

This is a really beautiful, if rustic and rural place to be living.  Mornings are either very foggy, rainy or fantastically sunny as this 6 am photo shows.  It's looking west across the top of the coffee fields at the road I walk down every morning to catch the bus to San Jose.

Contrary to what my hostess said, I cannot actually catch the bus at the end of her mile long driveway, but instead walk down the hill-which is actually down and up and down and up several hills to get to the bus stop for the trip into the town of Grecia, where I catch another bus into San Jose.

She also mentioned it's about a 45 minute drive into San Jose.  By car maybe, but by bus it's at least 90 minutes on a good day and since most of my appointments at the dentist are for 9AM and it's a First In / / First Out philosophy there that means I have to get up about 5:30, just at sunrise, to get ready, fix breakfast, feed and play with the dog and make the walk to the bus.  But I'm not complaining at all.  I've had a few rainy days of walking but I'm an Oregonian and the rain here is, at least, warm.  Usually it's foggy and misty or sunny for these early walks and boy are my leg muscles getting built up!

The mile to the road is a winding one with coffee fields on one side and sugar cane on the other

At the end of the driveway is the auto repair shop and pack of dogs that greet me every morning and evening

It's also the Costa Rican address for the house..1.5Km oeste Taller Alan 5Km norte Santa Rosa de Poas. Costa Rican buildings don't have actual street addresses as mail isn't delivered to houses here.  Everyone has a Post Office box someplace where they go to pick up their mail.  You find businesses and residences by directions from the nearest main building or landmark.  However since these buildings and landmarks might have changed names and/or come down, it can be confusing to say the least.  The main bus depot in the capitol city of San Jose is called Le Coca Cola Terminal, as in another life it was the Coca Cola Bottling Company-it then became a bus depot and then was demolished and turned into a parking lot, but it's still called Coca Cola in tour books and bus schedules.  It's good that taxi drivers know almost everything about the areas they work in, though the first time I took a cab to the house on the ridge, the taxi driver was sure I was wrong with my directions.