Getting Around the Right Way

La Academia D'Amore is located on a beautiful but very windy and hilly road. While studying here, we have stayed with host families in Quepos, the small town outside of Manuel Antonio. Quepos is very easy to get around in and you learn the layout of the town pretty quickly; it´s pretty casual and cozy. In order to get to the school, you have to learn the bus routes. Coming from Omaha, Nebraska, I had never used public buses before and was a little wary of them. What I found out though, was that it was SO easy! If you want to get somewhere, don´t worry about it. Just take the bus. It costs 240 colones (less than fifty cents) and you never have to worry about surviving the narrow and treacherous mountain/rainforest passages.

If you go out later at night, just take a taxi. Again, I had never been in a taxi before coming to Costa Rica, but I definitely got used to it in San Jose. The buses stop running at 10 pm and nothing goes on at night until after 11:30. Really. The clubs will be empty until then; the locals say they take a nap around 8 pm so they can go out later. Anyway, the taxis are pretty reasonable. To get from Quepos to a place by Manuel Antonio will cost about three dollars each way, so about six dollars for a round trip. Also, it helps to have friends to split the cost with! Four people can fit into a taxi and your wallet will thank you.

As a side note, sometimes it´s a little hard not having street names or addresses to go by. You just have to learn to go with it. For example, to get to my house, it´s the third entrace to a certain neighborhood, fifty meters east of a certain restaurant.

So, getting around is easy. Just relax, take the Manuel Antonio bus to the beach just outside the park entrance (it´s free!), and enjoy Costa Rica.

Sara Smits
sara.smits@gmail.com