Oh my god, I would never drive amongst the buses in Costa Rica. I was in buses for several hours while they raced around each other on curvy, mountain roads. We even saw one on the side of the road that had the front torn off of it. We heard from our driver that it had collided with another bus.
I felt safer in a bus than if I had been in a little car getting passed by said bus!
I was there two years ago for almost two weeks. We went to Chirripo but didn't climb it b/c my other half got really sick there. Take a main bus to the town of BLANK (if you look in any Costa Rica guidebook and look up Chirripo, you'll figure out what town I mean) and then take a smaller bus (think school bus) to Chirripo. The second leg of that ride is very interesting and a bit nerve-wracking at times, but magnificently beautiful!
While Joanna was sick in bed, vomiting from the sickness I spent a few hours hiking up the trail just to get some views back down in the valley... I can only imagine how incredible it would have been at the summit.
You'll find our pics
here.
We spent a day watching the local soccer clubs compete on the town's pitch. I highly recommend spending some time just walking around town and talking to folks. They are about as friendly as any people I've ever met! The people we stayed with were going to let us leave some belongings there, although since we never got to hike up, we didn't need those services.
We found the Lonely Planet guide to be more than adequate. Watch your belongings very closely! We were very careful and still managed to get about $1200 worth of stuff stolen on a bus from under our feet (literally). If you don't have insurance, I would get it before you go. We had renter's insurance at the time which covered everything, even the cash that got stolen!
have a blast and if you want more specific info, PM me and I'll look up some of the names of places.
spencer
