Bonito

What a day! I am completely worn out, my body is just exhausted from all the walking we did and I have a headache. We were up early and walked to Chito & Rosa's to catch a bus to Bonito Oriental (aka Carbonales) -- but despite how early we thought we were, we didn't get there until about 9:45. Went to the bank first, then dropped some mail off, then did some shopping. First, vegetables. Then Prairie remembered she needed to buy pens, so we did that. And I remembered we needed a new ax handle, so we did that. Then cheese and fruit. Finally we made it to the internet around 11 or so. Prairie wanted us to catch the noon bus out of town because we had to stop in Limón before going back to the monastery. And with a slow computer, I didn't get nearly as much done on the internet as I'd hoped. Oh well. When the bus came (more like 12:30), Prairie flagged it down while I paid at the internet café and then walked straight out the door and onto the bus! We got lucky that it was one of the few buses that actually goes all the way into Limón rather than stopping at the end of the 4km turnoff. It was the dustiest bus ride ever! And so long... I had to cover my mouth and nose with a damp hanky just so I could breathe.

We were only in Limón for about a half an hour, and then we headed out, this time walking the whole way to Chito & Rosa's -- no jalóns today. We rested there for a while and ate our oranges, then continued on our way to our desvío. By now it was somewhere around 4pm, which meant we wouldn't get home until around 5. A pickup truck passed us and waved a greeting, but didn't stop, and Prairie lamented because it was someone she knew, and he was going in our direction, probably down our desvío. Well, when we got to the desvío, he was returning from it and stopped to apologize for not giving us a ride, but that he had been hauling trash and wasn't going to make us sit among the trash bags! We kept walking. But a few minutes later, we heard a car again, and it was him! Coming back to pick us up! He must have found it in his heart after all. I was SO grateful!!! He took us almost all the way to where the quebrada crosses the road, about 3/4 of the way to the monastery. I was so hot and tired, I think I would have expired on the way back if we hadn't gotten that jalón...