Costa Rica Train Ride

San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, is about two to four hours away from Puntarenas Beach and it is longer taking the local steam engine train to it. However, taking the train would let us see the countryside and see a lot of the people outside of San Jose and the surrounding towns. 

Our family would get to the station about 7:00 am and get our tickets and seats so we would get a place where all four of us could sit together. The train would then depart at 7:30 am and the trip would begin. As we left the city itself and moved through the suburbs of San Jose I could smell the train. Trains have their own smell and if you had grown up among them as I did you would love the smell of oil and coal. On some of the houses we could see people moving around in or about their houses, going about their usual business on a Saturday morning. 

As we left the suburbs the geography changed to farmlands. We could see cows and horses in their fields. The greenery of the fields was deep and plush. The train was picking up speed. We could still see steam coming up from the ground as the warmth of the sun warmed up the fields. 

The train started to slow down as we approached our first station or stop. As we got to the station we noticed a lot of vendors of food and drinks and other stuff. The other stuff were hats, purses, and jewelry. We bought some hot empanadas cooked in banana leaves and some cokes. We did this by lowering our window and calling out the product that we wanted. This was done by several people that sat by us. The food was good and refreshing and as the train left the station we waved back at the vendors who waved at us.