I am having some trouble with the computer tonight and downloading the photos so this may be a little dis-jointed......I knew this was going to be a long day and a challenge as I had decided to go to the Arial Tram on my own and not with a tour. It is a 55 minute drive out of San Jose, so with my trusty map, sandwiches and a drink I took the bus to down town San Jose about 8.30am. Again the city centre was a weave of moving people and traffic everywhere. I had to find my way to another bus depot about 10 minutes away and after stopping to ask the way a couple of times found the station. A few things make this kind of trek difficult, first of all I don't know where I am going, there are very few street names and I have found out if I ask some where something is they will always tell you even if they have no idea where it is. Anyway found the next depot and bought my ticket, a return ticket for the town of Limon, the tram way is on the way. This bus ride was a little uncomfortable as the bus was packed and the seats very close together. The drive was very picturesque and reminded me a little bit of the drive from Port Alberni to Long Beach (This is a drive on Vancouver Island). Very winding roads and hundreds of thousands of green trees and foliage. We passed through Braulio Carrillo National Park and then I saw the sign for the tram way, got up and the bus just stopped at the side of the road. I went to the entrance and there were about 8 big tours buses in the parking lot with three or four hundred tourists swarming around. Found out they were cruise ship passengers here on tour. I went to pay my entrance fee and the problem started. The lady told me I could not go into the park yet as they had to put all these other people through, she told me it would be a wait of up to 4 hours. That didn't sit well but what could I do, so I sat and watched all these people milling around and then being taken by small bus into the park. As I had already paid my entrance fee I figured I was just as important as any of them, so I just inched my way into one of the groups got on the bus and went to the area where you had to wait for the tram, so far so good. Each tram takes 6 people and the guide, waited about 30 minutes for a tram to free up. Did I mention it was pouring rain, well we were in the middle of the rain forest. Don't I look a little cute in my poncho???? The tram ride was interesting, to be above the forest and looking down was a new perspective on the trees and ferns. The ride was about 80 minutes with lots of stops. I really don't know what to say about this, it was neat and enjoyable but it wasn't for me at least one of those, "oh my gosh" moments. After a while everything started to look the same and you go up and turn around and come back the same way. I found the whole tour here a little too touristy of course being herded with hundreds of others didn't help and to be honest I thought is was expensive for what it was 55 dollars!!!! After the tram we were supposed to be taken on a nature hike but we just went a couple of hundred yards into the forest, not interesting any more. It had now stopped raining and I had to make my way back to San Jose. I was directed to stand on the side of the highway and flag a bus down when it passed by. The big trucks give you some indication of the nature of the road and the traffic. After maybe 30 minutes a bus came by and it stopped for me and back to the big city. Arrived home about 6pm pretty proud that I had done this on my own, it certainly was a different day and an enjoyable one but I don't think I would put this visit down has one of the high lights. One good thing is that I had a choice when I move to the coast on Sunday to take a bus like I did today for 4000 colonies complete with my back packs and lap top and tight cramped conditions for the almost 4 hour drive or for 15000 colonies take a small mini bus, with lots of room and door to door service, so opted for that and that's a relief. Tomorrow I have booked another tour with the same company as the coffee tour last week, this is a small mini bus tour to another volcano and a small craft town, an early start so looking forward to that, sorry for the long post have a great evening everyone...