El piti.

That means the horn. 

I was so tired of hearing horns honking when no car or bus had anywhere to go. But I got to listen to it and enjoy the smell of exhaust for a nice 4 hours yesterday.

Yesterday I decided to go to San José. Mamá Tica lives in Heredia so by car San José can be 30 mins and by bus it can be 45 mins to 1 hour, depending on how many stops it makes. Yesterday I feel the bus did more stopping than going. It took TWO HOURS for the bus to get to San José because there was rediculous traffic like I had never seen before. Apparently the drivers had never seen it before either the way they were just stopped at any angle in an intersection honking away at the cars in front of them who had no place to move to.

Anywho, I had a pleasant walk from Mamá Tica's house to downtown Heredia to catch the bus. I took my old route that I used to take to school and had to stop by Intercultura.

Coming up on the school from the back side.

Then I stopped by in front for a little "selfie." Hard to think that was nearly 3 years ago when I studied abroad!

My next stop was to be Cosechas, my favorite smoothie shop. We would go there most everyday for our lunch breaks.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Cosechas has moved right next door to the school. That's convenient for all parties involved. 

I got a banana-papaya-orange smoothie made with all fresh fruit and no sugar. Just delish. And cheap too. 

So I continued along towards the center of heredia where I could pick up a bus to San José. As I had seen the previous day, there was a feria going on: a few carnival rides, a lot of food for sale, and many vendors selling mostly handmade goods. 

I was not aware that they are candied apples in Costa Rica but I like the way these were done up. (Churros in the background to the left.)

This vendor had a wall FULL of handmade leather sandals. I have accumulated 3 such pairs over the years so I did not even enter.

Some beautiful hand painted pottery.

Ah, and for anyone who likes woodworking, aren't these gorgeous?

Good thing I didn't have more money and that I couldn't bring large items back with me easily, or I probably would have bought more than I should have. 

I can't show pictures of what I did buy because they will be Christmas gifts, but I found some beautiful items.

So why even go to San José after this market right here in Heredia? Well, I was in search of one thing in particular, which I didn't find at this Heredian Market. If there was any hopes of me finding it, that would be in my favorite Artisan Market in San José. 

A little frazzled after that 2 hour bus ride, I headed down Avenida Central, because I know the market is right between Avenida Central and Avenida Segunda. I also know that it is between Calle 13 and Calle 15. I spent a good 45 minutes literally walking in circles finding Calle 12 and 14, but no 13 and 15.

I was ready to walk to the bus and just go back to Heridoa empty handed, but after that two hour bus ride I needed something to show for myself.

Then it occurred to me: I needed to be on the OTHER side (be it north or south) of the main intersection of Avenida Central and Calle Central in order to find the ODD numbered calles. After that I found the market, right where it should be: between calles 13 and 15.

It doesn't look so exciting from the outside but there are some beautiful handmade items inside, and nice vendors who bargain with you. 

After I found everything else on my Christmas shopping list, I headed straight back to the bus stop. 

I know I've probably said it before somewhere in this blog, but I love the fact that the busses are LINED up ready to be filled. Once the first in line is full, it drives away, and people start filling up the next. So much better than having to wait EVERY TWO HOURS on a dusty road for a bus that may not even come in Cóbano and Montezuma.

Ah and before I sign out, here are aome of the pretty Christmas decorations I saw in the city of San José yesterday:

Probably my favorite.

I saw many more decorations but I guess I just looked instead of taking pictures. I did see this church 3 or 4 times when I was first walking in circles and I thought it a architecture was impressive:

Then I had a 1 hour and 50 minute bus ride back to Heredia, but there were Chriatmas lights hanging over the streets. (Not easy to take pictures of from a bus) The Coca-Cola distribution center was nicely decorated and so was the Pozuelo cookie factory.

We even passed this one row of houses that all had blue lights on their homes and on their trees. I honestly didn't know people put lights up outside here, so I thought that was cool. 

And that's the end of my story because I'm leaving here at 5:30 am to catch a 6 am bus to Cóbano....why am I not wanting to go there now?!