Costa Rican Tico Train Tour

By John Vickery

About a month ago I was walking down the train tracks over in Sabana Sur when I thought I heard a train whistle (horn?). Must have been the previous evenings cerveza confusing my hearing as I'd only seen one train in 6 months. I checked behind me and here was a 6 car train bearing down on me at the incredible speed of maybe 35 kph. I stepped off the tracks with plenty of time spare and watched it pass. There were people (old & young) hanging out the windows waving and smiling. Hmmmmm... I thought it would be fun to ride a train sometime. Where would this train be going, and how could I get a ride? I thought I'd done my homework after moving here. Obviously I'd missed something. Finding new experiences in a new land is exciting.

The next weeks Tico Times had a small article about the train I saw. I visited their web page http://www.ticotraintour.com/ and liked what I saw and fired off an Email. I received an almost instant reply in English and they sent 5 or 6 pictures of the train ride which are not on the website. Two small problems with the web page. Page says the train goes to the East coast but it goes to Caldera (west coast) and two of the Email addresses (both RACSA) do not work . The working address is: americatravel@ice.co.cr Anyway, we along with 4 friends took that train ride yesterday (8th of May) and had a good time. This was a spur of the moment decision. I received a phone call around noon on Saturday (7th of May) from a Tico friend asking if we'd be interested in taking the train the next day if he could get tickets? “Of course”, I said. Less than an hour later I received another call saying everything was set and a taxi would be picking us up at 7:15 am at our front door. It was on time and we were off! I had no idea where the train station was in Alajuela but the taxi driver did and when we were dropped off, another group was waiting on the platform at the (seemingly) deserted train station. It's difficult to describe but everyone on that platform appeared quite exited for the upcoming train ride. I know I was and my expectations were rewarded nicely.

The company has an office in Alajuela in addition to the one at the Pacific train station in San Jose and they claim tickets must be purchased in advance. One of our party joined us at the last minute and purchased her ticket on the train. Since we all reside in Alajuela we really did not wish to go into San Jose to catch that train at 7:00, we asked for another pick up location. The train stopped and picked us (and 6 others) up at the station in Ciruelas (spelling) here in Alajuela at 7:45.

It is a very pleasant ride through countryside and towns that is not seen from the highways. Most times you can hang out the widows taking pictures or just observing the passing countryside. Beware that this is not a routine train and there are places the trees and scrub is not trimmed back I had a few tree branches hit my head (no bigee) and there were a few gorges (through the rock walls) where the clearance between the train and the wall is measured in inches. Just watch where you are going when you dangle out the window. Huge bridge just before Atenas that anyone afraid of heights should not look out the widow as you cross. Fantastic sight! If you are not afraid of heights, get your camera out and take pictures. Quick one minute stop just before Atenas for people to observe and take pictures of an old turn of the centuryelectric locomotive. You'll never feel any uphill grade during this ride, but think about it. How do you get out of the central valley without going over the mountains? Carefully keep sticking your head out the window and watch where you're going.

Quick aside here: I would advise not choosing a passenger car directly behind the locomotive as the engineer is constantly blasting the horn and it is very loud.

Attention: If you pick the absolute last car from San Jose, (kinda quiet) You'll then be in the absolute first car (right behind the locomotive) on the return trip. That's a hint for you. Think about it. I'm betting only about 50% of those horn blasts are required for intersections and the other 50% is to alert everyone that we are coming through so they can come out and wave to us. All ages come out but the smiles on the kids are contagious. You can't help but wave and smile back! It's unbelievable as to the number of folks who come out to wave & smile.

No alcohol is allowed on the train and smoking is only permitted on the little walkway between the cars. (be careful)

This is one example of the personal responsibility that I love CR for. If you wish to stand on that platform and smoke. It is your responsibility to hold onto the hand rail. If not, you could fall off the train very easily and you might not be missed for miles or hours. There is NO big brother govt watching you here. Adjust!

After passing through Atenas (no stop) you get some nice views of three of the bridges that someday may be part of that long talked about new road. One bridge appears be having quite a bit of excavation work being done at one end. I have seen very nice views up in the Atenas area from the highway (?) but those views pale compared to the scenes from the train.

Next stop (maybe 5 minutes) is in the middle of some street in downtown Orotina.

The train ride continues and everyone is watching out the windows when it appears that the train somehow has left the tracks and is driving down the road. Pavement on both sides of the train and pulperias and shops on both sides. WOW!

Nothing happening at this stop until the return trip when the train is swamped by people selling many different food stuffs. After this stop we continue on with more horn blasts and more people coming out to wave at us. (smile!)

Lovers take note: Just before arriving in Caldera you will spend about a minute in absolute darkness (you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face) traveling through a tunnel. It's fun! Arriving in Caldera around 11:00 you have two options. You can hang around Caldera without much (that I saw) to do (quick aside for anyone who likes to fish. There is a bridge here that quite a few people fish off. Don't know what you might catch and have no idea of bait/lures, but that bridge appears to be quite popular). or you can buy a round trip ticket on one of the buses already there at the train stop for 1,000 colones for the round trip ride into Puntarenas. . I was not thrilled with Puntarenas. I have since learned that if I had read up on Puntarenas I would have many activities to occupy me while the women went shopping.

Us males found other things to do for the 4 1/2 hours (bars etc) Perhaps I'm a little spoiled from Manuel Antonio, but I wasn't impressed by the beach in Puntarenas. Swimable but I'd not go out of my way to swim there.

Got back on the bus at 3:45 and back to the train. I wonder how they turned that train around. The passenger cars were in the same position as when we arrived but the locomotive and caboose had switched ends. My simple mind wonders about these little things. Ride back was fun too except for about an hour in the rain. Had to shut the windows and it got hot and stuffy during this period.

Odds & Ends:

Round trip fare is $12.50 for residents and $30 for tourists. Obviously this is a touristoperation but I'm guessing 90% of the riders were Ticos. Each car has a host with a smallmegaphone to inform of points of interest etc. Free coffee, juice and snacks are providedon the morning ride and other soft drinks/water and food may be purchased. The ride eachway is approx 4 hours. For females: I would not even consider sitting on the toilet seat.

Once we entered darkness there were only two (very weak) lights in our car. Enough to see around you but don't even consider trying to read anything! OK! Just about the time all you exhausted travelers decided to take a quick nap, you wonder what that loud annoying noise from the next car back is. It keeps getting louder & louder and seems to be coming closer. What is it?! Now it is in your car and you can't get away from it! Can you say mini-carnival? A bunch of fools (I say that lovingly) in costumes and masks comes up the aisle in your car singing and playing music and attempting to get you out in the aisle dancing. There is no arguing with them.... either you loudly applaud them or you dance with them. Does anyone have a camera? I do! It is a fun wake up call!

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