Up The River, Again

When last we walked up the Rio Cuale I was under the impression that both the R03 and R04 buses went up the river to at least the bar where we stopped for our first drink, the Cuale Paraiso. Then I thought they split into two separate routes somewhere up the road. We took the R04 bus back the last time so I thought we would try the R03 bus up this time. Paul and Sharon decided to join us on our adventure.

Just getting the R03 bus was an adventure. I pretty much knew where to catch it, but just to make sure I asked the guy at the bus stop. He told me no, not there, and led us to another place. As he was leading us I watched my bus go by, but we were on the wrong side of the street. Again, there must have been some bad communication because he never got us anywhere near where we could catch the bus.

We finally decided to walk up the river a bit to where I knew we would be able to catch it. This was a bit of a hike, but not too bad. And we did catch the bus. The sad part is that it only went up the river about another six blocks and that was it, end of the line. I was obviously wrong about where the R03 bus went.

Well, we took a nice little hike up to Cuale Paraiso and had a nice little lunch.

Cuale Paraiso's Front Entrance


After lunch we headed back out to the highway and caught the R04 bus. I figured that as long as we went this far I would show Paul and Sharon where we had hiked the other day and see just where the R04 bus did end its run. But, again, a small error was made. Not all R04 buses go to the end of the line. How you tell which one's do and which don't, I have no idea. At any rate, the end of the line for the bus we were on was in the middle of nowhere.

End Of The Line


My understanding now is that only one out of every four R04 buses go all the way to the end of the line. The rest stop here and then if you see a bus that looks like it isn't going to stop, you try to flag it down.

Flagging Down A Runaway Bus


It turns out that the real end of the line is just about a quarter of a mile from where we had our beers the other day. I had noticed a little restaurant next door to the store, but it was closed because it was Good Friday. I saw that it was open now though so we decided to pop in for a couple of beers and some nachos.

Paul And Bar Man At Los Girasoles


There was just a small dining area and a very small bar. However, you could walk through the open back where there was a small swimming pool and then down some steps to tables that were right on the river.

Bar Man, Beer, And Babbling Brook


This far up the river from town the river is much cleaner and deeper and the current a bit swifter. About twenty locals were on the bus with us and they hiked to the river from the end of the line. Before we finished our beers they had a major picnic going and about ten little kids were having a great time swimming in the river.

Sharon, Paul, And Bar Man Relaxing Riverside


The lady who was bringing us our beer and nachos was the same one who I bought beers from in the store the other day. She remembered us so we carried on like old friends.

Bar Man, Monte, and Mysterious Chinese Woman


It was a very friendly place and I bet they don't get too many visitors from town stopping up this way. I will make a point of going back next year though, now that I know kind of how to get the right bus. Next time I won't eat first and try their food. I think it was a pretty limited menu though, but the nachos were good.