Pura Vida

Buenas tardes from sunny San Jose, Costa Rica!!!  It has been quite the journey to get here, but I am here, safe and sound...though very hungry, and very thirsty!!  A little white poodle is here, keeping me company as I type...she followed me from downstairs, and is now sitting in my room, staring at me...strange...I don't like poodles...they're funny looking.  

Anyway...

So I left home this morning when it was still dark and cold...Pop's took me to the airport...thank God Mama made eggs and leftovers, cause it lasted me a good while.

The flight from Atlanta to Charlotte was rather uneventful, though I was stuck next to this guy with bad BO (though he tried to mask it with some even more aweful cheap cologne).  It was a completely full flight, and they made me check my carry-on backpack...which had my neck pillow and big camera in it...I was way worried for a while, but everything made it in one piece!!

Since we got off late from Atlanta, my layover was non-existant...I had 20 minutes to run across the airport, document check, and board...though my rush was somewhat unnecissary, because we left 2 hours later that we were supposed to...apparently the back door wouldn't stay closed...Mr.J (who I'll get to later) made a joke that "Doors are Us" was coming to fix it...And they took 2 hours...it was funnier when he said it.  I thought about taking the free ticket and a later flight, cause it was offered to me, arriving here at 11 tonight, but I opted out, because I wanted to arrive in the daylight....though it is 6:30 now, and still bright outside!!!  The sun will be setting soon.  

Back to the flight: At first, I was supposed to be in row 4, but there was a really really really old lady (my 2 years of middle school spanish tell me that she was 96), and her grandson wanted to sit with her, because she was nervous about flying.  I was glad to make the switch, and it meant that I got to sit by the window (over the wing, but a window, nonetheless), and I met a neat couple, the Johnsons, who were visiting relatives.  Mr. J was a photographer, and Mrs. J, a schoolteacher, who had come down many years ago to teach english in Costa Rica.  They were really fun!  

One thing we all kept joking about (though it really was no laughing matter) was the fact that we had paid all this money for the flight, but there was no movie/in-flight entertainment (the stewardess said that it wasn't worth the money to them, cause people brought their own earphones), and we had to pay for EVERYTHING!!!  A bottle of H2O was 2 bucks, a can of coke, 2 bucks...if you wanted coffee or tea, 1 dollar, with free refills, but on tea, you had to save your tea bag, cause they wouldn't give you another unless you paid another dollar.  Then, they had a choice of a Reuben Sandwich (7 dollars), Cobb Salad (7 dollars) or a "snack box," which consisted of assorted crackers, some canned chicken, and some pudding (5 dollars)...I went with the Reuben...which came with about 5 chips in a baggie and a cookie that i saved for hard times, since I didn't know when my next meal would be.  I also paid 15 to check my first bag (and talked my way out of paying for the second...not my fault they overbook things).

So I figured when I got to the airport I could buy a bottle of water after customs, but alas, there was no store for such...only whiskey...which i didn't think would solve any of my problems.  

My flight from San Jose to Quepos for today was cancelled, so I had to find a place to stay, and will be flying out tomorrow morning, getting into Quepos at 9:30ish.  So tonight, I am staying in San Jose.  I went to the taxi stand and bought a prepay ticket...which is a couple of bucks more expensive, but the taxi's are reliable...and not sketch.  Costa Rica is just as beautiful as I remember.  The hotel that pops found for me is faboo...very nice!!  Casa Roland.  I have my own room and bathroom.  There are some cute little kids playing in the courtyard below.  I can understand about half of what they say.  Driving here, we passed a park, where there were people flying kites and horseback riding.  

The hotel owner (Roland??) is very nice!  He told me I reminded him of his daughter. 

Whew... Crisis avoided... I found water.  The lady at the front desk gave me a bottle for free, and I bought one from her as well...I'm not sure of San Jose city water, so I'll stick to bottled til i get to Manuel Antonio.  She also pointed me in the direction of food.  I got some Costa Rican take-out: Sopa Azteca (which is amazing tortilla soup), and a mushroom quesadilla...very tasty.  I topped it off with a Coca Cola, and I'm about to go hit the hay.  I had a good time talking to the two ladies up at the front desk.  They are both my age...and they both have kids!!  One of them is 25 and has a 2 year old and a 4 month old.  The other is 31 and has a 13, 11, 9, and 7 year old!!  They gave me the hook up.  One of them made me a bowl of fruit while I was chatting with them: mango, papaya, and pinapple!

It's only 8:30 here, but it's 9:30 my time, and I've been up and moving since 5:30 am!!  I'm beat!

I am most nervous about my flight tomorrow.  Getting out of San Jose, you have to go straight up and over the mountains (which are large, in charge, and very windy...turbulence prone)...and our plane is very small.  I will take pictures!!

Peace Out from SJO!!