Twas a Very Long Day

I´m not sure what´s happening with this keyboard, so I´m typing this in HTML format. We´ll see what happens. Day 2 Thursday: 28-6-12 No specific time, I´ve had to write this over several opportunities. I´m honestly not sure where to begin. I feel like starting where I am and working backwards but I really hate when people tell stories like that. Movies that are done in this way, drive me bonkers. So, I´ll back it up to the very beginning and start where I left off last night. I definitely called it quits way too early last night. Here´s what happened... We were supposed to leave Portland at 11:52 pm. We boarded on time and the cap`n continually gave us updates alluding to the fact that we were right on time. Around the time of departure there was an announcement about the lavatories, as I had mentioned. So, this apparently held us up quite a bit, because around 12:30 we begin taxi-ing the runway. YES! Only to get another announcement that the buggage was loaded incorrectly. Turns out, we are loaded illegally so we´re returning to the gate to re-pack the plane. Oh, joy of joys! TO keep the masses calm during this time we were offered a live taping of an Adele concert. BONUS! I was certainly tuned in to channel 2 for that one. Finally, at 1:30 we departed for Houston. We arrive in Houston around 7:30 or 8 in the morning. I have no clue of what time is, or means, anymore. I´m headed for Costa Rica. Watches? No. That´s all Jason. The airplane delay actually worked out better for us, I think, because we didn´t have to sit around the airport all morning with nothing to do. Now, the race was on to get some cash and grab some breakfast. We decided on Einstein´s Bagels, which turned out to be a hilariously ironic name. Our thoughts were that bagels are quick, and we can eat them on the go. As it turns out, my plain bagel with plain cream cheese, literally takes 10 minutes to get. Or, perhaps it coule be that the Einstein worker, had incorrectly written my name when she asked for it. I said, Judy, she wrote, Duby. She got fifty percent of the letter sounds in the correct places! So, who knows how long they may have been calling my name. I mean, i respond to a lot of things, but Duby! Duby! definitely isn´t one of them. Shortly, thereafter, we boarded and were off. The excitement was really building! Although, we had no idea what lay ahead... As we touch down in San Jose, we are exhausted. I mean, exhausted. We have been awake for way too many hours (again, I´m not really keeping track) but I know I´m running on sheer adrenaline. And, even that is dwindling. The United flight staff announces that the SJO airport has not sent them any paperwork for customs, or entering the country, so we´ll have to ask someone when we get on the ground and get off of the plane. I´m already stressing that because I can barely speak in English, let alone navigate anything in Spanish. Luckily, as we got off the plane there was an official handing out the paperwork we needed. Great, save for we haven´t been confronted with this before so it takes us awhile to locate the pertinent information on our passports...as the form is largely in Spanish. Then, we decide now would be a good time to stop and ask the information guy about taxis and transportation to Manuel Antonio. We then head to the security check point that allows one to enter Costa Rica. At first, we are moving through the line at a reasonable pace and then after about 20 minutes we notice we have not moved an inch. Time lapse...an hour passes us by. I feel nauseous and faint and I have no idea why, but I´m guessing its because I haven´t slept well in the past however many hours, 30 maybe? All we know at this point is, that the bus we are supposed to catch leaves from San Jose at 2:30 and it´s fast approaching 2, and we´re not moving in this line that is full of people! After some asking around and eavesdropping, we learn that the system the country uses is down. No one knows how long it will take to fix. Awesome. Well, there´s nothing we can do, so we try to distract ourselves with conversation and people watching. This does not make the time pass any faster. Luckily, the system was fixed before it hit 2 oclock. We got moving along quite nicely. We are able to get through without any problems, pick up our checked bag, and head toward the customs luggage scanner, whereupon we find ourselves in another line but we notice the people in front of us are handing the customs official some type of form. Some type of form that we don´t have. When we get to the front of the line, the official explains that we should have gotten this on our flight, but we tell him we weren´t- given anything so he points us to the table where we can acquire the form. So we head back to the table, fill out the form to the best of our knowledge, and get back in line. The couple in front of us gets to the front of the line and, again, they explain that they weren´t given the form on their flight to the very same offical. Well, what do you think that official did? If you guessed, he sent them back to the table to get the correct form and to return with it filled out, you are wrong. Dead wrong. Nope, he just waved them through. It´s okay, he says. What!? I look back at Jason, and I´m pretty sure his jaw hit the floor. Whatever, we make it through their scanners, knife and all, and make our way to the exit. At the exit stands about 50 people with signs with names on it, and people shouting, asking if you want to rent a car, or need a taxi. It is very overwhelming. Yes, we need a taxi! Right away, someone ushers us off with an older gentleman. Everything about his taxi looks legit. He has the symbol and picture ID posted inside. And, he has a meter! This is important. We manage to piece together that we are going to Tracopa station to get a bus to Manuel Antonio. He does not think this is correct, but radios into someone else who tells him that this is actually fine. I´m just thinking we aren´t even going to make it to Tracopa with the way this guy is driving. My sister, nephews, and sister in law may recall our taxi ride to the airport in LA last summer. It was worse than that. We were passing cars and squeezing in between cars with mere inches, centimeters to spare. He was racing down the road, motorcycles passing us by and of course there are no working seatbelts. That´d just be silly. Well, I think Jason´s worked. We were driving like it was the Daytona 500. We did make it to Tracopa, and thinking back on that ride, I laugh, because I thought that was dicey and it was absolutely nothing compared to what the bus ride was like. We were able to secure seats to Quepos via Tracopa station at 3 pm. This is later than we had planned but it´s okay. We can easily take a bus from Quepos to our hostel. Our bus is not a direct route, however, meaning that we can stop at any and all bus stations between here and Quepos, which is 150 or so km. This little trip takes us four hours. This little trip takes place on a 2 lane, windy, steep road. Somewhat like Green Springs, but sharper turns and much, much steeper...also a much longer duration. The buses are crazy, they are passing each other, there is oncoming traffic, and no one even bats an eye. I am boggled, boggled, about why there aren´t more auto fatalities here. At one point, we careened around a corner and all that could be seen was the steep drop off down into the jungle. My sister, brother, and nephews may remember the simulated ride of King Kong 3D at Universal. The view from the bus triggered my memory of that ride, except that it was really happening, and we could very well end up over the side of the jungle walls. It was at that point that I decided now would be a great time to try to get some sleep. So my sleeping patter of 20 or 30 minutes here and there continues. We get off the bus in Quepos and grab a taxi that takes us directly to our hostel. I´m still so conufsed about the currency exchange. But, I don´t really care, I just want to be checked in and start relaxing, because this first leg of the trip has been anything but restful. The hostel is quite cozy, shall we say. But they have a pool, and a restaurant, so once we´ve dropped off our stuff in the private room. We meet our server, Freddie, who converses with us in Spanish that finally I can understand. He was very kind and hospitable and helpful! We had a great time trying to talk with him during dinner. We also saw one lizard, a frog and a house cat that apparently roams the premises. Jason and I regaled our efforst at dinner and thought about how our trip could have been much worse. After dinner, we decided we must head to bed because we would have more logistics to figure out in the morning. Only to find, back in our room, that our liquids bags have exploded. Ay yay yay. So, we stay up to clean that up. We are deliriously tired, which is great news for sleeping in a sleep sack! It´s time to turn in, now. Who knows what tomorrow holds, but may the odds be forever in our favor... Buenas noches, Judy