Taxi Scamski

Day 15 11-7-12 Wednesday We were up way too late last night. Boy, oh, boy did that alarm come fast today. We got up at 6, and got our stuff together so that we could take the 7:30 am bus to San Jose. Despite Tom´s passes to try to get me to extend my vacation, I knew it was time for me to go. Besides, I have very little interest in going to Panama at this time, which is where he was headed next. We got our tickets and boarded the bus with relatively zero problemas. Once we were on the bus, I was able to stay awake for maybe 30 minutes, then I was fast asleep. I slept til San Jose. San Jose, is such a mess. Once we get off the bus, there are literally taxi drivers in your face trying to get you to go with them. So, we end up with this one guy, who is grabbing our bags for us, and leading us through the crowds, over to his car. I had asked if he had a meter, and he said yes. When I got in the car, I saw no meter, only to find him later pull the meter out from under the passenger seat and plug it in. Hmmmm....We then tell him we need to get to Alajuela Backpacker´s Hostel. And, we´re off. The drive here doesn´t seem to take that long. Jason thought he was keeping a pretty good eye on the meter, but when the car stopped and the driver jumped out, grabbing our luggage, and shouting at us it would be 60,000 colones, which is like thirty dollars. Jason is sure the last time he looked at the meter it read less than that. So, he basically told the taxi driver that was garbage and that he´d pay him X amount and that was it. The taxi driver started to explain something about coming from the airport, and it´s this much from the airport, and that much from this other place, and Jason´s like we didn´t even come from the airport so you can´t charge us for that. It was all very confusing, but we´re sure it was some sort of scam. Of course there is no way of knowing because once the driver opened his door the meter went off and there was no way of seeing what the actual amount was. So ridiculous. That reminds me, I owe Jason $15. We plan to sort of just veg out the rest of the evening. I´m certainly not leaving this hostel after dark. No way. No how. Tomorrow, we will be up early again, and on our flight back to the states. I´m already getting a bit emotional thinking of my goodbyes to this country, but I´m excited to see my family this weekend and share with them all the wonderful stories, pictures and videos from my trip. It seems so odd that two weeks can really go by so fast! Until mañana, Judy