Costa Rica

I didn't keep a journal of the Portugal trip so the first one to be written up was Costa Rica.

 Day One,

Best laid plans and all that. It was all going well, got to the airport in time. Check in smooth, even got the last seat with leg room on the plane. Queued half way around the airport to get through security but it was pretty painless and quite fast. Caught up on the people watching. VIP lounges are great, free coffee cake etc, quiet seating areas with no kids or football shirts but also no people watching. Still can't have it all I suppose.

Got on the plane to find I had only one other passenger in a row of six, so much for the last seat.  Eight hours later I arrive in Newark. This is when it started to all go wrong. The flight arrives late.

Anywhere else in the world they check your baggage through to your destination and you don't even need to enter the transit country. But this is the USA. Fill in immigration forms, one green and one blue, may need a white one but the stewardess wasn't sure so fill it in anyway. Get through customs after giving the required finger prints and mug shot. And that's just to pass through. Collect luggage  after waiting a lifetime for it to arrive on the belt. But there's no rush because I've missed my connection anyway.

So to cut a long story short, instead of me being in a nice quaint little Costa Rican hotel in San Jose,  here I am at 03:45 USA time lying in a smoke impregnated bed in a smoke impregnated room in a Sheraton hotel in downtown Newark. That's  08:45 GMT time. I think I will die of cancer from just inhaling the air in this room.

I am booked on the 08:00 flight in the morning, 2 hour check in, that's 06:00, transit to the airport runs every half hour so that's 05:30, I will skip breakfast even though it's paid for by Continental airlines, so it must nearly be time to get up and start the next leg of this journey. I should arrive in San Jose at 12:29. I spoke to Terry (Mateo my trusty team leader) last night and he is meeting me at the airport. He also kindly canceled my hotel in SJ.


Day Two

Having spent the night in a hotel in Newark instead of San Jose, I was up early to catch the shuttle bus to the airport.  Arrived, checked in through security (paranoia abounds) I headed for the gate, only to be told that I was going to be transferred to a flight that leaves late afternoon and arrives in San Jose at 21:30 hours. After a short, but to the point discussion, they kindly let me remain on the 08:00 flight. After some confusion and a wait on the tarmac for 45 minutes so that a crew member could go and buy some hand wash soap for the toilets, we took off just over an hour late. And Continental Airlines is the best in America so I'm told. This does not say much for the rest. Following a cramped flight with a child screaming for 4 out of the 5 hour journey, I arrived in San Jose to be greeted by  Terry "Mateo" Mattson, a welcome sight.

Alex's (Terry's wife who happens to be Costa Rican)  brother was to be our chauffeur for the rest of day. We headed off to San Ramone stopping at a little café on the way for a bite to eat.  I couldn't understand a thing on the menu. Not your normal Spanish fair, everything was made from corn. After what appeared to be a corn pancake with sour cream and cheese washed down with a juice made from who knows what but very tasty, we continued our journey.

First impressions are that the country is very green and lush, but then it is the rainy season. Even as we left the airport the ramshackle buildings made of blocks, pallets and tin roofs start to appear along the side of the roads. As ramshackle as they were they had iron bars surrounding them. I am told that theft, even of the smallest and most worthless item is rife here.

There are Gauchos (I think that's how you spell it) men on horseback riding along the edges of the sugar cane fields about 20 feet from the Pacific Coast Highway. And we think the M25 is bad, this is just one long queue of trucks the size of apartment buildings, cars (mostly  four wheel drives) and anything else that has wheels.

The rain started when we where about half way through, stopped by the time we arrived.  After checking into the hotel, well that's what they call it but it's a room with a shower, pure luxury and a great host.  Pleased I brought the sleeping bag, the sheets and cover look a little past their sell by date.

At about 20:30 the bus arrived to take us back to the airport to collect the rest of the team. Terry and Alex headed into the airport and the driver and I headed for a space to park up and get some sleep. I grabbed the  back seat but even then the bus wasn't wide enough but I must have slept for an hour at least.

At about 22:30 we headed back to pick everyone up and on to the hotel. I hit the bed (in my sleeping bag) and I don't remember anything else until morning.

To be continued.................