Costa Rica Here We Come!

July 3rd & 4th

Well it is almost midnight and we’re getting ready to fly off to Houston. Already feeling tired we board the plane to discover that neither of us have a window seat. Callie quickly called the aisle seat, which Greg was happy to give. Cause she is his wife, ya know. The third stranger sitting on the other side of Greg was a very quiet secluded woman whom kept to herself the entire trip, her loss. We were hoping to maybe see some fireworks from the pyro-happy kids who wanted to test out their explosives on the third of July, but our eyelids got the best of us and we fell asleep.

We arrived in Houston just barely leaving enough time to get ready for our next plane trip to San Jose. The three hour lay-over went by very slowly as Callie tried to fall asleep on a couple of bench seats pushed together while a broken TV speaker annoyed the heck out of everyone. We boarded the plane soon afterward and found that we were sitting in pretty much the same location, however, our stranger this time was delightfully more talkative. His name was Erich (which I stole from him as he filled out his customs form). He enjoys surfing in Australia and long walks on the Costa Rica beach.

Eventually we landed in San Jose and very wisely Callie asked for directions to our next plane trip and we gained valuable information that our next airport was only one block away, which we figured we could walk. But nonetheless, as soon as we exited the building, 4 taxi drivers offered very insistently that we needed to take their taxi to get there. We said, “No Gracias!” and strolled right on by.

After walking that grueling block, we entered the Sansa Airport Service where our luggage was weighed. Apparently, our luggage was “too heavy” and we needed to pay an additional 5 American dollars. Of course, she had no change for a 20 dollar bill, so we paid her in Colones. That was our first suspicious additional charge of the day. Fortunately, our bodies did not accrue an additional “too heavy” fee as we both stepped on the scale for the first time at an airport. Phew!

We were the first to arrive to the waiting room where we watched the runway as small 12-seater planes waited anxiously for new passengers. As we boarded the plane, we said a quick prayer and commented to each other how neither Greg’s Dad nor Valerie would ever be able to go thru what happened next. The plane jerked forward and we clumsily waddled down the runway and with a quick upward lift we were airborne. With our new video recorder, we filmed the takeoff and other spectacular views. High above the clouds we went and off towards the ocean we flew.

After a half hour or so, we nearly skidded the ocean waves as we squealed down on a gravel landing strip in the middle of the Tambor jungle. Safe at last we looked out the window to see some familiar names written on a dry-erase board: Callie and Greg Feltz.  :(  Close enough. Greg in his eagerness to get to the resort forgot his luggage and headed out of the gate. Callie quickly called Greg back to get his bag as the sound of about 6 Costa Ricans laughed at him. Then came our second suspicious additional charge. Apparently, there is a 1 dollar airport charge per passenger. Shrug.

We hopped in the Florblanca SUV and bounced down the broken streets of Tambor dodging potholes that came from everywhere. This portion of the trip lasted at least 45 minutes, give or take a spare tire, and was nearly accomplished in complete silence because the driver knew very little English and our Spanish was a little less than par. Greg whipped out the video recorder once again in an attempt to capture the beautimous scenery that surrounded us.

Soon we arrived at the resort and were greeted with cold towels and a friendly host, Esteban, aka Stephen. Estaban knew quite a bit more English and it was very comforting. This resort is looking very promising from the free Jacuzzi and morning Yoga sessions to the complimentary tandem Bikes and Surfboards at our disposal. We are in heaven! At least a Spanish Heaven! The Villa #4 we’re staying in has exceeded all of our expectations. It even came with a lizard or two, a couple crabs, and a frog. It has a hammock built for triplets and an outdoor bathroom, which we were promised that only the monkeys would be able to see in to.

We quickly unpacked and headed down to the beach. In all of our excitement, we fell asleep for about an hour as the sun was setting across a horizon of ocean. The good nap was then followed by a splendiferous dinner in a restaurant virtually our own. Callie shared her Red Snapper with Greg and Callie pretended to like his Marsala Chicken. They were both amazing dishes and worth every Colones.

Day one is done and hopefully more to come!

LaLa

G & C