The sights and smells and bustling and colors of everything is a brain-hog! It's just amazing...... but let me start at the beginning.. Neither of us slept very well at all, afraid that the alarm would not go off or wake us or something, but eventually we found ourselves on the back seat of the bus to Atlanta - it was only barely 4am.... .shudder. We both dozed a bit but neither will admit it - that is until we arrived in Atlanta. The fog has settled in for real and the buildings rose out of the top of the mist like dislocated ghosts with their lights bouncing around the mist and giving a very eerie touch to it all. And then we we delivered to the Delta doorway, got processed and settled in for the wait. It was a looooooooong wait. We walked that airport from soup to nuts. The art they have all over the place is fascinating and lovely and they have tons of stuff on display that people have brought in to the USA undeclared.... they did not get to take it home and it all sits in mute rebuke to anyone else trying the same thing. There was anything from a knife made from pirana teeth to a real elephants foot and even a crowbar. yup.
I was really interested to see that I had absolutely no fear of flying this time at all. No sweaty palms, no fists even..... nada. I really do think that voluntarily jumping into three different lakes in the Amazon Jungle that had pirana, boas, cayman and much more, kinda cured me of any fear of flying... Its sort of silly after swimming in those lakes. Feels better this way too. Or maybe I was just too tired to care?
And then, just as I really felt as if I was on vacation, we get handed these papers to fill out/in (which is it?) The writing is tiny and Frank very kindly put them all in a neat pile in front of me with a huge smile. Yup - I did them. That out of the way, I grabbed the bag of biltong (jerky) and we dug into that as they dont serve any meals in coach on Delta anymore. Is that a loss?
It was good to be on a direct flight and soon we were headed south right along the west coast of Florida,where I recognised a good few of the places we had been in the motor home. And then out over the open water we went, only to come across a stunning view of the Florida Keys - and they all fitted into my lens just beautifully! The color of the water was just amazing, about 7 different shades of blue, all melting into each other, getting darker as the water got deeper and each island ringed with a pure white skirt. Before I could recover from that - there popped up Cuba as clear as can be with picture perfect water colors too and we could even see the breakers thundering on shore on those long, wide open white beaches. I think we also saw the Grand Caymens, but will have to check the photos against Google Earth when we get back. Now that was just super stunning!
A few hours later we found the coast again somewhere below Belize and started heading inward to San Jose where we landed at around 11.30am their time. Someone please remind me to put socks on for the return trip - my feet froze! Costa Rica is that tiny little country squished between Nicaragua and Panama - that part of the world that joins North and South America . There is a two hour difference from Soddy Daisy, TN, so we adjusted the one watch we have and felt four hours tired-er. We got through the airport in almost no time at all, until the last gate before out where the customes lady got a bee in her bonnet about something and slowed everything down to a crawl until we all started crying foul and then we got out there, only to find that the shuttle bus from our hotel was nowhere in sight. We waited almost 45 minutes and then called a taxi. Boy those guys cruise around one like great white sharks just waiting to make a buck or two. 'Calling a taxi" is not really the right word, we stood up, stretched, looked at our one watch and the taxi door opened like magic behind us. Of course we had to tip the one guy who "called the taxi" and the other who 'took care of us while we waited' and then the taxi too. No biggie at all - those guys were all really sweet and helpful to us.
The drive to the hotel was about 20 minutes and confirmed our lack of desire to drive in this country as well. The taxi that we got had a bungee cord to close the trunk - which bounced up and down all the way like a crazy thing keeping us wondering if our luggage would be spread across the road somewhere, a door that did not close properly, half the dash removed and a bumper that was gone. It rattled and shook, but Taxi Man was very proud of it and said that it was much better than the shuttle bus - and it was in so many ways.......it got us there and the driver was so helpful in telling us all sorts of things about the town and the places we were driving past. He tells us that 12 000 trees have been planted in the city in the past three years - the schoolkids get to go into the hills and jungle, dig out trees and plant them in town. It looks lovely! And then there is the site of the old airport..... its a eucalyptus tree park now, filled the the most beautiful straight and tall trees, manicured lawns, tasteful statues and things splattered around that seemed to attract people attention judging by the small crowds around them.
And so we headed closer to the hotel. First let me say that sometime during our trip we are wanting to stay at a very expensive hotel that has no walls, right inside the jungle and so I, yes me, booked this cheapo hotel to try to compensate in a little way for the later one. I know, I know, silly... Anyway, as I was saying......we drove down smaller and smaller, dingier and dingier little roads... In some places there was a long open market all the way down the roads that made me want to get out and walk and see what fruit and veggies and other stuff they had - and it made Frank wish for 'some protection'.. It was not the right time to stop, so on we went and it got worse - horrible actually. There are huge, huge piles of trash in the road - the cars literally have to veer around them.... the stink of rotting fruit and vegetables was beyond nice and we both went very silent. This gave Taxi Driver Man the time to tell us that the "City is Red" and not to walk around at night. Did I understand? nope. So he repeated himself two more times. Eventually I nodded frantically just so he would stop talking with his hands and put them back on the wheel! And I solumnly swore not to walk around at night and if we went out, to call for a taxi before leaving the hotel -cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die, and all. And then it clicked with a huge thud..... The City is Red means that prostitution is legal and rife and........ well, dont walk around at night. Poor Taxi Man was almost sweating blood until he saw that penny drop!
If I look out of the hotel window, there are tin shacks everywhere, many brightly painted in a stunning array of colors, a huge closed down market and a bar/pub that is very much open and very much visited and well...... the City is Definitely Red. There are some nice places around too, but well, umm, its dark right now so I cant describe them yet. Dont get me wrong - we are not scared, or worried or anything at all. Careful, vigilant - yes.... its so good to have everything so un processed!
Supper here was delicious..... steak and fries for two came to $17 and we ate every bit of it, along with a Screwdriver that went down very well indeed. We changed some money here which made us feel very rich.... $1 = 505 colons. So now I have 505 x 200 = 101 000 colons worth of pink and blue funny looking money in my purse. Sigh. A beer costs $3 or ...well, you do the math - we had two beers too and its late and you should all be more rested than I am. It would be way less shocking if they would give the price in dollars and not someting like 3000 colons please!! Talk about a double take.
And we booked two places we wanted to see...... tomorrow we get woken up at 6am.. this is going to kill me!.. and we will be taken to the Pacific Coast, Puntarenas, stopping along the way for breakfast and a bit of sightseeing too.... Then we hop aboard a catamaran and head out to Tortuga Island for the day -its about a two and a half hour ride out there... The pictures truly scream 'screensaver island' - loudly! There we will swim, lay on the beach, eat, drink as much or as little as we want to and soak up the sun. We will be delivered back to the hotel at around 9pm. It sounds just wonderful. And then on Thursday morning we have to leave here at 5.45am for a 5 hour drive, followed by a two hour boat ride to the Tortuguero national Park on the Caribbean coast side of Costa Rica. There we will head into the jungle and stay for the next 4 days.....Maybe we can ignore anything before 8am there for a day or two. Also not sure of any email contact from there....
Its so good to be out and about again...we could literally hear the hassles, any thoughts of fixing computers, and all the other little things, worries and sadnesses all either falling away or getting better.... it was around the start of the second beer that that happened.
We cant wait to see what is beyond this hotel - day walking is fine apparently - but first, I am going follow Frank's example and close down, snuggle up and go to sleep. Tomorrow is already awsome.
Ok -lights out for me - I have also just heard the cops arriving at the pub - action!
love light and laughter
especially U3
Annie and Frank
1 comment:
Dont you remember me telling you to take socks on the plane???
Sheesh woman.
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