Getting to Costa Rica
It's been two weeks since I left for Costa Rica, although so much has happened in that amount of time that it feels like months have passed. For starters, getting to Costa Rica was a story in itself. I had figured out that it would be cheaper to fly to Costa Rica from Houston than from DC, and I wanted to fly back into Houston on the way home to spend a couple of days there with Lu. I also had a gift certificate for Southwest Airlines that would basically cover the costs of getting me to Houston. The only problem, my Southwest flight flew into Hobby Airport, and my international flight to Costa Rica flew out of Bush International. After researching online, I found out that the only way to get from one airport to the other without taking a taxi would be to take the city bus downtown, transfer to another bus, and then take that bus up to Bush. The whole process was going to take about two and a half hours, so I left myself 6 hours between my two flights.
That was all planned before Lu's sister offered to give me a ride. Now, I had 6 hours to kill in Houston for no particular reason. So, Luisa and I went out for lunch at a Vegan restaurant, and then she took me to her office, which was a mere 5 miles from the airport, and I killed time by sitting in an empty conference room, gmail chatting with Lu on one of the computers. I've only flown internationally once, and it was 7 years ago so I don't remember much about that experience. I vaguely thought you were supposed to be at the airport early for some reason, but Luisa, who travels to Mexico all the time, reassured me that really, it would be okay if we just left at 4:30, an hour and a half before the flight left. Then, in addition, she dropped me off at the wrong terminal, and by the time I got through the huge line to check in, the gates had already froze my flight; there was no way for me to get on it.
I was pretty torn up. I'd been waiting anxiously for 3 weeks to see Lu, and as it turns out, the next flight wouldn't leave for another agonizing 24 hours. Lu wasn't real happy either. I ended up crashing at Luisa's place for the night. I played Wii (for the 1st time) with Luisa's boyfriend Brad, and went out for Cuban/Mexican food with Luisa in the morning. This time, I got to the airport 5 hour early, and was checked in and through security with a good 4 and a half hours to kill.
As it turn out, three of Lu's mom's friends were traveling on this flight: Maru, Lily, Sarah, and Sarah's daughter. Maru is an older woman originally from Costa Rica who is moving back there for retirement. She had convinced the other women to help her move by taking some of her luggage on the plane with them, 7 gigantic suitcases in all, including a leapord print handbag that she was carrying around at the gate. Lily, who is from Guatemala, quickly became my favorite. She is full of spice and energy, and she married an American for which she loves the fact that Lu and I are dating. She also works for Continental Airlines, and so the four of them were flying standby. Finally, Sarah was the only gringa of the bunch, and was also full of punch and adventurous stories of traveling around the Middle East.
Now, I was just happy to be on the plane, and on my way to Costa Rica (finally.) The only other hurdles between Lu and I were customs/immigration, and the taxi ride to our apartment (which was going to be a bit interesting in Spanish, especially since no one uses street names here.) I could definately not have predicted what was going to happen. Namely, when our flight got to San Jose, there was too much fog on the runway for us to make a landing, so the pilot decided to circle the airport for an hour while we waited for the fog to clear. After about an hour, our flight had to be diverted to the tiny little pueblo of Liberia, Costa Rica, so we could refuel and rethink our plans. In Liberia, the pilot recieved good news; the fog had cleared and we could return to San Jose to land the plane. So after an hour of waiting for the plane to be refueled and various paper work signed, we turned around and headed back down to San Jose...
Except, as it turns out, the fog had *not* cleared in San Jose. The pilot made an attempt to land the plane, but couldn't see the runway and gave up. On the 2nd attempt, air traffic control signaled him to say that conditions were so bad that the federal regulations would not allow us to land the plane. We were diverted to Panama City. The flight attendants opened up the bar in an attempt to calm the angry masses. Through all of this, I had been talking to Maru and Lily. Lily decided to have a beer because, "when was the last time I had a beer at 3 in the morning?" The pilot decided to let us loose in the airport (which was basically closed at this hour of the night) so Lily chugged her beer, and we all set out for the Panama City airport. There is a law that says that pilots cannot work for more than 12 hours at a time. So the flight attendants and the pilots left to go rest while a representative of Copa (the Latin American affiliate of Continental Airlines) tried to keep everyone happy. The airline was debating whether they should fly a completely new airplane down to Costa Rica with a new crew so we could leave in a few hours, or whether to wait for the current crew and pilot to finish resting up. Meanwhile, there was a sort of mass hysteria in the airport. One drunk and angry gringo yelled at the Copa Representative. "I have a house about an hour from here; why can't I just leave." To which she kindly explained that immigration had all gone home for the night so if he wanted to leave the airport that was fine, but he would probably be arrested. Lily and I ended up having to come to the woman's defense, after which the man said some nasty things about us (ha!) and then we meandered on down through the airport to the only restaurant that was open. I ordered toast (the only thing I could eat), and Lily had herself a shot of espresso. I tried finagling with a payphone to try and call Lu (although we don't really have a phone in our apartment), but the call was going to cost $25 for the first five minutes. All throughout this whole episode, I had no way of contacting Lu. Finally, around 4 or 5 am, a new Copa representative showed up announcing that the airline had decided to put us all up in a hotel for the night, and then we would meet back at the airport the next day for a flight that would leave around noon.
The hotel turned out to be pretty luxurious. The airlines told Lily and Maru and company that they would have to pay for their rooms if they wanted to stay there because they were flying standby. So I told them, let's see if I can just get a big room that you all can stay in. So I told the receptionist that I need a big room because 4 woman were going to be sleeping there with me. She looked at me strange and told me there were no such rooms; that 3 was the maximum capacity, and I said, "ok, but I at least need a room with 2 beds, the biggest you've got." So she gave me a spacious room with three beds, and I snuck all 4 women into the bedroom with me. Lily decided she couldn't sleep, and wanted to see the city. I kinda echoed this sentiment so her, and Sarah, and I, all went out to explore the town (having never gone through immigration.) The sun was coming up now, and it was clear that Panama City is a place that never sleeps. Even as we had approached the hotel in our bus, you could see street vendors selling people tacos in the dead of the night. This place was like a scene right out of a Graham Greene novel. The Cotton Club was right across the street from our hotel, only a block away from some gleaming, Catholic church, and right next to a Casino. We tried to bargain with a cab driver to take us to the canal, but the drive was going to be too long. So then we wandered into a Farmacia to buy some postcards, and even went into the Casino to spend a couple of dollars. Here's what I love about Lily. Her husband and her apparently have another friend named Forest, and so she told me she was going to tell her husband that she spent the night in a hotel room with Forest. "After 27 years of marriage," she said, "you have to shake things up every now and then."
By morning, the airlines had caught sight of the fact that these women were staying in my room, and demanded that they pay for their portion. So I played dumb, saying that the airlines had never told us they'd have to pay and it was my room so why couldn't they just stay there for free, bla bla bla. It was kinda fun arguing with the receptionist like a kid, and to their credit, they called the airlines and tried to broker us a deal. I think Maru ended up paying something like $16 for their portion, to be split 4 ways. There was also a complimentary breakfast, and on the bus back to the airport, I ended up talking to this older black woman who was a professor of psychology at UTK.
Well anyhow, the flight went okay this time. I was originally supposed to have gotten to San Jose at 9 o'clock on Thursday night, but I didn't actually make it there till 2pm on Saturday. Lu had come to the airport, thank God, and we took a taxi home together. It was sooooo good to see her finally. In the hotel, we had all signed each other's postcards to remember our little adventure. "We start this trip traveling even more," Maru had wrote. Indeed, that was only my first two days in Latin America, and already I had seen the Panama Canal, been to Liberia, Costa Rica, and made 4 new friends. There's even more adventures (plus pictures) to tell about, but I'll save those for another post. In the meantime, hope you all are doing well back in the States or wherever you are. :-)
That was all planned before Lu's sister offered to give me a ride. Now, I had 6 hours to kill in Houston for no particular reason. So, Luisa and I went out for lunch at a Vegan restaurant, and then she took me to her office, which was a mere 5 miles from the airport, and I killed time by sitting in an empty conference room, gmail chatting with Lu on one of the computers. I've only flown internationally once, and it was 7 years ago so I don't remember much about that experience. I vaguely thought you were supposed to be at the airport early for some reason, but Luisa, who travels to Mexico all the time, reassured me that really, it would be okay if we just left at 4:30, an hour and a half before the flight left. Then, in addition, she dropped me off at the wrong terminal, and by the time I got through the huge line to check in, the gates had already froze my flight; there was no way for me to get on it.
I was pretty torn up. I'd been waiting anxiously for 3 weeks to see Lu, and as it turns out, the next flight wouldn't leave for another agonizing 24 hours. Lu wasn't real happy either. I ended up crashing at Luisa's place for the night. I played Wii (for the 1st time) with Luisa's boyfriend Brad, and went out for Cuban/Mexican food with Luisa in the morning. This time, I got to the airport 5 hour early, and was checked in and through security with a good 4 and a half hours to kill.
As it turn out, three of Lu's mom's friends were traveling on this flight: Maru, Lily, Sarah, and Sarah's daughter. Maru is an older woman originally from Costa Rica who is moving back there for retirement. She had convinced the other women to help her move by taking some of her luggage on the plane with them, 7 gigantic suitcases in all, including a leapord print handbag that she was carrying around at the gate. Lily, who is from Guatemala, quickly became my favorite. She is full of spice and energy, and she married an American for which she loves the fact that Lu and I are dating. She also works for Continental Airlines, and so the four of them were flying standby. Finally, Sarah was the only gringa of the bunch, and was also full of punch and adventurous stories of traveling around the Middle East.
Now, I was just happy to be on the plane, and on my way to Costa Rica (finally.) The only other hurdles between Lu and I were customs/immigration, and the taxi ride to our apartment (which was going to be a bit interesting in Spanish, especially since no one uses street names here.) I could definately not have predicted what was going to happen. Namely, when our flight got to San Jose, there was too much fog on the runway for us to make a landing, so the pilot decided to circle the airport for an hour while we waited for the fog to clear. After about an hour, our flight had to be diverted to the tiny little pueblo of Liberia, Costa Rica, so we could refuel and rethink our plans. In Liberia, the pilot recieved good news; the fog had cleared and we could return to San Jose to land the plane. So after an hour of waiting for the plane to be refueled and various paper work signed, we turned around and headed back down to San Jose...
Except, as it turns out, the fog had *not* cleared in San Jose. The pilot made an attempt to land the plane, but couldn't see the runway and gave up. On the 2nd attempt, air traffic control signaled him to say that conditions were so bad that the federal regulations would not allow us to land the plane. We were diverted to Panama City. The flight attendants opened up the bar in an attempt to calm the angry masses. Through all of this, I had been talking to Maru and Lily. Lily decided to have a beer because, "when was the last time I had a beer at 3 in the morning?" The pilot decided to let us loose in the airport (which was basically closed at this hour of the night) so Lily chugged her beer, and we all set out for the Panama City airport. There is a law that says that pilots cannot work for more than 12 hours at a time. So the flight attendants and the pilots left to go rest while a representative of Copa (the Latin American affiliate of Continental Airlines) tried to keep everyone happy. The airline was debating whether they should fly a completely new airplane down to Costa Rica with a new crew so we could leave in a few hours, or whether to wait for the current crew and pilot to finish resting up. Meanwhile, there was a sort of mass hysteria in the airport. One drunk and angry gringo yelled at the Copa Representative. "I have a house about an hour from here; why can't I just leave." To which she kindly explained that immigration had all gone home for the night so if he wanted to leave the airport that was fine, but he would probably be arrested. Lily and I ended up having to come to the woman's defense, after which the man said some nasty things about us (ha!) and then we meandered on down through the airport to the only restaurant that was open. I ordered toast (the only thing I could eat), and Lily had herself a shot of espresso. I tried finagling with a payphone to try and call Lu (although we don't really have a phone in our apartment), but the call was going to cost $25 for the first five minutes. All throughout this whole episode, I had no way of contacting Lu. Finally, around 4 or 5 am, a new Copa representative showed up announcing that the airline had decided to put us all up in a hotel for the night, and then we would meet back at the airport the next day for a flight that would leave around noon.
The hotel turned out to be pretty luxurious. The airlines told Lily and Maru and company that they would have to pay for their rooms if they wanted to stay there because they were flying standby. So I told them, let's see if I can just get a big room that you all can stay in. So I told the receptionist that I need a big room because 4 woman were going to be sleeping there with me. She looked at me strange and told me there were no such rooms; that 3 was the maximum capacity, and I said, "ok, but I at least need a room with 2 beds, the biggest you've got." So she gave me a spacious room with three beds, and I snuck all 4 women into the bedroom with me. Lily decided she couldn't sleep, and wanted to see the city. I kinda echoed this sentiment so her, and Sarah, and I, all went out to explore the town (having never gone through immigration.) The sun was coming up now, and it was clear that Panama City is a place that never sleeps. Even as we had approached the hotel in our bus, you could see street vendors selling people tacos in the dead of the night. This place was like a scene right out of a Graham Greene novel. The Cotton Club was right across the street from our hotel, only a block away from some gleaming, Catholic church, and right next to a Casino. We tried to bargain with a cab driver to take us to the canal, but the drive was going to be too long. So then we wandered into a Farmacia to buy some postcards, and even went into the Casino to spend a couple of dollars. Here's what I love about Lily. Her husband and her apparently have another friend named Forest, and so she told me she was going to tell her husband that she spent the night in a hotel room with Forest. "After 27 years of marriage," she said, "you have to shake things up every now and then."
By morning, the airlines had caught sight of the fact that these women were staying in my room, and demanded that they pay for their portion. So I played dumb, saying that the airlines had never told us they'd have to pay and it was my room so why couldn't they just stay there for free, bla bla bla. It was kinda fun arguing with the receptionist like a kid, and to their credit, they called the airlines and tried to broker us a deal. I think Maru ended up paying something like $16 for their portion, to be split 4 ways. There was also a complimentary breakfast, and on the bus back to the airport, I ended up talking to this older black woman who was a professor of psychology at UTK.
Well anyhow, the flight went okay this time. I was originally supposed to have gotten to San Jose at 9 o'clock on Thursday night, but I didn't actually make it there till 2pm on Saturday. Lu had come to the airport, thank God, and we took a taxi home together. It was sooooo good to see her finally. In the hotel, we had all signed each other's postcards to remember our little adventure. "We start this trip traveling even more," Maru had wrote. Indeed, that was only my first two days in Latin America, and already I had seen the Panama Canal, been to Liberia, Costa Rica, and made 4 new friends. There's even more adventures (plus pictures) to tell about, but I'll save those for another post. In the meantime, hope you all are doing well back in the States or wherever you are. :-)