Libby_or_Bust

So we´re here. We arrived yesterday — Monday the 13th — in the afternoon. There were some flight delays, so it was about 3 Costa Rica time when we landed. I slept some on the flight, but still had a lot of tooth pain, so it was light. After customs — I swear I could have smuggled in a wet rhino and they would have smiled and stamped my passport — we got an official taxi to Alajuela, a town about 3km from the airport. It was raining and we didn´t have a reservation, so our taxi driver took us to our first try, La Trinidad, rang the bell for us, and when nobody answered took us to a hotel he knew, Hotel Internacional JM. I don´t really know what the ”JM” means. Maybe it stands for ”Jee, I wish there weren´t so Many ants in my room.” Or not. Guess we´ll never know, because even though the breakfast was delicious (please, god, don´t let me get giardia from the carrot juice) we found another place to stay . This time we´re at Cortez Azul (or at least that´s what Jen thinks — I can´t remeber), home of an ex pat named Craig and the world´s oldest pit bull. I think it´s 1,000 in human years.
It’s raining right now. The keyboard at this internet cafe is set up like mine at home — it´s even a Dell — but the semi-colon is a ñ and the question mark is an -. Struggle¿=¨Ñ
In general the people here are very nice, but I have already gotten overcharged for a mango. The injustice!! Maybe it´s because I´m 6 feet tall, or maybe it´s the large hat. Or perhaps it´s because travel clothes, while wrinkle-resistant and sweat-wicking, don´t so much blend in as scream ”What was I thinking? Please help me by stealing my passport” In any case, most people we´ve met (and by ”met” I mean asked for directions on the street or help with a computer keyboard) are very helpful and friendly, even if they chuckle about my hat while we´re walking away. I can´t blame them — Jen does too.
Tomorrow I think we´ll go to Volcán Poás and then to Sarchí at night. We´ll see. I´m still getting used to travelling again; (aha! I found the semicolon! sneaky little bastard was where the less than sign is) it´s a different mindset. It does feel safer here than Peru, though. A lot safer. And cleaner. That´s nice. I don´t really have much more than that — gimme a break, okay, I just got here yesterday! When I write again I promise I´ll have a thought-provoking, philosophical analysis of the culture and structure of Costa Rican society… or just more snarky comments about cold showers and tiny bathrooms. What my fans want, I deliver!
Anyway, my hour is running out, so I´ll sign off. Love to everyone in Michigan.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 14th, 2006 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.