Last words from Central America
The bus ride to San Jose was pretty long…something like 17 hours. The bus company tried to kill the boredom by throwing on movie after movie. Four in a row. At first I was like, why don’t they turn the volume up? Well, that’s because it’s subtitled in Spanish,and there’s no need to listen to all that English jabbering if it’s not needed. So, I successfully watched 4 movies with Spanish subtitles, and although I missed a line here and there, was totally in tune with what was going on, surprisingly.
The border crossing into Costa Rica was the worst I’d been to yet. First there was exit customs out of Panama, where a cute little dog sniffed our stuff and they searched through every bag. Luckily, I waited patiently toward the end, where maybe the guy was sick of his job, because he just gave my bag a little tap and let me go. Then there was a long line for immigration to get the exit stamp for Panama. Getting the entry stamp to Costa Rica was easy, no line and I just smiled at the guy. Finally, the wait from hell for them to sort out customs into Costa Rica. They searched every bag again, taking some bags entirely apart; luckily not mine. Some guy got really reamed for having all these packs of playing cards, like 20. I think he ended up alright though, except for all his belongings spewn out everywhere.
I slept pretty much the whole way into San Jose. I had two seats to myself, though I do remember some big ape-like fellow waking me up in the middle of the night to sit next to me. He kind of smelled, and he wasn’t there the next time I checked. We arrived in San Jose at 5:30 in the morning and the guy at the hostel was surprisingly chirpy. I think he might have been the nightwatcher and was pleased to see a sign of life. He was very excited to tell me that I was the first guest of the day, of which I had no doubt, though he wasn’t able to give me a bed quite yet, so I slept a while in a hammock.
So, yeah, now I’m in San Jose. It’s not been too exciting, though I’ve mostly been taking care of administrative tasks like sending stuff home, confirming my flight and catching up with this blog. I did see some transvestite hookers, though, which was kind of exciting. Prostitution is legal here, there’s these warning signs telling young women not to go with these people who offer them “a better life”. This city is probably second to Panama City, at least within Central America. Guatemala City, Tegucigalpa, and Managua all suck for the most part.
It’s Tuesday December 6th as I write this. I leave tomorrow, Wed. for Sao Paulo Brazil, and I’m pumped. I’m totally in the groove now…I can handle any nasty toilet, bumpy bus ride, and tons of chicken. My Spanish has improved markedly, though now I’m headed to Brazil where they speak Portuguese, which is really going to screw me up. I heard that lots of them also understand Spanish, but then they reply in Portuguese. Crap.
I will be meeting up with Vanessa, an old Aussie friend from London, which should be pretty sweet. She’s been traveling in Argentina and now finds herself somewhere in Brazil, close to where I’ll be arriving. The plan is to spend Christmas and New Years in a hot sunny place on the beach, which for her is no big deal, but I’m quite fond of the idea.
Finally, I just would like to give a big shout out to all of you out there who are reading this. I get the occassional comment or email from you guys, and it really makes writing this a lot more fun. It’s also really nice to know that people have me on their mind, just as I have you on my mind. I’ve ‘seen’ several of you…you know when you think you see someone you know, but it’s really not; or sometimes there’s people that remind me of someone, with their gestures, they way they talk, etc. I was most surprised when I thought I saw Rukman on the ferry in Nicaragua from Ometepe, the last place in the world I might expect to see him (though he was in first class); apparently there is some other round 30-yearold partial to the John Adams hairstyle.
A final thought. I just saw a map of the world the other day (they seem to be pretty popular in hostels, oddly enough). Coming to the end of this leg of my trip, feeling as if I’ve gone far, I check out this map. I’ve hardly gone anywhere! Seriously, look at the size of Central America, and it’s tiny. Compare it to the behemouth that South America is. When you look at the world as a whole, it’s like nothing, I haven’t gone anywhere. It’s total crap.
Alright folks…that’s it for Central America. Over and out. I’ll see on the other side of the world.
Tags: Costa Rica, Tag Index
Tania
December 8th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
adios central america!!! i learned spanish too.