deviations to & fru-ittos in Costa Rica
After being stuck in a holding pattern over te Newark airport the flight from Halifax-Newark finally touched ground @ about 3.15 pm. Thank God, because I was fricken freezing and heavily day-dreaming about sun and heat in a few hours. None of this was helped by an extreme case of sleep-deprivation that was making nmy skin kind of twitch – ask the family about how that came about!
Alas, I did not arrive in San Jose on Sunday pm as expected – I decided to engage in my first act of spontaneity thanks to Continental Airlines. Desperate because they had overbooked the flight, they were trying to bribe passengers with hotel and food accom. PLUS a $500 flight credit. Having not yet booked my ticket home and not entirely excited r.e. arriving late @ night I didn´t hesitate.
Yet, yesterday (Monday) I arrived, took the $3 taxi to Alajuela (have heard that staying in Alajeula, where the airport is actually located, is a much better idea than San Jose, which is full of Danger Bay), found the hostel (Maleku, highly recommend), and had my first ´casado´(trad. costa rican meal) @ a nearby ´Soda´ – the very nice owner was confused over my name (Roberta) and thought that I must then be the wife of Roberto. My participation in the conversation consisted mostly of smiling and nodding. Met up with 3 other travellers, bought an array of food at the local market, and John (aka Ben Affleck) and Emily made us a great meal of fried plantains, fru-ittos (grilled veggies, pineapple, guava, etc. in a tortilla), and some american style garlic cheese bread. All washed down with syrupy sweet, surprisinly bubble, Costa Rican wine. Cracked into Costa Rican beer and played a mean game of Phase 10 – adequately self-promoted as the ´hardest card game you´ll ever play´…
I head to the airport in a few hours to meet the rest of the Raleigh 08a crew – will stay in San Jose tonight and be @ field base tmr. a.m. in Turrialba. Must admit, apart from the fear and excited I have over this lil adventure of mine, I am also excited to find some fluent Spanish speaker to have me well versed by the time the expedition is over ,-p
Tags: Alajuela, Costa Rica, January 2008, Travel
berta_dawson
Glad to hear you arrived safely. Take care and we will be reading your adventure.
Yaayyyy! An adventure – I am sooo excited for you (when I’m not hating your Costa Rican guts). FYI I will be living vicariously through you for the next 6 mos so make it good! Good luck bud – rootin for ya!
Hey B-Bob, hope you are enjoying the first days of your excited adventure. Will be a regular reader of your blog, since I have decided to live vicariously through you. Take care, Ciao Chica!
Hey Babe,
So glad to hear you arrived safely, will definitely be keeping up with you, keep me posted!!!! I’m so proud of you!
Luv ya, talk soon!