Well, things have certainly gone smoothly so far. I know that’s kind of boring for you the reader, but I do have lots to tell about from my first full day in San Jose, Costa Rica.
I arrived yesterday, April 23, 2010 (for you future readers) around 2 pm local time. My day started at midnight, as in first thing that morning, with a bus from Woodstock to Detroit. Waiting at the Quality Inns & Suites near the 401 I was a tad stressed when the bus, scheduled for 1am, didn’t arrive until 130 am. Little did I know that “being on time” was now going to be a thing of the past. I travelled to London, wide-eyed and wondering, what my next 24 hours would reveal. After transferring in London, I managed to grab about an hour of inconsistent shut-eye. We got to the border in Windsor at 4:45am.
We were told to enter a small fluorescently lit room and to stand behind the red line, while we waited our turn to discuss our itinerary. I was real nervous at this point because my volunteer coordinator had told me to enter CR as a tourist, but the HUGE duffle bag full of school supplies logged in the back of the Robert Q bus begged to offer another story. One border official searched the entire bus and returned inside with some follow up questions. “So you’re the one travelling with all of the school stuff? What exactly are you doing?” Reluctantly, I confessed and changed my story from tourist to “working with a local school for a while” pretty quickly, nearly shitting my pants in the meantime. I could have and probably should have just told them I was giving it all to my cousin’s school as a donation or gift. Don’t you hate it when you think of the better response once the conversation is over? Ya, this was one of those moments... The guard inside had me sit and wait after all this had gone down, and after what seemed like a millennium, the asked me back up to the counter and let me go. For those of you wondering why this was such a big deal, when you travel to work in another country, you need a work visa, but for unpaid work, sometimes they’ll let you go without one. Thankfully, this was my case as I did not have such documentation! PHEW. If you ever come to a similar problem where your honesty gets the best of you, try and run through the story of “what if” before going in to a potentially future-altering situation, okay?
Finally, we came to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, roughly on time about 5:15 am and the task was to get 100 pounds of luggage down to customs with no luggage cart. Yay! I had a rolling suitcase and I draped my duffle bag on top of it, using the handle as a support system. Thank whoever invented the elevator but damn whoever invented the escalator! Somehow, I managed to almost kill myself on the escalator by nearly allowing my 100+lbs of luggage fly down the steps over top and crush my tired body. Gravity (and technology) was not on my side, as usual. Using my somehow-strong-yet-lacking-in-muscle leg I prevented this mess from happening.
Lets fastforward. The flight from Detroit to Houston was great, met some enthusiastic old-timers on their way to Florida or Cosumal or wherever, had about an hour in the Houston airport before boarding my flight to San Jose. In the line up to board, a man behind me (lets call him Alex for distinctions) asked the man behind him (John), if whatever Alex had in his hand belonged to John. John replied no, so Alex asked me, and low and behold (by the way I’ve never actually written the phrase “low and behold” before so I could have totally misspelled) anyways, they were my new sunglasses that I had bought days ealier. I hadn’t even noticed they were missing! Ahh! Many of you (or quite possibly, you) reading this, are probably nodding, thinking, yep, told her buying an expensive pair wouldn’t fix her bad habit of losing and breaking every last pair of sunglasses she’s ever owned! Okay, so you’re right. Point is I still have them and they are around my neck even though its pitch black outside. *6:44pm. Oh! I should tell you though, for some comfort in your convictions, that I did lose my Klean Kanteen on the first Robert Q bus. I am pretty sure because I heard it fall, but didn’t know it was mine and gone until I went for a drink in Windsor. D’oh! So long old friend, its been a good (2.5 year) stretch!
The plane ride to San Jose was alright, watched the movie The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. Kind of impressed that this Erin-Brokovich reinvention of a woman who is bold and who stands up for what others need still wins Oscars. Should be the norm people! All in all, a good heart-felt movie and a stand-up personality for all women to admire and to recognize in themselves.
Arribo en Costa Rica!!
Finally, 14 hours of travel and I have arrived! I am waiting for my luggage and its no where. The belt has stopped bringing in new luggage and there are about 40 uneasy customers waiting patiently for their vacations to start. Voila! Magic happens and the luggage arrives. I don`t know where my sister gets her bad-luck travelling but I am thankful I don`t have any (knock on wood)!!
Maria meets me at the exit. She is holding a Volunteer Abroad sign and looks curious and worried. I greet her in Spanish and she seems impressed. She is a tall, slim, young woman with black hair and an awesome smile. Very personable and sweet, she had a bag of platanos and a bottle of water waiting for me in the taxi. Platanos are fried plantains, but in chip-form, amazing. Carlos, our driver, was waiting for us and helped me so kindly with my 100 lbs of luggage. This would be the second last time having to deal with this, thank goodness! What an experience the traffic in this country! Or at least San Jose, so far. Here are a few things I have learned when dealing with traffic in CR: Pedestrians really don`t have the right of way. Ever. To drive you need 100% aggression and 0% hesitation. And lastly (so far) driving a bicycle on the road warrants a death wish. Imagine Bloor street in Toronto times 100,000.
We arrived at the volunteer house at about 3:30pm where I met my new house mate Jenn, a girl from Prince George British Columbia. I first notice her wicked blonde dreads (envious), and her seriously laid-back attitude, which I get along with pretty darn well. She reminds me of my friend Heather, a bit of a hippy with some sweet outlooks on the whole balance of the world. I love it. I think I`ve made my first friend in CR, which isn`t bad for a first day!
I was pretty tired at this point so just after Maria went over the week`s itinerary with me I decided to go down for a nap. 14 hours later I woke, ready for the day.
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