Random Thoughts and Adventures

Months ago, my friend invited me to join her and her family and friends in Costa Rica. I was reluctant at first, since I rarely go anywhere. My family had other ideas. Eventually, I came to realize that I was going to Costa Rica.

As always, I had an adventure. In fact, I had many adventures.

Costa Rica trip, Day 1, July 7, 2023

I am very used to having my travel plans all screwed up. With the luggage going from one country to another, with a connecting flight, I was super nervous. So much was going on, I was sure that something would go wrong. From the beginning, I had issues because I booked with a travel agent who assured me that 20 minutes between landing and getting on the connecting flight was plenty of time, despite the fact that the airline told me that there was no way I would make that connection.

I got to the airport in plenty of time. I showed my passport when appropriate. I checked my bags in, double checking that I could fly with aerosol sunblock. The guys at the desk saw that I was flying from San Francisco to San Jose, and wanted to be sure that I meant San Jose, Costa Rica, and not San Jose, California. We got a little giggle out of that.

I boarded the plane, on time, and found an old classmate of my brother's was the one checking my boarding pass. At least this nervous flier got a friendly face before the flight.

I had an aisle seat. The woman seated at the window had a book, so of course, I had to ask her what she was reading. I hadn't heard of it, but we became friends on Goodreads. A man came and sat between us. He was attempting to sleep. When I got up to use the bathroom, he disappeared. He found a window seat with no one in it, and no one next to it, so he gave our row a little breathing space. Yay! I watched a little of the Netflix shows I had downloaded onto my tablet, and I read a little on my Kindle. Before I knew it, I was landing in Dallas.

The app on my phone told me which gate I needed to go to in order to catch my next flight. It was about a 25 minute trip. See? I knew I wouldn't have made it with the original flight!

I got to the gate and grabbed a snack. I waited patiently for my flight. It boarded just a minute or two late, but it was within reason. I sat in the aisle seat again, but this time with a man and his young daughter. We were delayed taking off, but only by about a half hour. I wasn't meeting anyone at the other end, so I wasn't on a time constraint.

When we landed, I started walking to customs and baggage claim. I was tired after 8 hours of flying and trying to figure out the time changes that my watch never caught up to. I was surprised at how quickly we were moved through. I hung up a little on the address of where I was staying, because they don't have street addresses there. I showed the agent checking my passport the email. "Oh, Airbnb." That's all they wanted to know? Ok. Fine.

Next, I had to find my luggage. They told us to go to carousel 5. The luggage arrived on carousel 4 and was waiting patiently for me. I went into the bathroom, since I didn't know how long it would take to get through customs, onto a shuttle and to the hotel. I squeezed all of my stuff into the stall and was out of the bathroom in no time. Then I had to have my luggage screened. No one was even looking.

I headed outside to find the shuttle. The hotel I was staying in had its own shuttle, and it was sitting right at the curb when I stepped outside. The taxi drivers were trying to help me, but I pointed at the shuttle. No driver was inside, but the shuttle was running. I figured he was nearby. I was right! I had to wait a whole two minutes for him to finish his conversation and take my luggage. The hotel was less than 5 minutes away. I could have walked it, if it weren't for the freeway traffic.

I arrived at the hotel and showed my newly stamped passport. Check in was easy. I was escorted to my room and told that I could go to Denny's for dinner. It was 1am. I was only interested in getting into my pjs and getting to sleep. I realized that I only had a $20 bill, so I couldn't exactly tip easily. I worried about that a bit, but had to put it out of my mind. I had to figure out what time it was since my phone said one time, my watch said another, and the clock in the room said yet another. I decided to go with the clock in the room, since it was a local.

Costa Rica, Day 2, July 8, 2023

By morning, my phone had figured out what time it was. I left it in airplane mode, but got on the WIFI at the hotel. My tablet caught up, also. They all matched the clock in the room. My watch decided that it was going to do its own thing, even though it supposedly syncs to my phone. Nope. It refused.

I got up early and went to the lobby for breakfast. I wasn't meeting my friends until 12:30 to catch the shuttle to the Airbnb. I ran into my friend in the breakfast area. We chatted while we ate breakfast. Then we went to find an ATM so that we would have some cash on the trip, since the Airbnb was a 2 hour drive from the hotel.

We checked out of our rooms and went to meet the shuttle. On the shuttle ride, we were talking and looking at the sites. We tried to stop for lunch, but the line for the restaurant was too long, so we just looked at the souvenir shop. I found most of what I needed to bring home to the family.

We drove a little longer and the shuttle driver asked us to get out of the shuttle. He walked us over a bridge - crocodile bridge. Wow! I'm not a fan of heights, so I had a hard time looking down at all of the crocodiles in the river below, but I got the gist of it.

Back in the shuttle, we discussed various tours and adventures we wanted to see and do. I spotted a chocolate tour, but because my phone was on airplane mode, I couldn't look it up yet. I'd have to wait.

We were already signed up for a waterfall tour and a walk in the national forest. We added a snorkeling, banana boat, hike and catamaran adventure. Later, we added the chocolate tour that I wanted to do.

We found the house where we'd be staying. It was actually three tiny houses. One was just a bedroom. One had a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. The other had bunk beds, a pull out couch, and a small kitchen. It also had a bathroom. The backyard had an above ground pool that required acrobats to get into. We learned that the fruit that grew in the backyard was a calabash. It is not edible raw, but it is used medicinally for teas and such. I put a photo below.

We got ourselves settled and had an adventure taking Uber to and from the grocery store. Because the houses had no numbers or street names, it was difficult to find various places. We found what we needed at the grocery store and headed back. I still had no signal on my phone, so I couldn't help catch an Uber. I was entertained by the impulse buy shelf at the grocery store. There is a photo below.

We went to dinner at the local restaurant around the corner. It was delicious and very inexpensive. Picadillo is not the same in Costa Rica as it is in Mexico. Plantains, rice and beans were readily available and delicious.

It got dark early, around 6pm, each night. Plus it rained a lot, which was to be expected. We walked back in the dark, before the rains started. It was a relaxing, full first day in the house.

Some photos from Day 2

Costa Rica, Day 3, July 9, 2023

We woke up to the roosters. They decided that 4am is a reasonable time for everyone to be up and going.

Sunburn only on right arm

Costa Rica, Day 4, July 10, 2023

We booked the chocolate tour.

Spark as Uber.

Video with machete

Costa Rica, Day 5, July 11, 2023

National Park

Costa Rica, Day 6, July 12, 2023

Snorkeling tour

Costa Rica, Day 7, July 13, 2023

Waterfall tour

Costa Rica, Day 8, July 14, 2023

Beach Day

Some photos from Day 8

Costa Rica, Day 9, July 15, 2023

Private chef

Costa Rica, Day 10, July 16, 2023

My day started out early. I packed up all of my stuff, with just the stuff that I wanted on the plane and a change of clothes in my bag. Everything else went into the suitcases to be checked. I thought ahead about what I wouldn't need for a while, and just went with it.

I grabbed breakfast.

June 2023

Mom asked me to pick up a prescription for her today, so I went to the pharmacy. I arrived just as they were coming back from lunch. The pharmacist looked around to see what the situation was. A cashier was coming back to the area, so she looked hopefully at her. The cashier spoke up "I can't come back from lunch yet, since you made me clock out late. You'll have to do it yourself." The pharmacist looks panicked and calls me up to the counter. She asks me the name. I tell her, and spell it twice. She repeats it back wrong both times. Another cashier comes up and opens the second register. He calls up the man who was in line behind me.

Pharmacist to me "Can I see your ID?" I start to hand it to her and she looks at the man at the other register. "Are you Horace?" No. He isn't. Then she asks me, "Are you Horace?" No. I am not. She says, "Oh, I didn't know. I've never met Horace before." I am now wondering what she had for lunch, since she certainly doesn't seem to be with it fully.

Then she asks me why I am trying to hand her my ID. "Because you asked for it."

Her: "I did? Oh, I need that. Wait. The name on the ID doesn't match the prescription."

Me: "No. I'm picking up for my mother."

Her: "OK. And how are you related to her?"

Me (and this might have been my fault for my phrasing): "She's my mother."

Her, looking at the birthdate: "You aren't old enough to be her mother."

Me: "No. She's my mother. Her birthdate is mm/dd/yyyy"

Her: "That's what I have on file. How did you know that I would be asking that next?"

She finally figured it out, rang me up, and sent me on my way. As I was walking away, the next person at the counter was asked "Are you Horace?"

I wonder who Horace is. I was almost tempted to wait there to find out if he would come in.

270 Movies by Women directors popped up when I was looking for books and movies by women. It's a nice list and there are very interesting films on the list. It will make for good watching. Highly recommended!

May 2023

May 26, 2023 - Graduation Day!

After months of anticipation, graduation day is finally here. I will post links and photos when I can.

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