We are now back in the United States, but not home in Durango yet. We are visiting Michael’s parents in San Diego for a few days. Tomorrow we fly home. Our last few days in Costa Rica were nice. We went for walks on the beach in Nosara, went to the Farmer’s Market one last time, watched sunsets, and Michael surfed. One night we decided to walk down to the beach after dinner and when we returned, we interrupted a break-in in progress at the unit next to ours. They hadn’t gotten very far, but had started to cut and bend back the bars on one of the windows. They ran off when they realized we could see them with our flashlight and were aware of their presence. As no one else was home at the Villas at the time, I called the manager on Skype to let her know what happened. She showed up with her father in tow (for security!), and later the police came. Nothing was taken, as they hadn’t gotten in yet. We’re told that sometimes thieves watch from the jungle until they think no one is home. It was a bit of excitement, but certainly not the first time it’s happened in the area. We were told many times to use common sense about safety while in Costa Rica and to be particularly careful not to leave valuables in view, whether in the car or in the house. In fact, it’s pretty much a given that you can’t leave ANYTHING in your car at any time. We followed these rules and consequently, we never had any problems or felt unsafe.
Our last night in Nosara we went out to dinner at La Dolce Vita which is a nice Italian restaurant down the road a little ways. Since we already had our rental car for the return journey to San Jose, we took advantage of the easy transportation. Monday morning, Michael surfed one last time and returned his rental board to the Frog Pad. We went out for breakfast and then loaded up the car and headed for the big city. The drive wasn’t too bad and we made pretty good time, but it still feels long. Most of the road was easy to follow as we were retracing our steps from our initial journey to Nosara. However, we had to find our B&B in the town of Alajuela near the airport and that required some navigation. Thank goodness we had a decent map. Costa Rica is notorious for not having street signs or even much signage on the roads at all. The center of Alajuela is laid out in a grid pattern, but the streets are mostly one way and absolutely none of them are marked with names. It’s all very well to have the map say Ave. 2, but if there is no sign saying that on the street, it doesn’t do you much good. Nevertheless, I managed to get us to the hotel using landmarks and counting blocks etc. Michael did a great job avoiding the other drivers. We checked in, unloaded our bags, and then found our way to the rental car office over near the airport to turn in the car. It all went smoothly and we took a taxi back to the hotel. It was late afternoon, so we walked around the city a bit, bought some rum at the grocery store, and found a spot for a cold beer. Then after a short nap back at the hotel, we wandered out for dinner. The hotel manager had pointed us toward Monteleone, which turned out to be a cute bar/restaurant around the corner. It was clearly new, and at first, we were almost the only people there. But then others came in and it took on a lively atmosphere. It was the first place we had been where no one spoke English. There were local people from the neighborhood and a couple of students enjoying a drink or some food. Our dinner was quite good and quite reasonable. This was actually one of the most authentic experiences of the trip.
In the morning we took a taxi provided by the hotel to the airport, paid our departure tax, checked in for our flight, and found our gate. Everything was going smoothly until some indicator light came on as the captain was leaving the gate. We had to go back to the gate and have a mechanic take a look. They were able to fix it quickly, but it still put us an hour late leaving San Jose. Since our connection time in Dallas was only an hour and twenty minutes and we had to go through customs, we were pretty doubtful that we’d make our connection to San Diego. Fortunately, American rebooked us on another flight before we even got there. That’s the first time that’s happened! We cleared customs and re-checked our bags without mishap in Dallas, and then rode the Disney style train around to our new terminal. Since we had been rebooked on this later flight we were stuck in the very back row of the plane going to San Diego. This proved noisy as we were next to the engine, but we got there on time and Michael’s parents met us at the airport. It was a long day, but when is international travel ever short?
Now we are trying to get used to cars and traffic and clothes and shoes etc. The news on the tele is just the same as it always is, so we didn’t miss much. My toe is improving and I have found I’m able to put on a pair of shoes. Thank goodness Keen shoes have a big toe box! It will be a while before most shoes are comfortable, but I have at least graduated from flip flops. One thing that strikes me is the incredible abundance all around us. We are very fortunate people. And yet, we are often very wasteful too. It is possible to live fairly simply and still live a rich and rewarding life. These are things I will be thinking about as I try to resume life at home. I look forward to seeing our dog, reconnecting with our friends, and to the flowers that will bloom from the bulbs we planted last fall.
Pura Vida
Sojourner Sarah
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