CR – April 2, 2001 Day 22

Day 22

Today is travel day…

We’re up early, showered, eaten breakfast and now are just relaxing before heading to the airport. Our flight leaves at 2:35pm from San Jose to Charlotte so we’re going to try to make it to the airport three hours before departure so we can get through the check-in process quickly (Customs) and without stress. In Charlotte we’ll have a two hour layover (Time to get some dinner) and then we’ll make the final leg to Connecticut. We’ll arrive in Connecticut at 12:00 am so we’re staying overnight at the airport because our puppy (Brewster) is staying with auntie Val in Bloomfield.

Even though both Ginger and I were exhausted last night, we had a good time partying at the Castilian Country Club with Sonya, Orlando, Carlos, Noemi, and other friends. Jessica (Sonya and Orlando’s daughter) and her husband also joined us.

The live band was very, very good. Once they heard we were from Connecticut, they even played a Hustle tune for us. It was way too cool!

Our taxi driver to airport was a tico named Willie. Willie was very talkative and friendly guy. He pointed out several local attraction along the way. Traffic was heavy but the conversations (All in Spanish) we had with Willie made the trip an enjoyable last cultural experience. As it turned out, because Willie is a Salsero, he knew several people from the Intercutural School. He knows Marcello, the director of the school and Enrique, the school dance instructor. Go figure. Again, you never know who your going to meet.

We made it safely to the airport

I’m glad we’d read about $26.00 per person departure tax that Costa Rica charges people at the airport. There were  more than a few annoyed passengers. Interestingly, all of the security guards at the airport carry firearms. We didn’t see any with notches on their pistol handle so that was good.   We sailed through Customs without any problems.

Ginger had a intuitive feeling that we were going to see someone we knew from the school at the airport. Mind you, The airport is HUGE! There he was, sitting at our gate, flying on the same flight was Bill. A student we’d met at the school.  Pretty weird!!!

Bill is an expatriate from Louisville and was heading back to the states for a few weeks. Apparently, US citizens that want to become Costa Rican citizens have to return to the US every 90 days until their citizenship papers clear all of the legal Costa Rican requirements. Bill has been living in Costa Rica since October 2010.

BTW-I’m adding to the blog at the airport from my iPhone. The airport has free wifi.

We’re really sad to be leaving Costa Rica but it’s time to go home now. Now that we have friends and “Family” here, we look forward to visiting Costa Rica again soon.

Adios Costa Rica.  Pura Vida!

The flight from San Jose to Charlotte was really easy. We actually arrived early.

Now for the last leg, Hartford.

Touch down!  We landed in Hartford.  We’re exhausted. I’ll make my final Costa Rica 2011 post tomorrow.  Now for some sleep.

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