From Dulles to Costa Rica...the Adventure Begins

I slept during most of the 4 hour and 15 minute flight from Dulles to San Salvador, El Salvador. They did feed us a very tasty breakfast on the flight, which I did wake up for. ;D The walk between terminals in El Salvador was the usual "feels like 5 miles" distance, but the wait at the gate wasn't long. The armed police with drug dogs sniffing everyone's carry-on luggage just added some good old Central American charm to the scene.

The flight from El Salvador to San Jose was roughly 1 hour, and I slept on it as well. Remember...no sleep Monday night, and I'd been awake at Dulles all night Tuesday night. I did stop to pray for the elderly lady seated next to me. As we were taking off, she was praying the rosary and had a look of terror on her face. I felt sorry for her!

Once I landed at the San Jose aeropuerto things continued to flow uneventfully. My luggage showed up...on time...with me...Whoo Hoo!!!! I was, of course, assailed by the 500 taxi drivers and van drivers wanting to take me to my destination, but at close to $20 for that versus the $1 for el autobus (the bus), I opted for the bus. I'd say I'm on a "shoe string budget", but I think it's more like a "string budget." I don't even have the "shoe" part of it right now...but that's another tale for another day!

Ah, the stories that come from my travels!

So, anyway, I took el autobus from the aeropuerto and got off "somewhere" downtown San Jose. Many of the streets are not marked, and no one seemed to even know what road we were on. Literally EVERYONE I asked gave me different directions! After over an hour of walking, I finally gave in to hunger and thirst and stopped at this little tiny restaurante that had un servicio for clientes. (Public restrooms aren't as easy to come by here!)

I ordered pintos con queso...what should have been pretty normal, and un hamburgesa. And they gave me a choice of two juices of some unknown variety (both tasty). Well, the Taco Bell pintos with cheese and Costa Rica's are two entirely different things! The cheese was fried, and on the side. And the pintos were small black beans mixed in with rice...Still very yummy, but not what my North American brain was thinking of. It was all actually muy bueno though!

At least I didn't order the perro con queso...cause as far as I know, perro means dog... I pass on Rover this go round!

I did finally find the hostel. Certainly not on the beatten turista path, but not hard to find once I figured out the street naming convention! I did figure out that all that razor wire I passed was because of the jail and courthouse nearby! I don't think most tourists walk down this end of Avenida 6. The security at the hostel is fantastic, and once you come through the locked gate and up the stairs to the reception, it's like a piece of heaven on earth. Here's a short video from the hostel:



Oh, had to throw in a picture of Frankie (on the right) and L.C. (on the left) going at it in a "game" of foosball. This is one of the pics for the children's book we're making from this trip...