Back in the CR

Wednesday before we left was crazy. But I didn't expect anything otherwise.

When we leave for a long trip, we feel compelled to get lots done at home so we aren't coming home to a mess, or lots of loose ends. "Getting lots done" means making appointments, organizing things that we had been putting off, cleaning, changing sheets (who doesn't want to come home to clean sheets?), getting financials in order, etc.

One of my to-do list items was to make detailed instructions for our housesitter. How to take care of the pets, how to maintain Dobby, our robot vacuum, how to run the generator if the power goes out. The generator is a new addition to the household, and there's a lot to deal with in using it. But that was just one thing on my long to-do list. Here's a sample of my list (I crossed things out when completed instead of deleting them for the psychological satisfaction of getting things done).

If you notice the last thing on my list was to help Cristina make six podcasts that she could email to her clients. This is the first time we've gone on a long trip since Cristina started her business, and she has struggled with the best way to serve her regular clients who come in weekly or bi-weekly while we're gone. So she loaded up appointments for everyone the two weeks before our trip, and she made self-help podcasts that they can listen to and still get the benefits of the Jin Shin Jyutsu techniques, with her guidance. The podcasts aren't hard to make, but it was another one of those things that got put off till the last minute. So we recorded her parts on Tuesday night, and then Wednesday I mixed her recordings with music. They came out pretty nicely.

Cristina still hadn't packed by Wednesday, so while we were picking up the rental car, getting Kubo's shots, changing sheets, and mixing podcasts, she was packing in between sessions with clients at her office. By dinner time, it was becoming clear that we would likely not get any sleep. We needed to leave the house by 4 am to get to the airport in time. That is, until I got a text from JetBlue saying that MCO was experiencing longer than usual TSA lines, so get to the airport 3 hours early. Make that leaving the house by 3.

I finally lay down at 1am, setting my alarm for 1:45. Cristina didn't sleep any. I got about 30 minutes.

We hit the road by 3:15. Uneventful drive. Stopped at Wawa near the airport to top off the tank, grabbed breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds, and made it to the airport around 5:45.

The TSA line was long, but not that bad. I've experienced worse, with far less time, so this was zero stress. Ramon almost forgot his watch at security, but luckily noticed and went back for it.

We got to the gate with over 2 hours to wait before boarding. Alex wasted no time in falling asleep on the floor, and the rest of us alternated between messing with our phones, walking around, and dozing. Well, I'm not sure if the others dozed. But I sort of dozed for a few minutes.

Uneventful flight. We had an entire row, the girls and I on one side of the aisle, Cristina, Ramon, and Alex on the other side. We all fell asleep soon after take off, only waking when they came by with drinks. Alex's side did not even wake for drinks.

JetBlue has video monitors in the backs of the seats, but commercials for wine and cosmetic dentistry played on a loop. I was such a zombie from lack of sleep that I didn't realize until we were almost to Costa Rica that I could change the channel from the armrest. I would have much rather watched a map of the flight than that stupid dentistry commercial.

One of the endearing things about flights to Costa Rica is how the passengers applaud when the plane touches down. I've never flown anywhere else where that happens. I had wondered if that was still a thing, and we all hoped it was. So when the plane touched down, we looked at each other, waiting for it. A few seconds passed and I thought maybe it wasn't going to happen. Then, one single tentative clapping started a few rows behind us. And as soon as we heard that, we all clapped, and then most of the plane clapped. The flight crew seemed to appreciate it and said "llegamos!" on the PA ("We arrived!")

We knew we had a few hours before we could check into our Airbnb, and then a few hours after that before we could get our rental car. So we were in no rush to get through immigration and get our bags. We took things leisurely. I got some cash from the ATM, the max of 400 dollars, which came to 250,000 colones. The machine gave it to me in 5000 bills, so it was a massive wad of money. You never want to count your cash at the ATM, even in the airport, so I went to the bath room and counted it in a stall. All there.

This is the moment that I learned a hard lesson about travelling to Airbnbs. Always make contact with your host, especially as the trip gets close. And download the Airbnb app before you leave home. I had done neither of these things, and now I tried to contact our first host to ask if we could check in a little early. I noticed that a message I'd sent her 4 months ago had never gotten a response. I sent a new message, which also got no response.

We exited the airport and continued to wait for a response from our host at the taxi stand. We debated taking a taxi to the Airbnb and just hoping that she would be there, but if we're going to be stranded with all our luggage, I'd rather be at the airport than in some neighborhood where we'd stand out like a sore thumb.

Still no response from our Airbnb host, Laura. I called the phone number on the account, and got a message saying that the number was no longer in service. Not a good sign. I also noticed that she had no reviews. Oh geez, what had I done!

We went to a cafe at the airport and got some food. A big group of American guys, probably in their 20's, were also in the cafe, drinking beer and talking loudly. Turns out they were in CR for a bachelor party.

I messaged Airbnb support and they said they would work on the problem, but then they stopped responding to my messages. Granted, the internet was spotty in the cafe, but it was still disconcerting.

I called Airbnb support (despite calls costing 20 cents a minute...at this point that was a trivial issue). The guy I got on the phone was very helpful, when I could hear him over the raucous bachelor party crew which just got louder with each new addition and each round of beers.

Here's the quick synopsis of what transpired: Airbnb sent their own contact attempt to Laura, with a 30 minute deadline to cancellation. In the meantime, they invited us to have some food and drinks on them (yes, you heard that right...Airbnb reimbursed us for food and drinks). When the 30 minutes ended and they got no response from Laura, they cancelled the reservation and issued me a full refund. During that time, we searched for a new Airbnb and found one in the same general vicinity. The potential host of the new Airbnb (named Sofia) was willing to take us last minute, she just needed some time to clean the place. We told support that we'd found a host, and they talked us through reserving it and applying a 10% discount coupon for the trouble. This was a super stressful few hours (not helped by having to step outside to hear the Airbnb guy on the phone over the bachelor party) but I gotta hand it to Airbnb: they made things right. faith restored. But seriously, y'all: make contact with your hosts pre-trip!

We have an old friend, Eduardo Villalobos, who is about our age. His family lived in Gainesville in the 80's while his dad attended UF. He invited us to come to his house in Alajuela for a visit to pass the time until it was time to pick up our rental car. Much better than another 2 hours at the airport. We opted for a turismo van instead of an official airport taxi. They charged us $15 to get to Eduardo's house, and they offered to take us to Curridabat from there for $50 (considerably farther, in heavy traffic). I did talk them down to $40 though. Because...it's Costa Rica. You barter.

As we chatted with Eduardo, it became clear that he's a connected guy. He's a firefighter/paramedic. And everything we talked about, he would say "I know a guy I can call to _______ (see if you can get a better price, help you get your cedulas faster, find things to do, etc)" He confirmed that the price we agreed on to get us to Curridabat was a good price.

Around 3, Danni picked us up. Actually, it was his uncle, because Danni had an emergency. Classic CR.

The ride to Curridabat took almost 2 hours. We all fell asleep, despite the harrowing drive through San Jose traffic during rush hour. I can't really explain the traffic adequately, but the roads are small, the concept of lanes is open to interpretation, and the other drivers are fearless and uncompromising. There's a reason why rental cars are so expensive in CR.

We were scheduled to pick up our rental at 4. The place closed at 5. We got there about 4:50. No issues with renting, except for a bogus fee they tried to tack on, which I questioned (even though the expert travel advice says don't bother trying to protest their little fees). He agreed to remove the fee since "we seemed like a nice family." Yeah, whatever. I still don't really trust any rental places in CR, even the chains like Enterprise.

I knew the Toyota Rush was underpowered for a 7 passenger SUV. That's how we got it for as cheap as we did. And I knew it wasn't going to have a lot of room for bags. But when the 6 of us squeezed in with all our bags, it confirmed the need for a second car for Ramon. He had a reservation at the same Enterprise, but Eduardo was helping him find something better, so he didn't pick up his Enterprise rental.

Navigating thru San Jose traffic in an overloaded, underpowered vehicle with approximately an hour of sleep in the past 36 hours was destined to be the highlight of the trip. Not really.

We got to the Airbnb, or near it anyway, and Sofia met us and took us the rest of the way. Her place was lovely. It technically sleeps 6, and there would soon be 7 of us, but she had an air mattress for our 7th person. We unloaded our stuff and then walked to a nearby shopping center that had a couple of restaurants and an upscale convenience store called Fresh Market (not the same chain as in the States). We ate at Pupuseria Familiar, a pupusa restaurant. Pupusas are thick cornmeal flatbreads stuffed with a variety of things, like meats, cheese, beans, or vegetables. They are similar to arepas. I got one with chicken, chicharrones (fried pork rinds), and cheese, and one with chicken and spinach. Then you can top them with shredded cabbage, spicy pickled vegetables, and sauce. And we each got a natural fruit drink. Maybe it was because I was so tired, but the fruit drinks were the best thing I had ever tasted in my life.

Back at the house, we had about 2 hours before we needed to head to the airport to pick up Sofia's friend Anna (from Sweden). I fell into a deep sleep for an hour and a half or so. Sofia woke me up when it was airport time.

Cristina, Sofia, and I drove to the airport, which took about 35 minutes at 10pm on a Thursday night. Anna's connecting flight in New York had been delayed several hours, so if we thought we were tired from travel, you can imagine how she felt coming all the way from Sweden. Despite that, she arrived cheerfully with no hint that she was as exhausted as she was.

We made it back to the Airbnb where I collapsed in bed and slept for 10 hours.