roughing it! no makeup, no hairdryer, no jewelry!
We are on a budget- this trip was impromptu and had to be done as cheaply as possible. We had planned to spend my spring break relaxing with Reggie's family in Haiti, but, obviously, due to the ongoing effects of the disastrous earthquake in January, we were unable to go.
So here we find ourselves, slumped in our seats on a Delta airlines flight, splitting a Cliff bar and bad Delta coffee for breakfast. We left from Dulles and spent the evening before with Krista and baby Elisabeth in McLean, VA, so not only did we get some great visiting time in, we also were only 15 min from the airport- perfect for a 5am flight. Wishing we could fly business elite with their comfy beds. But I guess if we could afford even the seats we are sitting in, we wouldn't have plans to stay in hotels where hot water costs extra.
We packed only one large hiking backpack, and another smaller Jansport. What did we bring? Impressive, I think- each:
1 shorts
1 lightweight pants
1 long sleeved shirt
assortment, but not more than 4 t-shirts (a tank top for me)
bathing suit
thin towel
appropriate underwear (only 2 bras)
laundry soap for sink wash
2 thin hotel bars of soap
2 hotel shampoos, 1 conditioner
4 3oz bottles of 100% DEET spray
8 30% DEET body wipes
3 bottles of sunscreen (SPF-55, SPF-70, SPF-15)
flip-flops
water shoes
hiking sneakers
8 CLIFF bars
10 Fiber One bars
6 paperbacks
a journal (from which I now write)
that's it!
And thank goodness, too. We landed without event in San Jose Costa Rica around noon and proceeded to locate the "domestic departures terminal." This requires quotes because the terminal is outside, and down the street from the main airport (which is your typical big, clean euro/western/toursit friendly place)
the entrance of the "terminal" aka garage.
note the indicator below of Departure Gate. Singular. There was one gate- basically the other side of this garage fronting as a terminal, where you sit and wait for your Cesna plane to arrive, they shout out the flight number, and you head to the tarmac.
our tickets were laminated and recycled for each passenger. There was no metal detector, no security gate, etc. You did, however, have to get on the scale with your luggage to make sure you weren't too heavy for the flight. If over the limit, people get top priority and luggage would come "later." we were told. Now, we think the scale was a bit off (haha, isnt it always?) but we weighed in a total 347# with ourselves and our luggage.
On the plane we went!
We arrived at the Tambor "airport" 30 min later, after flying over San Jose, the western side of Costa Rica, and the sea separating the main land and the Nicoya Peninsula
We had to pay a $1 per passenger airport tax to a guy just standing on the "runway" (dirt road abutting a field of cows) with his hand out. ah well, ok. Then we met Daniel, our taxi driver, who would take us to the village of Montezuma- for $30! $30???? I tried to argue that this was very expensive for the 30min drive, but quickly realizing that there were no other options other than sleeping at the "airport" (cow field), we coughed it up and hopped into his minivan. The seats were broken, the roads TERRIBLE (more on this later- they don't pave except major highways in the city) but none of this really mattered. We were finally here!
to be continued....
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