While we all arrived in San José, I left yesterday and took 3 flights to get here (Cleveland/CLE to Charlotte/CLT to Miami/MIA to San José/SJO). The first flight was real rough due to a storm in Charlotte — we flew around in a holding pattern twice, had one rollercoaster of a landing, and arrived about 40 minutes later than scheduled. The pilot did a great job, however, of navigating the storm. Fortunately, my connecting flight to Miami was delayed by more than 2 hours, so I got the chance to eat, pet a cute dog, and relax/recover. Getting to Miami was a breeze in comparison, and I crashed for the night in the airport. The flight to SJO also went pretty well, and I had no problems getting through Customs.
Upon exiting Customs, I was greeted warmly by our tour guide, Mario (EF Tours). As I was the first to arrive, Mario and I got to sit and talk for a few hours. He was a welcoming presence, and we chatted a bit about who we were. Mario seemed to know everybody he passed in the airport, and when I pointed that out, he explained to me that it was necessary to know people and connect with them when you’re in that business. This point, he expanded, applies to all friendships and relationships. We are all interdependent and interconnected and so must make time and energy for one another. He told me all this after about 15 minutes of meeting me. It was great!
(This is where we all ate lunch and where Mario and I sat to talk, Deli’ Malinche)
Mario also talked a little bit about sustainability and sustainable development and the government’s role in making change; his view was that government intervention could help with sustainable decision-making, instead of letting people decide to do otherwise. As other people showed up (first Hazel and Marissa, later Margaret, Kaitlyn, and Mark, and eventually Emily and our in-country OSU instructor, Dr. Kristina Slagle (not to be confused with our on-campus OSU instructor, Dr. Ozeas Costa)), I grabbed some food. Before Emily and Dr. Slagle arrived, Mario called for a bus to take us to the hotel to get cleaned up and wait for the others. As the bus arrived, there was a slight unplanned interaction between the two vehicles, so we waited a bit, eventually arriving at the hotel. At the hotel, the time zone change (Costa Rica is two hours behind my norm of Eastern U.S. time) and the stresses of traveling abroad alone for the first time started to catch up to me. Instead of napping, however, most of us in the group hung out in the lobby playing card games and talking as we waited for the last flight to arrive.
Once everybody had landed, we ate at the hotel — side salads, and rice, pork, and a tomato & vegetable mixture with sauce (except for Emily and Kaitlyn, who are vegetarians, and Margaret, who is vegan — they were served a pasta dish). Dessert was a cheesecake topped with a strawberry glaze. During dinner, Mario went over safety information and the itinerary for tomorrow and the next few days. After dinner, we all dropped into bed, preparing ourselves to be ready to go at 6:30am the next morning.
Tomorrow, we travel to Tortuguero for adventures there. I can’t wait!
Pura Vida!