Take Offs and Landings

Day 1. After not having been in Central America for close to 23 years, I finally have the perfect window of opportunity to visit. The flight from NYC to San Jose, was a painful one. I supposedly had a 13 hour layover, which would give me plenty of time to sleepover at my bro´s house, interact with his kids, and kill some time on the Playstation. Alas, this was not the case. The flight from LGA was 3 hours late, making my arrival at MIA at close to 1 am, instead of 9ish. I finally went to sleep close to three am after baggage claim, the drive to his house, getting pulled over by cops for speeding, and a tour of his new house.

I awoke close to seven am to the buzzing noise of a Hello Kitty alarm clock. I got ready, and off we went to brave the traffic of the Palmetto Expressway. Its amazing how the city of Miami will approve a new sports stadium (for a team that only won one game last year)that they dont need, with money they dont have, yet, not lift a finger to aid commuter congestion. 45 minutes of traffic, and I arrived at the airport with plenty of time. Apperently way too much time, as the flight to SJO was an hour late. Once again American Airlines fails to depart on schedule, but when the flight is only $287 RT, you get what you pay for.

After landing in SJO, and going quickly thru customs and immigration I got picked up at the airport by my uncle. Viagra must be a popular product here, as it is sold in the airport gift shop. The airport is the last place I would think people would get it on...how could I forget Republican Senator Larry Craig?

I greeted my new family and got a tour of the house. The lack of sleep the previous night had its toll on me. I collapsed on the couch within minutes and woke up a few hours later to the silence of night fall. I drove out with all the relatives to a local eatery, had a few drinks, and ended my first night in CR with a different buzz.

Day 2. After a decent night´s sleep, albeit, garbage trucks, speeding motorcycles, crying babies, and my uncle snoring from down stairs, I was fully recuperated. I spent the morning lounging around the crib, until I went out with my cousin to run some errands downtown S.J. We had a quick bite, and went into the Teatro Nacional de Cultura and spent about an hour there. The main plaza surrounding it is full of pigeons and pedestrians (ratio of 50 to 1), and street vendors selling anything from bootleg reggaeton CD´s to crushed pigeon food. Afterwords, we taxied over to San Pedro Mall for lunch. Commercialism here is very much modeled after and run by American Corportions. They even have General Electric Banks, and all this time I thought GE only made dishwashers.

From the looks of S.J. now, it seems absolutely nothing like what I remember. Granted, I was only 7 years old the last time I was here, its amazing how one´s perception of memory distorts truth. The scale that one experiences place when only being 36" tall is a marvel when those perceptions of place are locked in your brain, and rediscovered 23 years later. For anyone who´s seen the film Last Year at Marienbad, you already know that one´s own perspective is always the correct one.

The insane motorists, the mixture of commerce and residences w.o. regard for zoning ordinances, unkempt roads, strewn garbage, rampant advertisements, and urban topography interspersed with random scenery reminded me of Los Angeles...even the skanks everywhere.

My first blog! YAY!

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