hola!

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Flight

3 30 am monday 19th december (can´t sleep)

Head is so sore, body so tired! itchy all over.

Got into San jose, costa rica, at 9:30pm local time last night (or tonight?) after approx. 28 hours in transit, and 3 different flights. Almost missed the connection in LA to Dallas Fort Worth by lining up in the wrong queue. At the last possible moment we were redirected to a queue with at least 500 people in it, an hour before our fight was to leave. A brilliant stroke of luck meant I overheard a conversation which prompted me to try my luck at jumping the queue, which thankfully worked.

A few more hazy hours later we were in Dallas Fort Worth, TX, a very cold city which from the air did not appear to end. Its airport, larger than LA´s and one of the largest in the world, was a city unto itself but was so well designed and built that it was easily negotiated. Of course, it offers a bus service between its sections (A,B,C and D, each with 45 terminals) because they acknowledge that if you tried to walk with luggage you would probably miss your connection. Our bus trip from C24 to D37 took 10 minutes, in which time I was offered a chocolate bar by an American man and red licorice by an American woman. So far I like the Americans as they have saved me a day of my life and offered me candy. Also, their accent is not as whiney as the Brits´ and their Southern drawl, if I may use that chliched term, is almost endearing.

More hazy hours later and we are landing in Costa Rica. The little girl who has been kicking my seat the whole trip is throwing up everytime we descend a bit, managing to whisper "shit" in the downtime. The smell makes me want to throw up too.

After customs clearance I ordered a taxi and got a prepaid ticket for taxi 45. Of course as soon as we entered the taxi terminal we were descended on by at least 5 taxi drivers claiming to be number 45. Not to be persuaded we sought out a man with a swing tag around his neck, the international sign of being important. He found taxi 45 for us: a gleaming, brand new, orange Toyata Corolla.

After one very speedy and indirect trip (vast majority of roads in San Jose are one way, makes for interesting driving) we got to the Hotel. Its very comfortable but I just can´t sleep.

Monday 19th December , recovery and walk around San Jose

After a few hours of walking around San Jose and admiring the beautiful Spanish colonial buildings, we sit in a central courtyard downtown and watch people go by. San Jose is surprisingly cosmopolitan: and clear evidence of the impact of globalisation. Before I arrived I had wondered if I would offend people by wearing singlet tops, now I am glad I brought four. There is no more evidence of poverty in San Jose than in Melbourne and within 15 minutes we took our camera out of the backpack and were happy to walk around with it. Hundreds of pigeons are there in the courtyard, and small bags of pigeon feed are sold and children come to feed them. Andrew says pigeons are "rats with wings" and wants to leave. Then he changes his mind when a spots a grotesquely obsese pigeon who he names "Fatty". Fatty is a very comical pigeon whose swag of fat beneath his beak jiggles as he struts about, bullying other pigeons. Eventually I drag Andrew away and we have lunch.

Our Spanish is improving rapidly because barely anyone speaks English, not even the people in the Nike shop. By dinner time we were ordering dinner, asking for the desert menu, asking for the bill, asking where the toilet was and asking to change money and how we wanted it in Spanish. Or mostly I was. Andrew did ask for the large bottle of water in Spanish though.

Tuesday 20th Dec

Did not sleep between 12midnight and 4am. Not just didn´t sleep as in I don´t think I slept. Andrew couldn´t sleep either and we watched Spanish video clips and read books and did cross words together until 4am. Around 2am it was so apparent we were wide awake we took a picture of ourselves with the clock. It is very unusual for Andrew to be awake in the middle of the night and I figure our bodies still think we are in Melbourne.

What an amazing day! We went to see a real live Volcano, Volcan Poas, went to a butterfly farm and saw the most amazing waterfalls I /we have ever seen! We also saw hummingbirds and a squirrel for the first time ever. Hummingbirds look like big insects and they are so speedy I just started taking pictures of where I thought they ought to be and I will check all my pictures tonight to see if I have any good ones.

The best most brilliant thing of the day was that we got a really good view of the crater, our guide said we were very lucky and he knows people who have come 4 times and never seen it like that! yay!

We were on a very personal tour with another Australian couple roughly our age and a just married couple a tiny bit older than us from LA. They were really nice, in fact the Australian girl studies with optom students in UNSW where she does vision science, how freaky. Wasn´t even remotely tempted to talk about it though!

Andrew had a ball but here is not here to write in the journal because he has a stomach bug and is in the room feeling sick. Anyhow write more later.

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Comments

[Lozza]

Thanks!
thanks for your entry. Amazing travel, so far so fast. Glad you are enjoying the dry season in San Jose. Enjoyed reading of your travels. Hope Andrew feels better soon. Cheers! Lozza