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Published: July 13th 2006
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While sitting in the airport during our 4 hour layover in El Salvador on the way back to the States, looking up, I noticed a small bat on the ceiling. I have no idea how this poor fella had gotten into the airport but I can imagine the bright lights and the loud speaker going off next to him weren’t exactly pleasant. Considering I wasn’t sure how the airport police in El Salvador would react if I told them about the ceiling bat, I opted to let this little guy fend for himself and get himself back outside quietly.
Besides, the airport police looked too busy going through people’s bags that were standing in the check-in line to be bothered with a bat. Mike and I actually saw the inside of one guy’s luggage that contained 6 bags of a white powdered substance. The police just kept smelling the bags but didn’t seem to be too alarmed. I guess considering that the drug sniffing dog didn’t rip the guy to shreds made the police less on edge. We never did find out what was in the bags. Instead, they called our aisle for boarding and off we went.
I
have seen some amazing sights already in my short 2 week stay in Costa Rica. Some still have me laughing.
I love the purple and pink Mercedes bus and one thing that I did not get to take a picture of in CR was the typical white bread here - it’s actually called Bimbo. Total riot although Ticos don’t seem to be able to fully appreciate how funny that really is.
I was equally astonished to see that in one of the diners in San Jose, you could actually order cigarettes with your meal. Crazy…
We arrived back to the heat and humidity of Limerick and have since been ridiculously busy getting our house ready for the movers that come on Thursday. We were told to make the moving process as simplistic as possible so we have segregated our house off into sections. Some areas are all electronics that have serial numbers that must be listed on the manifest. Others are sections that do not get packed at all as they are boxes for people we know who are receiving some of our goods and multiple bags of coffee that we’ve brought back from CR that still
need to be delivered. One additional section is for things that Mike and I will be bringing to CR ourselves. It’s quite an ordeal but those of you who know me will appreciate that yes, it’s organized!
Last night we managed to put signs up on our vehicles as well in the hopes that they sell before we leave at the end of July. If not, my poor parents will have the burden of keeping the cars on their property until they are sold.
Thursday and Friday the shippers come! Thursday is only a day for packing and putting together the manifest. Friday, they come with the crate and everything goes. Mike and I were saying how strange it’s going to be when we finally see our things again. We will not have the shipment deployed to us until we have a property and a place to store the goods so it could be quite a few months before we see any of our things again. It’ll be like Christmas though as I’m sure we’ll have forgotten about half of it by the time it arrives.
We have also been told that it’s best not to ship
tea or spices. Apparently, these items cause a major hold up in customs. Glad we asked considering that I have 4 tea boxes completely stocked and Mike has about 50 spices that we cannot bring with us. No worries however as they are going to a good home.
Monday, we settle on our house and then its relaxation time. We plan on using our remaining few days to visit as many friends and relatives as we can before we shove back off to Costa Rica on the 27th.
Considering that we were told by Romulo, our lawyer, that we needed to have our residency application signed no later than the end of July, we don’t have too much choice as to when we need to return to Costa Rica. We’ve confirmed our flight for the 27th, which should give us enough time to get back into San Jose, sign our final residency application and have it submitted to immigration prior to Aug. 1.
Leaving however will definitely be bittersweet. It mean’s saying goodbye to friends and family, however I do hope that many will come visit us in CR once we’re set up. We would love to
share our new life and everything wonderful Costa Rica has to offer with as many people as possible.
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Scott Mack
non-member comment
Back to CR
Hmmmm? Seeing bats in the airport and pink tour buses? Hmm? could it be that the white powder in that bag was in the air and you, Vanessa, innocently inhaled some and all of a sudden there were bats everywhere and pink tour buses. It could happen. We're sorry we missed you guys when you came down to Va., We were at the beach. Stay safe and I hope the move goes well. Keep blogging. Scott