Arrival

So, I made it. I was up at 4am on Friday morning, mostly because I was in pain from trying to swallow and my throat was too swollen to accomodate my saliva. Nice. I couldn´t wait to get on a plane. I was super early for my flight but I did not care because it was better than sitting at my house in pain. At least I was in pain with coffee in hand at the airport.

My second flight from Charlotte to Costa Rica was late and I missed the transfer and the bus to Quepos. (Incidentally, I discovered that Quepos is pronounced like KEPos w/a K like ketchup sound, not the KW sound I assumed.) After clearing customs, I was surrounded by taxi drivers, looking to take this white chick somewhere expensive. I must look really conspicuous. As far as I could tell, the darker skinned people were not getting nearly as much attention as I was. Great. Way to blend Katie.

I took a cab to San Jose, a place, for the three hours I spent there, I would not recommend visiting. It´s smoggy, crowded and well, crowded. Not my idea of fun. I was dropped off at the Coca-Cola bus station (No joke) which happened to be closed. So, I had already missed the last private bus to anywhere, decided I hated San Jose and did not want to spend the night there and was determined to get myself on some mode of transport out of the capitol. I used my handy 50 words of Spanish to discover that I might be able to directly pay the bus driver the appx $5 fare if there were enough seats. It did not look good once I saw him shaking his head at me. However, some helpful guy told me to put my luggage in the hold under the bus and I´d have a better chance of getting on. This was not exactly what I wanted to do: separate myself from my bags with the hope he´d let me on the bus. However, I brought him my bags at the side of the bus and the driver told me something, which I took to mean sit in the back so, I just got on the bus and sat in the back. Ha! I was on, my bags were on and I was not getting off. I just hoped it was the right bus. Right. At least I was getting out of San Jose.

It turns out it was the right bus, I was exhausted and tried to sleep, ignoring the huge drop offs on the side of me, assuming that the driver was better than I at controlling this huge thing. By the way, I had imagined this to be the least safe and most uncomfortable way to get to Quepos. At five dollars, I assumed that it would be me, some half naked men and free roaming chickens on the way to Quepos. Shows how ignorant I am. This is the best deal in town EVER! It was a coach bus, just without air conditioning (but totally functioning windows) and no bathroom. Big deal. It looked safer than the Fung Wah, so I was psyched at my ignorance. The $29 alternative that I was going to take should have been plated in gold or something! We made a stop at some random side of the road food stand w/bathrooms (and running water). I got something for dinner. I know it consisted of rice, beans and something else. It might have been sheep brains, cow intestines, chicken livers, who knows. I surely don´t want to know. It was good and perfect for the bus ride. I could actually swallow it without too much pain and it woke me up some so I could make sure I was awake for my stop.

I didn´t get to see too much scenery since it was so dark and I assume this was for the best. I did move up to the front of the bus when I saw road signs for Quepos and kind of wish I hadn´t. I could see out the windsheild when we came up on what some might refer to as a bridge. This is no Army Corp of Engineers undertaking to say the least. Basically, it looked like some pieces of rebar and a couple of pieces of sheet metal thrown across two supporting beams. No shit. I seriously wanted to take out my camera and document this in case the authorities needed to describe the scene to my family when my body was recovered. However, I thought the flash might scare the driver and it might be kind of rude. I am totally going back there to get it on film though before I leave.

We finally arrived in Quepos, I have no idea what time. Late. I found my hotel, mostly by accident. Took a shower (pictures of the "shower" are forthcoming as soon at I find my camera) and fell into bed.

Now I´m here, still sick but at least not traveling anywhere for the next few days. Phew!

Hope you all are well back home and had a great collective Thanksgiving!