Well today is our 20th anniversary! Had a really nice, mellow day just laying around the house and taking a short bike ride before we decided to go out to eat. I couldn't decide if I wanted Italian or a steak so Bob said we would go to the Rohrmoser Mall and see what restaurants were there. He didn't care where we ate because they both sounded good.
When we got to the mall there was a BBQ place that served steaks and ribs so we decided to eat there. The chicken was caliente (hot) so Jacob passed and ordered what he called the best steak he has ever had! Bob and I decided to share a 2 person mixed platter (and brought half of it home it was sooooooo big)......
Side bar:.....Angie, you will love that place!
......which included BBG ribs, chicken, seasoned pieces of steak and some sort of teriyaki steak strips, along with corn on the cob, coleslaw, some sort of vinegar banana shaped thing, and some other type of root plant that was to die for!
Jacob had a salad with his steak that was really good even though it had a bit of a bite to it because of the dressing and a baked potato with.......are you ready for this and it was actually delicious......tartar sauce on it. You heard me right....tartar sauce.....delicious!!!
Then the waiter brought us all icecream (again...Angie you will love their icecream too) that was a combination of the best vanilla I've ever had (not really a vanilla girl and the container I've already bought here was not that good)and raspberry. Yum Yum!!
And then to top the evening off, when the waiter heard we had been married for 20 years, and after he told Bob he deserved a shot of tequilla for being married so long (wait....he didn't offer me one for being married so long.....hmmmmm....maybe he was saying it in a congratulatory way?) he actually came out with two shots of tequilla....one for Bob and one for me.
Okay....I have to admit that it has been YEARS since I did a shot of anything, and I wasn't sure how it would go but.....It was the best shot of tequilla I have ever had! Remember that strange baked potato and tartar sauce combination I just told you about? (And no.....there was no tartar sauce in the tequilla....silly you!) Well the tequilla shot had tequilla on the bottom, then some sort of coffee liquer in the middle and then a whipped cream layer on top. I don't like coffee but WOW! That shot was fantastic....and I only had one so stop staring at me so strange! LOL
Again it was a wonderful anniversary and I look forward to.....hmmmmm....how old is Bob? I look forward to 50 more years together! :-)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Finding Our Way Around
Had a very interesting day today. Woke up and went to Plaza Mayor to open a bank account at the branch in the mall. It takes so long to do any banking here. I thought it was just a fluke that it took us so long to exchange money in San Jose at the bank but apparently it really does take a while to do any banking.
You go into the bank, after the guard has run a wand over you, and take a number... then wait. There are several different things you can do at the bank and you get a number based on what you want to do. What you have to do determines which window you end up at. So we took our number and waited. We finally had our chance to open a bank account but found out we didn't have all of the correct papers. Luckily, Allan told us to go get the last paper and he would take us as soon as we got back so we didn't have to wait in the line again. That was so nice of them. We still managed to spend a couple hours over all trying to open two accounts.
We intended to open two accounts but somehow or the other ended up opening three. Apparently you can open an account in either dollars or colones. Our first account was opened in dollars. Now even if you open it up in dollars you can still get colones. Keeping up with this so far? So when we go to open the second account....for Jacob.....he said it could be in both dollars and colones. We said that sounded great. What he meant to say,which we found out after he opened the accounts, yes that is plural, is that he could have an account in dollars and an account in colones....so now Jacob has two accounts that do the same thing except one is in dollars and one is in colones. I was too tired at this point to try to get it back to one account so we just left it the way it was.
Then we went home and tried to call the movie theater....Bob had gone to the pulperia to get a paper so we could see when and where Eclipse was playing....but once I finally got through it was all in Spanish. We gave up and just went ahead and caught a taxi to the Cinemark in Escazu. It turned out that the cinema is actually in a HUGE mall. When we got there, we had to wait in a really long line, but fortunately, the line moved quickly. Once we got to the purchasing register I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is 5.00 for an adult ticket and $3.50for a student ticket. Not only that but you actually pick your seats so once you get inside....your seat is empty and waiting for you. That was soooooo cool!
Eclipse was....of course....fantastic! I feel much better now that I have seen it and I'm sure all of my friends are happy too now that I will quit saying, "I haven't seen it....no spoiler alerts!"
Each day brings a new adventure and makes it that much easier for us to get around. Can't wait to show off Costa Rica to my friends once they start to visit. Talk to all of you soon!
You go into the bank, after the guard has run a wand over you, and take a number... then wait. There are several different things you can do at the bank and you get a number based on what you want to do. What you have to do determines which window you end up at. So we took our number and waited. We finally had our chance to open a bank account but found out we didn't have all of the correct papers. Luckily, Allan told us to go get the last paper and he would take us as soon as we got back so we didn't have to wait in the line again. That was so nice of them. We still managed to spend a couple hours over all trying to open two accounts.
We intended to open two accounts but somehow or the other ended up opening three. Apparently you can open an account in either dollars or colones. Our first account was opened in dollars. Now even if you open it up in dollars you can still get colones. Keeping up with this so far? So when we go to open the second account....for Jacob.....he said it could be in both dollars and colones. We said that sounded great. What he meant to say,which we found out after he opened the accounts, yes that is plural, is that he could have an account in dollars and an account in colones....so now Jacob has two accounts that do the same thing except one is in dollars and one is in colones. I was too tired at this point to try to get it back to one account so we just left it the way it was.
Then we went home and tried to call the movie theater....Bob had gone to the pulperia to get a paper so we could see when and where Eclipse was playing....but once I finally got through it was all in Spanish. We gave up and just went ahead and caught a taxi to the Cinemark in Escazu. It turned out that the cinema is actually in a HUGE mall. When we got there, we had to wait in a really long line, but fortunately, the line moved quickly. Once we got to the purchasing register I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is 5.00 for an adult ticket and $3.50for a student ticket. Not only that but you actually pick your seats so once you get inside....your seat is empty and waiting for you. That was soooooo cool!
Eclipse was....of course....fantastic! I feel much better now that I have seen it and I'm sure all of my friends are happy too now that I will quit saying, "I haven't seen it....no spoiler alerts!"
Each day brings a new adventure and makes it that much easier for us to get around. Can't wait to show off Costa Rica to my friends once they start to visit. Talk to all of you soon!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Around The Neighborhood
After getting settled, we started to check out the neighborhood. The first thing we found was a pulperia...corner store....that was run by a very nice man who speaks Spanish, Chinese, and English. Of course we didn't realize this the first time we went in and I used Spanish to communicate. We found out the 2nd time we went in when he asked if we wanted him to speak in Spanish or English....we, of course, opted for English. Then he asked if we were European and when I said no he asked if we were from the States. I told him yes but then explained that we had just moved here from the States and told him where we lived. He welcomed us to the neighborhood. Then he asked me what the word in English was for the bag I had brought in for our groceries...I told him....bag. He repeated it and said, "So you open your mouth wide to say "a" part of bag....hmmmmm I guess we do. He said it was same word for Europeans too.
The next day, we went over to the main street...one more block over from our house.... looking for a bicycle shop...ciclo....pronounced see klo.... and spent quite a few minutes approaching people and saying, "Donde es ciclo?". We finally found it. The man who owned it was very helpful and had almost everything we needed. It was great for me because he spoke no English and our whole conversation was in Spanish. Great way for me to practice! We thanked him and left then thought....maybe he had bikes for sale so we went back to look for one for Jacob. He did have them so Jake picked out the one he liked and we paid the man 60,000 colones, which comes out to about $110.00. We found out once we went into town to find the one missing part he didn't have just how cheap that was. The cheapest bike we could find in town was 130,000 colones and the cheapest helmut was 39,500 colones...Jake paid 8,950 colones for his helmet at that mans place.
SIDEBAR: We have a bus stop right at the end of our street which takes us all the way into San Jose or just up to the mall....Plaza Mayor....where we can get groceries, shop, or watch a movie. Won't be seeing any movies there anytime soon because they are showing two movies and both of them are in Spanish. For those of you that are quick at making the jump to where this is heading.....we have not seen Eclipse yet! Of course it didn't come out here until July 8th, but we REALLY need to find an English theater!!
Bob, Jake, and I then left the bike shop by our house and walked a really long distance...in the rain...to find the missing piece. The next place didn't have it but he called the last place for us and found out they did. We were not interested in walking any farther so we flagged a taxi down....it's still raining....and Jake's bike wouldn't fit in so he road all the way back to the apartment while we went to the other bike shop. I was a little nervous until we got back to the house and made sure Jake made it home okay. I wasn't sure he would find his way back because this was a new route we had taken but he did fine!
The next day, Bob and I went for a ride around the neighborhood...Jake didn't want to go because he hadn't taken a shower and didn't look good....lol....so we went alone. We found a private airstrip by our house and a really nice park. There were a bunch of people and kids there playing soccer. We made it home just in time before the rain started! Had a great time biking and realize that we will be doing a lot of that here.
We have met both of the neighbors on our side of the apartment building. The man next door to us, upstairs, is Don who is originally from Canada but came here from Florida. He has been trying to become a resident for 6 years and has given up and thinks he will be returning to the States soon. We met the man below our apartment one day when we all left the apartment building at the same time. His name is Pablo and he is a web designer who works with sports teams in Costa Rica and who is also a painter. We were talking about places to go to buy stuff for the house...kinda like a Walmart type store...and he is the one who told us about Hyper Mas....pronounced eeper moss.... and he walked us to the bus stop, flagged a taxi, told the driver where we wanted to go (I have learned how to do that too....":Quiero ir Hyper Mas en Ezcasu, por favor!"), shook all of our hands, held my door until I was in the cab, wished us well and said he would have us over for coffee before shutting my door.
We went to Hyper Mas and it is a lot like a Walmart except for one big difference....unlike Walmart where you can NEVER find someone to help you, and if by some fluke you do they have no idea where things are.....you will find at least one employee in EVERY AISLE....I kid you not...and in some aisles you will find 2 or 3 or more all waiting to help you find things. They do this in the grocery stores too...it is both weird and refreshing!
Today, Bob went bike riding while I went to the store on the bus. Again, no shower for Jake yet so he couldn't go and I didn't want to wait for him to get his shower. Bob went back to the park and watched a soccer game and made it home just as the skies opened up....it rained for over 6 hours today (It is the rainy season here right now). I came back with three bags of groceries and NO trash bags....I am having the hardest time finding those darn things.
Tomorrow, we are going to bike over to the main street and look at PALI, which is another grocery store, to see if they have trash bags. Of course we will have to do that early because...1.) It rains every day between 12 and 1pm and
2.) The World Cup is tomorrow at noon...The Netherlands vs. Spain and the octopus has picked Spain to win. He hasn't been wrong yet....he has picked every winner of the World Cup, this year, to date!
I hope that gives you a feel for our neighborhood. I've posted pictures on Facebook of our apartment and our neighborhood....Check them out!
The next day, we went over to the main street...one more block over from our house.... looking for a bicycle shop...ciclo....pronounced see klo.... and spent quite a few minutes approaching people and saying, "Donde es ciclo?". We finally found it. The man who owned it was very helpful and had almost everything we needed. It was great for me because he spoke no English and our whole conversation was in Spanish. Great way for me to practice! We thanked him and left then thought....maybe he had bikes for sale so we went back to look for one for Jacob. He did have them so Jake picked out the one he liked and we paid the man 60,000 colones, which comes out to about $110.00. We found out once we went into town to find the one missing part he didn't have just how cheap that was. The cheapest bike we could find in town was 130,000 colones and the cheapest helmut was 39,500 colones...Jake paid 8,950 colones for his helmet at that mans place.
SIDEBAR: We have a bus stop right at the end of our street which takes us all the way into San Jose or just up to the mall....Plaza Mayor....where we can get groceries, shop, or watch a movie. Won't be seeing any movies there anytime soon because they are showing two movies and both of them are in Spanish. For those of you that are quick at making the jump to where this is heading.....we have not seen Eclipse yet! Of course it didn't come out here until July 8th, but we REALLY need to find an English theater!!
Bob, Jake, and I then left the bike shop by our house and walked a really long distance...in the rain...to find the missing piece. The next place didn't have it but he called the last place for us and found out they did. We were not interested in walking any farther so we flagged a taxi down....it's still raining....and Jake's bike wouldn't fit in so he road all the way back to the apartment while we went to the other bike shop. I was a little nervous until we got back to the house and made sure Jake made it home okay. I wasn't sure he would find his way back because this was a new route we had taken but he did fine!
The next day, Bob and I went for a ride around the neighborhood...Jake didn't want to go because he hadn't taken a shower and didn't look good....lol....so we went alone. We found a private airstrip by our house and a really nice park. There were a bunch of people and kids there playing soccer. We made it home just in time before the rain started! Had a great time biking and realize that we will be doing a lot of that here.
We have met both of the neighbors on our side of the apartment building. The man next door to us, upstairs, is Don who is originally from Canada but came here from Florida. He has been trying to become a resident for 6 years and has given up and thinks he will be returning to the States soon. We met the man below our apartment one day when we all left the apartment building at the same time. His name is Pablo and he is a web designer who works with sports teams in Costa Rica and who is also a painter. We were talking about places to go to buy stuff for the house...kinda like a Walmart type store...and he is the one who told us about Hyper Mas....pronounced eeper moss.... and he walked us to the bus stop, flagged a taxi, told the driver where we wanted to go (I have learned how to do that too....":Quiero ir Hyper Mas en Ezcasu, por favor!"), shook all of our hands, held my door until I was in the cab, wished us well and said he would have us over for coffee before shutting my door.
We went to Hyper Mas and it is a lot like a Walmart except for one big difference....unlike Walmart where you can NEVER find someone to help you, and if by some fluke you do they have no idea where things are.....you will find at least one employee in EVERY AISLE....I kid you not...and in some aisles you will find 2 or 3 or more all waiting to help you find things. They do this in the grocery stores too...it is both weird and refreshing!
Today, Bob went bike riding while I went to the store on the bus. Again, no shower for Jake yet so he couldn't go and I didn't want to wait for him to get his shower. Bob went back to the park and watched a soccer game and made it home just as the skies opened up....it rained for over 6 hours today (It is the rainy season here right now). I came back with three bags of groceries and NO trash bags....I am having the hardest time finding those darn things.
Tomorrow, we are going to bike over to the main street and look at PALI, which is another grocery store, to see if they have trash bags. Of course we will have to do that early because...1.) It rains every day between 12 and 1pm and
2.) The World Cup is tomorrow at noon...The Netherlands vs. Spain and the octopus has picked Spain to win. He hasn't been wrong yet....he has picked every winner of the World Cup, this year, to date!
I hope that gives you a feel for our neighborhood. I've posted pictures on Facebook of our apartment and our neighborhood....Check them out!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Our Not So Easy Move
After a very dramatic exit from the hotel....think.....driver didn't show up to take us but sent someone in his place (after we called him when he was over a half hour late)who arrived in a taxi....not a taxi van but a 4 seater taxi to take us to our new apartment....did I mention we brought 15 pieces of luggage with us? I did? Well I told the driver that too but apparently he though he could fit all 15 pieces into his little 4 seater.....NOT!
We finally more or less twisted the arm of the hotel to let us use the supposedly "FREE" shuttle (which conveniently was never working the whole time we were there)to get all of our bags to our new apartment and it cost us $20.00 to do so! By twisted I mean my husband started to load the van with our stuff while the taxi driver with the 4 seater just stood there looking confused. Seriously people....we were checking out a day early...which means they had our money for the next day but we weren't going to be there so they could actually rent it out and make double the money.... (I should point out that while all of this was happening, my husband was on his 2nd day without tobacco, yes they can thank me at any time that I actually kept him from killing them).
Anyhoo....we get to our apartment in our very quiet neighborhood and settle in to unpack. The first night we were here I actually got all of the bags empty. Of course there were no hangers so I more or less stuck the clothes on the top shelves of the closets to wait for the stores to open the next day so I could get hangers.
SIDEBAR: Do any of you actually know how many hangers it takes to hang up all our your clothes when you have no hangers at all? Well do you? I'll sit here and wait while you do the math or go run and count all of the clothes in your closet.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Back so soon? Well it took us......and rememeber this is for all three of us....after we took SEVERAL boxes of clothes to the Salvation Army, and by several I mean about 12........160 hangers!
Then there were all of the books and DVD's to unload....all of our "bathroom essentials" and whatever else we managed to squeeze into those (not to be over 50 lbs each) 15 pieces of luggage we brought with us. Actually there were only 13 pieces because 2 pieces were boxes that held our bikes.
It is nice that the apartment not only came furnished with living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture, but they also had rugs, dishes, silverware, pots, pans, towels, washer, dryer, microwave, blender, and coffepot. All we had to do was go get some groceries. Of course I wish I had looked at the bags first and realized we needed hangers but such is life!
And that is just day one....wait until I blog about the 4 days since then. I can tell you that things got better from that first day and I can't wait to blog about it. For now though....this blog will have to tide you over. I am still adjusting to the time change so I am very tired.
More tomorrow....keep a look out!
We finally more or less twisted the arm of the hotel to let us use the supposedly "FREE" shuttle (which conveniently was never working the whole time we were there)to get all of our bags to our new apartment and it cost us $20.00 to do so! By twisted I mean my husband started to load the van with our stuff while the taxi driver with the 4 seater just stood there looking confused. Seriously people....we were checking out a day early...which means they had our money for the next day but we weren't going to be there so they could actually rent it out and make double the money.... (I should point out that while all of this was happening, my husband was on his 2nd day without tobacco, yes they can thank me at any time that I actually kept him from killing them).
Anyhoo....we get to our apartment in our very quiet neighborhood and settle in to unpack. The first night we were here I actually got all of the bags empty. Of course there were no hangers so I more or less stuck the clothes on the top shelves of the closets to wait for the stores to open the next day so I could get hangers.
SIDEBAR: Do any of you actually know how many hangers it takes to hang up all our your clothes when you have no hangers at all? Well do you? I'll sit here and wait while you do the math or go run and count all of the clothes in your closet.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Back so soon? Well it took us......and rememeber this is for all three of us....after we took SEVERAL boxes of clothes to the Salvation Army, and by several I mean about 12........160 hangers!
Then there were all of the books and DVD's to unload....all of our "bathroom essentials" and whatever else we managed to squeeze into those (not to be over 50 lbs each) 15 pieces of luggage we brought with us. Actually there were only 13 pieces because 2 pieces were boxes that held our bikes.
It is nice that the apartment not only came furnished with living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture, but they also had rugs, dishes, silverware, pots, pans, towels, washer, dryer, microwave, blender, and coffepot. All we had to do was go get some groceries. Of course I wish I had looked at the bags first and realized we needed hangers but such is life!
And that is just day one....wait until I blog about the 4 days since then. I can tell you that things got better from that first day and I can't wait to blog about it. For now though....this blog will have to tide you over. I am still adjusting to the time change so I am very tired.
More tomorrow....keep a look out!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Our House Hunting Excursion
Well, we started the day with 4 places lined up to look at, but ended up losing one because even though I had typed in "Places for rent in San Jose".....Tambor is NOT in San Jose but out at the beaches!
We found a really nice place in Rohrmoser (pronounced Ro Mo Sayer....o's are long o's) which is close to the American embassy (about three blocks) and close to the Presidents house (about two blocks) and even more importantly is that it is close to the mall and the center of town....Rorhmoser....not San Jose.
It is a two bedroom two and a half bathroom apartment on the second floor that is furnished. It is gated and has a security guard twenty four hours a day. It is in a cul de sac off one of the main roads and is very quiet. We walk right to the end of our road and catch a bus right there. Very convenient. We are also within walking distance of the new stadium. We are provided with a covered parking space which is enclosed in the gates right below our apartment....now all we need is a car. We will instead be placing our bikes there for now.
We looked at two apartments and Jacob really liked the bigger apartment so that is the one we went for. We move there the morning of the 6th so those of you that were concerned with our living arrangements, you can stop taking the anxiety medicine...we have stable housing! LOL!
We then went back into San Jose to catch a bus back to our hotel in El llano which is up a VERY steep hill and were frozen by the time we got back because it had been cool all day and it had rained. We got turned around in San Jose and we were making our way back to the bus stop...which was in a different place than the bus stop where we got off....and were headed down a street when a very nice young man told us it was not safe to go down the street we were headed towards. He started to walk with us and actually went all 7 blocks with us and made sure we got in the right line for the bus we needed. The people here are soooo nice.
We finally made it back to the hotel bus stop...a little frozen but non the worse for wear.... and we stopped at a little store for drinks and M&M's before we went back to the hotel. We ran into the man who brought us to the hotel from the airport and he is going to take us (and all of our luggage) to our new apartment on Tuesday. We are soooo excited!
Now we are off to bed so we can relaxe tomorrow and just enjoy our time here. Now that the housing situation is settled we can just sit back and relax until Tuesday. Maybe we will find a theater and watch "Eclipse". Can't wait to see that movie so..... "NO SPOILERS....PLEASE!" LOL!
We found a really nice place in Rohrmoser (pronounced Ro Mo Sayer....o's are long o's) which is close to the American embassy (about three blocks) and close to the Presidents house (about two blocks) and even more importantly is that it is close to the mall and the center of town....Rorhmoser....not San Jose.
It is a two bedroom two and a half bathroom apartment on the second floor that is furnished. It is gated and has a security guard twenty four hours a day. It is in a cul de sac off one of the main roads and is very quiet. We walk right to the end of our road and catch a bus right there. Very convenient. We are also within walking distance of the new stadium. We are provided with a covered parking space which is enclosed in the gates right below our apartment....now all we need is a car. We will instead be placing our bikes there for now.
We looked at two apartments and Jacob really liked the bigger apartment so that is the one we went for. We move there the morning of the 6th so those of you that were concerned with our living arrangements, you can stop taking the anxiety medicine...we have stable housing! LOL!
We then went back into San Jose to catch a bus back to our hotel in El llano which is up a VERY steep hill and were frozen by the time we got back because it had been cool all day and it had rained. We got turned around in San Jose and we were making our way back to the bus stop...which was in a different place than the bus stop where we got off....and were headed down a street when a very nice young man told us it was not safe to go down the street we were headed towards. He started to walk with us and actually went all 7 blocks with us and made sure we got in the right line for the bus we needed. The people here are soooo nice.
We finally made it back to the hotel bus stop...a little frozen but non the worse for wear.... and we stopped at a little store for drinks and M&M's before we went back to the hotel. We ran into the man who brought us to the hotel from the airport and he is going to take us (and all of our luggage) to our new apartment on Tuesday. We are soooo excited!
Now we are off to bed so we can relaxe tomorrow and just enjoy our time here. Now that the housing situation is settled we can just sit back and relax until Tuesday. Maybe we will find a theater and watch "Eclipse". Can't wait to see that movie so..... "NO SPOILERS....PLEASE!" LOL!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Leaving for our Flight To Costa Rica and the Flight Itself
The journey to Costa Rica was interesting, but then again...when is our lives ever not interrupted by something "interesting"?
Tuesday, after finally finishing the house and packing...(more or less on the finishing part of the house)....we loaded our 15 bags into a mini van, along with 6 people, and started the long journey to Washington DC to catch our plane (which was actually not leaving until Wednesday).
Of course, getting into the van to leave was easier said than done. Not only did we have to say goodbye to some very dear friends in our front yard, but we also had to convince Scooby Doo (our cat...not the cartoon character)that it was important for him to come out from under the porch so one of Jacob's best friends, Isaiah, could take him home with him. (Yes, Scooby did not make the trip with us...:-( but $700-$800 is a lot to spend to get your cat to Costa Rica with no guarantee they will give him to you when you arrive.) Apparently, Scooby figured out what was going on because not only did he sleep in the carrier several times before our trip to make sure we didn't leave without him, but after we returned the carrier, he slept in the suitcase.
When we were ready to leave Scooby ran under the porch and Jacob had to crawl under the porch to drag him out. Then when Jacob went to hand him over to Isaiah he actually clung to Jacob and pushed Isaiah away with his paws, the whole while meowing what I swear sounded like "Nooooo!" It was very sad to watch! Then when Isaiah finally got ahold of the cat and went to crawl in the van, Scooby tried to jump out the driver's door, but Isaiah caught him by the foot. :-( We talked to Isaiah the night we arrived in Costa Rica and he said Scooby was very depressed.
We arrived at the airport around 6:00pm or so and after Angie, Tim, and Julie helped us get everything inside the airport we had the hard task of saying goodbye to them. (I still blame Julie and Angie for making me so sad when they left). That was such a sad thing to go through...saying goodbye to good friends.
Then we spent the night in the airport...notice I said spent the night without any mention of sleeping....and waited around until we could check our baggage in at
4:30am. After we checked our 7 suitcases and 2 bikes, we headed to security with our 6 pieces of carry-ons. (3 duffle bags and 3 personal bags...the personal held camera's, computers, and personal papers). As we waited to go through the metal detector...barefoot. by the way..I got pegged as a random security check...lucky me!:-(....and Bob got tagged for a security check because his metal knee beeped (which the doctor swore wouldn't happen). So both Bob and I are now being wanded and inspected while Jacob is trying to collect all of our carry on luggage as it comes through the x-ray machine. After retrieving my sandals from the security guy, I went over to help Bob and Jake put our carry-ons on the little metal roller cart we had purchased to help wheel our carry-ons around in time to have a security person tell me that our last bag was now tagged for inspection....so off we go to the counter so they could inspect it with a wand. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Do you think they had this planned when they saw us arrive at the airport with 15 pieces of luggage and a one-way ticket out of the country?...I'm thinking the same thing.
That was when our luck seemed to change. As we were getting ready to board the plane in Washington DC, the man checking us through the gate looked at our 6 baqs of carry-ons with a funny face so I explained that my husband had just had knee surgery so I was using the roller cart to make it easier on him. That was when the guy turned to the computer and told me he would check our 3 carry-ons in to be put under the plane all the way to Costa Rica at no charge. 3 bags down...3 to go.
After our plane arrived in Houston, we took a monorail type airport tram/train thing to the section we needed to catch our flight to Costa Rica with only enough time to order something to eat and sit down for 5 minutes before they started to board. That flight was uneventful too and after we arrived in Costa Rica, we waited for everyone else to exit before we did. (1. Because Bob's knee was pretty stiff and 2. Because we were the next to last row of seats on the plane.) As we approached the door to exit, the flight attendant asked Bob if he needed a wheel chair (Bob was using his cane at this point), to which Bob said no thank you. Then he turned to exit the plane and was greeted by a man with a wheelchair who offered him a ride, which he again politley declined.
We then headed to Customs so we could clear it before going to get our luggage. As we rounded the corner, we found a long Customs line but a lady who worked there came up to Bob and pointed to the handicapped lane and said, "Expresso, Senor, Expresso" and shooed us into that line. Gotta love that cane!!
We finally made it to baggage claim and found all of our luggage already off the spinner thing and actually stacked almost all together in one spot. Things were definitely looking up from the security check 8 hours before in Washington DC. As we started to put our luggage onto several carts for the long haul through the final check and outside, airport workers came by so I asked where we would find the shuttle from oure hotel. He sent another worker out to get a great big cart so we wouldn't be dragging 5 little ones around while he pulled out his cell phone and called the hotel for us. Then he, and the other worker, loaded all of our bags and bikes onto the large cart and wheeled it over to the last check point where they had to unloaded all of our bags onto another xray machine before walking around to the other side to put them back on the big cart. They then wheeled everything outside and found our drive, wheeled everything across the street into the parking garage to the drivers van, and then helped load evything into the van. Yes things had definitely gotten better!
After a 20 minute drive we were at our hotel and the driver was unloading our stuff with two helpers from the hotel. This is where it looked like our luck was turning bad again but......that story is for another time!
Tuesday, after finally finishing the house and packing...(more or less on the finishing part of the house)....we loaded our 15 bags into a mini van, along with 6 people, and started the long journey to Washington DC to catch our plane (which was actually not leaving until Wednesday).
Of course, getting into the van to leave was easier said than done. Not only did we have to say goodbye to some very dear friends in our front yard, but we also had to convince Scooby Doo (our cat...not the cartoon character)that it was important for him to come out from under the porch so one of Jacob's best friends, Isaiah, could take him home with him. (Yes, Scooby did not make the trip with us...:-( but $700-$800 is a lot to spend to get your cat to Costa Rica with no guarantee they will give him to you when you arrive.) Apparently, Scooby figured out what was going on because not only did he sleep in the carrier several times before our trip to make sure we didn't leave without him, but after we returned the carrier, he slept in the suitcase.
When we were ready to leave Scooby ran under the porch and Jacob had to crawl under the porch to drag him out. Then when Jacob went to hand him over to Isaiah he actually clung to Jacob and pushed Isaiah away with his paws, the whole while meowing what I swear sounded like "Nooooo!" It was very sad to watch! Then when Isaiah finally got ahold of the cat and went to crawl in the van, Scooby tried to jump out the driver's door, but Isaiah caught him by the foot. :-( We talked to Isaiah the night we arrived in Costa Rica and he said Scooby was very depressed.
We arrived at the airport around 6:00pm or so and after Angie, Tim, and Julie helped us get everything inside the airport we had the hard task of saying goodbye to them. (I still blame Julie and Angie for making me so sad when they left). That was such a sad thing to go through...saying goodbye to good friends.
Then we spent the night in the airport...notice I said spent the night without any mention of sleeping....and waited around until we could check our baggage in at
4:30am. After we checked our 7 suitcases and 2 bikes, we headed to security with our 6 pieces of carry-ons. (3 duffle bags and 3 personal bags...the personal held camera's, computers, and personal papers). As we waited to go through the metal detector...barefoot. by the way..I got pegged as a random security check...lucky me!:-(....and Bob got tagged for a security check because his metal knee beeped (which the doctor swore wouldn't happen). So both Bob and I are now being wanded and inspected while Jacob is trying to collect all of our carry on luggage as it comes through the x-ray machine. After retrieving my sandals from the security guy, I went over to help Bob and Jake put our carry-ons on the little metal roller cart we had purchased to help wheel our carry-ons around in time to have a security person tell me that our last bag was now tagged for inspection....so off we go to the counter so they could inspect it with a wand. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Do you think they had this planned when they saw us arrive at the airport with 15 pieces of luggage and a one-way ticket out of the country?...I'm thinking the same thing.
That was when our luck seemed to change. As we were getting ready to board the plane in Washington DC, the man checking us through the gate looked at our 6 baqs of carry-ons with a funny face so I explained that my husband had just had knee surgery so I was using the roller cart to make it easier on him. That was when the guy turned to the computer and told me he would check our 3 carry-ons in to be put under the plane all the way to Costa Rica at no charge. 3 bags down...3 to go.
After our plane arrived in Houston, we took a monorail type airport tram/train thing to the section we needed to catch our flight to Costa Rica with only enough time to order something to eat and sit down for 5 minutes before they started to board. That flight was uneventful too and after we arrived in Costa Rica, we waited for everyone else to exit before we did. (1. Because Bob's knee was pretty stiff and 2. Because we were the next to last row of seats on the plane.) As we approached the door to exit, the flight attendant asked Bob if he needed a wheel chair (Bob was using his cane at this point), to which Bob said no thank you. Then he turned to exit the plane and was greeted by a man with a wheelchair who offered him a ride, which he again politley declined.
We then headed to Customs so we could clear it before going to get our luggage. As we rounded the corner, we found a long Customs line but a lady who worked there came up to Bob and pointed to the handicapped lane and said, "Expresso, Senor, Expresso" and shooed us into that line. Gotta love that cane!!
We finally made it to baggage claim and found all of our luggage already off the spinner thing and actually stacked almost all together in one spot. Things were definitely looking up from the security check 8 hours before in Washington DC. As we started to put our luggage onto several carts for the long haul through the final check and outside, airport workers came by so I asked where we would find the shuttle from oure hotel. He sent another worker out to get a great big cart so we wouldn't be dragging 5 little ones around while he pulled out his cell phone and called the hotel for us. Then he, and the other worker, loaded all of our bags and bikes onto the large cart and wheeled it over to the last check point where they had to unloaded all of our bags onto another xray machine before walking around to the other side to put them back on the big cart. They then wheeled everything outside and found our drive, wheeled everything across the street into the parking garage to the drivers van, and then helped load evything into the van. Yes things had definitely gotten better!
After a 20 minute drive we were at our hotel and the driver was unloading our stuff with two helpers from the hotel. This is where it looked like our luck was turning bad again but......that story is for another time!
We Have Arrived
Well, it is official....we are now in Costa Rica! I thought it would never happen, those last few days we were in Pennsylvania. Between the last minute packing/throwing away/pulling out my hair and painting/sweeping/mopping stages, I was ready to just drag everything that was left in the house out into the front yard and set it on fire!
Just so you don't worry...I didn't. However, all of my friends that were there helping us get ready to move were wishing that I would....LOL!
I need to stop right here and thank all of them....Angie, Julie, Isaiah, Josh, and Rebecca....for taking time to help us. It was greatly appreciated!!
Standing in the kitchen, looking at the empty rooms, was one of the saddest moments of this journey. Of course, getting in the car and saying goodbye to our friends, then going into the airport and saying goodbye to our other friends, made the moment in the kitchen pale in comparison!
We are going to miss all of our friends in the states a great deal and we hope that you will keep up with us through facebook and my blog.
Take Care and we love you!
Just so you don't worry...I didn't. However, all of my friends that were there helping us get ready to move were wishing that I would....LOL!
I need to stop right here and thank all of them....Angie, Julie, Isaiah, Josh, and Rebecca....for taking time to help us. It was greatly appreciated!!
Standing in the kitchen, looking at the empty rooms, was one of the saddest moments of this journey. Of course, getting in the car and saying goodbye to our friends, then going into the airport and saying goodbye to our other friends, made the moment in the kitchen pale in comparison!
We are going to miss all of our friends in the states a great deal and we hope that you will keep up with us through facebook and my blog.
Take Care and we love you!
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