THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
Hello friend-----Follow me on my first blog adventure. I have always been an adventurer; ever since I hitched my first ride at the age of nine. Why not? My brothers did it. Of course they were in high school and I was in third grade. But I digress…
Three days ago (3/21/11) I started another big adventure; traveling the way I like it best—alone! I am not anti-social, but alone I can go where I want, when I want and feel totally free. There are no group decisions to make and when I see a side street that looks interesting I take it. But whether it is alone, with family or a group of students, off the beaten path is where I like to be.
A ROUGH START
This adventure started off as always—with me trying to do too much and not getting ready until the very last minute. I will be visiting several orphanages on this trip and for one of them they require a criminal background check. This I found out the night before I left and an e-mail reinforced the need by telling me that it is required by Guatemalan law for volunteers to orphanages. So, the very last minute I called the police department and was able to secure a letter from the police chief deeming me to be a solid citizen but the process left just enough time to get to Tulsa International Airport to catch my 4:30 flight. No problem, 138 miles at 80 miles and hour will just make it!
Of course it was mid-day in Kansas and traffic was slow getting to the freeway where I could make time. I am watching the clock and watching for cops all the way. We hit I-44 and the speed limit is 75. I hope I see no cops and that they will forgive me for going 85.
We make it to TUL with just enough time to catch the flight. I pull in to the departure area, creeping over the first massive speed bump but forgetting about the other as I am looking for the Frontier Airline sign. I hit the other speed bump so hard it killed the engine and all lights came on. Fortunately the airbags did not deploy and it started again immediately but there was no sign for Frontier. I asked a guy with an ID badge where the Frontier ticket counter was. He didn’t know. I went inside to the United counter.
“Frontier? They don’t have a ticket counter hear. Are you sure you don’t mean Southwest?” I look at the itinerary which definitely says Frontier. Then I notice the initials MCI! I am at the wrong airport. My flight is from Kansas City---5 hours away.
What to do?
I still have time to make my connection in Denver for San Jose if I can get there before midnight. First thought is to drive to Kansas City and catch a flight for Denver. But calculating time and gas it might be better to see if there is a flight from Tulsa to Denver. Long story short—5 hours and $250 later Southwest airlines delivers me to Denver International where I have a leisurely dinner and check in for my 12:10 flight on Frontier to San Jose, Costa Rica. I made it through the first rough patch and arrived at 5:30 am at Juan Santa Maria International Airport. I avoided all the predatory taxi drivers and made my way to the local bus that took me to one of the many terminals in San Jose. From there I strapped on my 32.7 pound backpack and made my way to Hostel El Museo. Made my way after a two hour hike that is. I thought I knew how to get there but ended up tracing and re-tracing my steps until at last I caught a glimpse of one of the towers of the National Museum of Costa Rica. I knew I was home free then because the hostel is right across the street.
ATENAS
After a 2 hour nap I caught a bus up the mountain to the small town where our study abroad group will be in May. I had a quick meeting with Tina, our Global Crossroad country coordinator and we talked some more about our projects and some complications with the schedule. I shot a few photos of the Casa de Ancianos where we will have one project and then went to the orphanage Hogar de Vida (House of Life) and got the tour, saw all the kids and talked with the director there at length about the fitness testing I want to do with their kids, my experiences in Romania, traveling on buses and the like. By the time we finished I just missed the 7 o’clock bus back to San Jose and had just one more chance to get home for the night at 8:30. I caught that bus and fell asleep minutes later. I woke up as we pulled into the terminal in San Jose.
It was dark and that terminal is in a rough area known as Coca Cola. Let’s see---Taxi to hostel will cost $2. Walking 2 miles to hostel will be free but I have to walk through a bad neighborhood to a safer one. I walked—fast.
