Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Red Eye Flights and Really Bad Roads

After a super sleepy long flight, Cosmo and I arrived in San Jose. Cos was more than a bit shaken up from the 12-hour long ride inside the kennel, flight noise, and transfers, however I could not let the ever so frightened and shaking little guy out as per Costa Rican Customs requirements. He was to remain inside of his cage until we were outside of the airport which meant until we stepped out of the van which took us to the rental car office. Of course I snuck him out right after we got through customs, and he refused to re-enter his kennel, just as I would. So I decided to take him outside to relieve himself, but we were stopped by the airport staff who informed us that I could not take the cart with all of my crap on it, outside of the doors. So in order to check into the rental car desk at the airport so that we could get our ride to the off-site office where our car was supposedly waiting for us, I had to recruit a little help from the airport staff. Man, I'm so lucky that I'm a girl! After showing much concern about getting my dog back into his kennel, so that I could tote him, my 7-foot long surfboard, my large backpack, and my laptop computer back into the airport, a genuinely nice and well meaning Tico offered to watch my belongings as well as my dog. Of course I was hesitant at first, but I threw my laptop and my valuables over my shoulder and thanked him. Once the group of six in front of me finally made up their mind about a car, I quickly checked in and returned to my puppy and belongings, all safe and sound. I tipped the sweet man who had helped me through this hectic process, and off we went in the rental car shuttle. Upon leaving the rental car office with the best directions the counter guy could offer, Cosmo and I were headed down the highway. Not more that eight miles into our journey out of San Jose, our tire was apparently slashed.................while moving! Luckily a nice policeman on a motorcycle helped us change it, and sent us back to the National office for a new one. when I returned to office to inform them that my tire had been slashed, I was scolded for not following the directions handed to me before leaving the office which stated "Beware of anyone telling you that you have a flat tire in order to get you to stop. These people may take off with all of your belongings if you do stop." I informed him that I did not pull off the road until an official police man motioned me off to help me. He then told me that I was not supposed to make any stops, as people are looking for tourists in rental cars so that they can slash your tires, pretend to help, and then take all of your luggage. when I let him know that I had not made any stops, he sent me back to the shop for a new tire. what a biz, eh? Slashing people's tires while moving so that you can steal luggage. Finally, we made it out of San Jose and down the windey, bumpy six hour beach road to our destination. Turned out that the guy at the rental car office didn't know the shortest way to our destination, and so he added two and a half hours onto our drive by telling us the longest way possible. Alas, we were happy to finally arrive at our paradise pad at the beach after traveling for 22-hours straight.

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