Costa Rica 1: Arrival

7-13-2008 Hotel Millenium II, Alejuela, Costa Rica

The faintly sweet smell of burnt diesel fuel greets all visitors to Latin America. Costa Rica's San Juan Santamaria International Airport is in the central valley. It's surrounded by rolling hills. Coffee covered mountains loom in the near distance. We arrived late at night and the city's sparse lights glowed like fireflies. It’s remarkably cool in the Meseta Central of Costa Rica. Daytime temperatures hover around 70 degrees Farenheit year round with only a small drop during the cloudy months between July and November. Our modest little hotel was very near the airport. It sounded as if a jet might land on us at any time.

Catalina is a great little traveler. She seems to understand that we have to sit patiently for hours in order to take great journeys. As long as her mother or I play with her from time to time, she manages to stay calm and pleasant. I'm touched that she is genuinely excited about her trip to "Coco Rico." We've been taking her on trips since she was only weeks old. I like to think this explains her calm travel demeanor.

As many people are commenting, air travel is not what it used to be. Catalina's cool head is more important these days than ever. Here's my latest example. When I purchased our tickets with Delta I bought a direct flight from JFK to San Jose, Costa Rica leaving at 10:30 AM. Oddly, a month or so after my purchase, Delta simply changed the flight to a layover in Atlanta leaving at 6:30 AM. The whole reason I choose Delta was because it was direct and because the timing was good for traveling with a little girl. To make matters worse, they also arbitrarily increased their surfboard baggage fees from $75 to $150 per leg of the flight. When I called them to protest and reschedule the only thing they offered was another layover flight during the afternoon. More to the point, they lied to me. They assured me that they "no longer fly direct to Costa Rica from JFK." However, two weeks later my parents flew direct to Costa Rica on Delta. Suffice it to say I'll be avoiding Delta.