I feel my e-mails are not as amusing as this trip has been.
Antonia left this morning..
But let's go back to Fortuna... I got to drive us most of the way to San Jose, well until I got pulled over by the policia.. and in my terrible (maybe not so terrible) Spanish we struck up a conversation, and he asked for my drivers license.. and my passport, we talked about how long I had been there and where I was headed and when I was leaving. I asked him what the problem was (down the road I did get a little scared I asked what his problem was, but I am sure I used la problema and not su problema) - no fear, I laughed, he just told me there was no problem, they just do this and I should baja velacidad (is what I understood) which I translated to... slow down. I agreed. He let me go. So I was off the hook, because the car in front of me did get a ticket.
Now, I had to start up the car and get us going with my leg shaking of nervousness, and well managed to stall the car four times, before I gave up and told them "ella manajar" which was something on the lines of she is going to drive.
we made it back to Alajela with no problem, and Antonia found a place to park, where Juan, the guy from the hostel was the lot attended and said when he gets off work at 7pm he will show us around the town. Which he did, he is also a photographer, and gave us a cd of at least 400 photos of Costa Rica, just in case the weather wasn´t as great for us as it should be. I will see those when I get back.
This morning I got up, first went for a cup of cafe on the corner and read the paper in Spanish, my horoscope only said good things, then at 8am managed to stall the car only three times before I was able to reverse and move parking lots until I met up with Bridie and Ben.
We sat around with Fernando who gave us directions to Matapalo, where the sea turtle projects are, and we all decided it was best if I just return the car, as you can all see by now i am a very avid standard car driver.
Good thing, because as you managed to swerve and miss the pot holes, try not to hit the children walking home from school, nor the men walking with machetes and the trucks coming right at you because they are trying to miss those pot holes, and passing the slow trucks that are blowing exhaust in your face, it would be difficult to have two cars trying to follow me and me behind the wheel. So needless to say we drove straight to the airport this morning and dropped off the car and I hopped in the back seat of the car and we drove into the clouds and massive rain, decided to stop for a very tasty lunch and lemonade that cost only about $3.50 each and headed down the mountain where there was no trace of rain only mud slides from the affects of Hurricane Wilma.
We have made it to the turtle project safely, and we will have dinner at 7p and do a patrol with the volunteers at 10p, til who knows when, and I have decided to get back on the road by bus at 6am, drive back into the clouds and the rain, pot holes and all, hopefully arriving safely into San Jose and will be on that plane at 8am. I will be in Phoenix at 1pm, and I will get off, hopefully nice and rested (I am not up for first class on the way back)... and beg for a longer layover in Phoenix, before heading back to Denver. But right now, up up and away at 2pm. Mom, I will call you.
That is all for now, until I land on safe ground back in the USA !
BYE!!
Melanie
Antonia left this morning..
But let's go back to Fortuna... I got to drive us most of the way to San Jose, well until I got pulled over by the policia.. and in my terrible (maybe not so terrible) Spanish we struck up a conversation, and he asked for my drivers license.. and my passport, we talked about how long I had been there and where I was headed and when I was leaving. I asked him what the problem was (down the road I did get a little scared I asked what his problem was, but I am sure I used la problema and not su problema) - no fear, I laughed, he just told me there was no problem, they just do this and I should baja velacidad (is what I understood) which I translated to... slow down. I agreed. He let me go. So I was off the hook, because the car in front of me did get a ticket.
Now, I had to start up the car and get us going with my leg shaking of nervousness, and well managed to stall the car four times, before I gave up and told them "ella manajar" which was something on the lines of she is going to drive.
we made it back to Alajela with no problem, and Antonia found a place to park, where Juan, the guy from the hostel was the lot attended and said when he gets off work at 7pm he will show us around the town. Which he did, he is also a photographer, and gave us a cd of at least 400 photos of Costa Rica, just in case the weather wasn´t as great for us as it should be. I will see those when I get back.
This morning I got up, first went for a cup of cafe on the corner and read the paper in Spanish, my horoscope only said good things, then at 8am managed to stall the car only three times before I was able to reverse and move parking lots until I met up with Bridie and Ben.
We sat around with Fernando who gave us directions to Matapalo, where the sea turtle projects are, and we all decided it was best if I just return the car, as you can all see by now i am a very avid standard car driver.
Good thing, because as you managed to swerve and miss the pot holes, try not to hit the children walking home from school, nor the men walking with machetes and the trucks coming right at you because they are trying to miss those pot holes, and passing the slow trucks that are blowing exhaust in your face, it would be difficult to have two cars trying to follow me and me behind the wheel. So needless to say we drove straight to the airport this morning and dropped off the car and I hopped in the back seat of the car and we drove into the clouds and massive rain, decided to stop for a very tasty lunch and lemonade that cost only about $3.50 each and headed down the mountain where there was no trace of rain only mud slides from the affects of Hurricane Wilma.
We have made it to the turtle project safely, and we will have dinner at 7p and do a patrol with the volunteers at 10p, til who knows when, and I have decided to get back on the road by bus at 6am, drive back into the clouds and the rain, pot holes and all, hopefully arriving safely into San Jose and will be on that plane at 8am. I will be in Phoenix at 1pm, and I will get off, hopefully nice and rested (I am not up for first class on the way back)... and beg for a longer layover in Phoenix, before heading back to Denver. But right now, up up and away at 2pm. Mom, I will call you.
That is all for now, until I land on safe ground back in the USA !
BYE!!
Melanie
posted by Melanie_Gentz at 4:38 PM
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