Hello All: I’m back in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks to visit the Universidad Technologico de Costa Rica. So far, my trip has been a bit challenging. The university made a lot of last minute changes to the work they want me to do, so things have been very unorganized for months, and that has continued to be the trend now that I’m here.
I got to Costa Rica on Friday evening after a long day of travel and spent the night in San Jose. My driver from TEC picked me up on Saturday morning to take me to the University. We had a nice conversation for the 2.5 hour drive and it was a good opportunity to practice Spanish.
TEC has put me in the same house where I stayed last time. Since I am here for 2 weeks, I was hoping that they would put me in a house with a kitchen, but not a big deal, I can manage. The house I’m currently staying in is not really set up for a longer stay. It smells really musty, like a cabin that hasn’t been aired out in years. It has a fridge, but that’s it. No coffee pot, water boiler, silverware, plates or paper towels. My contact at TEC let me borrow his wife’s bike so I was able to find a grocery store with a water boiler for tea, I got some groceries and I found a bakery and some restaurants down the road. TEC doesn’t start its semester until Monday, so there is no one on campus, and the cafeteria isn’t open so there is no food close by. That’s not a super big problem except that this is the rainy season and it’s at least a quarter mile to any food. The sky regularly opens up and it pours at various times through the day.
All of these things are problems that I can manage. I have a lot of experience here and I can make things work. However, the smoke alarm in my house needs a new battery and it beeps every 2 minutes. I’m sure you’ve all had this happen and you know how much the beeping drives you crazy while you are trying to determine which smoke alarm needs a new battery. This smoke alarm is on a high ceiling that will require a ladder to reach. I heard the beeping as soon as I walked in. I told Marlon, my contact, about it, and he said he would try to get it fixed on Monday and drove away. I would need to spend 2 nights in a house with a beeping smoke alarm.
I can manage a lot, but there is a limit to what I can take before I go crazy, and the smoke alarm was it. I decided to get a hotel for the weekend. As it turns out, San Carlos is really in the middle of nowhere and the closest hotels are at 1.5 hours away in La Fortuna. Yesterday was also a big national religious holiday. Taxi drivers were all booked, and so were most of the hotels. After an hour or so of searching, I found a driver who helped me find a hotel. The hotel is not fancy, but it’s clean and the restaurant has good food. There also nothing beeping in my room, it has hot water and it’s only $97 a night, which includes breakfast. They have a long list of activities that I can choose from so it’s fine.
The drive here last night was an adventure. My taxi driver showed up at TEC in a beat up van that had definitely seen better days. Driving at night in Costa Rica, especially this part which has mountains and all the roads are like narrow snakes, is iffy and it was raining. The wipers on the van needed some serious work. The driver almost hit an elderly guy out walking in the rain. In the driver’s defense, the elderly guy was in dark clothes with a black umbrella and was almost invisible in the rain. The driver kept sending messages on his phone while driving, and we hit a pretty serious pothole on the way here. There are a lot of one lane bridges to get here which slows things down. By the time we got to the hotel, the van was really smelling like gasoline. The driver was super nice though!
I don’t have anything scheduled at TEC until later in the week, so I’m hoping to stay in La Fortuna tomorrow too. That will give maintenance time to fix the smoke alarm. It would have made more sense if TEC had asked me to come for 1 week instead of 2. Because they made changes, I don’t have enough work for 2 weeks. I told them I would shorten my trip since they canceled one of the classes I was going to teach but they told me to come for both weeks anyway.
I’m glad I decided to do this trip before I sent one of my colleagues here. I have a lot of experience and I can fix most problems with money. For anyone with not much travel experience, this would be a disaster. Fortunately, I love Costa Rica so I will find a way to make this a good trip. It’s beautiful here in La Fortuna and San Carlos. I think I’m going into town this morning to find a gym and a rain coat. It will give me a chance to see when most of the rain takes place, probably early morning and evening. Tomorrow, if I don’t need to go back to the university, I may do some hiking around the Arenal Volcano. I’d like to do that at a time when it’s not going to pour!
It may be a long 2 weeks but it should be an interesting trip!
Traveling with Emily! 