Nothing to Declare

Fairly uneventful trip to San Jose Costa Rica this afternoon. Wasn't quite prepared for the mob of people waiting just outside the airport doors. Many of them were drivers holding signs with the names of passengers they were waiting for. They banged on the windows to get travelers to look at their signs. Kind of weird walking out to people pounding on the window.

I found my ride pretty quickly / not my name, just the school's name. Met several other students going to Monteverde tomorrow, but none of us are staying at the same place. We stopped at a B^B that I thought was mine, but the driver said no, just Hillary. Then another student, Steve, got out and they let him stay there too.

I wound up a few minutes away in a gated condominium complex. The woman who owns this condo is renting it out to travelers from the school. It is a perfectly pleasant place, but also a bit odd to come all the way to Costa Rica and wind up in a condo by the side of the road. Only one night though: tomorrow, Monteverde.

There is a couple from atlanta, Elgin and Maseray, who know the condo owner, and so were just here for the weekend. Tonight, Larena, whose husband owns the complex, and who is looking in on things for the owner, took Elgin and Maseray out for sushi, and they invited me along. Like everything else, this small restaurant was along the side of the road. Food was great, but the wait for it was so long ...over an hour after we ordered...that Larena almost had us get up and leave. Elgin, though, was disappointed. Thought we were going to Benihana. We stopped and got him some fried rice on the way home from the restaurant.