Thank you all for the words of encouragement as I traveled from NC to San Jose over the weekend. The trip went unbelievably smoothly....that is after I broke US Air's systems with all of my bags and fees, caused security to question me and run my bag through multiple times due to all of the electronics, and even caused the poor little man at the cafe a few moments of stress as my drink purchase somehow broke his cash register! I started to wonder if I should get on a plane and shoot across the sky with all of these technological malfunctions in my wake. But, once in the air, all went well. The plane only had about 30 people on it, so I had a few rows to myself. (Thanks Irene!) Immigration and customs went off without a hitch in San Jose. I think they saw all of my bags and just knew not to ask me any questions. How many bags? 4! Plus a carry on. Plus one was really overweight. Plus one that was already in Costa Rica. Plus...another one and a half that is on its way next week. Yes, I realize how ridiculous this is. But, for those of you that know me, it is a MIRACLE I got it down to 6.5 bags!
So, I arrived. My wonderful manager and amiga Maria picked me and my 7,000 tons of luggage up and brought me to my new apartment! I met Carlos, the very nice landlord. He gave me the keys, showed me a few things, and left! He hasn't even come back to give me the contract yet... I should probably check on that soon. The apartment is much bigger than I expected. And I promise that a full picture or video tour will come soon. I'm just trying to get all of my stuff put away and do a little "staging" before revealing it to the world. Below are two pictures of the apartment building. Notice the name of my building....so much for trying not to be too "American" while here!
After a trip through the neighborhood, Maria took me to the grocery store to get a few essentials. The store is called "Mas por Menos" which is supposed to mean "More for Less." I think they should rename it to "Mas por Mas." Groceries are EXPENSIVE! I'll have to do some shopping around to find better deals!
On my first full day in Costa Rica, I bought a car. Productive, right? Before coming I found a company that helps Gringos buy a car in Costa Rica. They were fantastic! It was a woman from Costa Rica (Kattia) who is married to a guy (Russ) from Texas. I communicated with him through email about what I was looking for, price, etc. And then she picked me up this morning and took me to multiple places to look at cars. I had made a decision by noon and was driving the car through San Jose with my name on the title by 2:00 pm! Talk about "baptism by fire!" If I was afraid of driving in Costa Rica before, I'm over that now after a 25 minute drive through the city back to my apartment. I followed Kattia back to my apartment without hitting anyone! Success! And then, after a nap to get rid of the car buying headache, I managed to get gasoline all by myself! It seems silly, but it was a big feat! Getting out of the gas station was another story...It was rush hour, so the place was packed. And everyone kept honking at me to get out of their way. It was taking me a while because I couldn't figure out if they wanted me to go forward and hit the car in front of me, or go backwards and hit the car behind me! Luckily some guy took pity on me and got out of my way!
I'm spending the evening doing more unpacking and getting things situated in the apartment. Tomorrow morning I will head to the office to have lunch with my amigas there and start getting back to work!
Again, thanks for following along on my wacky adventure!
Hugs from Costa Rica!
<3,
Amber
Sounds like a true adventure! And it actually sounds like when the teachers come to the U.S. for the first time-- only in reverse. I remember trying for the life of me to read the train schedule the first time in Germany... but at least I didn't have to get in a car and start driving the first day! Yikes! Also, glad to hear that Irene was good for SOMEthing! haha! Glad your first few days are going well!
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