DAY 16 - COSTA RICA IS A WRAP.... until the next time.

I woke up early the day of our departure from San José.  I had forgotten to put in the earplugs, so I heard the planes, AND the trains, though they didn't really start taking off and running, until 4:00 am.
My overhead guest, as I had my homemade breakfast out in the garden.

Our little Airbnb was a sweet little spot. I could have passed on the D=E=A=D cockroach in the closet, but...he was harmless, and certainly not the first one we had seen on this trip. We had one scurry across my side of the bed, to Louise's, when we were in La Samara.

Lou was sleeping so I decided to quietly take my shower. WELL.... that was an ordeal, Déjà vu all over again.  I got undressed and turned the shower on. Water flowed down from the shower head, but also out of this white tube attached to the wall.  Except that water was hitting the ceiling!! So there I am NAKED, of course, trying to figure this out.  I thought maybe it was a small sprayer, so I removed it from the wall. THAT ONLY exacerbated the problem. The other end of the tube then detached itself from the shower head, and water starting SPRAYING  sideways out of there as well!!! F!! R!! I!! G!!!  Now the ceiling and walls are wet, the toilet paper is wet, and the floor is wet.  The only thing that ISN'T wet and is SUPPOSED TO BE, is ME! I turn the shower off, and try to reattach one end of that white tube, back behind the shower head.  NO GO!  It had a black, tying type thingy that wasn't right.  I stuck the other white end back on the wall, after fiddling with it. I took one more chance, and turned the shower on again.  All the same things happened, except water starting coming out of the TOP of the shower head, springing from some kind of leaky red plastic cover thingies. THAT is when  I GAVE UP on taking a shower.

I informed the owner.  She fiddled with the NOT-TO-FANCY plumbing, don't you agree?    Lou came along and fiddled some more, then took HER shower, commenting that I am NOT very mechanically, nor DIY inclined. No kidding!  Jeepers, I can't know everything.  Telling Nery in Spanish about my mess,and apologizing, was good enough for me. :)

You know when you travel that you can expect anything. So... the following little "delays" were all new for me, because of the reason.  We were delayed on the tarmac in San José, because the air conditioning had to be fixed. That is very IMPORTANT.  However, Costa Rican Immigration had to go over the entire flight manifesto again, or whatever it is called, so all told that took over an hour.

We now realize we have l...e...s...s  than an hour to make our connection in Montreal. Thank goodness we hadn't checked our backpacks.  Lou gave away lots of stuff, and I did too, though I wasn't as generous as SHE was. We were thus carrying less than ten kilos on our backs.  Believe it or not!

We RAN, and I mean, RAN, from the minute we got off the plane, to clear customs and security and make it to our gate. It was really good practice for THE AMAZING RACE CANADA! The flight attendant, when I asked if the boarding had started, said, "Stay right where you are!  We were waiting for you to arrive to start boarding". Such sweet words. We even arrived ahead of a younger couple from the Peninsula, who had been on the same flight from Costa Rica. They went through SECURITY twice, poor things

I have traveled a lot, and I don't pay attention to small details, such as: DON'T use a red pen to fill in your customs declaration form.  It CAN hold you up at Customs. It did hold me up, all of two minutes. DON'T trust DUTY FREE in the country you are leaving, to do the packaging of your purchases, correctly.  In the land of the true, north, strong and free, security can take away your lovely bottle of rum, by saying that the sealed bag your rum was put in, DOESN'T conform to Canadian specifications. Total baloney!  So, if your choice is to take the time to go to another counter at security, have them repackage your rum and charge you, or you catch your flight... what option would YOU choose?

HOME SWEET HOME! Even if I STILL can't see out my living room windows.