Costa Rica

After a couple of lovely weeks in Costa Rica, we're back in the land of ice and snow. It's been a long time since we had such a restful vacation. The warmth, the flowering trees and the ocean swims were all a wonderful reprieve from the dreariness of winter. It was our first time in Costa Rica and we enjoyed it as much as others had predicted.

The only hard part of the trip was the flight.  I was the guy sitting in the middle. As usual, I had difficulty with the buttons on my seat and never did get it reclined. The guy in front of me had no such trouble. He had his seat rammed back pretty well into my lap so I had a perfect view of his Major League Bow Hunter baseball cap. Now I'm not into hunting or shooting but I was not thinking pretty thoughts about him as I struggled to be comfortable for the five hours. It was such a tight fit that by 10:15 I had pain running down my right leg. I simply had to bother the person seated on the aisle and get up and walk every hour or so. If I could have stood for most of the flight I would have. However, the aisles are too narrow for that.

Our airline sent an email a few days before the flight, promoting their pre-flight meal sales. That would guarantee our first choice for meals so I decided it was a good idea. We left Toronto at 9:15 am, on a 5 hour flight to San Jose. At 9:45 our names were called and it was to deliver our meals! We had just eaten a breakfast sandwich at Tim Horton's in the Toronto airport so I squashed my ham and cheese sandwich into my carry-on bag, under the seat in front of me.

I had been looking forward to watching a movie to pass the time but there was nothing remotely interesting on and the satellite tv was unavailable. The most interesting channel was the one where you watch your plane fly across the map. Actually the best visual was looking out the window as we passed over the Florida Keys. Thank goodness for our books!

About noon I bent down and fished my warm sandwich (so glad I pre-ordered) from my bag. Space was so tight that when I bent down, my face was pretty well resting on my neighbour's knee.
As I chewed through my warm sandwich I thought back to airline travel of years ago. Flying was sort of glamourous then. People got dressed up to fly. There were real meals, good meals, served on real plates with real cutlery. I even remember being handed a hot wet facecloth to use after dinner! The only freebies on these flights  were a tiny bag with about eight corn chips in it and a glass of ginger ale.

Enough with the complaining already! One of the best aspects of our holiday was the people. Certainly the Costa Ricans were gracious and very hospitable. Our hosts at hotels and bed and breakfast places, the tour guides on hikes, the taxi drivers who could speak English, even the drivers who couldn't speak Engish - they were all eager to show off their country and to make us feel welcome and comfortable.

We weren't surprised by the warm welcome given by the Costa Ricans. Everyone had told us they would be great. A pleasant surprise was the fun we had meeting so many other travellers. In restaurants, on buses, on guided hikes and while sitting around at our last cosy hotel, we met folks from all over the world. For the most part they were pretty friendly. It was February, not March break, so travellers fell mostly into two age ranges: the twenty/thirty year olds and fellow seniors. Both groups were equally friendly. It didn't seem to matter to the young travellers that we were gray haired. We were all in the same boat and the questions were often similar:

Is this your first time in Costa Rica?
Where else have you travelled in Costa Rica?
What did you do there?
What do you recommend...for a place to stay, a place to eat, activities and guided hikes?

We all shared and traded information that was immensely helpful. Just as I don't appreciate it when people judge me by my gray hair, I need reminders myself, not to judge others by their appearance. I was thinking about that one day at the back of a bus, bumping along the roads in the mountainous Monteverde region. We were returning to the small town of Santa Elena after a morning spent at Selvatura Park. We had enjoyed a spectacular hanging bridges walk through the cloud forest, a guided tour of their butterfly garden and their hummingbird area as well.

We found ourselves sitting beside an elderly couple from the Netherlands and a young couple from St. Louis, Missouri. In another situation we might not have spoken with the young black man from Missouri. He and his partner had tattoos running up and down their arms, he wore a thick chain around his neck and a ball cap on backwards. But at that particular moment we were all in the same boat, or bus. We had all enjoyed a pretty wonderful place and the six of us had a fun conversation as we bumped along the horrendous road back into town. The young couple couldn't have been nicer and I gave myself a mental reminder not to judge people so hastily.

On our last Saturday in Costa Rica we signed up for a boat ride to look for dolphins and do some snorkelling. We did see some bottlenose dolphins and admired their synchronized swimming. We also saw a pair of mating olive ridley turtles.

However, the lasting impression that I have of that morning is the feeling of contentment among fellow travellers and gracious hosts. We were picked up at our hotel and as we clambered into the back of the truck and sat down on a bench we were introduced to our fellow participants. There were about a dozen of us - folks from Italy, France, Holland and the States. Our guide, Alex, hung on while standing at the back of the truck.

As we drove along the beach to meet our boat it just seemed like such a perfectly peaceful moment. No technology, no seatbelt, no jobs to do - just a bunch of people going for a boat ride on a beautiful summer day. When it was all over and we had handed in our snorkelling gear, we sat in the boat, dripping wet. These guys - the captain and the two guides, were not in a hurry to get rid of us. The music was turned on, drinks were passed around and Louis impressed us with his great fruit carving skills. We all sat there eagerly grabbing slices of fresh watermelon and pineapple, juice running down our faces.

And so we are back. We're so glad we had the opportunity to explore a new country, to unplug from everyday stress and to meet people from all over. My questions is - How can I bring any semblance of that feeling, of that relaxation, into my regular, day to day life?