Detours In Life
I’ve been slowly planning a semi-permanent move to Costa Rica. I say semi because as long as my mom is with us, time will be split between here and the States. Here’s why.
Today I’ll have a lot of time to reflect on this move, traveling on the bus to San Jose, from the nearby town of San Isidro.
A lot of my friends say they are going to visit. I’m not sure that they will. Lots of people talk, and it’s ok to have dreams. But the reality is that most probably won’t make it. That’s ok because with technology today, it is super easy to stay connected. For the first time in my life I will probably stay in touch with a group of people I leave behind. I don’t even need any fingers to count the people I stayed in touch with from high school or college. I honestly can’t say why, other than I am probably the worst friend ever.
Or maybe it’s because in my life I never felt like I fit in anywhere. Except for with my husband, Fred — who always made everyone feel welcomed in his life — and in Costa Rica.
Life here can be frustrating in some ways, because the people are so lax. Life here can be so comfortable because the people are so lax.
Perspective is everything…
The bus trip is going to be about four hours, with one stop. You can’t get anywhere fast in Costa Rica. It’s such a mountainous country that you can’t always pick up speed to travel. Especially if you are stuck behind a big truck chugging along at a snail’s pace, up hill after hill.
When meeting people on the plane that are coming to Costa Rica for the first time, the advice is always the same. Don’t try to do too much in one trip. If you try to see all the major sites you will spend more time traveling than site seeing.
You really have to be prepared to take it as it comes. The other day, tagging along with friends on a road trip to Jaco, to deliver a motorcycle, was an adventure. It’s the rainy season so none of us really dressed for the beach. We weren’t expecting to do anything other than deliver the bike and deliver some motor oil to one of the Paramotor pilots.
On the two and a half hour trip, we came to a halt in the town of Parrita, about 45 minutes from our destination. The road was blocked by protestors. They blocked the road to get the attention of the government, to fix the road from San Jose to that area. A far cry from Occupy Wall Street where a group of people protested evil corporations, while on their cell phones and iPads. I always chuckle about the day they all skipped the protest to go stand in line at the Apple store, for the new iPhone release.
Alex started to drive up the left lane, little by little, gathering information from people stopped alone the way. Between that and a social media group we pieced together what was happening. The police were on their way from San Jose (about an hour.) Some people had already been waiting over two hours.
After about a half hour, Alex walked up towards the bridge that was blocked. (We made our way past hundreds of cars, all the way up to about 200 meters from the protestors.)
We got a call from Alex from the front line. As Wendy got into the driver’s seat, I asked her if the road was opened. She said no, Alex said bring the car up to the little “soda” and we’ll have breakfast.
After breakfast, with the request by the police to break it down being rejected, we decided to turn around. But we weren’t headed back home. On our route we passed Manuel Antonio, a popular tourist destination. We figured waiting on the beach and giving it a couple hours was not a bad plan.
We rented chairs, ordered up some margaritas and made ourselves comfortable. The government finally showed up, pledged to fix the road, and the protestors went home. We were on our way again.
We got to Jaco, dropped off the motor oil, and then they dropped me off at the beach bar, as they were meeting up at a lawyer’s to sign paperwork for the sale of the bike.
After their meeting, they arrive at the bar, grabbed a bite to eat, and the Paramotor pilot arrived. Of course I want to go for a ride. (You put that motor oil in, right??) It’s not a picture perfect day and the promised rain is on the way. But let’s squeeze a flight in.
The flight experience can never be put in to words. Each time is different. This time was the first time flying in and out of the clouds. You can check out the photos and videos here. It will give you a bit of a feel of what it’s like to fly in the clouds. But honestly, don’t live vicariously on this one. Put it on your bucket list.
Not a bad day at all for what we were told was going to be a dark and ugly day in Jaco. Honestly though, I can’t see the level of adaptability to circumstances being the same back home. You’ve got to definitely be able to roll with the punches here. Embrace the detours.
Pura Vida.
