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| Costa Rica Honeymoon, Fall 2000: Alajuela, Day 1
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Monday, October 23, 2000: We reach Costa Rica
Well, here we are in Costa Rica! It's officially Day One of our honeymoon. Pre-Day One (i.e., the post-wedding day) went by in a bit of a blur. We abandoned a house filled to the ceiling leftover boxes, flowers, and various wedding accoutrements -- and a fridge filled to the top with leftover food -- and caught an evening flight out of Oakland en route to San Jose, CR, via Los Angeles and Guatemala City. We were actually looking forward to the long trip -- about 12 hours, between driving, flying, and layovers -- because we'd splurged and upgraded to business class. Although we were a tad reluctant to part with our hard-earned ducats, we justified it by calling it our last big wedding-related expense. And, heavens be praised, buying that upgrade, saith the ticket agent, would actually put us in first class, since this particular plane would have only two cabins. However, there was one wrinkle in the hankie...a post-wedding allergy attack that struck me morphed into a full-blown cold, which blossomed as we were waiting for our flight, two hours early, at Oakland airport. Ah, the perfect way to start up a long trip on an airplane.
David's theory was that the lame planes get the Central and South American routes, and United saves the good planes for the more prestigious routes to Asia. Makes sense, but cold comfort after we'd cleaned our bank accounts out in the hopes of a luxurious commute. Anyway, lest you think I'm a bourgeois pig for complaining about the bad first-class seats, I should remind you that I was very cranky and ill and hating life. My sinuses plugged up immediately upon takeoff, my head felt like it was going to explode, and my nose managed to be running AND clogged at the same time. I was a mess. I needed something to focus on besides my misery, so here I am complaining about first class.
We were met at the airport by Oscar, a smiling emissary from our hotel, Xandari Plantation. Oscar technically doesn't work for Xandari; rather, he's with a local tour-guide service that contracts with the hotel. Oscar's a native of the Caribbean Coast; half-Jamaican, half-Guatemalan, he grew up in Limon but moved to San Jose 11 years ago to make a better living. He was very friendly, spoke outstanding English, and -- as we discovered upon leaving the airport parking area -- is well-known locally as the "Horn Man," because he can exactly imitate the sound of one of those old-fashioned bulb horns. We drove through the outskirts of Alajuela, Oscar periodically honking out the window at friends and associates, and up into the hills where our hotel was nestled. In many ways, the surroundings reminded us of Mexico...narrow streets, deep ditches/culverts running along the sides; a variety of little shops selling various sundries, from clothing to drugs to food and drink; and, it seemed to us, quite a bit of poverty. Most of the homes we saw were patched with corrugated tin, cardboard, or plastic tarps. Dotted here and there were nicer homes, all hidden behind gates. We passed a few schools, where we saw children in uniform (blue pants, white shirts) playing soccer. We spied dozens of little dogs roaming the streets, along with many cows, a few goats, and here and there a chicken. The houses were mostly brightly colored: pinks, yellow, a few turquoises. The people we saw seemed friendly enough, and a few waved...but I couldn't help wondering what they thought of us "rich" tourists, bouncing along in our air-conditioned van with our personal driver. Typical suburban guilt, I guess. We got to the hotel about 8 a.m., and they were nice enough to have our villa (yes, our own villa!) ready for us to check in. (Turned out later that we were two of only about five guests there, so I guess it wasn't much of a hardship to have the place waiting for us.)
We both felt somewhat under the weather -- I was hanging by a thread, although David was now feeling a bit feverish -- so we decided to take it easy for the day. We napped, then did a hike around the property to explore. Xandari is actually located on a working coffee plantation, and it was fascinating to see the rows and rows of coffee plants along the hillsides, along with lovely gardens and lots of natural flora. We heard there were waterfalls on the property and decided to hunt for them. After misreading the map (which we still think was more of an approximation than a real map!) and walking in a circle three times, we finally made it down to a huge waterfall. Pretty impressive -- not your average walk around a hotel property.
The hike pretty much killed us, exacerbating our already sick and lazy attitudes, so we decided to cap off our afternoon with two in-room massages, figuring it might make us feel better. It sounds decadent, but to our disappointment,it was strictly a no-nonsense proposition. We were stripped, rubbed briskly head to toe (literally!) with no thought spared to modesty. It was rather unsettling, especially if you're used to the U.S. standard of massages (draped towels, modestly averted eyes, etc.). As David put it, some of the things our masseuses did would've been grounds for lawsuits in the U.S. But hey, they weren't very expensive... We had dinner at the hotel, since we didn't have a car and didn't feel like summoning Oscar to our aid again just so we could dine out. Interesting note: The hotel staff asks you to pre-order your dinner, since they make all the food specially each night. My chicken was nicely cooked, and Dave had a rare steak; both meals seemed to be nothing to swoon over, but that might have been because we were both battling illness. On the bright side, we sat out on their dining area/terrace in the main hall, where we enjoyed almost complete privacy (only one other couple was there) and a beautiful sunset view. Alas, we were feeling too lousy to stay up and enjoy anything else, so we crashed into bed about 8 p.m.
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After cleaning out the airport convenience store of all the Sudafed they had (who knows if Costa Rican pharmacies stock this wonder drug?), we finally boarded, excited to reap the rewards of our costly upgrade...only to discover that our "first class" cabin basically gave us only slightly larger seats and a full meal. No neato flip-up movie screens. No reclining chair. Not even any hot towels (and hey, I LIVE for hot towels). Plus, we were stuck in the first row, which meant we had a large wall in front of us and no under-seat storage. All this...for mere hundreds of dollars more than a coach seat.
We had a layover in Guatemala City that broke up our redeye napping. We couldn't see much of the country during our stay, since we were corralled in the plane on the tarmac; the local authorities didn't want us to have to clear customs just to stretch our legs in the airport. We resumed our journey an hour later and made it to San Jose around 7:30 a.m. local time. My first impression from the plane windows: Green! Very green! And, over there...more green stuff! After the burnt-umber and golden hills of California, it was quite spectacular. The hills and rolling mountains were covered with a thousand shades of green, from emerald to sage and everything in between. (We learned later that two of those mountains are, in fact, volcanos. That's not something you see every day.)
Anyway, the villa was gorgeous! It had white stucco interior walls highlighted with bright paint and original artwork created by one of the owners -- paintings, sculptures, wall hangings. Almost all the walls were curved, with high, arching ceilings and soaring entryways. The only interior door was to the small toilet room, and the ceilings were paneled with native woods. The shower enclosure had a flagstone floor and tiled walls, and was fronted by a glass wall that looked out onto one of our two patios. (We learned early on to bolt our front patio gate to avoid giving free peep shows to any staff who might walk in.)
The expansive living area included a small sink and fridge, a microwave, and a coffeemaker, along with a king-sized bed, a writing desk, and a couple of chairs for lounging. The front wall was all sliding-glass doors and windows and overlooked another balcony, along with a spectacular panoramic view of the Alajuela valley and the city of San Jose in the distance. It was beautiful by day but also amazing at night, when all the lights sparkled.
On the way back, we noticed we were being kept company on the path by a constant stream of large ants, each of which was carrying a giant (well, to them) bit of leaf or twig on its back. OK, so ants don't sound all that amazing, but really, there were thousands of them all in an orderly row, marching up the path carrying their burdens. It was really something.