A bit like a poor cousing watching my very rich cousins playing with their new toys. Right now, am sitting in the waiting are near Gater 48B of Terminal 4, in LA. I still have two more hours of waiting to do. My flight from Manila arrived at LA around 6PM LA time, and the flight to Costa Rica will take off near midnight pa. A colleague from another company is taking a shower in the executive lounge. (May shower pala dun? Astig!) I texted him, "members only ba yan?" No, he replied. "Basta business class, pwede." Fine. Eh hindi naman ako business class eh. Magtya-tyaga na nga lang ako mag-antay dito sa labas. So what kung hindi pa ako naliligo for almost 24 hours.
Manila to Los Angeles
This was a rush flight. I had to leave Manila Tuesday night to reach Costa Rica Wednesday morning. Tuesday morning I got my Canadian visa, afternoon I managed to get the airplane tickets and booked a hotel. As soon as I got the tickets, I rushed home to pack hurriedly for the 10PM flight to LA. Slept almost the entire way from Manila to LA. Maybe because I was one of the last to check in, I wasn't able to choose a seat. I was seated in the window seat, beside a couple with their cute chubby amerasian baby boy.
Most people like window seats. I don't. I prefer aisle seats, so I can go to the restroom easily. But there's always a bright side, and the bright side in seating by the window is, I can lean my head on the window/wall while sleeping. So there I was in the window seat, and the couple beside me was complaining to the stewardess since they had reserved a baby seat or something, and all the baby seats were already taken. The stewardess was addressing their complaints (Total Customer Satisfaction!), and tried to look for alternative seating for them. The bad thing about this incident is, she turned to me, and asked me, "Miss, there's a vacant seat in 69B, would you want to move there so the couple with the baby can have more space?"
I looked back at the seat. It was the middle seat in a 3-seat row. Man, just when I was getting really comfortable in my window seat position! I'm ashamed to admit it, but I really didn't want to relinquish my now-comfortable position. If it was an aisle seat, I would have gone. Sitting in a middle-seat would mean being sandwiched between two strangers and I don't know how to lean my head when sleeping. But the stewardess was looking at me expectantly, and I allowed myself to be bullied. Well not really, because I said, "sige na nga.". Good thing the Pinay mother said, if I really didn't want to go, I didn't need to. I was debating with my conscience for a while there, but I had a right to my seat anyway. So there, I didn't go, the couple took turns taking care of their baby boy, and I slept almost the whole flight (since I couldn't see the in-flight entertainment anyway).
Do you know the way to San Jose
My way to San Jose, Costa Rica, is via a 5-hour American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to San Jose, Costa Rica. Since I checked in almost 6 hours before the flight, I thought this time, I'd have a good seat. Boy, was I wrong. They gave me a boarding pass, but they didn't give me a seat number. "At 11PM, line up at the 48B counter and they'll give you a seat." Wow, they're going to allow everyone else to check in before they give me a seat? I didn't feel like asserting myself then, so I just let it go. Maybe they'd even bump me into business class! Haha. In the end, I sat in the window seat (again), beside a very big, bulky, built-like-a-wrestler man whose shoulders extended one-fourth of the way into my territory.
The Landing
Our flight was supposed to land at San Jose, 7:30 AM Wednesday morning. Our meeting was at 9AM. This should be enough time for us to grab a taxi and get to the office. But it was raining that morning, and while the plane was circling for landing, the pilot announced that the airport was closed because it was raining. What?! Manila's turning out to be a much better place than Costa Rica. We landed around 20 minutes after, got out of the airport around 8:30, and arrived at the wrong P.'s offices around 9:30. We took a taxi and dropped ourselves off at the wrong building, so we had to find an English speaking guard, who led us to the right building in the pouring rain.
The Hotel
But the day proceeded eventfully. After a full day's work, went back to finally check in at the hotel. The Costa Rica Marriott Hotel San Jose was surprisingly fabulous! It was like an hacienda. Checking out the Marriott website, the description was thus: This hacienda-style hotel features the splendor of a 30-acre coffee plantation setting, decorated with antiques for an elegant and comfortable atmosphere, and a magnificent view from all rooms and suites. Wow. (Kawawa note: P's rate was $131/night with free breakfast, normal rate is $230+, our company's rate is $212 w/o breakfast. Wow, what a discount).
On the way out
I arrived Wednesday, and had to leave today, Saturday. Too bad we weren't able to tour the nature sites. There's an active volcano nearby (Poas Volcano), and some of the Pinoy visitors who're still there are planning on touring today. My flight was at 2:30PM, and I arrived at the Costa Rica airport almost 12:30. The people who shared the airport shuttle with me were all taking a vacation. It turns out it's spring break too, and there were lots of students returning home from their Costa Rica beach vacation.
Long lines greeted me. I overhead one of the Americans there saying, this must be organized chaos. Lines snaked here and there. I entered the airport, looked for the Air Canada counter, and was glad that the line there wasn't that long. BUT it turns out I had to line up to pay the departure tax first. Another line. $26. After lining up for that, I had to line up to check in at the Air Canada counter, where the airport staff manually inspected the check-in baggage. No x-ray machine in this case. Fine. After checking in and getting a boarding pass, we go to line # 3 -- the line to enter all gates. This was a long, snaking line that extended to outside the airport. There I got to chat with some college kids and learned that they were on spring break. Finally got inside the airport again. It was now 2PM, and I had to look for my gate. Gate 4A, the boarding pass said. Turns out there was a gate 4, a gate 4B, a gate 4A1, gate 4A2, and gate 4A3. Ugh, someone should tell them there are more numbers out there. :)
Costa Rica is pretty though, don't get me wrong. The architecture is pretty, it is a Spanish/Latin country after all. The area I went to, is just outside the San Jose city area. This area is large and surrounded by mountains. Imagine the view from Tagaytay or Antipolo. That's what you see while driving down the roads. The streets remind me of Laguna, and our office is situated in somewhere similar to a techno-park. We also passed by San Jose city itself. People are saying that it's not safe here, that it's not really pretty and there's nothing to see. The streets here are like Manila, old Manila with narrow streets. I didn't wander around though, so I really can't say if it's safer out there or not. Most likely, no, coz I can't speak Spanish so I'll probably get duped while I'm there. :)
We went to a bar and there was a "maskarada" show, where giant people walked around trying to scare people. I'd share photos but I don't have a camera. :D I'll try to share something once I get a copy from other people's camera. :) Surfing in Costa Rica is great, they say. There are beaches and volcanos and nature parks that are only a few hours drive away from San Jose. The Marriott here is great. Behind my room is a golf course, and there's even a quaint mini-chapel there. On our last day, the chapel was set-up for a wedding. White flowers, and the red carpet extending from inside the church to outside near the garden/reception area. It was very pretty, and very nice. :)
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