All photos for this travelogue are not scanned in. Sorry for the lack of illustrations.
February 21, 2000 - Saturday
Uneventful Arrival
I groaned as the alarm went off at 4:20AM. It felt like I had just lain down to sleep only two hours ago - wait - I did. I rolled off the bed, took a shower, fed Kitty, and drove out at 5:00AM. The valet parking a few miles away from Bradley's International Airport north of Hartford, CT was efficient but after the shuttle bus dropped me off, the lines were long at the airport. American Airlines had a cart-o-breakfast at the entrance and I grabbed a bag containing a soft bagel, raisins, cereal, milk, and orange juice - not too bad. The flight was uneventful. I think I'm actually starting to get used to flying.
As we approached Miami Airport, I think saw part of the Everglades. It looked more like a huge pond with the sickly greenish pond scum floating on the surface, nothing like the mirrored tea colored water with grass islands and mangroves on TV. I peered to see if I could see the spot where the ill-fated ValueJet crashed, but I didn't see anything. Bright white houses with orange Spanish tiles appeared in neatly placed clusters dominated the architecture.
We landed in Miami Airport at about 10:20AM. I could see Palm trees bent slightly from the cool breezes outside. I didn't think I've been here before, but now I recalled stopping at the airport on my way down and back from the Peruvian Amazon a few years ago. Since I had a good 6 hours until my flight departs, I took a much leisurely stroll around the terminals and entered the 8-story airport hotel. At the top of the hotel was an open-air pool with a snack bar. I sat and started my journal, ordering some conch fritters and enjoyed being outside in only my T-shirt for the first time since September '97.
I vegged out on computer games and met up with Fabio, John, and Elizabeth at about 4:00PM. Elizabeth is Fabio's friend from Lehigh University 15 years ago, and John is Fabio's housemate. I knew John and Fabio from Lehigh also. Elizabeth gave me a hug as soon as she saw me - that was the first time I met her. She looked Jewish/Italian, with long curled hair and a sickly sweet smelling perfume scent cloud around her. Her facial expression seemed to have a constant slight frown. We boarded the plane after that, and the flight from Miami to San Jose was uneventful also.
After we got out of the airport, Fabio's whole family was waiting to greet us. They came in two cars, but since the whole family came, there was a space problem. The first car's trunk was hard to open because it was just hit by another car so the lock was a little bent. There was a large half-empty case of beer in the trunk of the other car so I had to carry a piece of my luggage in my laps. We then left for our prospective hotels. While on the way to the hotel, Fabio's dad informed me that the El Nino phenomenon is causing a severe drought during this dry season where it had not rained in the Central Valley since November. His sister, Carla, informed me that the country had started a controlled-mandatory shut-off of water supplies during certain hours to combat the drought situation.
Elizabeth stayed at a new 5-star Marriott hotel, Fabio stayed with his parents and John and I stayed at the same hotel I stayed at last year - Apartotel La Sabana. It looked exactly the same, with colorful tropical foliage under the walkways and around the pool. We then went out to a Mexican restaurant recommended by Isabella, Fabio's Sister, and ate some pretty interesting tacos - the spiced meat was sliced from a device used to make the Greek gyro, placed on 3-inch diameter tortillas and topped with diced tomatoes, pineapple, and cilantro. It was pretty good. A Mariachi band came in and half-heartedly played some live music, then left. It was more of a show for tourists I guess because most of the Ticos were not too impressed. We wrapped up our dinner and headed back to our hotel sleep.
