June 16, 1999 - June 24, 1999

Arlene's Coming!

I was scheduled to leave the island on the 17th but Tropical Storm Arlene was still on track to strike Bermuda head-on. The government of Bermuda issued a tropical storm warning. I started to get worried a bit and stayed up most of the night to finish up some of the projects I was working on and left on the 16th instead. My flight was uneventful and was smooth. By the time I landed and arrived at my sister's house in Parsippany, Arlene made a 45-degree turn away from the island, as if giving up on the prey that had escaped.

I spent an interesting week traveling from NJ to NY to NJ to PA to NJ to NY to CT and then back to NY and NJ again. It was hell zooming around like that but it had to be done. I also go to see David Letterman live and saw a bunch of celebrities walking around in NYC including a drunken Nathan Lane at 3:00 in the morning. This is travelogue is not about the States though - onto Costa Rica!

My flight from JFK to Miami and Miami to Costa Rica was uneventful. I landed in San Jose a little after 6 because of a delay in take off at Miami due to thunderstorms. Dave & Rudi greeted me at the airport and off we went in a taxi to their new apartment. Right away I felt the moist humid air, a little cooler than the states and Bermuda, and the diesel fume filled the night air. The drive took about 15 to 20 minutes and we finally got to the apartment and went to the second floor. The interior was decorated with high class furniture and sponged wall finish. It was a very modern apartment that one would expect to find in the States instead of Costa Rica.

After resting for a while in my room, we went out to a restaurant in a touristy section and I had some grilled steak with typical Costa Rican trimmings of refried beans, salad and chips. It was delicious and I had the standard papaya juice with milk. We went to a bar briefly after that but it was pretty dead. Since we had an early day tomorrow, we just headed back and retired for the night.