You've Got Wanderlust

I’ve just touched down in San Jose, Costa Rica.

It’s 11:50 pm (local time, making it 1:50 am at my departure point – two flights ago – back in Florida). A quick text lets my family know I didn’t let my anxiety get the best of me on the flight (it was perfectly smooth flying, despite warnings from the pilots that we’d have a bumpy landing). Lit up by the full moon, I see the heat lightning and billowing clouds in the distance…the culprits for the turbulence that I’m glad to have missed out on. I focus, as I still have miles to go before I sleep.

AT&T kicks in.

Now that they offer roaming included in my phone plan, I don’t have to worry about switching SIM cards (nor losing them, nor paying for two phone lines despite living in a different country part of the time – I’m telling you: it’s the little things that bring me joy)! I immediately check the Uber rates to get to the car. A sigh of relief escapes me when I see it’s under $7, despite being so late…and illegal…in Costa Rica (a topic for another day or night when I don’t have so much to do).

Onward to Immigration

I grab my backpack (which I made sure met the requirements to be considered a “personal item” in order to keep costs to a minimum) and head off the plane to join the immigration line. I’m happy to see it’s a short line, and even happier because I am a citizen here and it’s those little reminders of the life I live that humble me and also give me goosebumps. The officer is friendly, he asks for my “cedula” (Costa Rican ID) and I blush as I pass it through the window. It’s like being carded when you finally turn 21 (or equally as elating when you’re far past 21): Getting asked for my cedula makes me giddy. I kind of hope I never get used to it.

We wait, and wait…and wait…for our single checked bag (perfectly packed for two, as you might imagine from a well-trained travel agent). My dad is right: the CRsurftrip sticker we gave him makes our bag impossible to miss. It’s another of those small reminders that this is not all a dream.

I check the Uber app…

We’re still holding strong at around $7 for the short trip. Checked bag off the belt, I book it, we scan through the customs booth, say “no, gracias” to a million airport staff and taxi drivers, and head to the pickup point. “I don’t have cash” I think to myself, but I won’t need it for the Uber, another reason I prefer it to a cab, here.

10 minutes later…

After the 5th scheduled Uber driver cancels the ride, I wonder if I was wrong about needing the cash. We ask how much it will cost with the red cabs (aka the legal cabs), but only after being scoffed at and reminded that “Uber is illegal” in Costa Rica while walking to the meeting point past one cab driver, and told “you’ll be waiting ’til 5 am for Uber” by another, both of whom we turned down prior to their unsolicited commentary. My inner-capricorn has already decided that I will happily wait until 4:59 am for my Uber, just to prove him wrong…and that decision is solidified when the only non-super-aggro cab-pusher confirms that the 10 minute ride to our destination will cost 5 times the price of the Uber. Yeah, no. I hit “cancel” as the app searches 20 minutes away for a driver and I retry again.

Jhon accepts the trip (and no, that’s not a typo on his name).

It’s only slightly past midnight. Capricorn wins.

I let him know I’m happy to meet him by the bus stop if that is easier for him. This reduces the risk of losing his license or facing potential fines of being caught Uber-ing people in a place where taxis have somehow managed to maintain the monopoly while the app somehow simultaneously manages to exist in a country that doesn’t allow it…One of many conundrums in this amazing country.

While this helps Jhon, it also helps us to avoid the uncomfortable vibe of the taxi drivers, who are clearly angry but who also don’t realize they are ostracizing their potential clients with their attitudes. I recall a few years ago when the taxi drivers got violent with Uber drivers…that vibe is in the air and it’s already 12:21 am at this point. I still have quite a way to go. We meet Jhon; he drops us off to my favorite SJO airport hotel, La Riviera Hotel in ten minutes – long before 5 am, might I add.

I’m thinking we’re cruising until we find:

The gate is closed.

The guard is MIA.

No one answers the Whatsapp messages or calls to let us in.

*Insert expletive of choice here*

Luckily, I am corrected:

The gate is closed, but not locked. We slide in and go on a search for the security guard. Reception is locked. Reception phone number I have rings, no one comes out from the back room. I check my messages – *Sugar-monkeys*: I told them the wrong arrival time…

I genuinely hope that “reception will be open” wasn’t because we were supposedly arriving before it closed…

*Deep breath* I hold off my panic just long enough for: van lights!

“Oh, thank God”

…mostly because I wouldn’t hear the end of it if we were at a hotel with no way to get into our car to leave and also no way to reserve a hotel room here for the night. I open the gate like I own the place, smile and wave at the driver and late night airport pickup passenger, who have just arrived. “They really could have just picked us up,” I think to myself. The policy requires that we be staying the same day/night in order to use the shuttle service (we stayed last week, which is why our car is here). But whatever, I’ll take the awkward taxi experience and the $7 Uber for the convenience of our parking agreement.

It’s now after 1 am.

The shuttle driver, who I’m guessing is also the receptionist AND security tonight, hands me the keys to my car and the sunglasses we left behind last week. I’m telling you, the service really is awesome here.

Now, we are really on our way!

What? Did you think I was saying it was a long night just for a few little delays?? Come on, now, I used to be a backpacker, I have the patience of a saint!

Here’s the scoop:

Knowing that the traffic is worse in the largest city in Costa Rica, especially during rush hour, and that we needed to get out to Playa Jaco (Jaco Beach) to pick up a surfboard that was being repaired, we decided – before our last flight took off – that we’d make the drive and stay the night by the beach in order to reduce our traffic, stress, and drive duration tomorrow. The time we’d arrive was a “future-me problem”…but that was more than 12 hours ago…Now it’s just a “problem.” Just kidding!

I’m wide awake still and good to go!

My dad always loved driving at night and my mom is a night owl by nature. I think it just runs in my blood. Off we go, only an hour and 20 minutes to the beach. Definitely a new personal record. But honestly, if you’re considering a trip here…

I recommend visitors don’t drive themselves in Costa Rica for a few reasons:

1. The roads aren’t well lit
2. The reflectors are hit or miss
3. The signs are rare or non-existent
4. If something happens and you don’t have someone to call and/or know Spanish you might have bigger problems than just the car.
5. It’s very common for cars to be missing headlights (which is extra dangerous when there is no illumination, not a lot of oversight to make sure cars have headlights, and roads that are one lane each direction for miles on end with very few spots to pass the slow AF trailers and other large vehicles)
6. The driving culture is…special (read: can be dangerous because many people ignore the rules of the road, and TBH I can’t always blame them…but sometimes I definitely can, and I’ve seen some scary sh* happen).
7. Tighter turns and less space /no shoulder…what I’m getting at is: just trust me on this one.
8. Also…you’re on friggin’ vacation – RELAX and let someone else do the work for a change!

The best option is to avoid a rental car, and the illegal Uber vs. aggro-taxi debate I told you about, and instead we’ll provide you door to door private transport anywhere in Costa Rica. If you’re on a budget and prefer to save some money you can opt for the shared transport anywhere in Costa Rica which has some inconveniences, as you might expect for a lower price point, but it’s still a decent option!

Road work: 1:40 am.

All I can think is: “and miles to go before I sleep”…immediately followed by how grateful I am that they are doing this work at night for the good of all things – because how many times have you seen rush-hour construction traffic and thought “do they really have to do this RIGHT NOW?” We soar past just a minute later. We have good radio signal here (which is rare in the area where we live) and our favorite station, Urbano 106 – which is actually 105.9, is pumping a mix of classic reggae and dancehall hits so we jam the whole way to our hotel for the night.

2:38 am.