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Friday, July 6th, 2001
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5:09 pm - Costa Rica (It's long)
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LIVIN? LA VIDA COSTA RICA
By Chris Fryer
Don?t drink the water. Don?t feed the monkeys. Don?t fall into the Volcano. Don?t get lost. Keep track of your money. Don?t lose your passport. Don?t sleep in. Don?t eat anything weird. Don?t talk to strangers. Don?t accept things from strangers. Don?t even look at strangers. Don?t be stupid. Act nice in your house. Don?t hurt yourself. Don?t get sick. Don?t do anything that will get you sick. Don?t waste your money. Don?t waste the minutes on your calling card. Keep in touch with me. Don?t forget to take pictures. Don?t lose your camera. Don?t mess around on the plane. Don?t miss the plane. Don?t make Mr. Dolan go insane. Don?t wander off during the tours. Don?t do anything dangerous. Don?t stand near any cliffs. Don?t push people off any cliffs. Don?t talk to people who yell at you in Spanish. Don?t yell back in Spanish to people who yell at you in Spanish. Do not marry any Costa Rican girls. Do not come back with any diseases. Don?t do anything I wouldn?t do. Don?t forget to buy gifts. Don?t lose the gifts. Don?t break the gifts. Don?t forget the twenty-dollar airport tax. Don?t lose any of your luggage. Don?t leave your bags unattended.
This is for you, Mom.
Livin? La Vida Costa Rica
Dedication Section.
Mom
Dad
Grandma
Paul Oliver
Zach Roxburgh
John Miyao
Matt Malan
Austin Freeman
Margo Parks
Lisa Pham
Rebecca Chang
Lilianna Plugovoy
Christina Lam
Melissa Harman
Blair Brown
Zach Hoffman
Kaitlin Bernstein
Mr. Dolan
Jorge Valverde
And of course, to the Terjera Alveraz family who let Paul, Austin, and I live with them for the two-week trip. They were very friendly.
Thanks.
Enough cheesy dedications. Let?s get to the good part.
OARDING FLIGHT 1533
The speaker system.
Click.
?Flight 1533: San Jose to Houston is now boarding at this time at gate 34. If we could please have rows twenty-nine through twenty-five board first, we?d like to load the plane from the back to speed things up. Thank you.?
Repeat in Spanish.
Click.
Time to get on the plane. This is it. I?m going onto the plane. No turning back. Once I?m on, I?ll need a big mental breakdown to get me off again. They don?t let you leave unless you have a good reason. Bomb. Terrorist. Crash. Death. Bad Fish. You can?t say any of those things unless you want to be kicked off. I?ve learned these things. Mostly from that large book of common sense in my head, but other things I learn from movies. This is the good thing about movies. They teach you things.
Never assume the bad guy is dead.
Never say, ?I?ll be right back.?
Don?t get to close to the glass.
Etc. Etc.
I sit in the back. The VERY back. The last seat on the list of seats- 29F. That?s the last row, window seat. I knew that I would get a window seat. I always get the window seat. I sometimes wonder if I purposely get these seats so that I get time to myself. Throughout this entire trip I don?t think I was ever by myself unless you consider time in the bathroom. So this time on the plane is the only time I really get to myself. I walk all the way to the back of the plane with my black bag with Lanc?me written on the side and a large poster tube sticking out of the zipper top.
The tube bumps into the man?s leg ahead of me, and he turns suddenly as thought the tube bit him. I pretend not to notice and pass up the man as he sits in his seat. He got an aisle seat at 26C.
Already I am bored and lonely. No one has yet claimed the seats next to mine. They lay open and empty. I feel like lifting the armrests and sleeping across all three seats. I am suddenly tired. Sometimes when I think of something like sleep or food, I become tired or hungry. Now I am tired. I look out the window at the busy airport workers trying to fill the plane up with luggage before the time it?s supposed to take off. They work fast as if the plane would actually take off with the luggage door still wide open and a suitcase hanging off the side of the plane. Maybe that could happen. Maybe my luggage would be the one that would spill out across the runway as the plane took off from the ground.
Then I wake up. I had been sleeping against the window. Suddenly the seats next to me are filled with two women. The one in the aisle seat is probably 18 or 19. The one next to me appears younger, maybe 15 or 16. She looks familiar. D?j? vu.
My head has a red line across it from the outline of the window frame. There are no longer busy airport workers outside. The luggage truck is gone. The conveyor belt that lifted our luggage into the plane has driven away to another plane. I look away from the window and the girl next to me looks at me quickly and then back at her book. She?s reading a book. She must be smart. It?s one of those long books with small print. Those books take me a week to read if I like the book. Books are good if you want to pass time quickly. You can lose an hour in a book easily. I can at least.
The plane moves. The engine has been running for a few minutes now. A television lowers itself from the ceiling above the seats three rows ahead of me. It?s a small TV with a five-inch screen. I squint to read the writing on it. Then the intercom comes on. Some random recorded woman?s voice reads what it says on the screen.
?Welcome to Continental Airlines. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.?
Can we go now? I think. I?m a bored bored boy living in a boring boring world.
TAKE OFF FROM SAN JOSE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
The plane needs to reach its max ground speed before you can pull back on the flight stick and release the flaps. The air will catch under the flaps, and the plane will be lifted up into the sky. With another boost from the engines, a constant flow of power, air pressure, you get to cruising altitude. It?s that easy. From cruising altitude, you need to keep the plane at a fairly constant speed, and as level as you can.
The plane is shaking. We are traveling down the runway at insane speeds. I bump my head on the window and pull myself back. The girl next to me is looking out the window too. I watch the airport as it passes by in the distance. The plane engines roar as they force the 800,000 pounds of plane down the runway. From where I sit, I can see the heat waves coming out of the back of the engines. The ground appears wavy through the heat. It amuses me for a second.
My tray table is not in the locked and upright position. I notice this. If the plane were to crash, the tray table would most likely cause my death. It could snap all my ribs if I was to fall into it during a plane crash. I quickly lock the table into place. We should be taking off pretty soon. It?s been at least twenty seconds. I can feel the speed of the plane in my head and I wonder how fast we are going. A hundred? Two hundred? I can?t tell. I wonder how fast we need to go before the plane can take off.
I wonder how much runway we need.
How much is left?
The world out my window is flying by. The plane is shaking. Are we going to take off at all? I can?t see the airport anymore. We?ve passed it by. I can see the plane?s shadow on the ground. It molds itself across the bumpy surface of the runway and the grass that lines the side of the runway. Then I watch as the shadow moves away. The wheels have left the ground. The flaps have been lowered. Air is catching beneath the wings. I look down at the runway as we take off. The plane shakes violently as we reach forty feet, fifty. Then sixty. We?re ascending at about 1,000 feet a minute. We?ll continue this until we reach 35,000 feet. I can already see way out across the Earth at cities far away. The mountains in the far distance seem small and miniature now. All of the houses built near the airport become small patterns on the ground. The different colors of grass and dirt are much more obvious from the air. They look like patches on a giant quilt.
The plane starts to turn. It turns right, dipping the right wing toward the ground. Now I?m looking straight down at the ground out of my window. The girl next to me can?t help but fall against my shoulder. She tries to sit up straight, but gravity is too powerful. I have already fallen against the wall of the plane; my face is squished against the window. Then we turn back to the left. We are once again level. That U-turn just put us in the correct direction. This is a three-hour flight to Houston, Texas. Nothing but the Gulf of Mexico between here and there. From Houston, we?ll switch planes and fly three hours to Sacramento International Airport. SMF. That?s home. That gives me six hours, plus the layover in Houston, to talk about my trip.
Welcome to Flight 1533, San Jose to Houston. This is my trip.
* * *
Day One:
Day one could be considered as Monday, June 18th. Or Tuesday, June 19th. To me day one was Monday. That was the day I woke up at 3:30 AM and went to Paul?s house so that they could drive me to the airport. That was the day when I got on a plane and flew to Houston with 17 kids from my school, Mr. Dolan, and a few other adults. That was the day we stayed in the Houston airport for 5 hours during the layover. That was the day when I flew across the Gulf of Mexico to San Jose, Costa Rica. That was the day I met my family. That was the first day to me.
?Chris, get up.? My mom says. I had already packed up everything in my room and my bed had been taken apart. I was ready to move to Auburn. The point is, my bed was taken apart. I had to sleep on the couch that night. I got about six hours of the sleep that night. It was three thirty in the morning of June 18.
The previous night, I had packed all of my bags and placed them by the door. The house was still dark with the early morning. I didn?t feel like I had slept at all. My mom?s voice seemed far away. But when I opened my eyes, I saw her in the kitchen. She was reading something. I rolled off the couch and stood up. My legs ached and my neck hurt from sleeping on the couch. My hair was sticking up in awkward directions. I felt horrible.
?We?re going in thirty minutes. Check your stuff and then get ready.? She says. I don?t really need thirty minutes. All I have to do is fix my hair and put some shoes on. So, thirty minutes later, I?m walking out the front door of apartment 223 on Palm Avenue. I will never see that apartment again. While I was away on this trip, my mom moved from that apartment to an apartment in Auburn, 450 High Street.
I throw my two bags into the trunk. One?s a Concourse Suitcase. The other is a Wilson sport bag. I had put my clothes in the Wilson bag. My random things are in the suitcase. I also have a carry on bag. It?s my grandma?s, for the record. That is why it says Lanc?me on the side. It was not my bag.
I swear.
In the carry on, I have my camera, my important papers (passport, money), a word search book, and a bottle of water. This also goes in the trunk. My mom gets in the driver?s seat, and I get in the passenger seat. One day that will not be how it works and I will be driving. I realize this and smile. My sister is still asleep in the apartment with my ex-step-dad. He is asleep as well. My mom?s Plymouth Neon pulls out of the parking spot and we drive out of the apartment complex. Now we?re on Palm Avenue.
Fifteen minutes later, we are at Paul?s house. His driveway is hidden along the side of another house. My mom always misses the driveway. But we don?t have time to miss the driveway this morning. The plane leaves at 5:30. It?s 4:15. With no problems, we pull into the driveway and then continue down to the house. There, the car is turned off and my mom and I go to the front door. My mom talks with Paul?s mom and then Paul comes down from his room. We talk for a minute. Then my mom leaves. I say goodbye, fight the tears, and then watch the car leave.
Thirty minutes later we are in the airport. It?s 4:50 or so. I?d never been to the Sacramento International Airport before. It is a nice airport. I look at all the decorations as I stand in line. I have my passport ready. This line moves slowly. I watch as more and more people arrive. I drag my two bags along behind me. Mr. Dolan notices that my carry on bag says Lanc?me. He starts to bug me about it, asking if I have makeup to sell. This is not the last time he bugs me about it.
?Has anyone given you anything unusual or held your bags without your supervision?? The lady asks me.
No.
?Can I see your passport??
I hand her the passport. My picture is bad. And by bad I mean horrible. It?s the kind of picture you throw away. But I can?t throw it away. It?s my passport picture. She looks at the picture, then at me, and then again at the picture. It?s me.
Fifteen minutes later we?re all waiting by the gate. I can?t remember which one it was. 5:05. I sit by John and Paul and we read about our trip. Two weeks in Costa Rica. Unbelievable. We agree that the Tambor Beach Resort is going to be the best part. We remind each other that this trip is the last time we?ll see each other. I suspect that I?ll see Paul again someday, but John I?m not so sure about. John mentions that Zach is already in Costa Rica with his family. He had an earlier flight.
?We are now boarding Flight whatever at gate whatever. We?ll be boarding rows one through ten at this time. Thank you.?
That?s not me. I sit in row 16, in the middle. I don?t sit by anyone I know. I?m going to be bored. Paul gives me the Fight Club book. That should keep me occupied for most of the flight. Fight Club was an awesome movie. I suspect it to be an awesome book. I stand by the entrance to the plane. I talk to Zach Hoffman for a second. Then they call the rest of the rows. We board the plane. I carry my Lanc?me bag by the handle. I try to make it seem like a normal bag. Mr. Dolan gets in one more joke about my bag before I get onto the plane. Continental Airlines. I step into the plane through the open door. Two flight attendants direct me to the right, away from the cockpit. I follow a man in a light tan shirt. Once I reach my row, I sit next to a seven year old girl and her dad. They are in the wrong seats. I know this because I?m supposed to have the middle seat, E. The girl is in my seat.
Ten minutes later, I am in the correct seat and the dad and daughter are gone. They are now sitting somewhere in their correct seats. Now I sit in the middle of two older men. On my left, he is wearing a black jacket and black pants. On my right, he?s wearing a Hawaiian shirt and beige khaki pants. I look out the window. There is nothing interesting outside. I close my eyes and lean back against the seat.
Three hours, four states, and ten minutes later, we are in Houston, Texas. The man to my right says a few things to me. Then we leave each other. I will never see that man again. I read about forty pages of Fight Club during the whole trip, and was even able to sleep a little. I grab my Lanc?me bag and edge my way out of my seat. Once the rows ahead of mine are empty, I am able to leave. I say, ?Thanks? to the flight attendants by the door. They are now directing me to the left, away from the cockpit. I leave the 747 and walk up the walkway to the Houston Airport.
A few of my fellow travelers are standing by the exit. They are the ones who got lower numbers than me. Only a few. I wait there with someone. I can?t remember who it was. Finally everyone has left the plane. Now the plane is free to go wherever and live the rest of its life. Mr. Dolan makes another joke or two about my bag, and then we all go wait for our next flight. Whether or not we had to do any stuff with tickets or passports or baggage, I cannot remember. But now is when we have to wait five hours for our next plane.
I talk with everyone. We have some fun. But I get restless after the first three hours. Paul or someone and I walk around to the stores. I remember eating a snack at one of the restaurants with John. The rest is a blur. A long five hours that would have been better if they were fast-forwarded. But then, five hours later, we are once again boarding the plane.
They would like to board seats 29-25 first. Thank you.
I got row 26 this time. Window seat. Two bad seats in a row now. I might be going for a record of bad seats on this trip. Only time will tell. I get to my seat and plop down on my headphone set. I hear a pop. Not good. I get up and look at my headphones. They look fine, but just in case they are broken- I switch headphones with the seat next to mine. Then I sit back and look out the window. Busy airport workers are scrambling everywhere. I watch a plane land, and then a plane takes off. Then a man sits next to me. He?s probably about 21 or 22. He talks to me. He mentions Costa Rica. I mention Fight Club.
?Whoa? They made a book outta that??
They made a movie from the book.
?Oh.?
This plane has a television. The TV pops down with a movie already playing. It shows us how to survive. The intercom repeats a lot of boring but important stuff that is subtitled on the screen. Exits are located here, here, and here. In the unlikely case of an emergency, stay calm. If you feel that you cannot perform the duties necessary to escape, please call a flight attendant. Seatbelts close like this, and open like this. Life vests are under your seat. Pull the red tab to inflate, or manually blow into each hole. This other tab will start the emergency beacon. When oxygen masks are released, place the oxygen masks over your mouth and nose, and then tighten the strings. All of this can be read in the emergency pamphlet in the seat back pocket ahead of you. You should look over this now. Today?s movie will start in thirty minutes. Have a nice flight. We will be serving dinner today.
Miss Congeniality is an awful movie. I had the chicken. I got the last chicken. Drank two Cokes. Nothing spectacular happened on the flight. I talked a little bit more to the guy next to me. Mostly about Fight Club. Then we landed in San Jose. I think it was 6:00 PM. I remember it being dark, that?s all. Once again, we all left the plane. I was sensing a pattern. Get on the plane, and then get off the plane.
This airport was nice. I was now officially in Costa Rica. I?d never been here before. This was awesome.
Once everyone was off, Mr. Dolan did a head count and made sure we were all here. Then we walked down a long hallway until we came to customs. Dolan handed out our passports. Everyone got into line. I held my passport out along with a filled out customs card that the flight attendant handed out. When it came to my turn, I handed both of these things to the guy behind the desk. He looked the papers over, and then clicked some keys on the keyboard. His computer beeped.
Stamp. Next?
I walked onward with my passport.
Was that it?
When everyone else is through, we walk down the stairs to the next area. I can?t remember exactly what happens after that, but I know that we end up outside. Once we are outside, we see Jorge. I?m guessing again. Maybe Jorge was with us the whole time. Either way, this is when I notice him. I also see Austin Freeman. I didn?t know he was going. He says that he?s already been here for a day. I wonder where Zach Roxburgh is. Jorge then leads us across the street to the parking lot. All of us students follow him to a spot where two small buses are parked. These buses each have six rows of four seats, then two rows of three seats, and a driver and passenger seat. For the rest of the trip, we will be using little buses like these. John, Paul, Austin, and I get onto the second bus along with others who were already on the bus. Then we leave.
During the drive, Jorge reminds us of the room arrangements. I am roomed with Paul and Austin with the Terjera Alveraz family. This family has a mother, father, 20-year-old son, 19-year-old son, and 14-year-old daughter. Most of the other people?s families are like this too. Two older kids, one young. From the buses, kids are being dropped off in pairs at their houses. Paul, Austin, and I are the only ones to get three kids in one house. Soon it is our turn to leave. We all get our baggage. Mr. Dolan makes one more joke about my Lanc?me bag, and then the mom and one of the brothers greet Paul, Austin, and me.
?Hola.? The mom speaks.
Hola.
Jorge introduces us.
Paul, Chris, and Austin.
?Hola.? She says again.
Then there was an odd moment of silence. Jorge tells us that the bus will pick us up tomorrow morning at some insanely early time. I can?t remember the time. I hope Paul or Austin did. I am wiped out from all this flying. Our new temporary family leads us into the house and gives us a tour.
Living room.
Dining room.
Kitchen.
Your room.
Bathroom.
There?s more to the house, but she doesn?t show us. The house is nicely decorated. They have a TV and a Playstation. She asks us if we?re hungry, and we all say no. We?re tired. But we?re not really tired. Our bodies have lost the energy to move, but we?re wide-awake with excitement. Here we are in some stranger?s house in Costa Rica. How can you sleep at a time like this? We close our bedroom door, and examine our room. It?s pretty big. There?s a window on the opposite wall from the door that leads into another room of the house. A room she did not show us. A mystery room. On the door side of the room, there is a closet and the entrance to the bathroom. Having our own bathroom was a thumbs up. Austin and Paul take over the closet and I take the dresser under the mirror near the door. To sleep on, we have two sets of bunk beds. I immediately called the top bunk of the set that is on the right wall. No one really objects. Austin gets the bottom bunk on the other set, and Paul is under me. Room arrangements are done. Now we unpack.
I think we end up going to bed at some early hour of the next morning. That?s how day one went. I wake up six or seven hours later to begin day two.
DAY TWO: June 19
Yawn. It?s too early to think. Paul?s loud and annoying travel alarm wakes me up at 6:30 AM. My eyes are stuck closed with some of that weird stuff that forms from your tear ducts. After a few seconds I claw my eyes open and suddenly forget where I am. The bright light in the center of the room is glowing with heat. I blink. Then I hear Paul?s voice. I can?t understand him. Everything is muffled. I yawn again. Then my ears pop open.
I throw my legs over the side of the bed and jump down. For a second my foot hurts from the landing, but it goes away. I see Austin slowly crawling out of his bed. Paul is in the bathroom. I hear the shower start. I wonder when breakfast is and I suddenly get very hungry. I barely ate anything on the plane. Now I pay for it. When Paul gets out of the shower, Austin and I are already ready to go eat breakfast. Paul gets dressed quickly and then we go eat breakfast at 6:40. It?s French toast. Pan Fancia. [pawn frawn-cee-uh]
We are supposed to bring bug spray, ran gear, and sunscreen. I already put some bug and sunscreen stuff on this morning. I wore my jacket for rain gear. I stuck some money into my wallet and then stuck my wallet in my back pants pocket. To wait for the bus, we stand on the corner down the street from our house. There was a school across the street from us. A police guard was standing there by the school entrance. There were high fences all along the school. Were they there to keep people from breaking in, or from escaping?
There are a lot of taxis in Costa Rica. They are red too. While Paul, Austin, and I stood on the corner, we probably saw thirty or forty taxis drive by. Some of them would slow down when they saw us, as though we needed a ride. Some would honk. Only one stopped and asked us something in Spanish. I just shook my head and said No. No means no in Spanish too. No is one of the few shared words in the Spanish and American language.
Finally our bus comes at about 7:15 AM. It?s the same kind of little bus that took us home last night. It parks in front of us. Already on the bus are Lisa, Blair, Lilianna, and Christina. Lisa and Blair are the only 8th graders on the trip. The rest of us are now 9th graders. Paul, Austin, and I sit down on the bus. The seven of us talk about our families for a second. The others complain about no hot water. Paul says that we have hot water. Thumbs up. The bus drives onward.
The next people picked up are Sarah and Allie. Hooray. Those are two people that made this trip just a little bit worse. Sarah because she?s annoying and says stupid things, and Allie because she was just there. I never spoke to her once throughout the whole trip. They sit down on the bus, and we move on. John and Zach are next. They sit somewhere near Paul and I. Zach tells us about being alone with the family. Then he complains about cold water the first night. John says he got a warm shower.
The next pick up is for Becca, Kaitlin, Margo, Melissa, Matt, and Zach. They all live in the same area. They all get onto the bus, and suddenly things get louder. The last stop is for Mr. Dolan. When he gets on, he asks me if I have my Lanc?me bag. I do not, I say. I sigh.
Today we are going to Braulio Carrillo National park. There, they have an Aerial Tram ride that carries you across the top of the rain forest. It sounds appealing. After the tram ride, we have an hour-long hike. The drive was about an hour long. When we got there, everyone jumped out of the bus and stretched. The bus ride was pretty fun. Most bus rides will be fun for the rest of the trip. It?s humid in the parking lot. The whole rain forest is humid. During the drive here, all you could see was fog for a while. The fog has gone away now.
Ten minutes later, we have gotten a ride down the hill to a small room. We get off the bus. This bus has ?Aerial Tram? written across the side in big green letters. In this small room, there are no walls. It?s just a roof held up by poles. In the back of this room is a TV. The room is filled with wooden benches. It?s time to watch a movie. Everyone sits down, and a man tells us stuff. Basically, he said movie, tram, and hike. Then he leaves and the movie starts. It?s an 11 minute long movie. The guy said it was half an hour long. What a liar. It starts to rain. Rainforest rain. Heavy sheets of water pour down from the clouds.
That?s why they call it a rainforest. It can rain at any given moment. There are no seasons in a rainforest. Every day is the same. It?s a miracle of nature.
We are led down a path and to a restaurant. Everyone ducks for cover from the rain. A minute later, the rain is gone. At this time, we are split into groups of five. We get our boarding tickets, and then we are allowed to get on the tram. We walk up another path until we get to the beginning of the tram ride. Ten minutes later, we are sitting in a green cage. A man closes a door behind us. Riding with us is a tour guide. John and Zach are in the front. Matt sits by the guide in the middle. Paul and I are in the back. The steel cables rotate around the large column that held the wires up. Our tram is pulled away from the loading station. The ground drops away from us, and soon we are in the air.
The ride lasts an hour. It carries us over a hundred feet above the ground. We pass over a creek with a small waterfall. We see a woodpecker bird. Butterflies, bees, birds. We even saw a flower that only blooms for one month of the year. I can?t remember what it was called. Then the ride was over. One hour later. The end. I will never get to do that again. Thinking of it that way, it was awesome. But deep down I know that that was really boring. Now, a hike.
The hike was boring. We walked up a hill. The only good part was seeing the anteater. Our tour guide caught a small bug that was capable of making a loud siren type noise. That was pretty cool. Then we went back to the restaurant area. I looked through the gift shop. There was nothing amazing there. The ?Aerial Tram? bus came back and drove us up to our bus. Then we drove back to San Jose.
In San Jose, we stopped at a restaurant and had lunch. It was pretty good. Speaking of Costa Rican food. The usual meal at any restaurant was a casado. A casado was a plate of rice served with salad, beans, and meat-chicken-or rice. It was either that or Arroz con Pollo. That translates to rice and chicken. That?s all it was. At some restaurants like Spoon, they had lasagna or burritos. They had fast food there too. McDonald?s, Burger King, etc. But all fast food places were expensive. Everything was imported. They served the same sodas too. No Pepsi, just Coke. They served Fanta and Fresca too. Those are sodas that I don?t think are available in the US.
After the restaurant, we went back home. Everyone was dropped off. It was about 3:00 PM. Paul, Austin, and I got back into our house. We ate dinner with the family. There were some other guys there; they were friends of our family?s brothers. The dinner was some kind of noodles with tiny pieces of ham and broccoli in it. It was good. They also had coconut flan. That was disgusting. After dinner, the three of us played cards for a while. We fell asleep at about midnight or so.
* * *
We have just reached cruising altitude. Feel free to move about the cabin.
* * *
DAY THREE: June 20
Yawn. It?s 7:00 AM. The bus is coming at 8:00. That gives us an hour. My hair is wildly messed up. Whenever I take a shower, my hair will be crazy the next morning. I suddenly feel lazy. I don?t want to get up and brush my hair or my teeth or eat breakfast or go anywhere. But today we are going to Arenal. Arenal is a volcano 3? hours northwest of San Jose. This volcano supposedly erupts 24/7. Not like a major St. Helens eruption 24/7, but a steady flow of lava flows from the top all day. At night you can see it better. During the day it just appears as a white flow of something going down the side of the volcano.
Paul, Austin, and I wait on the corner until the bus comes. This time we get a big bus. This bus can seat twice as many people as we need. It?s an actual public bus that says Turismo on the side. I suspect that means Tourist or Tourism. The driver gets out and opens the side of the bus. We throw our bags in. The pamphlet said to pack clothes for two nights, money, camera, and other necessities. Once our bags were stored away, we got on the bus and sat down. This bus was cool. At the next stop, I got out again and grabbed Fight Club out of my bag. I read a lot of it during the bus ride. Twenty minutes later, everyone was picked up and we drove onward to Fortuna. At Fortuna, we would stay in a hotel for two nights.
Fortuna is a small town about thirty minutes to an hour away from the volcano. There is a post card I bought that shows the volcano erupting. The picture was taken from the main street of Fortuna. I still have that postcard. We arrive at the hotel at about 12:00. The hotel is on the outside of town. I was able to get 40 dollars of traveler?s checks exchanged at a bank today when we stopped on the way here. Forty dollars is about 14,350 colones. The colon [co-loan] is the form of money Costa Rica uses. The exchange rate was 358 colones for one U.S. dollar. It was nice to say that you had fourteen thousand colones.
The hotel looked really nice. When we pulled up to the hotel, I was impressed. There was a row of about fifteen rooms on the west side, and about fifteen rooms on the east side. In the middle of the two rows was a large pool. In front of the pool, in the north, was the lobby. You checked in here. In the far south was the cafeteria. It was a wall-less building with many tables and a pool table in the corner. That was what you saw from the outside.
I was roomed with John, Zach, and Paul. We got room {insert number}, four or so rooms down from Becca, Margo, Kaitlin, and Melissa. The hotel rooms were not as nice as the actual hotel. There was a single desk across from my bed. I had the third bed from the door. John had bed one, then Zach, me, Paul. The bathroom door was hard to close, and it was that weird kind of glass that made everything blurry, but you could still see through it. It scared me to change in the bathroom. If you put your face up to the glass, you could see through almost perfectly. The beds were firm, but comfortable. The room was good for sleeping, but I would definitely not like to live there.
Right away people went swimming. The rest of the day would start at 2:00. We were going to the Tabacon Hot Springs. The Hot Springs was a large exotic looking resort built around the heated springs that came down from the volcano. A beautiful park was built around the water. It looked like paradise. After the swimming was over, everyone dried off and jumped back onto the bus at 1:50. Thirty or so minutes later, we were parked in front of Tabacon. Everyone got out of the bus again and then we followed Jorge to the main office. There we got green wristbands that allowed us to wander freely around the hot springs. Then we were let free and we went and got towels and a locker. We all changed and then ran out to check out the springs.
Yikes. They were warm. Matt, Paul, Austin, Zach, and I went up toward the top of the springs. The water was warmest there. It steamed. We sat on the edge of the small waterfall and relaxed. The water was very, very soothing. After a few minutes it gets hard to breath, and you feel like your being cooked. We left and went down the hill to explore the other areas. The day went on like that. I walked around with different people. I lost Paul and Matt and the others halfway through the day and had to walk around by myself before finding some more people I knew in the cold wading pool. The cold water was nice compared to the steaming springs. I stayed in there for a while until Austin and Zach came in. I saw a monkey in the tree while I was sitting there. Then when everyone left, I went with Austin and Zach to the pool. The pool was warm too. We jumped in and went to get a drink at the water bar. There was a slide that went from the second story of the restaurant to the pool. I went down it a few times. Then it got dark and it was time for dinner. I think it was 7:00 or so. Dinner was good. It was a buffet style dinner. I didn?t eat any vegetables. The fish was good. Dessert was good. After dinner, everyone changed back to normal clothes and we left Tabacon.
The bus ride back to the hotel was nice. I was still hot from the hot springs. I felt like I really had been cooked. Jorge talked a little bit to us on the bus ride back. Then we got to the hotel and we all went to our rooms. But nobody was going to bed. Everyone went back to the pool. I can?t remember if I went swimming or not. I remember playing cards with Mr. Dolan, Zach, and John, and some others at the cement patio table with the umbrella next to the pool. The lighting was poor, but we could still read the cards. We played hearts. I gave up the game and Becca took over for the end of my game. Mr. Dolan won, and I had to pay him 100 colones. 100 colones was about 1/3 of a US dollar. It was weird having foreign money. It didn?t seem real, and it was more like Monopoly money. I would spend it on stupid things and give away the coins like they were nothing. Most coins were useless. I only used 100?s. The 5?s for example. That?s like less than a penny in US money.
That night John fell asleep first. Zach, Paul, and I decided to do something to him, take a picture, and then let him sleep with it. So, Paul rubbed a coat of toothpaste all over John?s legs. We might have done more, but I can?t remember. Then all three of us took pictures. Unfortunately John woke up while Paul was trying to write something in sunscreen on his side. But the side of a person is a sensitive and sometimes ticklish spot. John woke up with anger in his tired eyes. He squirted toothpaste onto each of our beds and pillows. Then he went into the bathroom and wiped off his legs. Paul tried to talk sense into him by saying Chris was the one who wanted to put your hand into the water and make you pee on yourself.
It was Zach?s idea to write ?John? on your forehead.
Chris put the crackers on your face and legs.
I just put the toothpaste on your legs. He says.
It doesn?t matter. Paul was the first one John saw, and he?ll receive the worst hate from John tonight. We all sleep with one eye open just in case. I watch lightning flash in the distance out the window for a while before I drift off the sleep. That was the scariest night of the whole trip. Lying there. Afraid.
* * *
Out of my plane window, I can see the Gulf of Mexico. Big and Blue. There are tiny clouds scattered in random places across the blue. It looks like a giant blue field with large cotton balls growing on it. The clouds look so peaceful from way up here. 35,000 feet in the air. We?re traveling at 537 mph.
At this speed, you arm would snap at the elbow if you stuck it out the window.
At this speed, you could out fly a bullet.
The flight attendants are coming down the aisle to serve beverages. I wonder what time it is. We boarded the flight at 12:20. We left at 12:30 or so. We?ve been flying for maybe twenty to thirty minutes. So it?s most likely 1:00 in the afternoon by now. The in-flight movie is going to start soon. The pilot just told us that it?s going to be Thirteen Days. That?s a war movie. It has plane crashes in it. No thanks.
Would I like a drink?
I ask for a Coca Cola.
Boop.
Lunch will be served shortly, the pilot says. The intercom turns off again.
Boop.
* * *
DAY FOUR: June 21
Where am I? Oh yeah, Costa Rica. I look around my hotel room. Paul is asleep. Wait a second, why am I in the fourth bed now? Oh yeah. Last night at about 1:00 AM, Paul and I argued over who got the third bed. It was under the ceiling fan. Supposedly Paul couldn?t sleep in the heat. So he threatened me for the bed under the fan. Whatever. He said that he?d pay me two thousand colones for my bed. Deal.
That?s why I?m in the fourth bed. I get up and throw on a shirt. I change from my pajama pants to my blue Old Navy shorts. Zach slowly gets up, and then John. John doesn?t look as angry anymore. Maybe he forgot it ever happened. Paul wakes up and stumbles into the shower. While he?s in the shower, I take two thousand colones from his wallet. If I didn?t, then he wasn?t going to pay me. He?ll never notice either. I go outside to take a fresh breath. Breakfast is going to be served in the cafeteria. I wander down to the south end of the hotel and grab myself some food. John, Zach, and Paul are with me. We sit down at the table and eat. This is the first time I notice the cafeteria and the pool table. I eat chocolate frosted flakes. Then I drink the chocolate colored milk that still tastes like regular milk.
Today we are going horseback riding to the waterfall. Then we will swim in the waterfall. Everyone gets ready. I wear a gray Colorado University shirt and my bathing suit. My red and white suit. We all get on the bus and drive to somewhere. Once we get there, we get off the bus. It looks like a bus station, but with horses. There are about thirty horses standing around in this open pen. Twenty minutes later, everyone is on a horse. Then it starts to rain. Not a major downpour, but enough to get me soaked. I sit there, six feet up on top of my white horse, in the rain. Paul is also wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. We are both completely soaked. Nobody has an extra poncho. Nobody has an extra jacket. I am screwed. But not a lot of people can say they went horseback riding in Costa Rica with a short sleeve shirt on in the rain. It wasn?t even that cold. It was only cold because I was wearing a shirt, and the shirt got cold.
I learned how to make my horse go and stop and run. We followed two Mexican men as they led us along this long dirt road. After twenty minutes the road became cement, and it went more uphill.
Fast forward.
We came to a point along the road where we got off our horses and the Mexican men tied them up. At that time, I was soaked to the bone. My shirt was now dark gray from the water. It was normally light gray. Our group continued along the trail via walking. At a short stop, I was able to get Austin?s poncho. He already had a jacket on. The poncho didn?t dry me off, but it kept me warmer. Paul also got a poncho, from Christina, but he ripped it. The group continued onward until they came to another stop. Here they had bathrooms and a small gift store. Fast forward.
After a long trail that was actually a long staircase that weaved back and forth down the side of the mountain, we came to the waterfall. At first I wasn?t going to go swimming. But after I saw that everyone else but Zach Hoffman was going in, so did I. I took off my soaked shirt and my shoes. Then I walked carefully across the slippery rocks to the water. The water was cold. But I wasn?t going to come all this way for nothing. I jumped in and felt the rush of cold swoosh through me. The waterfall was about a hundred feet high. It was a very cool sight. It hit the water and created a huge wave of spray every second. Now and then the spray would fly outward and cover everyone. It was impossible to swim to the waterfall. It was way too powerful. But it was fun to try.
There was a cave behind the waterfall. Everyone swam or walked to the cave. The rocks back there were really slippery. The waterfall was cooler from behind. Another gust of spray whooshed into the cave and stung your skin when it hit you. I got back into the water and swam back to the rocks on the other side of the waterfall. I was done. I got out and came back up to the spot where everyone had their clothes. I grabbed my wet shirt. I can?t remember if I put it on or not. I think I did. Then I put on my shoes. It had stopped raining. My shirt would probably dry on the way back.
I got a different horse this time. And one time at the bottom of the hill, my horse broke into a gallop. That was the coolest feeling ever. It was a very short gallop, but it was fun. Then we got back to the beginning pen, and had to part with our horses. We hopped back on the bus. We still had the big bus. I was almost completely dry now. My butt hurt, and my legs hurt too. The horse was not a very comfortable animal. Why can?t horses be like sheep and have wooly skin?
When we got back to the hotel, it was roughly 4:00ish. Mr. Dolan said that we could go back to the Hot Springs if we had twenty four hundred colones. I heard him wrong, and thought he said twenty four thousand. So I didn?t think I could go. I told this to Mr. Dolan, and he said that he would pay for it. He would take it out of the Ice Cream Sale money from school. I had helped sell Ice Cream, and now he was paying me back. I later found out that it was twenty four hundred, and found that I did have enough. Paul did not though because I had taken his two thousand. He got it for free from Mr. Dolan too though, because he had also helped with the ice cream sales. Matt Malan was also going to the Hot Springs. That was it.
Me.
Paul.
Matt.
Mr. Dolan was going too. So were a few parents. Sarah and Allie went as well, but I never saw them at the springs. Everyone else stayed at the hotel. Losers. I didn?t understand how people could not want to go back to the Hot Springs. The Hot Springs were awesome. There was a part where you could walk behind a waterfall. It felt like an oven behind there, but it was fun. That night we could also see the volcano erupting. Just the lava flow, not the St. Helens eruption. We also saw more monkeys in the trees. Matt, Paul, and I also spent a lot of time on the slide. We broke the rules and went down the slide backwards and face first. I went down the slide once and then stopped myself at the bottom. I stood up and jumped into the water on my own. That was fun. We spent time talking with Mr. Dolan at the water bar. I bought drinks for people like money didn?t matter. Monopoly money.
When it came time to go, we got into the bus and drove back to the hotel. It was about 7:00. If I remember correctly, we picked up the rest of the people and went out to dinner. Or not. I can?t remember correctly. But whatever happened, I remember the end of the day the most.
Fast Forward.
We went to the cafeteria. It was about 10:00 or so. Maybe it was only 9:00. Either way, it was time for Poker. We put two tables together and got seven chairs. The maximum amount of players is seven. Mr. Dolan was the dealer. We played with colones. We used the five coins. I won three games out of the twenty or so that we played. I didn?t lose too terribly. Zach won three times too. So did John. Mike, Jorge, Sarah, John, Zach, Mr. Dolan, Paul, and Me were playing. Oh yeah, Mike. Mike was a friend of Jorge?s. He was on this trip since the first day. I never really talked to him for the whole trip, but he was pretty funny. He was the first one to lose all his money in the poker game. I tried to win by bluffing twice in the game, but couldn?t pull through. I have a good poker face, Mr. Dolan said.
After the poker game, I played Paul at pool and won two hundred colones from him. 2/3 of a dollar. Then I played Zach and barely lost. He got one hundred colones. After that, I went back to my room. Somebody was swimming in the pool. I don?t know who it was. Soon John, Zach, and Paul were in my room. When that happened. We all went to bed. It was about 2:00 AM, I think. Today was a good day.
* * *
It?s at least 1:15 by now. This movie looks interesting, but I don?t feel up to watching it. The girl next to me is. She has the volume up pretty high. I can hear muffled voice coming from the headphones. I grab up my headphones and put on the radio channels. Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb. I like this song. I decide to keep it on this channel.
Lunch was served a minute ago. The lady asked me if I would like Lunch.
Yes.
She hands me a plate with a small piece of fish, a small piece of cheesecake, a salad, and an applesauce container filled with water. I didn?t get a choice. Sitting in the last row means you get the last meals remaining. All they had was fish. Paul, John, and them got Chicken. Where is my choice? Oh well. I ate the fish already. It was good. The cheesecake was pretty good too. I drank the water. The salad kind of scared me.
* * *
DAY FIVE: June 22
I wake up and check my body. Nothing wrong. Nobody did anything to me. John is already awake. Someone?s in the shower. It?s Zach. Paul is still asleep.
What time do we have to leave?
?Eight? John says.
What time is it?
?Seven fifty?
Oh. Oh no.
I get up and change. No time for a shower. I suddenly realize that I haven?t taken a shower in two days. I must smell bad. I throw all my stuff into my bag. We?re leaving soon.
Then I really wake up. Zach is still in the shower. Paul is awake. John is asleep.
What time do we have to leave?
?I think ten or so.?
Good. Am I still dreaming?
Ten minutes later, I?m in the shower. It?s tough to get the water perfect. The showers in Costa Rica are square sections of the bathroom with a tiny hole in one of the corners of the ground. All the water goes through that hole. When I get out of the shower, I try to avoid the glass door. Water drips from my body and splashes on the ground. I notice the toilet. It reminds me of the toilet back at my house with the Terjera Alveraz family. The toilet plumbing in San Jose is bad in most houses. Only businesses, hotels, and restaurants have good plumbing. So you can?t flush toilet paper down the toilet at our house. You have to throw it into the garbage can. But I got used to it after a few times. It was still weird. I snap out of my flashback and remember where I am. Naked in the bathroom. Ew, gross. I throw a towel around me and go back out to get some clothes. Then I come back into the bathroom and throw on my swim trunks.
Everyone?s swimming. Paul?s just waking up. John and Zach are outside swimming. I go outside. It?s hot. Costa Rica hot. Maybe 95 degrees. I hear splashing and laughing and yelling and then Becca. Becca is loud. Kaitlin laughs. Margo laughs. Splash. There?s a funny story behind this laughing, but I missed it. I walk around the trees, down a path, and then I see the pool. It?s full. I run and jump in. The water is cold, but nice. We all swim for an hour. It?s 9:30. Time to get ready to go. For the last thirty minutes I had been sitting out in the sun. My face gets a little tan from this time in the sun, but my chest is still as white as ever.
Forty minutes later, we?ve all put our bags into the bottom of the bus again. We hop onto the bus and drive three and a half hours back to San Jose. During the drive I finish Fight Club the book. I think this is when I finish. It might have been an earlier bus ride. Either way, this was when I get the book Survivor. The author of Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk, also writes this book. It?s an awesome book from the start. I think this is the bus ride that Paul gets sick too. For the whole ride, he is quiet and sleeping. I think this was after we stopped for pizza though.
At the pizza place, I get about 1400 colones for eating a spoonful of spices from a jar. The burn was insane. My tongue hurt it was so spicy. I got two banana smoothies and a coke to drink it down. The banana smoothies were really good. My tongue hurt for about an hour. Now that I think about it, it wasn?t worth it. But it was fun. Mr. Dolan got it on video. The pizza was good. We all got back onto the bus after dinner. It was dark outside. I can?t remember what time it was. I don?t even know how it got dark. It doesn?t matter. Maybe this wasn?t even the day we had pizza. That?s not the point. Paul got sick sometime today. Today was Friday.
When we got back to home, Paul lied down and took some medicine. He didn?t think that he was going to go to the tour tomorrow. We all went to bed at about 9:30. Our earliest night the whole trip.
* * *
The movie is almost over. That means there?s probably forty-five minutes to an hour left with this flight. Then there?s the two-hour layover in Houston, and more flying. Hooray. I look out the window. I really want to know what time it is. But Houston time is an hour ahead of Costa Rica time, and that means that we?re gaining an extra hour for every hour we fly. Or maybe not.
I can see water out my window. That?s all. A boy suddenly runs down the aisle and say hello to the girl sitting next to me. The boy is about six. The girl next to me picks up the boy and holds him for a while and they talk. I?m guessing that he is her brother. But I could be wrong. The girl looks way to young to be a mom, but it is always possible.
* * *
DAY SIX: June 23
I wake up at 8:00. Paul tells Austin and I to get up. I guess he?s not going. Paul has the flu. He?ll be sick for the weekend. Austin and I get ready. By now I?ve gotten more traveler?s checks exchanged, and I have more colones. I stick my wallet into my back pocket, throw on a shirt, and then we all go eat breakfast. Paul doesn?t eat a lot. After breakfast Paul goes back to his room and Austin and I leave. We wait on the corner for a while until the little bus comes and picks us up. We tell everyone that Paul is sick.
How sad, they say.
The next stop comes. It?s Lilianna and Christina?s stop. This is the first time we were picked up before them. Christina is sick, Lilianna tells Jorge. Lilianna ends up staying home too, with Christina. Another no-show. That?s three people gone so far. The bus drives onward. At the next stop, it appears that another person is sick, but they are just in the bathroom. From then on, everyone shows up.
Today we are going to the Poas Volcano. The drive is about an hour and a half.
Where?s Paul?
He?s sick.
How sad.
The people who just get on the bus ask me this. He has the flu, I say. He?s dying.
How sad.
An hour and a half later, we all get out of the bus in some random parking lot. We walk up a short trail and then we come to another street. This street leads us to a gift shop and restaurant. We have a snack here, I had hot chocolate, and then we move on. We walk up a pretty long trail to a lookout point over the volcano. We can?t see anything. It?s too cloudy or foggy to see more than twenty feet off the cliff. It looks like a giant gray wall was built in out way. You can?t even tell if the fog is moving. At one moment, the fog clears. You can see some of the lake and some rocks. Nothing awesome.
After we see the fog, we walk up another trail to a spot where you can see the lake better. It?s still foggy. We see nothing. I chase a squirrel for a while. Then we go back. So far Paul has missed nothing. We walk all the way back to the restaurant and gift shop. There, I go to the museum with Lisa for a few minutes. Zach Hoffman comes in and breaks the tab off of a map. That was funny. He did it on accident too.
I eat a chocolate covered coffee bean. Yuck.
We all get back into the bus and drive all the way back to San Jose. What a waste. Oh well, it wasn?t that bad. I think it?s 12:00 now. I think we eat lunch at some restaurant. Then on the way home we stop in Grecia to see the church that is made out of metal. I knock on the wall. Yup, it?s metal.
We leave that place and go back to San Jose. Somehow it becomes 4:00 PM. The bus drops us off at a mall. It?s a nice mall with about three stories and a large rock thing on the front for decoration. Planet Mall. We all go inside and shop for an hour or two. Then we all come back and get in line to see the Mummy Returns. La Momia Regresa. I remember it starting at 6:00, but I?m not sure. Either way, we see the movie.
It was in English, thankfully, with Spanish subtitles. Sometimes I would read the subtitles while they spoke to find out how I could repeat the line to a Costa Rican. If I ever did remember a line, I would forget it a few minutes later. The movie was pretty bad. I?d already seen it before, and it was a little better the second time. It was fun to see the movie with my friends though. I sat by John and Zach near the front of the theater.
We all got back on the bus after that and went to our homes. Austin and I found Paul in his bed resting. He asked how it was.
It was ok.
Then we all went to bed about half an hour later. I?m not sure if Paul slept good or not. Tomorrow?s a free day. That means we can sleep in.
* * *
The movie is over. The end. The credits are scrolling down the screen. I can?t read them. Halfway through the credits the screen flashes black. A commercial of some kind comes on showing an episode of Third Rock From the Sun. I guess they?re about to show that episode. We must have another thirty minutes left on this flight then. I decide to get up. My legs feel dead from sitting. I pass by the two ladies and then walk up the aisle. I pass by all the girls on the trip. Becca, Lilianna, the 8th graders, etc. I stop for a moment to see what they?re talking about, and then I continue on. I come to the seats of Paul, Matt, and John. Why don?t I ever get good seats? For about twenty or so minutes I stand in the aisle and talk to John and Paul and Matt. It?s much better than sitting back there by myself.
The fasten seatbelts sign comes on with a ding. We must be getting ready to land. Then the intercom boops on. We are now making our decent into Houston. If you could please return to your seats and put your seatbelts on. Keep your trays in the upright and locked position. So I leave my friends behind and return to my lonely section of the plane. We?ll be landing shortly. Soon the pilot asks if the flight attendants could please be seated for arrival. I look out the window.
* * *
DAY SEVEN: June 24
We wake up at about 9:30. Sleep is nice. Paul is still sick. We wait about half an hour until we?re really awake and then we go out and have breakfast. The day goes by. It?s very, very boring. I read a ton of the book Survivor. Paul reads his book, and Austin reads his magazines. At about three or so Paul asks if we want to go play Playstation. I dunno, I say. I think we play it for a while. This is the second time we?ve played it. The first time was one of the previous nights. We played Metal Gear Solid for about an hour the first time. Now we?re playing it again. VR Missions. It?s kind of boring. After an hour I go back to the room and read some more. Maybe we played cards. It?s all a blur.
At about 6:00 Melissa (the 14 year old daughter of the family) comes into our room and says that there are two girls at the door for me. We all go to the door. It?s Lisa and Blair, the 8th graders. They want to know if we want to go to the Internet Caf?.
Sure.
Ten minutes later we?ve walked up the street to the caf?. In this caf?, they have ten computers. Each one is hooked up to the Internet. You go to the guy in the corner behind the desk and he fills out a little card for you. Then you go onto one of the open computers and do whatever you have to. When you?re done, then you give him you card back and he calculates the cost. Usually 250 colones, sometimes 300 colones. It?s all less than a dollar in US money. It?s very, very cheap.
Tonight I don?t use a computer. Instead, I have Lisa send an e-mail from her e-mail for me. I just say a few nice things like ?I love you, miss you?? etc. This isn?t my first e-mail. I sent one before from another Internet caf? from Matt?s e-mail. I save money this way. While everyone?s on the computers, I can watch the MTV movie awards on the TV up in the corner of the room. Once again, it?s in English with Spanish subtitles. I guess it?s cheaper to show something with subtitles then to actually dub the whole thing in Spanish. Only cartoons and movies like Shrek and Dr. Dolittle 2 are dubbed in Spanish. Cartoons are screwy in Spanish. The accents make everything crazy. I watched a few during my time here.
Lisa and I go to the store to buy skittles. Then we come back and we wait. Lisa and Blair leave first. They walk back to their house on whatever street. Austin finishes next. He pays the man and then we wait for Paul. When Paul is done, we walk back home. It has started to rain. When we get back, we have dinner. After that, we go back to the room. We might have played cards now. The family was watching Dungeons and Dragons (English w/ Spanish subtitles) in the living room. It looks like a really dumb movie. I think we?re all in bed by 10:00.
* * *
Ah, the joy of landing. When you look out the window, you think you can tell when we?re about to land. You think you can tell by the way the horizon looks and how big the other buildings are. But I can never get it right. And when you really do think you?ve guessed the right time, and the landing was just as smooth as butter- there?s the real landing. The wheels hit the ground at 120 mph and the shocks absorb most of the impact. But the rest of the impact goes into the plane. That?s where the bump comes from. The older the plane, the worse the shocks are. If you had an old plane and your tray table was not in the upright and locked position, you could seriously injure yourself.
After twenty or so seconds, the plane slows down to 10 mph. Welcome to Houston Airport. The plane turns along the runway and then parks at gate 11. Now we wait to get off. The worst part of the flight. Sitting in the VERY last seat available means that I have to wait for every single person ahead of me to get off the plane. I don?t even bother moving. I stare out the window and watch the conveyor belt truck park next to the luggage door. The driver walks up the conveyor belt and opens the door. Then he goes back and starts the conveyor belt. Another truck comes up. It?s the truck that they put all of the luggage in. The driver of that truck climbs up into the airplane and starts putting the luggage onto the belt. It slowly lowers itself to the ground, where more men are waiting to put it in the truck.
Rows 1 through 10 are empty.
After a few minutes the airport workers close the door {insert thud}. Then the driver of the conveyor belt takes out one of those hand held metal detectors and does a search of the two men who were taking luggage out. Why? I don?t know. It might be to make sure that they didn?t steal anything. It looks like a routine check. Something the driver and the luggage un-loaders have to do. After the check, the three men leave and the conveyor belt is gone. I still have to wait.
Rows 11 through 20 are gone.
I lean my head against the window and rest. At the same time, I move my feet around under my seat to make sure I didn?t drop anything. It?s all clear. The row ahead of me is about to leave, but then a man has to use the restroom. He goes to the bathroom, but it?s locked. Is someone in there? I didn?t see anyone go in. He knocks on the door. Then a flight attendant comes to him and asks him if he needs to use the restroom.
Of course he does, you moron.
The lady sticks a little black thing under the tiny sign that says ?Lavatory? and pulls it outward. She reaches underneath and unlocks the door. Booyah. I just witnessed the secret to unlocking and locking the airplane bathroom doors from the outside. No one else saw it. Even the guy who had to use the bathroom had looked away. Now I knew everything. This was great. I could use this knowledge in the future.
It?s our rows? turn. I stand up with my Lanc?me bag and walk out into the aisle behind the two women who were sitting next to me. Two minutes later, I?m in the airport with my group. They?re all filling out the customs cards that we got with our lunch. I hurry to fill mine out too. Everyone has been waiting for me. I was the very last one. I fill in my passport number and then I put my passport and the paper into my pocket. It?ll be safe there. No one ever tried to pick pocket me before, why start now?
Mr. Dolan makes another joke about my bag before I go through the customs. The man takes my passport and my paper. He reads it over. Then I?m done. Everyone else goes through. Welcome to Jurassic Park. The layover in Houston is about two hours. We walk down to our gate. We all try to get a seat in the same area, but some are seat-less. After that, the two hours are a blur. I remember that it was fun. It was fun to walk around the airport. I remember bumping into a man on accident while I was walking to the trashcan with Lilianna. I was walking at an angle, talking to her, and then bam.
?Hey, Cut that out!?
I?m sorry.
?You gotta realize you?re not the only person in here.?
I had to keep from laughing. That guy needed to get hit by a car. I walked away from him without turning around. Then when I was around the corner, I started laughing. Ah, yes, that was funny. After that I went to the window and stared out across the airport.
Again I wanted to know what time it was. I could ask someone, but I decided to guess. Our plane was supposed to get to Sacramento at about 10:45. It?s about a three-hour flight, so that means it?s before 9:00 here. Because Sacramento is two hours behind Houston. So if it was nine plus three hours equals twelve, minus two for time difference equals ten. So it must be about 8:00 then, I thought. And then, I was confused. But I was right; Mr. Dolan told me I had a nice Lanc?me bag- and that it was 8:12.
The plane leaves at 9:30. I think.
* * *
DAY EIGHT: June 25
Ah yes. Tambor. Today we had to catch the bus at 7:00. That meant an early wake up. Paul?s alarm broke through the silence of my dream and my eyes shot open. Today we could not miss the bus. Jorge and Mr. Dolan had told us that if we were late to the bus, then they would leave without us. That was because we had to catch another bus. This other bus was a city bus, and it would not wait for us. There would be other people on this bus. So Paul jumped into the shower. I felt my hair. It wasn?t too messed up for having taken a shower the night before. I hopped down from my bed and looked in the mirror. All I had to do was push my hair to the left. It was fine. I didn?t bother brushing my hair any more. It looked better messy. The hair in the back of my head always stood up. Water wouldn?t hold it down all day anyway. I was sick of brushing my hair. There was no point.
At 6:45 we had breakfast. We were running late. I was ready, but Paul still had stuff to pack. After breakfast we ran back into our room, I threw a few more things into my Wilson bag and put my wallet into my back pocket. I had about 5400 colones left, plus 110 dollars in traveler?s checks. At 7:00, we were ready. I put some sunscreen/bug repellant on my arms. So did Austin. So did Paul.
If only I knew how helpful sunscreen would have been in the future.
At 7:10, we went outside. Two seconds after we got to the corner, here comes the bus. Perfect timing. It was a small bus. Jorge came out and helped us throw our bags into the back seat through the last window. Then we got on and took our seats. Forty minutes later, we were all off the bus again at the bus stop. We waited there for a while. This is a good time to mention the big joke.
Two or three days before this, Mr. Dolan mentioned that Mrs. Baker (Winston Churchill Principal in 2001) and Mrs. Nix (a teacher) would be attending Tambor with us. At first it was very believable. Jorge even s
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| Tuesday, June 12th, 2001
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10:14 am - Freedom
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I changed my name so that my mom couldn't tell me to stop writing in my live journal. I don't see what I was doing wrong. Mr. Williams called her and then she freaked out like I was selling my sister to people in Cuba. She made me delete all my entries. Now I have a new name. Frappuccino. That fits me.
There will be a two week time period when I won't be writing anything. This is a fair warning. I'll be in COSTA RICA for those two weeks. Those of you who aren't going, I laugh. Of course, because of this trip my family is pretty much poor. But we just sold our old house, so that means that we'll be getting some money. My mom's gonna pay off some debt. Soon I will not be poor anymore.
I haven't written in this thing since a week ago. School ended. We went to Sunsplash on Wednesday. That was joyous fun. The stealth one (the giant white taco shaped thing that caused a few accidents while people on the road stared at it in disbelief) was the funnest. err...most fun, sorry Paul.
Thursday. I wore my pajamas to school. That was fun too. More yearbook signing. Yadda Yadda Yadda. Then Churchill was over. Just like that. The end. Good bye. Ciao. Good Riddance. Hasta Luego. Adios. Bon Voyage. GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!! I wanted that school to burn. I got sick of it. It was worse than Tums.
My weekend was good. I went to Santa Cruz. Lots of lesbians there. I saw a lot at least. I saw a lot of starfish. I played DDR at the Boardwalk. That was fun. I saw What Women Want and Crouch the tiger, hide the dragon. Those were both good.
On Monday I was home. Tuesday I became a multi millionaire after winning an online contest. I guessed the pig's weight. They'll be mailing me money as soon as they pack up their website and leave for Mexico. Those damn things. I started gambling online after I started winning all of my solitaire games. I thought that I had good luck. Now I am bankrupt, homeless, and I live behind a Taco Bell.
Some day I want to A) work at Taco Bell and ask people "Would you like Fries with that?" or B) go to the drive through and ask "Can I get a medium fries with that?". Taco Bell doesn't make fries. I just find that amusing to the point of absurdity.
I want to fly like an eagle, into the future...where eagles are extinct and I'll be captured and caged for the rest of my life.
I don't have cable, so when I go to Comedy Central- It's all static. But I can still hear the channel. I listened to some comedy show. It was still funny as hell even when I couldn't see anything. Same with MTV. I can hear the music, I just can't see them "Get their freak on"
Costa Rica in less than a week from...now. I hope the plane doesn't crash. In my life I've seen 6 movies with plane crashes, and hundreds of TV shows that show plane crashes. Final Destination has the best plane crash. Then Fight Club has the 2nd best plane crash. Mission impossible II had a good one. It was short, but good. Independence Day had a few good ones. Ahh, the joy of computer animated plane crashes.
I want to see Final Fantasy, Shrek, Jurassic Park III, and Scary Movie 2.
That is all.
This has been fun.
current mood: accomplished
current music: American Hi-Five - Flavor of the Week
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frappuccino's journal