While we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the beautiful Central American country of Costa Rica, our time there did eventually have to end. After our last breakfast at La Mansion, our driver was awaiting us in the lobby, about 15 minutes early. It turned out that our driver was Hjalmar again, the same gentleman that took us from San Jose to La Fortuna. He again had snacks and drinks for us, along with his laminated map that he used a dry-erase marker on to show our route.
On our way back, Hjalmar took a detour through Jaco, so that we could see the rapidly developing beach city on the Pacific Coast. There were a few high-rise condos and hotels, and the beach itself was long and wide, akin to Zuma, but with many more trees as you came ashore.
After about a 3 hour ride, we arrived at San Jose International Airport for our trip home. A quick note: There's a $28 exit fee to leave Costa Rica, so make sure you've got at least some money on the way home. But don't bring too much, because you may be tempted to pay for the in-flight DirecTV access. When did they start charging for the in-flight movie!?! Seems like excessive nickle-and-diming, to me.
It was pretty cool to travel over the Gulf of Mexico and see some of the Carribean Islands, especially since it was my first time laying eyes on the Carribean. But the wonderful dream that was our vacation came to a grinding halt once we landed in Houston.
The customs and immigration nightmare at IAH made me long for LAX; certainly they could have been more efficient and informative! Though we de-planed, headed straight through customs and immigration, and never left a secure area, we still had to go through the standard security line in order to reach our domestic flight back to LA. Of course, we weren't made aware of this until after sending our checked luggage onto the tarmac to be loaded, so my fantastic duty-free rum became an issue thanks to the Christmas Day underwear bomber (a life sentence for that guy was too lenient). I was forced to either discard the rum (which I went out of my way to get, so not likely) or pay $20 for a protective box to check with the rest of the luggage on the flight. I'll save my commentary on the issue, and just state that there were at least a dozen other people that went through the same frustrating exercise.
And the icing on the cake?...The toddler right behind us having a questionable attitude the entire flight from Houston to LA. But hey, once we landed back at LAX, all was well as we were able to listen to the tail-end of a Lakers win while we grabbed our bags.
Now we've started checking out places that we still need to visit in Costa Rica, and earmarking activities for when we go back. I encourage anyone who enjoys Hawaii, or Cabo, or islands in the Carribean to go visit Costa Rica and see why it has everything these places have and more. We can't wait for our next trip, and hope to bring some friends with us. PURA VIDA!
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