Day 1- Friday Nov 21.
Took Andrew to the airport yesterday (Thursday) Was real sad to see him go. He was sad to go as well. Nice guy, we got a long great. London is pretty far off. We'll see if we can keep the inertia going, but these things are tough.
We spent the last day taking touristy photo ops that we didn't get before.
Then I spent the rest of Thursday getting ready for the trip to Costa Rica.
The hardest part was dropping Kitty! off at the boarding place. I handed over her leash to the owner and walked towards the door. She tried desperately to follow me out the door. She literally clawed her way towards me. It was heartbreaking. I had no idea we both had gotten so attached. Gonna miss her big time.
She will soon be obsessed the other dogs staying with her and forget about me. The kennel was apparently booked full. It DOES seem like everyone is traveling this Thanksgiving week. I've got friends going to Egypt, Paris, and Hawaii.
Friday morning started off early. A 7:20 am flight meant a 5:20am pickup by a SuperShuttle. Not too bad for me, but that's still pretty dang early.
Airport check-in was fine, and it was nice to get to the airport an hour before my flight, rather than 2 hours. An hour later I landed in Houston, and booked it on over to my connecting flight.
Got there only a few moments before they were boarding, so didn't have time to check email. Perhaps my last opportunity to have Net access. I may go into shock.
I flew in to San Jose sitting next to a lovely gay couple from Oxford, Mississippi. Jack and Steve both had done quite a few tours with a group called Toto Tours (?), and were doing a tour group around Costa Rica. They weren't sure of all their destinations, but I suspect they will end up in Quepos for part of it.
The airport in San Jose is strange. They x-ray check your baggage on the way out of the airport as well. Maybe they think us crazy American's are trying to smuggle bombs into the country.
The transportation pickup area is a madhouse. People yelling for each other, signs held up in your face, cab drivers pulling on your arm to take their cab. So different from Austin.
I knew the Hampton Inn had a shuttle, so I just looked for that. Some guy called for the shuttle, and I suppose expected a tip. This irritated me since I had confirmed a pickup time. Probably thinks I am some cheap-ass American, not tipping him, but I am perfectly capable of taking a shuttle two blocks to the hotel. Besides, I hadn't even switched over to Colonies and had only $20's on me.
The Hampton Inn hotel is fine. Just like any other hotel.
They have shuttles that run every hour to three restaurants that are about 20 minutes away. It was a harrowing drive. Pedestrian death must be amazingly high as people walk down major thoroughfares with barely enough room for two cars, let alone people walking.
I ate at an Italian restaurant called Tre Fratelli and it was quite good. I even ordered some tiramisu for dessert. Yum!
I was tempted to go out and explore the city, but feared I might get turned around. I returned to my hotel to decompress from all the travel. Watched Discovery Channel's "Medical Detectives" in English with Spanish commercials. Strange.
Bill, J, and Evan get in at 1am, and I am sharing my room with Bill tonight. Our little Sansa flight over to Quepos is at 7:40am so it will be another early one. Worse for them since they will only get a couple hours of sleep before they have to get up and go again.
Can't find an Internet connection. My Earthlink account is not working, and tried to install MSN or AOL, but guess I can't figure out how to dial through the hotel access codes. So no email for me today.
Hopefully I can find a way to check in while in Quepos, If worse comes to worse, I can hit one of the Internet Cafés.
Well, the bed with the tacky bedspread is calling my name.
Goodnight.
Day 2, Saturday, Nov. 22.
Bill and the boys made it in just fine. Bill got in about 1:30am and he immediately fell asleep.
We had a 6am wake-up call, and I we went down for a light breakfast at the hotel lounge. There I met Evan and J. Actually, I met J several years ago when I visited Chicago and we all went to see Dame Edna perform.
We gathered up our bags and headed for the teeny tiny little airport that Sansa has next to the San Jose airport. Big changes at their airport. They moved the reception desk to the other side of the room and everything had a thick fresh coat of paint on it! Oh boy. Here we are waiting for the flight to come in and take us over the mountains to Quepos.
Pictured from left to right are Evan, J, and Bill (Intoon).
Evan and J both enjoyed the 25 minute flight over the Mountains.
The Airport looks kinda small from up here. Weeeeeeee!
I did snap a few pics of the mountains, and then surprisingly, I snoozed for a bit. I can't believe I've actually traveled enough to just nod off during a commuter plane flight.
The little Sansa airplanes are really kinda high tech. I think they upgraded. Once we landed, we were shuttled through downtown Quepos, arranged our return shuttle, and then drove over the mountain to the Manuel Antonio area where we were staying.
 
Last time we were here, we fell in love with the Big Ruby's Plantacion, and Bill and I were determined we would stay in the "Big House" at the top of the hotel.
The house has four separate rooms. I had the one on the second level, left side. Each room has its own bathroom, TV, fridge etc.
Being up on top of the hill means lots of steps. No need for a Stairmaster with these laid out before you!
Because the house in on top of the hill, it is separate from the hotel and it's like having a mansion to your self.
We have our own pool with a fantastic view of the ocean. We've already spent hours just sitting in the pool chairs taking in the peaceful sites. All the rooms have patios/decks, and there are lounge chairs everywhere. Even the backside of the house has a lovely deck for sitting on in the mornings and viewing a mountain that apparently is behind all the clouds.
It is a little cloudy right now, but not rainy. The weather is perfect!
After enjoying our new plush accommodations, we thought we had better go check out the beach.
We walked down the paved road that goes down to beach. I forgot how everything here is on a hill. Lots of good leg exercise.
Once down to the beach, we realized the tide had come up, and we couldn't make it over to the gay part of the beach. So we parked our asses on a grassy part of a beach and began to sear our bodies with cancer causing rays.
Evan was really excited to at long last be at the beach!
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. We took the bus back up the hill and had dinner El Gato Negro.
We came back to our house to find a troop of monkeys feeding on spiders and insects. They got very close and we took a ton of pics. They even came by the pool.
More monkey photos.
One more monkey shot!
That night we watched Ellen Degenres "In the Beginning" on my laptop while we snuggled up under steamy starlight.
Day 3, Sunday Nov. 23.
Woke up with sore calves. I guess hill walking is not the same muscle group as biking. Ouch. Not too bad, and with the location of the house as well as there not being a flat spot in the city, my legs loosened up real quick.
We had breakfast at the hotel. They have a free breakfast down in their own little restaurant and bar. The bar in the evenings actually has a lot of visitors from other hotels, as well as its own guests, so there is always something going on in this area.
We loaded up on breakfast. I went back up to the house to get some of my new postcards and put on some board shorts. I sent Bill and the boys off to the beach on their own.
I decided to take some images of the house. Its really quite nice. This is my patio outside my room.
These are some shots of my room. Notice the festive bug tent!
A view of my high-tech setup-WITHOUT Internet connection. In fact, the phone will only accept calls from the lobby..no outside incoming calls.
Ok, one last photo. Decided I better get down to the beach before the tide got too high.
I made it over the rocks on my, and the beach is just as I remembered it. I hope the straight tourists never discover this hidden jewel beyond the rocks. The sand is much softer, and there aren't as many rocks. Shhhhhhhh!
We watched as the tide came up, trapping us for the remainder of the day. Forced idleness as J said.
Since it was Sunday, there were quite a few Ticos working the beach. Apparently they come over from San Jose, and I guess uh..entertain the tourists. Several handsome ones this time. In fact three guys who really "looked" like they were from Central America.
Bill, bless his brave little heart, took my new postcards over to them and asked them if they wanted to model for me.
I don't know why I freeze up when it comes to talking to them about modeling. I've been thinking about that a lot while laying on the beach.
Bill is a good salesman, and I have found it really helps to have a third party acting on my behalf. The Ticos tend to be very mercenary, and I just feel like I am paying them to have sex for me. Which I guess isn't really far from what actually happens, but back in the U.S. we can at least keep a professional air about it. Here, I feel like I'm just another horned up Gringo with cash in his back pocket.
They kinda seem disappointed that they are only going to get photographed, and not paid for sex. But only because I think perhaps they think they would make more for the sex. I don't know, but I DO know that I am paying what I pay my guys in Austin, and they are totally blown away by the amount, and that part feels good.
Bill first talked to a thin young guy named Adam. He seemed very interested but Bill was worried, upon getting closer, that he might not have the right look. I still thought he would be great. He is very thin though. Not a muscle boy, but way way cute and looked too young to be legal . (He is 23)
Then Bill talked to Rico, a hot hot guy who dances in one of the clubs in San Jose called Puchos. He had all the Latin swagger to go with it. Slinging attitude up and down the beach.
Lastly, Bill approached a gorgeous guy named Kevan, who was willing to do a shoot also.
All of them loved my postcards, and kept looking at the guys on them. They didn't think they were good enough to be on the cards. They were, we assured them.
Actually, Rico thought he was good enough. He definitely had a lot of attitude, which I knew would play well for the camera. Rico was the most fascinated by the postcards, and kept looking them over and over throughout the day. He got more and more interested in doing a shoot based on the photos.
YEAH! My cards really helped!
At this point, we realized that all three Ticos were heading back that night. They all had work on Monday. No way I could shoot all three that day. We were trapped by the high tide till 4pm, and I was losing valuable sunlight.
How was I going to shoot all three?
We scrambled and managed to get Rico to come up from the beach and do a shoot. I paid for a hotel room so he could stay over the night and head back to work early Monday morning.
We found out that Adam was actually going to be there on Monday after all, he uh..extended his vacation, We made arrangements to meet him at our hotel at 4pm. He had the best English of the three, and I am looking forward to working with him because of that.
Kevan thought he might be able to come back on Friday and do a shoot in the afternoon. I'm not holding my breath, but he did seem very interested by the money, and mentioned he wanted some head shots he could use.
So Rico, Bill and I walked back up from the beach at a quick pace. I was very worried about how low the sun was getting, and feared that I might waste my money by getting him up there and not having decent light.
Bill was struggling with the pace and told us to go on without him. We took off at full speed.
Half way up, we stopped and I snapped a picture of him as the sweat rolled off his body. Both our legs got a workout, and we were exhausted by the time we got to the top.
Once we got up to the house, there was just enough light to shoot by the pool and outdoor shower.
We did some indoor bed shots, but the light is just not strong enough. I should have brought my umbrella lights! This one turned out pretty good.
The shoot was really difficult because his English was non-existent, and my Spanish tends to be hit-or-miss. It was tough giving him directions.
After the shoot, I paid him and sent him off to find a hotel. By this time, we all were starving. We had had breakfast that morning, hiked up and down to the beach, frolicked in the waves, and it was almost 7pm.
We went and ate at the Rico Tico, and afterwards Bill suggested we take a picture under this mural. Last year we took a snap of us at this same location.
I was very tired when we crawled back up to our house. I pulled out the 'ole laptop again, and we watched "Finding Nemo" under the stars.
Day 4, Monday Nov. 24.
Woke up to today to thick cloud cover and rain. Not disappointed at all. Had enough of the beach yesterday. Despite 45spf and sitting in the shade the entire time (other than the body surfing) we all have parts of us that got red. My shoulders took the brunt of the solar rays.
And my winkie hurts too. When we left the beach in a hurry yesterday, I didn't take the time to get the sand out of my shorts. So I walked up the two miles with what amounts to sandpaper in my shorts. I got rubbed a little raw.
So today is a day for reflection (and antibiotic creams). With any luck the sun will come out later, because hopefully, Adam will be by for a 4pm shoot.
Bill and J have gone down to the beach despite the pouring rain. They wanted to walk in the rain and enjoy the beach that way. I could see the point, but I think I will wait and do a nighttime walk along the beach instead.
Evan is a super sweet guy. Think he has a little crush on me, but I have been avoiding that whole issue. No need to cannibalize the group. He found a cute Tico to chat with the other morning at the beach, but quickly got turned off by the mercenary attitude.
Hopefully he will find a cute guy to flirt with. Though San Jose would be a better place to go out and meet guys. Much bigger city that would have just local guys having a night on the town, not guys there working for a living.
I forgot a firewire cable for my data iPod. This means I can't access any of my website files. Not that it matters. There aren't phones in our rooms, and the hotel does have a computer downstairs that can be shared, but it's, "No working."
So no update today. And no email now for four days. God, I am gonna have so much spam to get through. There is probably already over a thousand spams to dig through.
Taking the time to get caught up on the journal, and some other details.
Feel really out of it not having a connection to the net. I know I should just relax, but this trip IS partly about work. Hard for me to relax until I can get some awesome photos under my belt. At least I have had one that turned out pretty good. There are at least 5 super good photos in the Rico set, and I guess one is all I need for a book.
Looks like the rain has eased up. Gonna go sit by the pool and work on Rico's images.
Will check back after (hopefully) the shoot with Adam.
The rain did ease up a bit, but it was pretty cloudy and steamy.
Adam showed up right on time, and we began right away. There just wasn't enough light for really good pictures. TONS of humidity, and my lens fogged up every other shot. The photos in my room are even worse.
Must bring umbrella lights next time!!
Adam is much thinner than I remembered, and much younger looking now that I have had time to go over the photos. He did bring his passport, which is great cuz I have proof of his age…he looks about 16 to me. (Again, he is 23.)
He will likely be too thin for most guys to enjoy, but others will like his youthful native look. Can't please everyone.
Totally enjoyed working with him. Good sense of humor, and he liked to talk. I think he also thought I was cute, so that came across on film. It all stayed professional, and I'm not sure he appreciated that.
I paid him and tipped him 40 American in case he needed to take a hotel for the night, but he said he had friends to stay with.
When he left he wanted to make sure I was going to go to the Bar TuTu that night, and I asked him what time people got there. He said about 8 or 9pm. I said I would TRY and make it, but so far, the group hasn't had enough steam to get past the 9pm hour.
I climbed back up the mega stairs and then back down so we could go eat at Carolla's.
Way too much food, but we had a very cute waiter. He kept saying "Con Permiso" with a slight bow every time he left the table. He got cuter each time he came to the table, and I was wishing I had one of my postcards and asked him to pose for me.
We went over to Club TuTu, but the crowd was small so we headed back to the hotel. Didn't see Adam or anyone from the beach.
Day 5, Tuesday Nov. 25.
The rain went away!
Evan and J went on the canopy tour this morning, so Bill and I had breakfast together.
Bill and I walked over to the Rico Net place to see if the Internet connection was working. Two workstations were working but the people on them were complaining bitterly they couldn't even get a text email to go through. We gave up quickly.
Gonna be a No Internet trip for sure.
We then walked up to Banco Promerica to get some of my Travelers Cheques turned into Colones. I might end up shooting four models, and only budgeted for three.
We stopped by Café Milagro to get brownies and snack food for the beach. Not gonna get trapped all day down there without food again. Between the heat and the hunger I get all queasy. Something is making me feel all icky while I am down there.
Bill and I had a great walk down to the beach. Love traveling with Bill! We got down to the beach around 9am and settled in for a long relaxing day at the beach.
Evan and J arrived at about 11am and then Adam came down about 15 minutes later.
The Ticos were really working the beach today, and I kinda find the whole process disturbing. I wonder if the Ticos think we are all are here for sex, and what they think of Americans in general.
Kevin, who is a host at Corolla's came and talked to us. We asked about our waiter the night before. He said his name was Fabian, had a girlfriend and a baby, and might be interested in posing. So we have another lead on a cute guy to follow up on.
Adam was very friendly, but I didn't get the feeling he was looking for paid sex, though I know that's probably why he comes to the beach. All the other Ticos have lines like "You're different from the others." And "I like you a lot." That doesn't seem to be Adam's way. He goes around and visits all the groups, and intently listens to each and everyone one of them.
We talked about movies and pets and stupid stuff. Never anything sexual or obviously complimentary- just films. He loves the Lord of the Rings.
So I have no idea why Adam stuck around. He got paid for the modeling, but I guess got sweet on me. Or maybe he thought he could get more money. Didn't seem that way. Perhaps he just wanted to have sex.
Bill says he asked if I had a boyfriend, and asked some personal questions when I was swimming. So who knows? I'm not here for sex. 
The tide came up, and J decided to leave over the rocks. Evan and Bill wanted to stay, and I wanted to stay a wee bit longer also. It's kind of a big decision to Leave The Beach, cuz when tide comes up, you are trapped there for up to 3 hours till it goes down again.
We were there another half hour when super dark clouds started to roll in. I think Adam had enough of giving me attention and not getting any reaction, and also decided to go over the rocks. But he came back shortly. Tide was too rough and high.
Two other Ticos who were working a tourist named Mark were also heading out, but were gonna try a back way that even Adam hadn't ever tried. Turns out he doesn't know the beach that much. The seven of us headed out in the opposite direction.
We walked up a fairly worn path in the pouring rain. It was awesome. Adam and the Ticos were laughing and having a good time, while Bill, Evan and I were excited having this new adventure.
Only a few treacherous moments on the climb, and now we know we won't ever be stuck down at the beach. The walk up is really quite easy, and will be even easier without the pouring rain and slippery slideness.
Adam kept smiling at me on the way up, and I worried a bit about what his expectations might be when we got back at the top of the hill. We eventually reached one of the paved roads that we immediately recognized.
The walk up was fun. The rain was really pouring on us!
We got to the top and the two Ticos and the American tourist went into the Hotel Casa Blanca. Bill had fallen a bit behind, so Evan and I waited at the final turn onto the main street that goes through the hotel district. Then Adam just disappeared. It was really strange. We were only stopped a minute to wait for Bill and he was gone. I hope he found what he was looking for.
The rain continued all night. We ate at El Negro Gato again 'cuz it is next door to the hotel and we didn't have any umbrellas. Well, Evan brought one, and the three of us walked over with towels over our heads. Fun!
Came back to the hotel and we debated watching a movie. Decided against it, so I took the opportunity to do this part of the entry.
Day 6, Wednesday Nov. 26.
The Hunt for Koki!
Bill, J and I took the bus into Quepos this morning. Evan went off to beach on his own.
We wanted to buy some snack food for the beach, again still feeling icky down on the beach. Not sure why. Bill and I also wanted to stop by the gym to see if Koki was working.
We found an Internet Cafe, and fired off two measily emails. I had about 1,200 emails- all spam. Gonna have to wade through that all when I get home. Ick.
The city of Quepos is not real nice. Loud, smelly, dirty. I'm not a big fan. We went to the Super Mas, stopped by the bank, and then took a cab by the Gymnaso. Koki wasn't working, but I left my card, and hopefully they will pass it on to him.
We took the cab back up to our hotel. Bill's feet were suffering from major blisters, so he decided to pass on the walk down to the beach that day.
J and I walk down to the beach, but we decided to take the Goat Trail that the Ticos had showed Evan, Bill and I the day before.
Since we had so much rain, the steep trails were wet and slippery, but J totally dug the whole adventure part. Overall, the walk down through the jungle is not as direct, but it sure is prettier than walking down hard paved roads.
We got down to the beach, and I immediately saw Eliazar who I had photographed last year. He is now a famous DJ (Miami, NY, San Jose etc) and is working at the Bat Cave between travel gigs.
Oh yeah, there is a new
He had recently spoke to Koki and said that he definitely wanted to pose. But getting a hold of him was difficult. He actually was no longer working at the Gymnaso, only working out there, but was doing Kayaking tours at the end of the straight beach.
J and I set up our blankets next to Evan, who teased me that Adam was there and was asking where I was, and did I have boyfriend, etc. I thought he had to be back on Tuesday?
Adam finally came over and sat and talked with us most of the day. His English is pretty good.
Adam is from Nicaragua, and works in San Jose for a large fast food chain. He tells me he works from 8am till 9pm - 6 days a week, and that he was on vacation too. This was his fourth visit to Manual Antonio this year, and it is his favorite spot.
Um. Ok, so he's not working the beach after all. Three times he bought me drinks, which also made me think he wasn't there to work. It's tough to tell what team everyone is playing on.
The tide started to come up, so the three of us decided to leave. Adam smiled at me the entire time again, and wanted to make sure I would meet him at Cockatu that night. I had just missed him at TuTu's the night before. I agreed since the group had planned on going there already.
We arrived back at the hotel to find a note from Kevin about Fabian our waiter from Carolla's. He definitely would like to pose, and would be able to at 11am on Friday. Fabian had great eyes, but like Adam, was on the thin side.
We had dinner at Barbra Roja and had lousy service. We had terrible service there last year, so we won't be going back again.
After that we, walked across the street to Cockatu. Adam was there along with a large group of cute guys. We talked for a while there then crowd headed on over to the other gay bar TuTu. Once there I sat and talked with Adam a long time.
Ok, so Adam really thinks I'm a catch. Apparently it is my face. We know it's not the bod. Mostly my hair of all things. He keeps saying the shape of the face, and the blue eyes, but the hair and the way it is straight and stands straight up sends him to the moon. It drives him crazy, he giggles. I asked him if it was cuz I looked typical American, but I guess that's not what it was. It's the whacky Hershey Kiss hair. Go figure.
He also talked about the other Ticos working the beach. Adam didn't have a high opinion. He works hard at his job, and he made sure that I knew that he was there on vacation. He also said everyday since Tuesday he was supposed to be back, but he kept calling them to beg for just "One more day" so he could stay, and uh…talk to me. Very flattering, and wasn't sure what to say to that.
My ego was stroked tonight for sure.
Day 7, Thursday Nov. 27.
Happy Thanksgiving from Costa Rica!
Started off the day with a quick breakfast at the hotel then it was off to the beach. What better way to spend the holiday? I do miss Mom's home cooking but I have to admit my view while laying flat on my back with waves crashing nearby is a great replacement. Sorry Mom!
J has been reading a book this trip, and the vacation has definitely relaxed him and got him ready for some new projects.
I stayed out of the water for most of the time. I think I have figured out the sick thang. I noticed I get a baaaaad headache a few minutes after being tossed around in the waves. 20 minutes in the water, and my head is trobbing, followed by a good stomach ache. Finally, after laying on the beach (in the shade) for a couple hours, I decided to dive in and see what would happen Yep. Headache and stomach ache. Bammo!
So I drug myself out of the water and decided to just call it a day. Get off and have some Me time. Popped a couple aspirin that I had brought with me 'just in case'.
Packed myself up and walked down the beach with Conjure One playing on my iPod. I LOVE this CD. You should give it a try. I walked down to the end of the beach with the shopping area and got a few knick knacks and a t-shirt to commemorate the trip. Also went by the Kayaking place to see if Kiko was working. No Kiko alli.
The Plantacion served up a fabulous turkey dinner at 6:30. The whole hotel turned out for the dinner.
Here is the snap of our group. I brought a white button up shirt just for dinner. Thought there would be more people dressed up a little but I was the only one. I felt a little out of place. Doi!
And yes, the turkey dinner did its job!
Day 8, Friday Nov. 28.
The four of us had breakfast at the hotel again. Evan and J went down to explore Manual Antonio National Park, while Bill and I went up to prepare for the 11am photoshoot.
Fabian arrived right on time and we did a quick one hour shoot. Fabian was real thin as well, but my goal was to capture his eyes and face. He was born in Quepos, but I'd swear there's some Argentinian in his blood.
We were hoping to hear from Koki, but he didn't show up.
Gama came by. Furious. Why weren't we returning his calls? Apparently, the front desk is not getting us any messages. Gama said he called dozens of times, and finally he just came over.
He said Koki had to work today, but he might be able to see if he could come by on Saturday morning.
I went down to reception area and asked if there was any messages. They said I had one. It was from Kevan, who I was supposed to shoot at 4pm. It was almost 2pm and he was still in San Jose.
I called him and he said that he had been calling all day, and why didn't I call sooner. I told him I had only one message. Grrrrrrrr.
It was not too late for him to get there, and it was starting to rain. The drive over is about 3 hours. It would be too dark.
He actually arranged to show up tomorrow morning at 8am. Things will be tight. I have the shoot at 8am, and we have to check out by 11am. The Sansa van will come and take us to the little airfield at 12:30.
And Gama thinks he "might" get to talk to Koki tonight, so he might be able to come pose at 10am. It might not happen. It's likely he has to do the kayaking thing.
Am really happy Louis wants to drive over. He is of beefier build, and will balance out the shoots.
We spent our last evening at our favorite restaurant, Karola's. We walked home in the pouring rain (well, we got a cab back actually). I'm finally a little burned out on walking up hills everywhere, not having an umbrella, and rain on and off all the time.
It's time to go home.
Day 9, Saturday Nov. 29.
Woke up to find a note from Gama. No go on Koki. Damn! Missed him again.
Kevan drove up from San Jose, and arrived at about 8:30am. The sky was dark and threatening, so once again I was gonna be shooting with very little light.
The shoot went pretty good, and above is a sample picture.
As soon as we were done, we packed up, check out and took the Sansa van over to the Sansa Airfield.
The skies let loose a major deluge, and Sansa cancelled all flights back to San Jose.
The Sansa guys felt bad for us (or were bribed!) and offered to take 10 of us over the mountains with our bags. So we climbed into the van and choked down another Dramamine.
Only one seat left for me, facing backwards. The mountain road is horrible! Bumpy, narrow, winding, huge climbs and drop offs, one lane bridges etc. For over three hours we were jostled back forth like a dramatic battle scene on the bridge of the Enterprise. I tried to sleep, but it just wasn't possible being tossed from one side to the other. I just wanted to keep my eyes closed.
Fortunately I didn't get sick. I think Bill got a little queasy, but everyone else did fine. We got to the San Jose airport in time to get 3 of the passengers to their flight. Our, luckily, weren't till the next day.
We ate at some chicken place next to the Hampton Inn, then Bill and I went back to our room where we promptly fell asleep.
Day 10, Sunday Nov. 30.
My flight was due out at 8:15 and Bill, Evan and J's was at 8am. We got to the airport about 6am, and it was a madhouse. First we had to pay our Exit Tax - $26 bucks for the pleasure of being in their country.
Then a loooooooong line at Continental, and a loooooooong line for security.
Flight went well.
Landed in Houston and waited too long to claim my bags so I could go through security and customs. Was getting a little nervous cuz I only had an hour between landing and my next flight. They pushed Austin flights right through the line, so I got through real quick.
My flight was about 20 minutes late as they had overbooked it and couldn't get anyone to switch. I forgot it was Sunday after a holiday! Really busy!
Arived in Austin about a half hour late- I think it was 2:30am.
Took a cab back home. Haven't done that before. It was $20 bucks vs. the SuperShuttles $17. So was worth it not to have to go other destinations- I just wanted to go straight home.
Good to be back. I have 9 copies of the New York Times on my front porch. I cant get them to stop delivering them! Thankfully my nice neighbors spotted them stacking up in the driveway and moved them to my front porch so the place wasn't so obviously empty.
Just ate a huge Wendy's hamburger, and am gonna put this entry to bed.
Gonna skip next week. See ya in 14 days.
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