Things have been crazy since the last time I wrote. I think I had just returned to Hyattsville after being down in the Osa for nearly a month. I managed to slip in a blog post before the reality of moving out of the country struck me.
Saima had already done so much to get our apartment packed up, giving some things to charity and boxing clothes that we knew we would have no use for in the tropics [think thick jeans and wool sweaters]. Even so, the big task that we had was finding somebody to take over our lease so that we wouldn't be hit with the two month penalty. We had the place advertised on Craigslist and were waiting until I got back to the States to begin showing it. With so many people interested and so many people who came to see it, I thought it would be a piece of cake. Well, after the entire week, we were able to wrap it up the day before we left the country. Needless to say, there were a lot of emotions involved with packing up to leave, from a place where we weren't even sure we wanted to be but had started to like, after reconnecting with friends only to be on our way out again. And on top of all of that, Saima had just received her permanent resident card, which nullified the need for the travel document that we had waited so long to receive. Now we'll see if we can somehow maintain her status while living abroad - we both kind of doubt it.
We showed up at Reagan National airport and were greeted by a friendly Continental agent who began helping us to check in. It wasn't too long before he told us that we had a problem with our tickets - they were only one-way and we couldn't enter Costa Rica unless we had a flight out. Fortunately, he was much more helpful than many airline employees we've dealt with in the past, and after some phone calls, we had two refundable tickets to Tegucigulpa and were on our way to security. That whole scene though had us a bit on edge and I have to say that I didn't believe we'd get our $600 back.
Getting to Houston was no problem and after some sub-mediocre airport food, we boarded the flight to San Jose. We sat a little longer than normal and the pilot announced that they were "looking into a problem." Just what you want to hear before you hurl yourself 6 miles into the air. I guess that one of the baggage handlers had crashed into the cargo door and dented it. Can you imagine - those baggage guys treat everything with such care, I can't picture one being so irresponsible. Apparently they had to get some technicians to the scene to inspect the damage and ensure that the plane was flight-worthy. No complaints about that, but it meant that by the time we had reached San Jose, we had missed the internal connection.
Well, not actually missed. We arrived at 3:10 for our 3:30 flight with Sansa, could see the plane sitting on the ramp outside the door, but nevertheless, were told that it had left. We made the mistake of making a logical argument; this never works in Latin America and I admit that we knew better. We asked how it was that they had two passengers with reservations on that flight, it was 20 minutes before the scheduled departure, yet they decided to start the engine and head out. Muy raro.
The worst part about all of that was that they charged us to change the tickets to the following morning and we had to pay for a hotel.
By the time we arrived in Puerto Jimenez, we were both fried, exhausted, fed up and ready to get up to Cerro Osa. But we were just in time to catch all the staff and then of course got caught up in introductions, and inevitably work-related items. I even went and met with somebody from the local ministry of the environment office to ask about an issue with part of our land.
We did finally make it up to the house on Cerro Osa that afternoon, after doing what we considered to be a big shop for food and some things that we would need to get moved in. It turns out that the place needs much more cleaning than I had anticipated, having been unlived in for too many months. Books were being eaten on the shelves, accompanied by insect excrement. Dust and droppings abound and walls are stained. Railings need to be replaced, wood sanded and refinished, a pillar replaced.
And then there's work. But I won't get into that. My head has been spinning and I finally realized today that all of this won't get done in a day, or even a week, and there are some things that won't get done this year. But we'll keep working at everything and progress will be made.
On my way to the OBC this morning, I saw a great curasow crossing the road and remembered the running joke while the birding group was here in March - I had told them that I saw three in one day, Adrian said, "Sure, those things are a dime a dozen. I once saw 23 walk through my back yard." Yet the group didn't see one during their five days on the Osa Peninsula. It made me laugh. And then I used my turn signal to turn into the drive that leads by the schoolhouse to the OBC, and remembered somebody commenting in the past about what a funny practice it was to use your turn signal in such a remote place. Some things are like that though. It might be taking time to read for pleasure, exercise, yoga or photography. These are the good things, that you need to keep no matter where you are or what's going on in your life.
So this afternoon I made sure that Saima and I went for a walk for a couple of hours before the sun set. She's practicing with the camera and has captured some good shots already. We were happy to see a troop of spider monkeys; we stood there and watched them eat, jump and flirt with us for 20 minutes before we turned to come home.
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