COURSING THROUGH COSTA RICA
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Connecticut-New York-San Jose
A MOST UNUSUAL FLIGHT AND ARRIVAL:
We thought we were in for a really relaxed day as our flight only left New York City at 4.15 pm. The world was going through a health scare as a result of the coronavirus that has swept across it. Still, we refused to be deterred and after taking care of packing last-minute items, we set off with our neighbor Ken, behind his wheels, to drop us off at Fairfield Railway Station in Connecticut where we boarded the 10.56 am train to get us to Grand Central Station. The train was empty and early. We bought freshly-baked pastries from Maison Kayser on Lexington Avenue n Manhattan before boarding the Airport shuttle at exactly 12 noon to JFK.There was literally five people on the bus including us and with little traffic on the roads, were reached the airport in 35 minutes—which is the fastest we have ever made the journey.
Kennedy Airport was like a morgue—there was simply no one to be seen. People are clearly spooked and all international traffic seems to have abated. Still, we found that but for about ten seats, our aircraft (a very small one) on an American Airlines non stop flight to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, was full. Every passenger had hand sanitizer and each made an elaborate ritual of cleaning seats, tray tables, hands, etc. while we made a ton of jokes. We were served a snack box and beverages on our five and a half hour flight which left on schedule at 4. 15 pm. I had downloaded some movies on hoopla to watch on board (which was just as well as we had no personal TV screens), but something went wrong and I lost the page. Bummer! We took short naps and before we knew it, we were landing.It was dark as night had fallen in San Jose at 7.45 local time.We cleared Immigration quickly and painlessly, surrounded everywhere by huge posters telling us to be cautious about the virus.
Major Changes in Plan and Itinerary:
Once we retrieved our bags, we exited the airport to find a representative from Caravan Tours waiting for us with a sign. This ought to have been our first signal that there were changes ahead as we had arranged with our hotel (Barcelo) to send a shuttle bus to pick us up. That shuttle was nowhere in evidence, but the Caravan person had our names. We thought this was odd as we had arranged to arrive one day before the official start of our tour, just so that we could tour the capital city of San Jose (which was really not on Caravan’s itinerary). In fact, we looked forward to a first day of leisure...but there were big changes in store...and we would learn about them soon enough.
It was about 9.00 pm by the time we entered the shuttle van provided by Caravan (joining four other folks who had also come on our flight from the US). About half an hour later, we were swinging into the lobby of the Barcelo Hotel where we were met by a man who called himself Bernal. He told us that he was a Tour Director for Caravan and that we would be checking in very shortly after which he would have a chat with us to inform us about a change in our program. I began to suspect at once that we’d be starting with a Caravan tour group the very next morning (and not the following day, as we had booked). I was right. Bernal explained that the entire group of 44 people who were supposed to be on our tour had cancelled leaving us with about four people on our tour. As it was lucky that we had made personal plans to arrive one day earlier, Caravan made the decision to put us on the tour starting in the morning. This meant, of course, that we would have an extra whole day at the end of the tour, but Bernal told us that Caravan would pay for that day.
As it turned out, Llew had found a great deal for the extra day at the beginning of our tour at the same hotel (Barcelo) online that gave us a Premium suite with a balcony and use of the VIP Lounge which included free drinks, hours d’oeuvres and dinner. Plus, we had Caravan’s dinner that evening which was part of the tour which we were going to join. Without wasting any time, we stashed our bags in our lovely suite with its separate bedroom, living-cum-dining room, kitchenette, two bathrooms, balcony. We had really lucked out because Caravan’s rooms (part of this package deal) offered only Standard rooms). But since we had booked the suite on our own, they allowed us to keep it for two nights, not just the one night for which we had paid—and which tab Caravan was going to pickup anyway!). So as a result of the virus scare, we came out winners with two free nights in gorgeous hotels!
In the lounge upstairs, we enjoyed wine and beer and delicious nibbles and canapés. The Sopa de Mariscos (Seafood Soup) was superb—filled with mussels and crabs. However, the dinner choices were very limited and we decided to go downstairs to the main restaurant, Anfora, to get a buffet dinner. It was already about 10.00pm by then, but we had stewed chicken in a cream sauce and a huge range of salads and desserts before we were ready to return to our rooms to bed down for the night. We would not get our intended day of leisure but the next morning, we would be meeting the rest of the group for the start of our tour. After breakfast, we would be meeting in the lobby at 7.45 am. It had been a very interesting start to our tour of the Rich Coast (Costa Rica).
Hasta Manana!
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