Our bus driver Walter at Restaurante Caballo Blanco
After a sumptuous breakfast at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, we board the bus and leave for our journey to the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Unlike last year, the upgrading to this section of the Pan American Highway appears to be finished, so we make good time to our lunch stop at Restaurante Caballo Blanco (the White Horse restaurant). As we experienced last year, the meal at this restaurant introduces everyone to the wholesome food Costa Ricans typically prepare for their guests at every meal. Lots of fresh fruit juice, a choice of chicken, beef or fish, vegetables, rice and beans, and a nice dessert to finish. The only downside to this part of the trip is when we find out that our new bus is hermetically sealed, so the engine is kept running the whole time we are in the restaurant in order to keep the cabin from overheating. Some of our group find this to be environmentally irresponsible.
Our guide Jorge tells us a bit about Costa Rica and its people, and what to expect for the next few days as we drive toward La Ensenada Lodge. La Ensenada is as I remember it from last year – a working ranch and farm, raising both cattle, a variety of crops, as well as producing salt from ocean water. It is about 40 degrees Celsius in the hot afternoon as we arrive, and the owners and staff are on hand to greet us and to give us some cold drinks to sip as we are assigned to our cabins. We are also greeted with howler monkeys and iguanas, the other local residents!
Howler Monkey eating cashew fruit
I have a quick dip in the pool and a shower, and then it is time for dinner. The meal routine for the next few days is: breakfast at 8am, lunch at noon, and dinner at 5pm. We are eating dinner earlier than what is normal for Costa Ricans so we have time to setup equipment and get out on the observing field before it gets too dark. As anyone knows who had travelled to the tropics, the sun sets promptly around 6pm, and it gets dark rapidly when there’s no light pollution around.
Clouds cover about half the sky this first night, however a fellow Canadian from Calgary brought down one of the biggest telescopes ever used at this event, so I try out his new 15” Obsession Ultra Compact Dobsonian. The views of M42 Orion Nebula are nothing short of astounding – the blue colour was visible in the reflection nebulae, and the view is very bright with lots of detail. For those who either stay up or wake up around 3am, the clouds mostly disappear by then, giving some of us observing opportunities in the early morning.
I am up at 3am this morning so I can get to the Victoria airport for my 6AM departure to Seattle, and then onward to Dallas/Ft Worth before finally arriving at 10:15pm local time in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Horizon Air flight from Victoria to Seatac is uneventful, with 71 people aboard the pre-dawn flight on a Bombardier Q300 – a big twin prop aircraft. Originally, a De Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8-400 was scheduled for this flight, but I guess they needed more capacity, so the Q300 was brought into service.
My flight to Dallas-Ft. Worth is overbooked, so American Airlines is offering a $250 travel credit to anyone who wants to reschedule. Obviously I don’t want to do this, since I have a connection to Costa Rica, although I do have a 3.5 hour wait in Dallas/Ft. Worth. I am seated beside a mother and her two year old boy, which she apologizes for before we even leave the gate, but the kid is fine throughout the flight to DFW. I catch a nice view of Seattle and Elliott Bay as we climb out of SeaTac (see banner image above), and later the snow-covered Rocky Mountains appear out the window. American Airlines uses a McDonnell Douglas Super MD-80 for this flight – a pretty old aircraft. The cabin is fairly new, but there are no services at the seat like I’m used to with more modern aircraft on Flight 1476. We are only served beverages – nothing to eat, so I break out a granola bar to tide me over.
My flight to San Jose leaves at 6:20pm after a three hour wait here at Dallas/Ft. Worth. We board Flight 2167 on time, but wait a minute…the captain announces over the intercom that he has left his passport at home. His wife is driving to the airport, so we will be delayed 45 minutes. Sure enough we leave 45 minutes late aboard our Boeing 757. We run into some pretty serious turbulence as we cross the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near Houston. Of course the flight attendants are serving dinner just as this happens, and have to stop their service until things settle down. We arrive in San Jose at about 10:50pm local time. I quickly clear customs and immigration, find my Swiss Travel rep, and catch the transfer van to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Walter, the bus driver from last year’s tour is driving! I think he remembers me, but his English is not good, so we have to keep it simple.
I arrive at the hotel at about 11:30pm, check in, unpack, and have a well-deserved shower. I have been travelling since 4am when I was picked up by the taxi in Victoria, to 11:30pm, losing 2 hours along the way by going to Central Time, making it about a 17 hour marathon. Not as bad as my past flights to/from Africa, but I’m tired.
So here I am in Costa Rica one year after my previous trip here. I’m looking forward to the next two weeks – the first week will be similar to last year at La Ensenada Lodge, and the second week will be something new, with my planned visit to Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast.
November 9, 2008 – Sunday – Cape Town, South Africa to Victoria, BC, Canada
I kill time in my hotel room until my 4:30pm transfer to Cape Town airport arrives. The hotel insists that I pay 450 Rand (US$54) for a late departure, and I have to change rooms, so I feel entitled to take full advantage of the facilities before I depart. I use the time to catch up on my travel journal, annotate photos, have a couple of naps, and have a shower before leaving for the airport. I will be traveling for over 30 hours before I arrive back home!
The South African Airways flight from Cape Town to London/Heathrow takes 12 hours. SAA serves a wonderful dinner and complimentary wine after we leave Cape Town, and then the cabin lights are shut off until a couple of hours before our arrival. As usual I don’t sleep during the flight. We are in a holding pattern over Heathrow since we arrive a bit early. Apparently they have a 6am curfew at Heathrow – no doubt to give the surrounding neighbourhoods a bit of respite overnight.
Cape Town to Heathrow flight map
South African Airways uses Terminal 1 at Heathrow and Air Canada uses Terminal 3, so I catch the shuttle. At least Terminal 3 is a more modern and civilized place to wait five hours for my 12:05pm departure, although I still can’t find any Wi-Fi networks. This is a prime people-watching place, since Heathrow is probably the busiest transfer point in the world.
After boarding my Air Canada flight to Vancouver, I notice right away the more “basic” service provided as compared with the full service provided by SAA on my previous flight. The 9-hour Air Canada flight departs on time and goes smoothly. I don’t see any aurora over the polar region this time, like I did on the Victoria to London flight at the start of my trip.
I only have an hour and forty minutes connection time in Vancouver, but manage to clear customs and immigration and board my flight for Victoria with time to spare. I’m home by dinner time on November 10th, having gained 10 hours as I cross so many time zones traveling in a westerly direction for some 32 hours elapsed time. The marathon flights are over, and I can finally sleep!
October 26, 2008 – Sunday – Pretoria (near Johannesburg), South Africa
I am staying at the Protea Waterfront Hotel for two nights. There is a lagoon, pool & patio in front of the hotel, and it’s adjacent to the Centurian Mall – which is a typical mall with lots of shops.
This evening at 7pm our tour group of 40 people meet downstairs in the hotel. Most of the group are British, with some Dutch and other Europeans mixed in as well. Our tour leader Craig Olivier introduces himself, gives us an overview of the tour, and answers questions. Craig also discusses the optional excursions that will be available as we travel along the route. I have pre-booked and prepaid most of the excursions I want, so I simply give Craig my coupons and I’m done. My radar normally goes up when tour companies offer add-ons, but these excursions offer excellent value and allow me to fully appreciate the South African experience.
I have Ostrich medallions in garlic sauce and a glass of local red wine for dinner in the hotel restaurant. I ask for the Ostrich to be done medium, but it is very rare, so I don’t eat all of it. It is very lean red meat, and tastes similar to beef. The following morning I have the breakfast buffet, which is a full European breakfast at reasonable cost. Buffets are common in South Africa, but they don’t use sneeze guards, unlike North American restaurants.
October 13, 2008 – Monday – Victoria, BC, Canada to Johannesburg, South Africa
Native scupture in the secure departures waiting area at Vancouver airport
Today is my 56th birthday, and it is also the day I leave for Africa – what a birthday present this is! I am writing this entry as I sit in Vancouver Airport waiting for my flight to London/Heathrow. I had to take a 1:30pm flight from Victoria; however I don’t depart for Heathrow until 7:50pm, so I have five hours to kill. I also have another five hours to wait in Heathrow before I depart for Johannesburg. I left Victoria at 1:30pm on the 13th and I should arrive in Johannesburg at 7:10pm on the 15th!
At least I don’t have to clear security again here in Vancouver, however I’m in the area where Air Canada’s flight leaves and there are no shops open. At the moment, it is completely empty except for the odd passer-by. It looks like the Vancouver airport is being expanded in a fairly major way. Unfortunately, they have turned it into a maze of corridors.
People watching – I spot a woman packing her own pillow. I have to wonder if she is really going to drag that thing along with her wherever she is going. Another woman is wearing a small backpack which has a teddy bear in it. There appears to be nothing else in the backpack. She is busy on the Internet terminal doing her email. Perhaps the teddy bear has a large circle of friends?
It was drizzling when we left Victoria Airport, and it is raining pretty hard outside Vancouver Airport right now. It will be a welcome change to experience the hot and dry climate of Northern Botswana. By the looks of the climate tables, it should cool down a bit from the 40°C in Northern Botswana to the 25°C range by the time I travel down the South African coast to Cape Town.
I have a hot meatball sub from Subway for an appetizer around 4:30pm this afternoon after finding a food court about five minutes’ walk from where I had setup beside the gate. I am still in a secure area, so at least I don’t have to go through another security check just to have a meal. I’m not sure what Air Canada will serve after we are onboard, since our 7:50pm departure is well past the dinner hour. We are scheduled to arrive at London/Heathrow at 1:25pm local time, so I expect they will serve us a meal before our arrival. The stories about how Air Canada has cut back on in-flight services and meals makes me wonder what to expect on the upcoming flight.
There are a few dozen people in this area with the food court and shops, but the airport still looks pretty empty to me. There are only seven international departures up on the notice board for this evening: Amsterdam, two to London, JFK New York, Sydney, Taipei, and Hong Kong. I’m bored already, and I really haven’t started my journey. It seems everyone else is in the same situation: bored and killing time until their evening flights depart. One bonus: there is free Wireless Internet in the airport, so I can read and send email and browse some news and other online sources. I check my weather website: it is raining at home.
It is now 6:00pm and I’m back at the gate. There are sensible stout women waiting for the flight “home” to England (I assume). Almost all of them have a bag of duty free goods, and some of their feet are already swollen. The shops in the gate area are now open, so they obviously know there is little business when there are no flights scheduled (like this afternoon). It looks like the rain is settling in, so I will be glad to soon escape from this grey, cold and wet dreariness.
My time spent traveling is precious to me.
The holding lounge fills up by departure time. People are constantly after the gate staff to change their seat assignments, and they seem to good-naturedly put up with this endless parade. When I board there are no spare seats. I have a window seat and the seat beside me is occupied by a woman from Victoria. I’m happy she is quite small build, so we both have room to move. We will be over nine hours in the same seat.
Vancouver to Heathrow flight map
The aircraft pulls away from the terminal and then just sits there for about 20 minutes. The pilot finally tells us there is a mechanical problem, so we pull back into another gate at the terminal and spend the next two hours sitting around while they fix the aircraft. The crew and pilot keep us informed along the way, and we finally depart two hours late. It’s not a problem for me, since I have a five hour layover in London/Heathrow, but other passengers with tighter connections are justifiably worried.
Aurora over the North polar region out the aircraft window
Once we level out at cruising altitude, a nice dinner is served with drinks included. I am peeking out the window regularly, and I notice a nice aurora visible over the wing as we fly over the polar region. A couple of hours before we arrive, a nice breakfast is served. Thank goodness I managed to get a couple of hours sleep in-between.
We have a 100 knot tailwind for most of the flight which saves us a full 45 minutes, so we end up arriving just over an hour late at 2:00pm local time.
October 14, 2008 – Tuesday – enroute Vancouver to London/Heathrow to Johannesburg
It is 3:45pm as I write this in Terminal 1 at Heathrow. We arrived at Terminal 3, so I had to catch a shuttle bus to Terminal 1 and clear security again. Terminal 3 is modern, but Terminal 1 is decrepit by comparison. I can’t find any Internet connections – even if I am willing to pay. All I can do is wait around. They don’t post the gate numbers until 30 minutes before boarding time. When I’m in strange airports, I like to find a gate early so I’m not rushed, but I can’t do that here. Posting to my blog will have to wait until I get to the hotel in Johannesburg.
SAA A340 tail fin at the gate at Johannesburg airport
The woman with the teddy bear shows up at the gate for my flight to Johannesburg. I hope she’s not on my safari! There are a few empty seats on this flight; however most people have spread out to take advantage of the extra space so they can stretch out and sleep. The rest of us make do with trying to get some rest in a single seat. South African Airways in-flight service is very good – the meals are tasty, the cabin crew gives us good service, and the aircraft appears to be brand new (unlike Air Canada). We depart on time, and arrive early – what more could one ask for from an airline?
Heathrow to Johannesburg flight map
I rest fitfully throughout the flight, but I flip open the window shade regularly to see what is visible outside. The Orion constellation is lying on its side and is a pretty sight despite the illumination from the full Moon. Toward dawn there is a beautiful sunrise over Southern Africa as I am served breakfast just before our landing. The man sitting beside me is from Mozambique, and regularly travels to/from Johannesburg since he is involved with airport equipment. He is returning from a training trip to London.
October 15, 2008 – Wednesday – Johannesburg
Despite arriving at Johannesburg airport a bit ahead of schedule, Derek from Wilderness Safaris is there to meet me this morning. He suggests I get some South African Rands from the ABM in the terminal, and then he puts me on the shuttle to the Mondior Concorde Hotel. It is only a 15 minute drive from the airport. This hotel is part of a larger gambling complex called The Emperors Palace, which is obviously a direct copy of Las Vegas – including all the shops, the fancy concourses, and of course the noise! The hotel is nice and quiet, and although they don’t have any non-smoking rooms available at 8:30am, I take a smoking room in the interest of getting to bed as quickly as possible.
Emperors Palace Casino interior
I sleep for four hours and then get up to walk around the casino this afternoon – they obviously took liberal use of the designs of Caesars Palace or the Venetian in Las Vegas. I have dinner this evening at Squisto Ristorante in the casino mall area. It is recommended by the desk clerk, since their own Oriana restaurant is closed. I ordered a Spanikopita (spinach & feta pie) to start and Pescatore (seafood) pasta as a main. They only have a red house wine – no selection, but it was good (not too dry). This place reminds me of the Venetian in Las Vegas, except the prices are about a third of the Venetian’s. This evening’s dinner cost about 180 Rand (CD$23) including two glasses of wine and tip.
This evening I have to repack my two bags, since I will be storing the large one at the Mondior Concorde hotel here in Johannesburg while I take the small bag on the Botswana Safari. I’ll leave my notebook computer and some of the bulkier stuff here. All I need is cameras, clothes and my more compact electronic technology while I’m off on safari. When I’m traveling in Northern Botswana we will be transferred between camps in small aircraft. The maximum dimension for a bag is only 9″x12″x24″ due to the small cargo holds of these aircraft. It’s a good thing I purchased a new backpack MEC Fast-Track Roller from Mountain Equipment Co-op. It is actually two bags in one: a rolling bag with a handle that also has shoulder straps, and a smaller over-the-shoulder bag that is…you guessed it, only 9″ high. The small bag is is the one I’m taking to Botswana.
Speaking of technology, my power adapters all work here on the 220v 50Hz power. The 2 prong conversion plug I brought along works fine. My Rogers cellphone works from here – I call home successfully to check in with the family. I expect the next time I can use my cellphone will be when I return to Johannesburg on Oct 25th, since I’ll be staying in remote bush camps most of the next 12 days. Internet is not free from the Mondior Concorde hotel, but I purchase a low cost plan and the wireless connection works fine from my room. I post an update to my JoeTourist blog, and I also post a few preliminary photos on my Flickr space before going back to bed.
Tomorrow I start my safari adventure by flying to Livingston, Zambia!
Feb 15, 2008 – Friday – San Jose, Costa Rica to Seattle, WA, USA
Flight map – San Jose – Houston – Seattle
I’m up at 4am after about 4 hours sleep. I’m going to be beat flying to Seatac, so it’s probably a good thing that I overnight in Seattle to allow me to get some sleep before returning home. Diego and Walter are there at quarter to five to pick me up, along with another couple leaving on the same flight. I guess Diego and Walter will be going back and forth to the airport all morning as flights depart.
I pay my US$26 Departure Fee, clear security and wait for my Continental flight to Houston. There are only folding chairs in the departure area – I hesitate to call it a “lounge”, since there is no counter, and the gate itself is well-hidden. I start the waiting process by sorting through my photos after find a carpeted bench area to sit on so I can plug my notebook adapter into a nearby outlet. My friends soon show up, and we trade stories about the last week, since they went off on their own instead of booking the Volcanoes and Rainforest tour. My group certainly accomplished more, but my friends wanted some down time to just relax, which I can relate to.
Since I only slept four hours last night, I try to get some rest on this leg of the journey once we’re airborne. The breakfast bun Continental serves is dreadful, but I eat the egg and ham and drink the lukewarm coffee. Once we land in Houston at the George Bush airport, my friends and I take one of the golf cart shuttles since our gate for the flight to Seatac is a long way across the terminal.
Our flight to Seatac is full except for one empty seat which my friends happened to get in their row – a good thing. I’m seated in the third-to-last row, which is fine except for the deodorant smell emanating from the nearby washrooms. As on the previous flight, I zone out by listening to music through my noise-cancelling Shure earphones. That way I isolate myself somewhat from the stress of a full aircraft cabin, as well as from the noise of the jet engines. When I arrive at Seatac, I experience no ringing in my ears. Previously, I would normally have ringing in my ears for a couple of days, and have trouble hearing.
I like George Bush airport in Houston, since despite it is huge, it is well laid out and I find it easy to navigate. There is a good choice of services near each group of gates, and the airport staff are helpful and friendly. I find that Seatac airport is also improving as far as customer service is concerned, however the poor layout and those infernal trains between various terminals present challenges to passengers who have to find their gates.
When I arrive at Seatac I clear customs and immigration, retrieve my checked bag, and then proceed to the ticketing and check-in area at the front of the main terminal. I find the Horizon Air counter and ask if there is a seat available on the flight leaving this evening. They confirm the flight is fully-booked, so I then find the Continental counter and tell them I will need a hotel voucher, as instructed by my travel agency. After a short delay, the woman gives me the voucher for a stay at the nearby Clarion. I proceed to the hotel shuttle pickup area, call the Clarion, and shortly after the shuttle picks me up. This hotel at Seatac is not exactly a first rate hotel, but the room is clean and the bed feels good.
Feb 16, 2008 – Saturday – Seattle, WA, USA to Victoria, BC, Canada
I am up at 5am in order to be at the gate at Seatac for my 7:30am flight to Victoria. I am out the door at 5:45am and join several other folks in the shuttle to the airport. I check in at the Horizon Air kiosks that are located in the walkway between the drop-off point and the main terminal. I print my boarding pass and go to the baggage check-in area for Horizon/Alaska airlines. It is very crowded, but I get through after waiting only about 10 minutes and check my bag – no overweight charges this time thank goodness! The line to clear security is very long, but it moves quickly.
I find my gate with almost an hour to spare, get myself some coffee and sit down to work on my notebook computer for awhile. It is great to have my notebook with me, since it gives me something productive to do during the inevitable waiting time while travelling. By the time I get home I’ll have all my photos organized and captioned, which will be a big help to process them more quickly than my last trip, which took me many months.
The Horizon flight to Victoria departs on time, and the flight to Victoria is uneventful. Although there are lots of clouds, there are enough clear spots to give me opportunities to photograph the Olympic Mountains from my left side window seat. My checked bag appears on the baggage belt at Victoria airport, and I clear Canadian Customs in short order. The officer asks me about my farm stay, but wasn’t concerned since I say it was a week ago, and my shoes had been washed since that time. I find my vehicle parked in the long term parking, pay the fee and drove home.
As I sit on the deck this morning before breakfast, I see a Kingfisher dive for his breakfast, and the Snowy Egret is wading in the pond, along with many other birds in the trees. It has rained off and on more or less continuously since we arrived at the Sueño Azul Hotel. Despite being quite a long way from the Caribbean coast, this area is only about 60 metres about sea level, so it is very wet and tropical here.
After check-out, we drive the short distance to the Hacienda Pozo Azul Butterfly Garden in La Virgen, so I get a second chance to see the butterflies and manage to take some good photos. We then continue to a drop off point for our river rafting on the Sarapiqui River. I think everyone was a bit concerned about the river rafting, however this is a Class 1 trip, which means no white water, no helmets or strap-ins needed – just a gentle float down a calm river.
It rains hard for the first few minutes as we load onto the inflatable rafts, but we have perfect weather for the whole 2-hour trip down the river. There are three or four sections where the water runs a bit faster, but nothing I would call rapids. I think everyone has fun. I certainly enjoyed myself, since we have very cute boat men. We see lots of wildlife up close, including a Jesus Christ lizard, Howler monkeys, a snake swimming across the river, tiny bats roosting in the trees on the shoreline, and countless birds. There is juice and fruit waiting for us at the end of the trip.
Our bus driver Walter then drives us to La Fortuna, where we have a wonderful lunch at the Don Rufino restaurant mid-afternoon. When we arrive at the Tabacón Grand Spa and Thermal Resort, they have drinks waiting for us, give us express check-in, and deliver our luggage from the bus to our rooms. Speaking of the rooms, they are deluxe – the best grade hotel we’ve stayed at for the whole trip.
The skies are cloudy and there are frequent rain showers at this location. I don’t see how we are going to hike in these conditions tomorrow, but according to Diego and Steven they plan to take us onto an Arenal Volcano lava flow tomorrow morning starting at 8am. We will then visit the volcano observatory and have lunch before returning to the Tabacón in early afternoon.
Tomorrow is when we can go to the Spa, or just soak in the hot pools. For this evening, Steven is suggesting we try to photograph the glowing boulders rolling down the mountain using time exposures with our cameras. That might work if we can find a perspective from our hotel location where we can clearly see the volcano’s flank.
Our dinner at the hotel this evening is later than usual at 7:30pm, in order to give us time to digest our sumptuous lunch. We have the Chinese-themed buffet at the Spa restaurant this evening. The food is very good, but it is quite noisy due to the whole spa complex beside the restaurant being very busy since it doesn’t close until 10pm.
Feb 9, 2008 – Saturday – La Ensenada “Star” Lodge to San Jose, Costa Rica
We spend our last morning at the Lodge comparing observing notes from the night before. Several of the group pulled all-nighters, since the sky was so wonderful. I think it was perhaps the all-time best observing evening I’ve ever experienced. It was warm, the magnitude 6 sky was steady and crystal clear, and of course the temperature was very comfortable at about 25 Celsius. The bonus was virtually no mosquitoes. I don’t know where they went, but it was a welcome relief.
During our time here, I visually observed more than a dozen southern sky objects visible from this latitude of 10 degrees north. Observing from here has driven home the point that I must travel to the southern hemisphere (South Africa, New Zealand or Australia) sometime in the near future. Observing from those locations will reveal a whole new sky to me. After my trip to New Zealand and Fiji in 2004, I’m convinced that the southern hemisphere has more than its fair share of superb celestial objects, and I must add some of them to my observing log within the next few years.
Before leaving the lodge, we have a group photo taken with our guides and lodge staff, settle our bills, leave some tips for the staff, and then climb aboard the bus bound for San Jose. It is a long drive over the mountains, however we stop for lunch at Sarchi. This is also the tourist trap: t-shirts and caps, knickknacks, and the painted ox carts and furniture Sarchi artisans are famous for. After we check-in back at the Courtyard Marriott in San Jose, it’s nice to have a hot shower and get the dust washed off. It’s also wonderful to connect to the Internet, catch up on the news, and post to my JoeTourist travelogue.
We attend a farewell dinner at the nearby Laguagua Cuban restaurant this evening. It is very noisy with a band playing and the service is slow, but it’s nice to have one last meal together before most of the group return home. Some of us are staying in Costa Rica for a few more days to continue on with the Volcanoes and Rainforest tour (starting tomorrow).
The buffet breakfast in our hotel this morning is included in our tour, so I have a nice Spanish omelet and some very good coffee and juice. There is no rush, since we don’t leave for La Ensenada “Star” Lodge until 10:30am. Our Tico Guide is Diego and Walter is our driver, both from Swiss Tours. Our Travelquest Host is Chuck (from Phoenix), who I met at breakfast as well as Gary Seronik, who is taking care of hosting the astronomy activities. Gary is a Contributing Editor for Sky and Telescope magazine, lives in Victoria, and is a member of RASC Victoria Centre. Rick Feinberg, the Editor-in-chief for S&T is also with us on this tour along with his wife.
Everyone is on the bus on-time and ready to go, with the first stop being a large mall. We have a chance to shop in a local AM/PM and also exchange money for those who need some Colones. We then cross the Central Valley and the hills to the Pacific Ocean, passing through Palmares, San Ramon and Esparza along the way. We stop just past Esparza for lunch at the Restaurante Caballo Blanco (White Horse Restaurant), where we have our choice of beef, chicken or fish. The folks who order the beef tenderloin say it was good, but I saw them chewing a lot! I have the grilled fish, which is served with vegetables and mashed potatoes. I’m resolved to try to avoid eating beans and rice as much as possible on this trip!
Joe on the porch of his cabin at La Ensenada “Star” Lodge
After being welcomed by the staff at the lodge, settling into our cabins and enjoying some dinner, we get out under the dark skies we came here for. I take a half dozen photos of the Orion area of the sky using my dSLR, which has been modified to allow more infrared wavelengths to hit the sensor. Orion is laying down on his side due to observing from about 10º north of the equator from this location. We are used to observing from our more northern latitude of 48.5º where Orion appears upright.
Today I travel to Costa Rica. I’m up at 5:15am, do some last minute packing, say goodbye to my family, and I’m out the door at 6:20am. I drive to the Victoria airport, park in the long term parking, and check in at the Horizon counter. My checked bag is overweight by 5lbs, which costs me $25 extra – not a problem, since I can’t lug anymore carry-on luggage. The security guy asks me about the Astrotrac tracking mount for my camera, and we then get into the inevitable discussion about astronomy.
I find a power plug for my notebook in the gate area and sit down to write in my journal to kill a bit of time. My friends (who are also going to Costa Rica) arrive a few minutes after me. Our flight to SeaTac is delayed by about a half hour, but once airborne we are treated to a flight path that loops over Mill Bay, the Malahat and Victoria as we head southeast to Seattle, Washington. Despite the delayed departure, we arrive in plenty of time to find our bags, clear customs, and find the gate for our Continental flight to George Bush airport in Houston.
Our flight to Houston is also a bit late taking off, however we have a smooth flight – seeing Mount Rainier (see banner image above) along the way is a treat before the clouds close in for the last part of the flight. We have less than a half hour between flights in Houston, so Continental has a motorized cart waiting for us at the gate to ensure we connect with our flight to San Jose. The gate for the connecting flight is way across the terminal, however the nice lady driving the cart gets us there with time to spare. As we find our seats, the overhead bins are full, so I keep two carry-on bags on the floor under my feet for this flight.
I’m seated beside a huge guy from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who overflows the seat with his enormous tattooed arms and shoulders. I manage to survive by ignoring him as best I can, plugging into my music with some Shure in-ear earphones I bought awhile ago to use on this trip. They are fantastic at effectively shutting out the aircraft engine noise in particular, so when we arrive in San Jose my ears are not ringing as they normally do. The airport is controlled chaos, but we clear Costa Rican customs in short order, find our transportation, and are transferred to our hotel after only about a 20 minute wait.
The Courtyard Marriott hotel is pretty deluxe with North American style rooms with Internet connections, telephones, TV, wet bar, coffee maker and hair dryer. I take advantage of the free Internet connection to contact a few folks back home to let them know we arrived safely and will be on our way to the lodge tomorrow. Speaking about La Ensenada “Star” Lodge,I understand that it is more primitive, so it doesn’t have Internet, and even the telephone is not always working. I’m assuming my cellphone won’t work there, unlike here in San Jose where it roamed on the local provider right away.
My friends and I have some beer from the wet bar, and chat about a few things. We are excited about the astrophotography possibilities at the Lodge we are going to stay at starting tomorrow. I go to bed around 1:30am local time (11:30pm Pacific time).
