My father's dear friend Roberto was heading home to visit his family. He invited Pop to join him...and the e-mail communication that ensued had all of us here at home in stiches. We can't wait for Pop to go on another trip so that we can be entertained by his travel log. I KNOW you will enjoy this! God Speed!
The night before he left, I asked him to e-mail me the specifics about his flight, etc. It suddenly felt a little scarey that he was going that far away. This was his response.
Brig, We leave 8:00 AM tomorrow and arrive at San Jose at 11:30 AM. I will contact you after I arrive down there. I don't have the details in front of me but I'm flying Continenal Boeing 747. Wing span 136ft., capacity 320 passengers, fuel cost $600.00 per hour, payload: 148 lbs. Pilot: Captain Carl Flispot accompanied by 5 in-flight personnellll. Cruising speed: 525 mph, flight altitude 32,000 ft. Engines: 2 GE Astro Jet Enforcers, Tires: BF Goodrich 22 ply, pressure 90psi, thrust 60,000 lbs per engine.
I love you, Pop
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Arrived safely stop Excited and happy to be here stop Their house is all stucco and very tropical stop Three dogs, two cats, a python and a roaming 20 year old parrot that thinks it is a dog stop Only had two hours sleep last night stop Their taking me to see a taco factory, a frog farm, a butterfly museum and a hair salon building made out of used tires stop I have found out what happened to some old suits and sneakers I put in Good Will about 9 years ago stop They{re for sale in one of the better downtown boutiques stop Ive got to stop
Love, Pop
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DAY 2-
Got to bed fairly early last night, 11ish. I was exhausted from lack of sleep and the excitement of arriving.
Lorena fixed us a nice breakfaxt of rice and beans, did a little sun bathing in the small enclosed courtyard- Where do all the flies come from? Some may be attracted to the dead dog out in front of the house. It made a terrible noise when it was run over last night.
We set out to do some business around 11 AM. Passed through the center of San Jose, the capital. Had a nice Costa Rican lunch at Taco Bell, beans and rice. Went to the Costa Rican National Libray and am reading the book.
Saw such quaint towns:Sarchi, Grecia, Palmares, Alajuela, Naranjo and Cuchifrito. Cuchifrito had electricy, but the stop light still didnt work.A lot of unemployment in Sarchi. Population 316, 26 of which had teeth. The liquor business is thriving except after robberies which are quite frequent. Got back at six just in time for dinner. A variation the rice and beans theme. For dinner they were refried from breaktast and lunch.
Last night went to the Serenata, a lovely tradition where a Mariachi band comes to the home of the Bride to be and Seranades the Bride, Groom and all the guests. The music was really beautiful. There were two trumpets, a Mariachi bass guitar a Ukelelee sized guitar, a guitar, viola and violin. All of the musicians were fantastic. Each played and sang beautifully. Their Mariachi costume were muy elegante. I will say without hesitation that it was perhaps the most wonderfully romantic tradition I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Nothing like the Mariachis I have seen on TV. As I get older things like this are much bigger events to me. And I truly believe that you need to be older to appreciate some of these wonderful cultural delights. Afterwards everyone danced kind of informally, but as the Gringo I was targeted by several lovely locals one of whom was even female!
Womens dress here is very limited to barely covering the essentials. Skirts are so short that if they were raised another inch theyd have another set of cheeks to powder...And the dresses and tops of which there is little are so low cut that I am suffering severe eye strain. I may have to prolong my trip......for professional reasons.
Lucy and Dezi send there best,
Love,¨Pop
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Day 3-
Breakfast was a little different than the usual rice and beans today; just it was just refried beans. Thank God for variety. Last night was basically 71/2 hours of fetal position gas cramps and as I sit here now I am eyeing the hallway to make sure Ive got a clear path to the Lou.
Today we helped Pablo move his belongs and new furniture to his beautiful Costa Rican Town Home. All stucco in soft orange tones, ceramic tile floors, granite counter tops, laundry, Liv.rm, Din rm, Kitch., 3 bedrooms, loft, 2 car car port, large enclosed back patio/yard with covered built in wet bar and wood burning cooking grill. All this in a fully gated and secure village for $140K. Of course when you leave this highly fortified compound-electric fence, guard towers and roaming Dobermans, you have to have a Hum V and a flak jacket.
We stopped at a Haagen Daz shop to get some vacation goodies. Pablo, Roberto and I had 3 small servings and I ordered 2 quarts to bring back to the house to wash down tonights Rice and Bean Casserole, and the bill came to 14,000 Colones or $28!!!!! What a phenomenal rip off. Do you think the fact that the waitresses top was about 50% shy of material and she went out of her way to lean forward exposing all of her mamary ware was part of the deal!!! Keep those six shooters doll, I grew up close to a dairy and have seen my fair share of cows and thehy didnt charge anywhrere near $28 for icecream....
Stopped at a road side stand today and drank Agua Pipa (the name first scared the hell out of me. PIPA, definitely sounded bad) Fresh juice right out of the coconut. The guy attacked the coconuts with a huge machetti until he had hacked enough of it away to punch a small hole through the remaining skin at which point he handed the coconut to me and I drank about 3 cups of delicious coconut milk right from the fruit. It was delicious and really thirst quenching.
The traffic in and around San Jose is horrible, much like the Long Island Expressway or the Belt Parkway at rush hour. The driving is even worse. Apparently they make up the rules as they go along- There are scooters and motorcycles too numerous to imagine. They weave in and out from lane to lane and sometimes just make their own. Ambulances are lined up along the highway just waiting for action. There are a lot of funeral homes too.
Tonight family came over to visit Pablo, Lorena and Roberto before the big event tomorrow. They asked me to sing, which I did, but I havent sung in weeks and I probably wont be booking any TV gigs down here.
The dead dog is still out front and Ive been assured that it will disappear tomorrow. Im not sure what that means, but maybe there will be less flies afterwards. Its 1AM your time and Im exhausted.
Love to all, Pop/Brian
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Day 4, part 1-
Awakened this morning by Roberto to loud Regaeton...my first Costa Rican migrane!!
The plumber, Paco, arrived this morning. My first shower since Wednesday and boy was it needed. Where do these strange body fragrances come from??
Yes Im sleeping well and I seem like I could take a Siesta in the middle of the day.
The pace of life here for those who are moving forward is just like the pace at home. There all under stress studying hard to be lawyers, dentists, doctors, engineers. There isnt any mañana syndrome here. Even the professionals have second jobs as teachers, etc.
I can see why so many would want to stay in the US once theyve been there. Our way of life seems to be more organized at every level.
We leave for the mountains and the wedding at noon. The wedding takes place at a resort mountain hotel and we are expected to arrive dressed casual and spend most of the day poolside, swimming, eating and drinking. The wedding isnt until 5PM. Im very interested to see what this will all be like culturally.(in case you hadnt noticed, there isnt any apostrphe on this spanish keyboard)just found out that we are staying the night at the mountain hotel. So Ive got to pack some stuff for the night and tomorrow----more after the wedding.....
All the best, Brian Glynn
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Day 4, part 2-
We were supposed to leave for the mountain at midday," mañana", we left at 2. Passed through richety suburbs of San Jose all of which are pretty typical of what ive seen here and in Puerto Rico, poorish and untidy.
Drove for about 45 minutes to get up to 4000ft. The road up was sheer drop off on both sides at times, nearly impassable with holes, washouts and very steep inclines. Nevertheless the CRs drove like crazy, even passing around corners, up hills and on portions of road that were barely a cars width. All in all the drive up was exciting and the vistas spectacular!
Alta Vista is a camp,conference, vacation, wedding reception destination. It sits on a mountain with 360 degrees of vistas lindas. All the growth is varied and different from ours. The grass is very dry, stubbly and almost cruncy. Even the pines look different. In the distance all of San Jose and the valley spread out before you. You can even see some of the small coffee farms and cattle farmers.
The temperature was about 15 degrees cooler and there was a constant stiff breeze that was exhilerating and bracing.
We stayed in individual cement block cabins, they had cable TV, baths, raw light bulbs, but were fairly clean and provided hot showers. They had a mountain top restaurant and large banquet hall a little further down. Both offered great views.
At 5PM yesterday the wedding took place in a kind of chapel mission church. I hope my pictures come out. I introduced myself to the little old visiting priest who happened to be from Xativa!!!!!!!! We chatted a little about Valencia and Xativa and it was fun. Made me think of the wonderful trip with Brigid, Erin and Maura. What a wonderful memory. The mass hymns werent any of those that Ive heard at any of the Spanich masses here and they werent really to my liking, but neither are most of the hymns that are used these days at home.
The priest had a good sense of humor and the congregation responded well to his good quips about marriage and life in general. Fortunately the mass fulfilled Sunday mass obligation and went on for about an hour and a half.
The reception was absolutely fantastic. It began about 7:30 and we broke up at about 12:45 AM. The music was fab. 3 musicians:bass guitar, congas, keboard and a lot of electronic enhancement produced really great music. You girls woud have loved it; salsa, merengue, samba, salsa, salsa, and more.Sometimes the music went on for half an hour with out stopping. In all seriousness I had a great aerobic workout; I danced non-stop for the better part of 5 hours. I couldnt get enough. My legs and feet were a symphony of cadence and rythm. This gringo showed the Latinos what movement is all about. I had hands, arms, shoulders and all parts south in full motion and of course was forced to the center of the dance floor time and time again. I was the talk ot the evening because I was often dancing with 6 señoritas at once. Eventually I picked out a few that I found to be the most interesting and swept them all around the room with humble grace and sophistication.
At one point we heard incredible rythms coming from outside and then this Brazilian Carnaval Group danced and beat their way into the room. IT WAS UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!They beat out on a variety of drums, accompanied by their own dancers, more variations of latin rythms than you could ever imagine and they went on and on for at least 45 min without stopping. Every piece of clothing i had on was drenched, but i was fabulous. i may even be touring Rio with the group in the near future. Girls, the old boy has still got it, better yet, he{s still discovering whatever it is. Thank God I work out so aerobically. I wore out everybody on the dance floor and at the end of the evening was ready for more. And just as an aside, I had only one champagne toast at the beginning of the evening. Before the night was over there was a small fireworks display with all of San Joses night lights as the backdrop. ¡Que rico! ¡Que lindo! ¡Que fantastico!
I went to my cabin, had a hot shower and went to sleep asap. The only negative to the whole time was the mustiness of the bed and boy do I hate a musty bed. Nevertheless I was up at 8:30, shaved and walked up the rough road to Lorena and Robertos cabin area and did some stetching and early morning sunbathing while they got up. Lorenas niece saw me, came out and we chatted in the lovely morning sun and breeze.
We had a buffet breakfast, yes you guessed it, rice and bean (Gallo Pinto-[guyo peento] for you gringos, ham, scrambled eggs, a local white cheeze, ornange juice, fried banana with sour cream and tea. I went back for seconds.
Afterwards we went to the partially enclosed pool, its really too cool outside there to swim outside. And spent time in a hot tub and sunbathing. Im slightly burned, but im getting a little sun each day hoping i can cook away the eczema on my back. I think its working.
We're back in San Jose. Tomorrow I think Im getting my teeth cleaned by one of the family who is a dentist. Tuesday morning we start of for the Coco Beach in Guanacaste.
>Love to you all, Pop/Brian
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