A week ago today we woke early to our perfectly cleaned Florida rental home. We had spent the days prior dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing and tidying from top to bottom, so all we had left to do that day was gather our sheets and begin the process of washing them, and cleaning up the last few dishes. We ate a simple smoothie and toast breakfast, and then the older kids took the younger ones to the park for an hour while Ben and I crammed the last bit of stuff into suitcase pockets, made triple/quadruple sure our mountain of border crossing paperwork was in order, and scurried around with a broom to whisk away any crumbs that would attest to our having been there.
Shortly after 10:00 a.m. a sleek black bus pulled up and we loaded our luggage into it and the accompanying black van. The kids were thrilled when entering the bus because it had cool purple lights and little chilled water bottles for everyone. What a fun start to the day!
We made the easy drive to the Kissimmee airport and were even early for our flight. Our bus drove right onto the tarmac and our backs were then loaded directly on the jet that we had seen arrive just moments before. The pilot helped load our bags, as we waited in the waiting area… mildly squirrelly and super excited.
And then, it was time to go!
But, before our feet left the Florida ground our friendly pilot took a picture of us all glowing in excitement before we ascended the steps. We got on the plane and could hardly believe it. This was not the tin can we had flown in from Ontario to Detroit, this was an older, yet still crisp and clean elegant jet. The kids had no problem getting super comfortable for the three hour flight ahead.
Dorian quickly settled in with the pilots and enjoyed most of the journey from up near the cockpit. The rest of the kids watched out the windows (“Goodbye Florida Keys”, “Hello, Cuba”, “Hola, Costa Rica!”) played card games, read their books and just generally enjoyed the journey. Truett was super chill and enjoyed climbing on the couches, while the big kids relaxed together in the back. With the odd friendly check-in with our stewardess, Victoria, we were well supplied with snacks and animated conversation.
From the sky we were so impacted by the lush mountainous GREEN of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Just miles and miles of uninterrupted green! It wasn’t long before we were descending. We thanked the cheerful airplane stewardess and pilots and were immediately ushered into a bus that was waiting for us on the tarmac. They too, served us cool drinks, and we were set.
Upon entering the Costa Rican Airport there was NO one else there! Apparently, there aren’t usually many flights on Wednesdays. This worked out GREAT for us because we could go to the front of the non-existent line and sail through customs! All our bags were scanned as a huge crew of bored “scanner people” watched the process – felt like a bit of a circus, I’ll be honest. From there, we got into our next bus that was waiting right on time for us, and after a short wait, were off to the border. All our bags were stuffed in the back and there were enough seats for us all in the front. We bounced and bumped along, strangely at home in our usual skin, under the same sky, but now just looking at a new backdrop. The kids kept exclaiming about the different fruit trees and animals we saw along our route… you could feel the excitement in the air.
Late in the afternoon we stopped at the Costa Rican border where Ben had to check us out of Costa Rica, and we all took a bathroom break. We then drove past a huge line of transport trucks waiting to cross the border and pulled to the side of the road and got off the bus.
Our bags were piled on the side of the road while me and the younger children stood out of the way on the grass inspecting some old, defunct bicycles. Our drivers, having compassion on us, helped us carry our bags the 100 meters to the Nica border. At some point, some men with trolleys loaded our bags on their carts and that made the process much smoother. So, there we were, walking right beside giant transport trucks, crossing into a new country by foot. Felt sort of like The Sound of Music… sort of.
It was getting dusky by the time we walked into the Nica Customs. We were the only ones there but it took a LONG time because our guy LOVED paper, and had to write on LOTS of it over and over in the strange process that did not seem to have any rhyme or reason. Our little guys were definitely getting antsy at this point. Another big group of travellers from Canada joined us in line and we made some nice connections there while we waited.
Eventually, we made it through. They did ask Ben to open one bag with a flip phone in it (the oldest, stupidest piece of electronics that we brought with us!). They looked over it for a couple of minutes, then put it back in the bag. I think they were mainly focused on a guy who had gone in front of us who had a new (boxed) set of speakers in his bag. (They don’t like stuff still in its packaging – they think you might try to sell it.) So, the customs officers were making a big fuss about this and our trolly guys were just saying (tired of waiting), “Come on!”, and they basically took our bags off the table before the inspectors thought twice about inspecting anything else! All loaded up, we were now in the dark walking farther down that long road to the place where our next bus was waiting for us, right on time.
This ride was a little different; the whole thing was in the dark, so we couldn’t see our surroundings at all. Horns honking, swerves, pot holes, flashing lights, and chatty drivers became the background music to this leg of the journey. Truett finally fell asleep in my arms. It rained. There were snack crumbs everywhere. Ben was texting family of our arrival, and we were trying to figure out how to distract an exhausted Keats.
Eventually, after the longest, sloshiest, bumpiest part of the trip we turned into the driveway of our magical new abode. We couldn’t see out of the tinted windows, but upon stepping out of the bus, we could see new friends standing in the soft glow of a beautiful palapa waving and welcoming us in.
The children’s eyes grew wide as they took in the nighttime view of the resort all lit up with orange and pink lights under and clear and starry sky. Our luggage was unpacked, and in a dazed sort of way we wandered about the pool and cabanas marvelling and pointing and letting out sporadic shrieks of delight!
We found our way to the restaurant, that was opened just for us that night, and we had our first full, hearty meal of the day to the sound of the crashing waves nearby. We were welcomed with friendly, open arms, our tummies were satiated, and it was time for bed. We pulled back the covers of freshly made beds, and laid our heads down in gratitude for this perfect day.
