The Parental Visit – part 1 – San José, Heredia

On Thursday night, September 7, my parents arrived in Costa Rica for a 2 week tropical vacation, oh and of course, to visit their favorite youngest child. I had come up to Heredia earlier that day, then Luisa dropped me off at their hotel that night so I could check into the room, place a few welcome gifts, and take the shuttle over to the airport to meet my parents as soon as they walked out of the doors and into Costa Rica after immigration, customs, and baggage. I arrived about 15-20 minutes after the internet told me their flight was taxiing to the gate and joined the crowd of folks waiting to meet and greet international arrivers. So I waited and I watched, and I waited and watched some more, but I didn’t see any wide-eyed and road-weary travelers that I recognized. After about an hour of waiting and watching and seeing many happy reunions and foreigners match themselves up with the limo drivers and tour guides holding their respective names on pieces of paper, I was starting to get a little concerned. The entire Costa Rican National Soccer team (returning home from a pair of friendly matches in Europe) had even arrived, deplaned, exited the building, been mobbed by reporters and TV cameras, and then disappeared from sight, all while I was still on the lookout for Ron and Mary Ann. Just when I was about to ask the security guard if I could enter the airport and search for my missing parents around the baggage claim or customs area, I received a phone call. It was my mom, and she was calling from the hotel! Who knows how it all went down but some how my parents had landed, gone through customs, gotten their bags, made it outside, looked for me, and upon not finding me, had hopped on the shuttle and went to the hotel. The international arrival area at the San José airport is not that big, so I am still a little confused how we missed each other. But I will say that I was impressed by my non-Spanish speaking parents getting to their hotel and enlisting the help of the front desk manager to call my cell. Maybe they wouldn’t need a tour guide after all…? So my parents ended up greeting me as I got off the shuttle back at the hotel. A little role reversal, but hey, at least we managed to reunite at all! It was great to see them after nearly 6 months and only a few phone calls. That night we got a start on the catch-up, info-swap sessions while I feasted on a well-loved and missed snack: Wheat Thins and peanut butter. Yum yum.

On Friday our plan was to head into Heredia so the folks could see my old stomping grounds and meet my Costa Rican family. We caught a bus from the airport that I thought was heading to Heredia, but it turns out it had been coming from Heredia, so we took about a half hour bus ride in the opposite direction only to be kicked off at what turned out to be the final destination, then immediately board another bus and head back to the airport and finally on to our original destination. I was feeling a bit disappointed in the way I had started my tour guide career, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because my parents were fascinated, amused, and entertained by all they were able to see and photograph from their front row seats on our 1 hour bus tour. Just as we got off the bus after finally arriving in Heredia, it started to pour. We had lost our window of opportunity for a walking tour, but had also lost the time for that as well, so after a loop around the (indoor) marketplace we grabbed a cab and headed to ETC (my former place of Spanish learning). Luisa and Ibo and Gaby and Faby met us there so my parents got to meet my Costa Rican family, and see the place where I had developed my mastery of the Spanish language. Ha. Not quite, but at least the place where I made huge steps in that direction. We made a quick trip up to their house also, so my folks could see what had been my home for my first 2 months. We all had a great late lunch together, at the very same restaurant where I had eaten my first Costa Rican meal the day I had arrived. It was still pouring outside, so hard that at times my mom had to walk to the front door so she could watch just how hard and how much of it was coming down. Friday evening the folks and I had a 2+ hour chat and coffee break at a café in Heredia, then picked up a few snacks at the grocery store and vegged out at the hotel.

Saturday morning Luisa took us into downtown San José for a bit of a walking tour of the downtown area, including central plaza, national theatre, museums, and the marketplace. We had another great lunch in San José – this time with a huge sampler platter of some typical foods. That afternoon they dropped me off at the bus station to head back to Limón, then Luisa guided my parents to the highway and they headed off in their rental car en route to the central Pacific coast and their accommodations at a resort in Puntarenas.