San Gerardo de Dota to Los Angeles
We wake up earlier than planned, as we just want to make sure our car is parked far enough up the road that we'll be able to get out (we've got a plane to catch!). We catch the road workers before they're about to start and get two thumbs up. Phew. Hey, we never said we weren't anxious travellers!
We're up early enough that breakfast at the hotel hasn't started yet so we take a stroll around the grounds. The morning is cool and sunny, the birds are chirping and the river is flowing. This really is a beautiful country and we'll be sad to say goodbye. We take a peak at the succulent farm and the on-site trout farm where Jeff's burger was fished from last night. We head in for brekky and have a chat with some Aussies at the table next to us (of which we haven't seen any). They're on a tour with a driver and are impressed that Jeff's been driving us around. As they should be, it's gnarly on those roads.
Time to hit the road. It's an uneventful but windy drive. We have enough time to stop in at the old capital, Cartego, for a coffee. They roast the coffee on site and it's smooth as eggs. That gets us to the rental car drop off where Jeff is more than happy to hand the keys back. We're shuttled over to the airport and we've got the same driver as we had on our arrival in San José. We fill him in on where we've been and what we've ate and drank. I think we got his tick of approval. We've truly had the best time in Costa Rica, it's one special place. Everyone we've met really seems to embody the greeting Pura Vida, the "pure life". It seems like a pretty good life to us.
The long journey home begins. We're flying from San José to LA (with a 24 hour layover) then home to Sydney, as that's the "quickest" way home. The flight is uneventful, other than as we're boarding realising we're stopping off at Guatemala City for 45 minutes.
We arrive in Guatemala City about an hour and a half later. Just like it wasn't clear on the boarding pass there was a stop it's also not clear when we arrive. We fear another Mexico City airport purgatory is in progress untill we see the nice man with the connexion sign who gets us where we need to be (with enough time to get a Subway for the flight) and we're off again.
We arrive in LA about 5 hours later, around 9pm. We toy with the idea of a little walk along the beach where we'll be staying but that plan is quickly dead and buried when we see the immigration line. No dramas if you're a US Citizen. We are not and the line is huge and slow moving. We make it out about 11pm and get an Uber to our motel. We're wrecked so it's showers and straight to bed, we'll make the most of our last day tomorrow.
