The Voyage

So I didn’t sleep last night. Shocking, I know, what with my history of having such a healthy sleeping schedule. Roie picked me up at 2 AM (she deserves a medal of honor) to take me to the airport for my 5 AM flight to San Jose. I was really getting pressed for time to do my actual packing because somehow I found myself very busy over the past few days. And then at 11 PM that movie “Fools Rush In” with Selma Hayek and Chandler from Friends came on TBS, and though I packed while I watched it, I feel like I need to blame it for the fact that I didn’t get at least a little sleep. That movie is so great, even though its terrible.
So about halfway through the packing process I realized there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to fit everything into only one checked bag. I considered not bringing the month’s supply of mini-Luna bars with me, in an effort to lighten the load, but I seriously rely on those peanut-butter cookie ones. They are truly a revelation. (‘Thank you for the sundried tomato aioli, because it’s a revelation” –Sydney Fife) So, I filled my huge suitcase as well as my amazing new eggplant-colored hiking backpack (Thanks Uncle Dave and Suzanne!) with stuff, both to be checked. I also had my small day backpack and my guitar to bring on the plane.
Upon arrival at JFK’s LACSA terminal I realized that I really couldn’t carry everything at once. I also realized that even before getting to Costa Rica I was officially already the only person in that entire section of the airport who wasn’t a fluent Spanish speaker. So after dragging my belongings through the line for half an hour and drawing as much attention to myself as was physically possible, I finally got up to the check-in counter, ecstatic about unloading two of my four monstrous items. The lady behind the counter gave me a sad sort of sympathetic frown, and said, “You have a problem. Your bag is too big. It will have to be on stand-by.” STAND-BY. The word hit my ears and I was immediately paralyzed with fear. I considered going home. I would not land in Costa Rica without my clothing, it was simply out of the question. After all, I am a twenty-something year old girl completely reliant on my material possessions. ☺ What if “stand-by” turned into “sitting at Kennedy Airport forever because someone forgot to send it to San Jose?” No way. I looked at her with what I assume was a mix of panic, anger, and confusion written across my pale un-rested New-Yorker-in-February face. She then suggested that getting my bag shrink-wrapped would help make it smaller. So I shrink-wrapped my duffel bag. Have you ever seen anyone do this? It’s kind of amazing. So after it had been sealed in heavy duty saran wrap and was unrecognizable, I sent it through security and prayed that it would arrive to San Jose on time.
I don’t remember the flight. I got on, asked for a blanket, and woke up only a couple of times to tell the flight attendants that I didn’t want anything. These past few weeks have been so devoid of sleep and so filled with activity and anxiety, so I think finally sitting down on that plane was such a stress reliever that I just passed out. I arrived in San Jose at nine AM this morning, and guess what? So did my bag! WOOWOO, I have my belongings. A very nice taxi driver named Leo who works exclusively for Maximo Nivel, the program I’m volunteering with, picked me up at the airport and drove me to my home stay in Santa Marta, not far outside San Jose. Leo was very nice and when he asked me if I spoke Spanish I proceeded to nervously explain (in Spanish) that I don’t know how to speak Spanish very well, even though I took it in high school and lived in Barcelona for a month before starting college, but that I really need to perfect it because I’m applying to graduate programs in Social work and that lots of people in the United States, especially New York City, speak only Spanish and that its imperative that I become a fluent speaker, which is why I’m staying in Costa Rica for a whole four months, but that I was really terrible at speaking Spanish. Upon finishing my explanation I realized how much Spanish I had just spoke. Leo said, “Pero hablas mucho espanol! Y muy bien!” I felt so relieved.