There is something about flying that is completely fascinating to me. I love every second of it. The exhilaration of take off, the anticipation of landing, meeting strangers from throughout the world and sharing your bubble with them. It's magical, peaceful even, in the oddest way possible.
There is one thing about it that kills me though: looking down on the thousands of miles below you. Ordinarily, I would consider this a pretty awesome thing, to see the whole world from 35,000+ feet, but there are places where I fly over and I get this incredible yearning. If things look the northern reef of Cuba look like this from 35,000+ feet, I can only imagine the beauty of it up close. And if the Rocky Mountains are reaching up for me as I fly over, imagine the solitude and freedom and peace of standing on top of one of the many 14,000+ peaks that makeup America's favorite mountain range, or casting a fly in one of the thousands of creeks that run through the vast wilderness of the Cascade Range ahead.
This picture is painted even more vividly when traveling over the Rockies with dad, who grew up in this mountain paradise, built trails throughout the southern reaches, partied in the dunes. His stories make this view from 35,000+ feet even tougher. He explained the grains of sand in the dunes, how they were all the same exact size, I can only imagine the beauty below me. But, alas, I'm on a plane, looking down on it all, and wishing that instead I was in the middle of it…always wanting what I can't have.
The last two days have been pretty surreal. It's always tough to kiss paradise goodbye. The drive north on the Nicoya is always breathtaking, with the jungle and mountains softly kissing the Pacific Coast beaches with such grace. The scenery of the Nicoya Peninsula just flows in the most perfect way, the rough edges and the softness all blending in to make a stunning and breathtaking image that feels like it was created just for us to enjoy.
Samara seems to have slowed down in the past two weeks, as the summer season draws to an end and people begin to visit less frequently. In Carrillo, the harbor was full of enormous yachts, preparing for one of the biggest sail fishing tournaments in the world. There was not a boat in the harbor worth less than $150k, and they were all over 40 feet, which means they likely had a full time crew to sail the vessels (and the owners likely only fly in for the tournaments). We spent a big chunk of time gawking at the boats, and dreaming of the day when we had one. We also enjoyed our last Costa Rican sunset of the trip, followed by dinner at El Colibri. The steaks were, as always, to die for. And the desert may have been the most incredible thing since sliced bread. I fell in love.
We arrived back in Liberia in plenty of time, and luckily dad had been wise enough to take care of our departure tax upon arrival so lines were minimal. Security in Liberia was once again pretty interesting. Customs didn't stamp my passport, I got through security with water and wearing shoes, while dad had his shells taken out of his carry on.
Liberia is a wide open airport, the best I can do to describe it is a grass hut with big fans and uncomfortable seating, and, as you possibly assume, no air conditioning. Additionally, since its open, people assume that smoking is perfectly permissible (which, legally speaking, it is) which makes it smell like a dive bar on a Saturday night. Less than satisfactory. Upon boarding , our luggage was searched and we were all patted down. Dad had a little coffee in his carry on and they opened it, presumably because it looked a lot like a bag of cocaine, but I really couldn't tell you why for sure…I also can't tell you why dad is always the one to get picked on by airport security, regardless of what country we're in.
We arrived in Miami and walked the ten miles that customs always seems to make you walk (I have yet to figure out why there are miles of corridors before you get to customs, and then everything is stuffed into a ten by ten room in an effort to make everyone uncomfortable as hell while they stand in line for hours…). Unfortunately for us, we chose the wrong passport verification line and ended up behind a family of four who had their passports stolen while in CR and the Customs Agent apparently felt that the documentation from the Canadian government wasn't sufficient for them to be in the airport for an hour while they waited for their connection to Canada. Typical.
This was also the first time that no one looked at our bags (that we know of, will be able to verify once we land safely in Pullman) at all in customs, nor did we have any additional security. This could, quite possibly be because I did the paperwork instead of dad, meaning his security magnet jou-jou was not effecting our trip through US customs.
Now, I'm not sure any of ya'all have ever been to the Miami Airport, but it's pretty much the worst of the worst. It's dirty, and there are A LOT of empty walls. It basically drives me crazy. Add to that the FSA telling us to follow the yellow dots on the floor, forcing me to look at the floor, it could just about make a person in flip flops ill. The food in Miami was even bad, and I mean bad for airport food, which is already pretty bad. Less than desirable experience…give me Detroit, Atlanta, or Dallas from now on, just skip over Miami entirely, please. We finally arrived in Dallas at about 11 last night, and flew out around 7. They did manage to get our hotel room in Dallas right this time though, probably thanks to the angry phone call I made informing them that four people cannot sleep on a king size bed. Apparently I got through to them though….It's been a long couple of days.
Now, we are on the final leg of our journey, a flight from Dallas to Seattle, where we'll connect to Pullman and be home again.
This is my plea, Mother Nature, please be warm. Please let winter be over and backpacking season begin. And, now that I came back to Idaho instead of becoming a gypsy throughout Central America, please make the last bit of Steelhead season rock my world, I really, really, would like that…..
