Up by 06.00 and did our final packing. Breakfast was on the table before 07.00 courtesy of Xavier. We packed the car before breakfast and left the hotel at 07.10 after saying our farewells to Judy and Xavier.
We drove the 21 km across to Paquera and then turned north in the middle of the town and headed up the dirt road to Playa Naranjo. The road was 25km of sometimes quite good and sometimes quite appalling road. There were quite a few big trucks on the road and we were thankful that we didn't meet any fuel-tankers on the narrow mountainous sections. We tried to keep going at a steady 30-40kph and made it to Naranjo in just over 45 minutes and finally got back onto proper roads, well what passes for roads anyway! This road is labeled the route 21 on the maps.
The further north we went the better the roads got although the speed limit remained at 60kph until we joined the a more main east-west road. The road was wider from here and the speed limit increased to 80kph, the maximum speed limit in Costa Rica.
Our route up the Nicoya peninsular took us through Lepanto, Jicaral, San Pablo, Nicoya, Santa Cruz, and Filadelfia before we passed the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport at Liberia.
We drove into Liberia and refueled the car and stopped for a drink for ourselves too. Back down the road toward the airport we returned to the car rental depot where we checked the Jimny back in again. All was well and they inspected the car and found no damage and we got our deposit back.
The car rental company gave us a lift back to the airport where we managed to check in easily. We'd forgotten that there is a departure tax of $29 each, but found we could pay by credit card. Next stop was bag check and then to security. We were rather surprised that the security staff got very interested in Lynn's carry on bag, but when they checked inside they found a knife! For reasons beyond explanation, Lynn had put a bag with two plastic plates and a dining knife which we had bought into her bag and forgotten it was there.....
The airport was bedlam with lots of flights leaving for the USA, but our flight, which was one of the last for the day was half-empty which was rather pleasant. The flight was about 5 hours and took us back over central America, Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and on up to Chicago, Illinois.
After the delights of US Immigration again, and some minor problem with our passports we collected our bags and headed for the shuttle bus area. We found that we needed to phone the hotel to get the shuttle bus to come to International Arrivals, but the automated telephone system failed to work. Luckily, one of Illinois's finest, a police-lady, phoned the hotel for us.
The journey only took 10 minutes, but it was amazing to see just how much snow is still lying on the ground and huge heaps of snow were everywhere from the snowploughs.
'
We checked in and went straight out to a Sports Bar just around the corner, 'Barefoot Joes'. Here we had a burger each and a large beer - I reckon we earned it today!
No comments:
Post a Comment