Getting to Costa Rica

The night before last, I was taking care of last minute concerns in my apartment in Teec. My packing was finished, I´ll put a full crock of beans on for the FACE potluck, I´d watered the bonsai Christmas tree brother Chris and wife Jane had given me, and I´d finished my rewrite of Chicken Scratch Yazzie. Unlike past travels, I actually slept well. I got into my morning routine of working out before I have my morning coffee and loaded up the truck. All was smooth.

I was concerned about the weather. There were all sorts of rumors out there...Albuquerque was socked, the weather would be getting worse, and the roads were slick. One of the rumors was correct. The roads around the Four Corners were incredibly slick...I slid out to my truck on the thin sheet over my sidewalk...and took the driving slow. I got to school at my normal time...but most of the teaching staff was delayed. An 18'wheeler had tumbled off into a ravine and traffic was held up. I watched over the kids in the teacher resource room until the other teacher arrived.

I had asked for some leave so I could get to Albuquerque without any troubles. My principal was accommodating. She told me to get going.

My drive was very smooth except for one thing. My truck died in Shiprock. Evidently, my battery died right there at the gas station. I guess if it had to got...that was the perfect place. I managed to get some help from a couple of mechanics. With my new battery in place, I drove to Albuquerque. I can only say it was a little weird. I listened on the radio of weather getting worse and worse...but I seemed to be riding within a bubble of sunshine...you know, Jesus rays and all. I took it as a good sign.

The flights were smooth. I had no panic attacks. I did have my Xanex in my pocket but didn´t need it...I do think all of my panic was a product of too much mercury in my system. So, this was good. I most enjoyed looking down at lava flows off from the volcanoes of El Salvador. The jungles, jagged mountains and wild pristine waterways were pretty impressive too. The air smelt funny...kinda like near the coal burning power plants. As I waited for my final flight in San Salvador...a police officer did a little show with his drug sniffing dog....really, a show...after he had the dog sniff around every ones bags, the dog chased after a tennis ball and did several impressive belly rolls. The most life threatening situation was taking a taxi drive through San Jose to my hostel. Obviously, I lived.