Hey Taxi!

From Sunday…

Today the group got up and headed to La Fortuna to explore the town for a little while. La Fortuna sits at the bottom of Arenal Volcano and was the only thing standing when the volcano erupted for the first time in the 1960s. La Fortuna means ‘The Fortunate.’ After exploring and grabbing a bite to eat we began the 4 hour drive back to the Central Valley.

Upon arriving back to the CV, we checked into our hotel, Monte Campana. Because of a discrepancy with our driver, I had to take a taxi to go and pick up pizza for the group for dinner. The taxi picked me up and we headed off. Pretty soon Orlando (the driver) and I were chatting about Costa Rica and our families and life in general. Orlando I found out is an older man who lives with his wife and two dogs a few miles from the hotel. Anyway, we picked up the pizzas and began the journey back.

Somewhere along the way we began talking about cars and automatics versus manuals. He asked if I drove a manual and I said no, I don’t now, but I used to drive one. About 2km from the hotel, Orlando slows down and asks me if I would like to drive the rest of the way. I looked at him and asked “Are you serious?!” I was really excited. He said sure and stopped the car. We did a small Chinese fire drill and switched places. I drove the remainder of the way back to the hotel. My first (and probably last) experience as a taxi driver… Upon reaching the hotel, I greeted the group’s stunned faces with a smile and a wave. The kids couldn’t believe I was driving. I couldn’t believe I was driving either!

Oh, the adventures in Costa Rica.

Well that pretty much topped off my day, other than finally getting to talk to the family again. John didn’t disappoint at the lake apparently. Give him a crowd and he’ll give you moves never seen before. Sounded like Dad and Kristen were tearing it up too. I have no doubt that Mom was out there too…whenever she dare give up her co-captain seat. : )

The rest of the night was pretty laid back. Gail from the Fundación Humanitaria de Costa Rica came to give a short introduction to the work we would be doing with Humanitarian Foundation in the shantytown of La Carpio.

Chao,
Jessica Lynn