Costa Rica, the Co-Star I Can’t Ignore

About 4 months ago, my company came to me and said, “How would you like to go to Costa Rica to help us teach a company to use the software you write?” After I finished choking on my coffee and nearly strangling the man to say yes, I didn’t think it would actually happen. Who gets to go to Costa Rica for work? Yet, here I am, right on the heels of my Ireland vacation, preparing for my first day teaching Costa Ricans how to use the thing I build. I hope it goes well.

The plane flight down was half good, half bad. I sprung for better seats on United, and then connected to Continental. They were bought by United, and so I assumed the quality would be comparable. The plane was comparable, but the service was light years away. I hadn’t been asked for seating preference at the time of purchase, so I figured I’d be okay when I got to the airport. If I hadn’t picked a seat, nobody had, and I could be early and grab one the day of.

While nobody had picked a seat, it wasn’t due to timing. It seems that you can’t choose your seat on Continental flights? The entire time, people were milling about the cabin, visiting their loved ones, trying to stretch their legs near someone they knew. I suppose they had us over a barrel when it came to us needing a flight, but isn’t this something that’s been solved for a long time?

Despite the cramped conditions and strange “burrito” they served on the plane, we landed, and the door opened to the humid, slightly sticky feel of a tropical country. We were greeted by the man with whom we’ll be working, and he drove us to the hotel. We relaxed for a bit, got a light dinner, wandered the hotel and eventually passed out.

The hotel was built in the middle of an active coffee plantation, something Costa Rica is known for. The place is nice. The hotel has accents of Spanish style everywhere, the people are really friendly, and everything’s been easy so far. If their shower is tall enough to wash my hair, this is going to be the nicest room I’ve stayed in since the castle room Eli rented us in Makree.