The Capital Weather Gang in DC is calling for another 10-20″ of snow for Tuesday-Wednesday. If, somehow, we can either avoid that or — otherwise miraculously — the airports are still functioning, we are slated to head out of this winter wonderland on Wednesday morning for a vacation in Costa Rica.
It’ll be my first trip to Latin America, and I’m excited about it. Having grown up in the South and lived and worked in Europe, I’ve always either been navel gazing or otherwise focused on Western Europe. So I don’t know too much about Costa Rica. I’ve been reading up recently, and just yesterday was sent a link to this article from the BBC.
I’m intrigued by Costa Rica’s eco-tourism, and I also recently started hearing about its consistent rankings near the top of the “happiness index.” There’s a bit about that in the article, as well as links out to more info about the scale. The article also reports that “Analysts say that Costa Ricans’ apparent happiness could be down to a whole series of factors in addition to greenness: strong social networks of friends, families and neighbours; ubiquitous social and education programmes; and tolerance of social divisions and different opinions.
“Mr Montealegre says there is another factor. ‘A popular piece of philosophy in Costa Rica says no argument or quarrel should last more than three days,’ he says.”
In general, it sounds like heaven. And since the country abolished its military in 1949, “Successive governments have poured money into books, not bullets.” That’s a country I look forward to learning more about. See ya when we get back!
P.S. It also looks like Costa Ricans are about to elect the first woman to be president of the country, Laura Chinchilla.
Update 1: Wednesday morning flight canceled; trying to beat the storm and get to Miami Tuesday night. Crossing fingers!
Update 2: It’s President Chinchilla to you.
Update 3: We’re not going anywhere until at least Saturday. New depressing post to follow.












































Another day in the Tundra — dashed hopes edition
February 9, 2010 · 1 Comment
Dun. Dunn. Dunnnnn … that’s the sound of something — like my dreams — grinding to a halt. Or at the very least, our travel plans.
This morning it’s a toss-up between two phrases vying for Favorite:
1) Trip Insurance (wish we had it)
2) Silver Lining (desperately searching for one)
The first call from American Airlines came yesterday afternoon: Wednesday morning’s flight canceled.
No worries; we’re flexible — new booking on a Tuesday evening flight to Miami. Ever resourceful, I phoned up my gal pal JJJ and we were all set for a PM reunion on South Beach. The second call came a little after 10 o’clock last night: Tuesday evening flight canceled. Next up? A Saturday morning departure. That equation looks something like this: (lots and lots of hard work + happiness + joy + planning + deposits) X (snow X 24-34 inches + phone calls from airline – 4 days at the beach) =
Clearly I’m not a mathematician, but you get the point.
Anyway, since the trip is technically still on, here are some front runners in the Silver Lining Department:
1) I’ll get to watch the Olympics Opening Ceremonies after all.
2) The airlines called before we left, so we are stranded at home rather than in the airport — which, by definition, I suppose means we are not stranded at all.
3) While not on vacation, we are also not at work — the city is still completely shut down.
4) The vacation days we save are vacation days we can use some other time (this one is a stretch, but it popped into my head anyway).
5) All the Big Universal ones, like we are healthy, employed, not in Haiti, etc.
And for those of you in a cave, here’s a remarkable video courtesy of DCist courtesy of whoever made it that, had I made it myself, I would have titled: Why We’re Not Going Anywhere Anytime Soon.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Commentary · Travels · Trips · Washington DC
Tagged: costa rica, dashed hopes, dc snow storm, despondency, snowstorm 2010