Jill's checking us out of the hotel, and then we will sit here and wait for our transfer to the airport. Jill's concerned because the transfer--arranged by Panorama Tours here in San Jose--is scheduled to pick us up at 8 a.m., only two hours before our flight. We called last night to see if we could arrange to have the pickup earlier, because Randy recommended getting to the airport three hours ahead of departure, but the lady I talked with at Panorama assured me that we would have plenty of time to catch our flight. In fact, she found my call slightly amusing; she said that most people called to complain about how early the transfer was.

Last night, after finally reaching San Jose, we went to dinner at El Balcon de Europa Italian Restaurant. First, a word about San Jose taxis-they're actually quite easy to use and cheap. From the rental car agency to the hotel was less than $2.50; from the hotel to the ristorante, only $0.80. Dinner was authentic Italian, from the bread and cheese, the minestrone (Jill's) and straciatella (mine) soups, to the bosciaola pasta for Jill and the plato misto (ravioli, tortellini, and lasagna) for me. Add to that a couple of glasses of wine, and we literally fell into bed.

The drive yesterday from the ferry to San Jose went fine, although as we went through the mountainous regions and got up to cloud level, I couldn't help but state, "The adventure continues!" our catch phrase for this trip and the "fun" driving experiences. The other catch phrase for this trip takes a little explaining: my friend Dwight got another friend of ours who is learning Japanese a phrasebook usefulfor dining on those extremely poisonous puffer fish. With phrases like, "I'm feeling fine so far," and, "You don't look so good," it understates the usefulness of phrasebooks hilariously. While dining here, the two phrases would pop up and make us smile.

It was a good trip, even though in hindsight we would have changed details. We accomplished all we had set out to do--rafting, turtles, forest, snorkeling-and a little bit more. Additionally, we are now more seasoned travelers, more experienced in what we want and how to go about obtaining it.