1 APRIL - BACK TO NEW YORK

The boys go for a quick swim in the sea, whilst mother packs the bags and also finally manages to change their flights. This time we get through to SAA USA quickly and manage to get tickets on miles for both of them to LA. We are very happy that we have another week together, especially after seeing so little of each other the previous months.

The ride back to the airport takes much quicker than we thought and we stop at a community development tourist shop to get some curios. We have a small incident at the filling station, when we had to ask Luc to donate his colones coins which he had collected during the stay in CR, as we ran out of local currency. In the end - and lots of tears later - we exchanged his 1000 Colones ($2) for $20!!!! Hey, the boy has got a head for business!!!

We managed to drop the car off with no hassles, but had a hard time getting out of Costa Rica - thanks to USA security! The security staff scrutinised our passports, then asked us where we travelled to, photocopied it, asked us how many times we have been to CR etc etc etc! Then we had to show our tickets back to SAA and one of them did not believe that it was a real flight ticket! We joked and said we would love to be stuck in CR and live there forever - this broke the ice and the same security card laughed about it again when we went through yet another security check!

The flight is delayed and we eat the most expensive meal in Costa Rica - airport food! When we finally board the flight is even more delayed as there is a problem with the front wheel and they have to change it. The day becomes a day of delays! In Atlanta the flight is also delayed for another hour - we did not mind this as we would not have made the flight was it on time. Then we end up sitting on the runway for another 30 minutes due to the air traffic problems in NY.

We finally get to the hotel after two and are exhausted! Luckily we have our same room, so we feel at home immediately - and more used to the cold!