A little bit after deciding on our trip, we found out that in 2013 there had been a huge problem with Dengue in Costa Rica. But after getting a big scare about the Dengue epidemic in Costa Rica and nearly cancelling our trip, we learned about the situation and found out exactly what was going on.
After reading a lot and talking to my family, we realized Dengue is a major problem in the rainy season, which starts more or less in May and finishes sometime in November. But our trip was planned for the dry season, so as long as we were careful to use a good repellent, there was very little risk involved for us. We decided to proceed with our trip as planned.
After two months of planning, looking for long term vacation and car rentals. After finding out if homeschooling is an option in Costa Rica and after deciding just which were the areas we would live in, finally the day came! We packed for five people, for seven months. Yes a task that at times seemed impossible! We called two cabs and took my non-potty trained three year old, my four year old and my seven year old - who by the way is the one who is homeschooling (which meant in addition to all the bags full of clothes, I had a all the homeschooling books to bring, sigh!) - and we went to the airport. It would be just about 14 hours from our home in Vancouver B.C. to San Jose Costa Rica. It was the beginning of a long, long trip.
The trip was through L.A., it was the shortest and cheapest one we found. It was tough, but we managed to live through it. Then the adventure started. We landed at Juan Santa Maria at 6:00 a.m. To my disappointment even though I am Costa Rican and have been married to my husband for seventeen years, and at that moment had one Costa Rican kid, the nice gentlemen at customs informed me that the maximum permission they give for a Canadian to stay in Costa Rica is a three month visa. In a very friendly way he advised me, my husband, my three year old and four year old would have to exit Costa Rica every three months and renew their visa or they would risk getting deported! Needless to say I super panicked, and that was not the beginning I had in mind!
But lets continue the trip: Around Costa Rica in Seven months...
After reading a lot and talking to my family, we realized Dengue is a major problem in the rainy season, which starts more or less in May and finishes sometime in November. But our trip was planned for the dry season, so as long as we were careful to use a good repellent, there was very little risk involved for us. We decided to proceed with our trip as planned.
After two months of planning, looking for long term vacation and car rentals. After finding out if homeschooling is an option in Costa Rica and after deciding just which were the areas we would live in, finally the day came! We packed for five people, for seven months. Yes a task that at times seemed impossible! We called two cabs and took my non-potty trained three year old, my four year old and my seven year old - who by the way is the one who is homeschooling (which meant in addition to all the bags full of clothes, I had a all the homeschooling books to bring, sigh!) - and we went to the airport. It would be just about 14 hours from our home in Vancouver B.C. to San Jose Costa Rica. It was the beginning of a long, long trip.
The trip was through L.A., it was the shortest and cheapest one we found. It was tough, but we managed to live through it. Then the adventure started. We landed at Juan Santa Maria at 6:00 a.m. To my disappointment even though I am Costa Rican and have been married to my husband for seventeen years, and at that moment had one Costa Rican kid, the nice gentlemen at customs informed me that the maximum permission they give for a Canadian to stay in Costa Rica is a three month visa. In a very friendly way he advised me, my husband, my three year old and four year old would have to exit Costa Rica every three months and renew their visa or they would risk getting deported! Needless to say I super panicked, and that was not the beginning I had in mind!
But lets continue the trip: Around Costa Rica in Seven months...
No comments:
Post a Comment