We flew into Costa Rica via the capital, San Jose. Two things about the airport:

1. If you have children, you can skip the incredibly long lines. There is a line for people with kids (under 18), and I figure this saved us at least an hour on arrival and departure.

2. We were taking the regional airline to get us to the Osa Peninsula. It is right beside the primary terminal but you need to go outside and walk over. A cab driver tried to insist it was a drive. It was a 3 minute walk.

Turns out that the small prop plane we were taking into the jungle was brand new, and armed with the latest technology including a full Garmin GPS based auto pilot. It looked very high tech and comforting. I have to admit that this aspect of our travel was the most concerning for me. You don’t really hear about big airlines crashing often, but you do hear about ‘Air (insert 3rd world country name)’ going down. I was glad to learn that this wasn’t a small outfit .. but part of a big company.

The technology that had not changed was the stick on the tail. As we checked in, they weighed everything, including us. Seems like weight has a significant part to play in our ability to climb steeply out of the valley so that we can clear the mountains. The stick is an old fashioned weight measurement. If the tail hits the runway … to much weight …

It was an uneventful flight to Puerto Jimenez. A little rain, but quite the sights to see at such a low altitude.

I am just glad we were not flying with these guys …(look closely beside the shed).