THE TRIP HOME

Like all things in life, both good and bad, our amazing trip to Costa Rica had to come to an end.  Tuesday, we got up at 5:30, hauled our bags to the bus, and after one last group photo we were on the road for a five hour trip to the airport in San Jose.

 Here we are!

On the way, we stopped at a restaurant for breakfast.  There were some stunning macaws in the trees.  Here you can see a green-winged macaw and a scarlet macaw, which I think is the most beautiful bird.  You can't tell from this photo how bit they are, but they are HUGE...and noisy. 

Tearful goodbyes as we left Deb, who took a shuttle back over the mountain to get back to work. 

A lot of people who didn't think they were going to cry...did.... 

From then on, it was busy, getting to the airport, unloading, getting everyone a boarding pass, checking everyone's luggage.  We said goodbye to Mark, went through customs and security, got on the plane, and flew to Atlanta.  Then all the sudden...it wasn't busy, because our plane to Hartford got canceled.  There were no hotels to be had, so we got to spend one last night together sleeping on the floor of Concourse A in the Atlanta Airport, the biggest airport in the US.

If you ever wondered what the inside of the airport looks like at 3 in the morning when you can't sleep because there's no place to escape from the incessant "light jazz with saxophone tweedle deedle deedle squeeeeeeeeak solos", this is it.  I had a little nest made where some wheel chairs shaded me from the glaring light, but some cleaning people came and took them away.  A lot of the students just stayed up all night.  As Kate said, about 00:00 in the morning, "This is a lot suckier than I thought it would be."

We finally made it to Hartford, but our luggage didn't.  After everyone made a lost ("we don't like to use that word" as the Delta agent said) luggage claim, there were hugs, goodbyes, "see you next weeks," and everyone went home.