Meanwhile back in Costa Rica . . . .

Following up on my wife's post below . . . here is our story back in San Jose.

So Heather called us and said we needed to go pick up Mr. Bunny International at the airport on Friday. His flight was to land at 10:30 so we needed to leave early to get there. Well to start off we had very little money at the house and we were not going to get paid for another two weeks so we need to get to the airport as cheaply as possible. Praise God that Costa Rica has an incredible bus system to get around the country, but it is still a process.

We left the house around 9:45 and walked over to the school (15 to 20 minutes - depending on how grumpy the kids are that day) and went to the bank. Well the first bank we went to did not have the ATM functioning so we had to walk further down the block to another ATM. While waiting in line we saw some other friends so while talking to them 3 other people jumped in front of us in the ATM line. Things to remember in Costa Rica -personal space is not much space at all - so if you are more than 12 inches from the person in front of you in a line - technically you are not in line at all - and people will feel free to avail themselves of those enormous 12 inches.

So finally we got our money from the ATM, walked up the street and then went and waited 10 minutes for the bus. This is the bus to get us from our part of town to downtown San Jose. This ride isn't too bad - maybe 20 minutes. Once we got into downtown San Jose we had to walk a good 10 blocks or so through downtown San Jose to the bus stop for the buses going out by the airport. Just as we walked up to the station one bus left so we had to go get in line for the next bus. Thankfully a lot of people go out to this side of town so the bus was filled pretty quickly and off we went. This bus ride is at least 30 or more minutes because through out the trip they are constantly picking up and dropping of people. So Gallatea arrived around 10:30 and we got to the airport around 11 or just after.

First of all we went downstairs to the security office to find out where we needed to go. The lady there said we needed to go upstairs to the Copa airline office and talk with them. So we walked back across the street, up the escalator, across the people bridge and into the check-in area. We walked up to the Copa check-in line and the guy at the front of the line said that our bunny was probably not at the office but at the cargo office. This office is about 2 miles before you get to the airport so now we went back across the people bridge, out to the road and got a taxi. The taxi thought he knew where the location was so off we go - out of the airport. Thankfully the taxi guy did know where it was and so we went inside. We talked with one lady out the front desk and she pointed us to Copa's cargo office. Down the hallway and in the door we went. The lady at the cargo office said she had no news about a bunny at their office but did some phone calling to find out where and if an international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit might be. Finally she found out that the international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit was actually back at the airport. Well this was good news except that there were no taxis on this street and the bus stop was quite a bit down the road. So out the door we went, walking away from the airport down the highway for 15 or so minutes to a cross walk. We went up the stairs, over the people bridge, down the stairs and then back up the road to the nearest bus stop.

Praise God (once again) that almost immediately after we got to the bus-stop a bus going to the airport was coming down the road so we got back on the bus and back to the airport. At the airport we went up the car ramp to the upstairs section, across the people bridge and back to the Copa airline check-in desk. I talked with a guy at the desk, who did some more calling, and finally he said I needed to go back downstairs to the security checkpoint where everybody leaves the airport. He said one of his co-workers would come out and either bring the bunny or take us in to get the bunny. So back across the people bridge, down the stairs, across the road and down to the security office we went.

Somehow I had the impression that the guy would show up fairly quickly since he knew that we were already waiting down there. Well the first 10 minutes went okay, then 15 . . . now Caleb and Hannah are laying on the ground and we are looking like a homeless family looking for handouts. 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes . . . now I feel like a homeless family looking for handouts. Maybe I should have had a cup to ask for bus fare back to the city. After a little more than 45 minutes the tall guy from Copa airlines comes out and says . . . "Sorry but I can only take one of you into the airport - security rules!!" So what do I do with the kids? "Well you can take the kids back upstairs to the check-in office and we can watch them there for you."

Back across the road, up the escalator, across the people bridge, back to the Copa check-in desk. I left the kids there with the workers and went back across the people bridge, down the stairs, across the road, and back to the security check-in desk . . . expecting the Copa guy to still be there. Well ten minutes later he finally shows up. I mention that I wasn't real "excited" about leaving my kids up at the check-in desk and could he call up to check that they were okay. By now I've kind of got the worried sick feeling in my stomach that somehow somebody has my kids booked for a flight down to Colombia by now. So he called and the supervisor of the office went out and took my kids to the back office of Copa where it was much more secure.

So now Copa guy and I walk into the airport back through customs and to the baggage claim area . . . and there sat our wonderful, furry, ball of joy international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit. (Do you get the feeling of how much I love this little guy now . . . ) So we grab the bunny and start walking back out, but now we need to stop at the special customs desk where they check all the paperwork for animals coming and going through customs. Paperwork . . . what paperwork . . . there is no paperwork for the bunny because it is all down in Chile with my wife. (Well actually the paperwork, bunny food, water, and stuff like that had all started the trip with the bunny back to Costa Rica, but somehow it managed to fall out of the plane while our international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit didn't . . . oh the luck!!)

Anyway so we ended up talking with Mr. Customs official trying to explain that indeed this beautiful bundle of joy in the cage was indeed Costa Rican (they couldn't tell by the white skin), and that it never actually made it into Chile because the customs officials did not like the paperwork with the bunny (that now was NOT with the bunny). So Mr. Customs official went off to talk with THE Mr. Customs OFFICIAL for some time to explain that we had an international bunny crisis with no papers to prove just how grand and big this international bunny crisis was.

Finally he came back and said I had to give him all my information including my grandmother's great aunt's maiden name and that they may come to our house in the next month to ensure that this fine, good looking bundle of joy and happiness is well and prospering at our home address. Which by now if you have read this blog or our prayer letters you know that there really is no such thing as an address, it's just a rough location for a house behind a barbwire fence.

So I gave Mr. Customs official my information and our family tree back to Norway and then out through customs, across the road, up the stairs, and back across the people bridge I went. I got to the check-in desk and they said I could go back the hallway to the back office, which I ended up taking the wrong corner and almost getting lost in the back of the airport. That would have been a good conversation to have with the security . . . and finally find my kids.

Back out through the maze of hallways, past the check-in office, over the people bridge, across the parking lot, down the car ramp, out to the road and down to the bus stop we went. A few minutes later we finally snagged a bus for the ride back into town. By this time we were all pretty tired and I think I started to hear the rabbit speak Spanish to me. I don't know what was scary, that I was hearing the rabbit speak Spanish, or that I was beginning to understand him. If he didn't have such big front teeth I think his pronunciation would have been better!!

Finally we got back to San Jose, and I was pretty certain that we were not going to make it across town walking again so I finally broke down and got a taxi for the ride home.

All in all, from the time we left the house to the time we got back was close to five hours. Five hours to retrieve and bring home this little wonderful, sweet, adorable, loveable, international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit.

Can somebody say - RABBIT STEW!!

Sincerely yours - Doug