The End of the Trip-sort of

I have been waiting to tell the last story of my South American adventure for a week, since I did not have my computer, but that is another story. I had to go home via Peru on my way to Costa Rica. The day I left, I got to the airport on time, actually in plenty of time, and the guy at the counter asked me if I had my yellow fever vaccination certificate. At that stage I switched from speaking Spanish to English and asked him if he could repeat what he just said. When he repeated it in English I just could not believe it. YELLOW FEVER? What is that? Some disease we talked about in public school? I also told him that I was a Canadian, had been to Costa Rica many times over the past few months and to let me handle the problem. He replied that I had to go to the medical office and get a vaccine. He told me that even if I was Canadian, travelling from Peru, Bolivia and so on the government of Costa Rica insisted on the certificate.

When I asked the doctor about this she said she would be pleased to give me the vaccine but I would then be in detention in Peru for ten days and not able to travel ( presumably because I could very well get yellow fever from the vaccination). I told her to hold off, went back to the desk and pleaded with the guy to let me on the plane and deal with the situation in Costa Rica. He then phoned his boss and without saying a word gave me my seat on the plane. I am not sure whether he discovered he was in error, or the airline decided to honour the ticket and let me worry about the consequences or what but I did not ask. I was afraid he might change his mind. When I got to Costa Rica, I did notice there was a big triangle on the screen and a warning that I might have something but the guy didn’t ask me any questions, didn’t say a word, and just let me through.

In the meantime, I might add, there was a woman in front of me in the line that was seriously sick, had to sit on her bags as we waited in line because she could hardly stand up and could barely make it to the ticket counter. She had no problem getting on the plane, apparently because she did not have yellow fever, I guess.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. On my way to the bus station to go up north, I had my usual suitcase and my briefcase, one of which I left in the taxi on my way to the bus. The one I left just happened to have my computer in it, my camera, my telephone ( which did not work or I would have immediately phoned the taxi), my passport and international driver’s license. Do you know what a pain in the neck it is to replace all of these things? I am finding out. And I thought being quarantined for ten days would have been a hassle!