The flight to Dallas turned out to be an interesting one. We were supposed to be at the San Jose Airport at 6:00, so we planned to force ourselves out of bed at 5:00, unfortunately, I woke up at 3:00 and with all the thoughts about leaving going through my head, was unable to fall back to sleep.
Our taxi arrived early, thus we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We cleared Customs, paid the $6 airport tax, then just sat around killing time until being able to board our plane which left at 8.
Our flight flew over the coast of Nicaragua, which was interesting because we saw that the coastline was covered with mud, and the surf, full of sediments flowing from the shore. I assumed it was the results of the big tidal wave that had killed 90 people a few days earlier. Just inland from the coast we could see two smoking, perfectly formed cone-shaped volcanoes, with several other non-active ones, all in a row.
As we were approaching Guatemala City, our plane flew over the slums that were a mosaic of thousands of “chicken-coop” shacks, stacked side by side on the hillsides. It was very sobering to see how the poor lived, even from above.
Arriving in Dallas at 3:00 was just as shocking, but in the opposite way. Suddenly we were surrounded by opulence. We had our fingers crossed that my brother Rob would be at the airport to pick us up for our one-day stop over, because we didn’t know how to reach him, if he wasn’t.
Rob didn’t let us down. He whisked us away in an air conditioned rental car, taking us first to “The Oaks” a Best Western Hotel where we were given a very large, air conditioned room for $40. It was certainly luxurious compared to the $40 rooms where we spent the nights in Costa Rica.
Our culture shock continued when Rob drove us to the Galleria Shopping Center, where we were surrounded by a world of wealth of consumer products. We then whipped-lashed into another sobering and touching experience when Rob took us to downtown Dallas to see the “Grassy Knoll” where President Kennedy was assassinated.
Our evening of discovering Dallas ended with a tour of “Deep Ellum” and area that was becoming the “Hip” section of Dallas because of the influx of artists and musicians. We walking past numerous small venues that emanated music from live bands, and went in one and listened for a while to the blues, but it didn’t take long for all of the cigarette smoke to drive us back outside to the fresh air. We strolled down the sidewalks, looking into all of the interesting store fronts. At a tattoo parlor, we could stand outside and watch people get their tattoos.
After our very long and interesting day, Rob dropped us back to our hotel room at midnight. We were ready for bed, but for Rob the night was still young, so after saying goodbye, he headed back out to meet up with friends.
View my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
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