Continues.... The following morning we were served breakfast(included in our $23). Since our flight wasn't leaving until 5pm we chartered a small bus and toured the city. San Jose is the capitol city of Costa Rica. The bus driver warned us that the city was not safe so travel in a group and be careful with our valuables. Every door window, porch and garage was covered with steel bars. Neal told the bus driver to google, "East Oakland" as we were being warned. No joke, the capitol administration building was in an old prison. Downtown looked like wino park and the shopping reminded me of Durant Square. Even the Catholic Church was raggedy! Very sad. The Costa Ricans have nothing unique to their culture, no art, no music. Everything is a pale version of Mexico. We get to the airport again. Just as we are about to lift off, the plane falls to the ground, slides down the runway. Brakes are screaming and I can smell burning something? We come to a stop. Nobody screamed but EVERYONE was frightened. Apparently the pilot got a warning light and had to abort the flight. Everyone is asked to deplane EXCEPT US. We were kept inside the plane for three hours. When we started getting antsy, we were given free drinks. They told us they repaired the plane enough to fly us to San Salvador because there were not enough hotel rooms in the city (right!). We flew a very scary one hour ride to San Salvador and had another rocky landing. In San Salvador we were taken to the Sheraton hotel. Very nice, very modern. So you know my peeps were relieved! We were given each, a room and a buffet meal (American style). In the morning we enjoyed a wonderful buffet surrounded by a fancy pool with a waterfall. Someone suggested we tour the city, but after looking outside at the armed guards, everyone realized it really wasn't safe. So we waited for the bus to take us back to the airport. On day three of trying to get home. We finally get on a plane to Miami (Americana Airlines; a five hour flight). We land, go through customs, run to the boarding gate, just to find that our flight has been delayed! We wait in the airport for another five hours. We had to wait for a plane to fly from Chicago, refuel and restock, then take us to SFO. We finally board around 11 PM that night. Thank God for strong winds. I guess the airlines don't care about flying fast and wasting fuel when they have almost 250 people waiting for a plane! We arrive about 3 AM Thursday morning. I get home at 4:30 ( undependable children, who say they are on their way, then go back to sleep!) I'm in the classroom at 8:15 with those bad kids! Another All Seasons adventure behind me & waiting for the next one. Claudette Center