Before leaving for our first flight to El Salvador, we tried to go back to the internet cafe we had found in New Orleans to make an entry and check email one last time. Unfortunately, it didn´t open until 10:00, so we had to skip it and make our flight instead.

We had an uneventful flight to El Salvador, but we first landed in Honduras to let some people off. Travis thought we were in El Salvador, but a quick check with the steward told us to stay put and we would be taking off again in half an hour. On the evening flight from El Salvador to Costa Rica, we saw a volcano erupting, which was really cool to see from that high up.

After arriving in Costa Rica around 9:00 p.m., we were greeted by yelling men asking if we needed a taxi. Finally getting out of that mob, we tried to find a phone, only to realize that we didn´t have any Costa Rican money. A kind cab driver offered us his cell phone, which we used to call the reservation agency we had set up a room with. We determined that although we had sent an email, they had not confirmed it and we did not have a place to stay as they were booked. They did recommend a different hotel and confirmed that there was a spot. We gave the phone back to the driver to get directions. When he finished the call, he told us there was not a room after all and tried to get us to go to a downtown hotel. We insisted that he take us to this hotel anyway. Apparently, he called the hotel again and after hanging up this time declared that indeed there was a room.

We got in the cab and he told us it would be $5 US for the cab ride, but the person on the phone told us it would be $2. When I mentioned it to the driver, he seemed to get upset since he had been helping us out with the phone problem. We just decided to pay the $5, especially since we knew it would come off our hotel bill and he had been helpful. The hotel was adequate, but was right off a busy road and the street noise was pretty loud. We were just glad to have a place to sleep since the other hotel fell through.

We got to the airport the next day around 11:00 to wait for our 2:00 flight to Lima. The tickets said gate five, I checked at the counter, they said gate four, then they said gate five. After checking with them 3 times, they told me I was in the right place and to just wait. The next thing we knew, they called our names, saying it was the last boarding call. We frantically made it to gate 4 in time and were scratching our heads as to how we could have missed it!

When we arrived in Lima, our boarding passes indicated that we only had 20 minutes to catch our next plane to Buenos Aires. We made it to the gate, only to discover that everyone was casually waiting around and we didn´t actually board for another hour.

On this flight, the movie A Beautiful Mind was playing, which I was trying to get Travis to pay attention to. He was more interested in seeing the lightening going off a little ways away. We arrived in Buenos Aires, with the time change, at 2:00 a.m. and still did not have a room. After finding an ATM and buying a phone card, we called around and booked a room at Gran Hotel Oriental for 30 pesos (about $10). We were very happy with the accomodations as it is quiet, clean and has its own bathroom and hot water!

Currently we are taking in the sights and trying to get acclimated to the time change.