First thoughts (Alejuela)

 Arriving at the airport it is hard to realize that I am really in a foreign country. Sure there are signs, but my brain takes a while to process it. Bob and Rivers met me at the airport so I didn't have to deal with changing money or any language issues. However, as I am in the hotel room, listening to the noises outside the window I am getting hints that I am not in Kansas anymore. Our room is right on the street and the traffic noises are very different from US traffic noises. Lots of airbrakes on trucks, lack of mufflers, horns sounding in an unfamiliar pitch and just a sense of reckless abandonment in the driving. Punctuated by brief moments of quiet when I can occasionally hear some unfamiliar bird sounds. Time to go explore this world and connect some sights to these sounds I am hearing.