Ok, so I'm actually in San Jose which is a big ugly city and nowhere near a beach, but they didn't have that option in the photo choices...

So, flew in to San Jose yesterday via Panama. I can't say I was sorry to leave Cuba, as all the militaristic posters of Fidel and Che were starting to get to me. My personal favourite was the one on a junior school wall which said: 'Freedom is still alive while there is one revolutionary, and one gun.' Nice.

I flew Copa Airlines, which was literally the best airline I have ever flown with. I had one flight of 3 hours and one of 1 hour, but was fed on both of them. The flight attendants were super nice and spoke perfect english (I have a distinct memory of this being a problem on AirFrance and other dubious airlines... e.g., Easyjet and Ryanair). Anyway, enough of selling Copa...

Arriving in Panama from Cuba was so surreal, but so so nice! I didn't really notice how very stark and non-consumerist Cuba was while I was there, essentially because I'd come from spending a couple of days in an airport and so was starved of visual stimulation anyway. But flying in to Panama was a complete change, the first thing I saw when I got off the plane was a Dunkin Doughnuts, a Subway and an advert for Coca-Cola! I don't want to sound like a spoilt westerner, but it was incredibly nice to see signs of civilisation that i actually recognised again! Going from Havana, where most of the restaurants are just in people's sitting rooms, to Panama where you could order a Big Mac without any Spanish whatsoever, was quite reassuring! And it' amazing how much joy I can derive just from being able to go into an airport duty free shop and spray perfume on myself. Wow.

Arriving in San Jose was even more consumeristic, if that's possible. Everyone hear speaks perfect English, with an American accent of course, and there are signs of Americana absolutely everywhere. On the 20 minute drive from the airport to my rather swanky hotel, we passed 3 Dennys', 2 Best Western hotels and no less than 14 billboards advertising Coca-Cola. In the USA, that kind of thing bugs me, but arriving last night I couldn't have been happier, smiling like a kid everytime we saw something like that.

The hotel I'm in for the next day or so is very plush, with free internet access (hence the ability to ramble on incoherently about things that are pretty mundane really). Arriving in the dark last night was pretty scary, as we drove past the worst areas of town, so I'm now a little hesitant to venture out - have locked pretty much everything except $10 and my passport (mandatory to carry ID at all times) in the safety deposit box, and am plucking up the courage to head to the bank and a postcard shop at least! I wasn't too worried about the safety aspect of San Jose, despite all the warnings, because I think I'm generally pretty savvy and don't tend to flash cameras around or leave my bags unattended. However, there's a card in my hotel room with 'tips for a safe stay in San Jose', which invokes a strange mixture of terror and laughter. It starts with standard tips such as 'Don't leave your belongings unguarded, not even on the bus or train' and 'Leave your vaulables behind, locked safely in the hotel', and progresses up to 'Do not stop in the street or consult a map if you are lost; keep walking until you find a landmark or a shop you can stop in' and 'If you are driving at night, do not stop your car for any reason, even if hit from behind or hailed to stop by the police.' Scary. Fear not though Mum and Dad, I will be very careful and will definitely be home before sunset, think I'll wait to join the tourgroup before I do too much exploring here!