San José to Lima via Mexico City

 Big, too big, travel day today.

I wokeup early this morning. 

Last night I was not able to book a flight from Lima, Peru to Santiago, Chile. I had earlier cancelled this flight and my stays in Santiago. This was a mistake and ended up costing me some cancellation fees. Live and learn. Or in my case learn, then forget, learn again....

I was able to book a flight this morning. Yay!

Now what I am doing is looking at changing some of my planned but not purchased flights to buses instead.

This whole thing with Volaris cancelling service from San José to Lima is really messing with my plans. So, I am considering serveral alternatives.

One alternative is to add La Paz, Bolivia to my itinerary. The problem with this is the visa is really expensive for a US citizen to enter Bolivia. $160 usd just for the visa.

The only economical way to return north from Buenas Aires, Argentina and/or Sao Paulo, Brazil is to return to Lima. But then what, do I again fly to Mexico City and then south the Bogota? If I had any hair, I would be pulling it out.

Flying from Lima, Peru to Iquitos, Peru may be an option. I could then take the slow Amazon River boat to Leticia, Colombia. Then from Leticia, fly to Bogota or Medellín, I am leaning this way

I have a couple concerns. The Amazon is in drought. Is the river between Iquitos and Leticia still navigable? Bogota like many other cities is having a severe water crisis. Is it responsible to visit Bogota at this time? One option would be to skip Bogota and fly from Leticia directly to Medellín, Colombia. I have to look at this more. Medellín is not experiencing the extreme water crisis as  Bogota.

It is a good thing I have a standing rule, "I reserve the right to change my mind at any time without notice." LOL.

 More diarrhea of the mouth/brain I wrote on the plane to Mexico City.

What a day. I have pencilled in some time on my calendar. This really helped to clarify how much time I can spend in different areas. I have been moving every 4 or 5 days and that is exhausting and turns many what could be adventure days in to travel days. My experience is that I don't get much done on travel days other than eating, bathing, packing, checking out, travel to the airport, going through immigration and security, hanging out at the gate waiting for flight time, boarding the plane, flight time, more walking in airport at the destinations, immigrations again, customs and finally transport again out of the airport. What a waste.
My new approach will be adapting my motto when traveling with the Úke Mobile. Travel a little and park a lot.
I just left San José, Costa Rica. I am on the flight to Mexico City. I will have to do a lot of walking in the airport there to clear immigration coming back into Mexico, then almost go back through security and immigration, then wait for 4 or 5 hours to board my overnight flight to Lima, Peru.
I will only be in Lima for a few days before flying further south to Santiago, Chile.
Starting with Chile, I can start to implement my travel a little, park a lot plan.
I have penciled in 5 to 6 weeks for Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and Brazil. I will be trying to use all bus transportation between these countries. This will eliminate all the hours getting to airports and all the extra time related to that.
Yes, the bus will take more travel time, but it will also provide the opportunity to see the country side along the way.
After this 5 to 6 weeks, I will be flying back to Lima, Peru. Hopefully during this time in Lima, I will be able to visit Macha Picchu. I didn't look into this early enough before. This tickets to Maccha Picchu are sold out 5 to 6 weeks in advance. I will have to monitor these tickets during the next 6 or 7 weeks to make sure I am able to get in on this second visit to Lima.
After my time in Lima, I am then planning a bus/plane to Iquitos, Peru. From there I am thinking spending more time on the Amazon River. This will be a different smaller and shorter portion of the river than I did 2 years ago. I have budgeted about 10 or 12 days to tour around Iquitos, travel on a boat on the river and then fly to Medellín, Columbia.
I will be spending a couple weeks in Medellín before heading far north to northern California.
That's as far as I have pencilled in for now. Almost guaranteed, the plan will again be tweaked more during the next 3 months.

 Now sitting at a boarding gate for my long wait until boarding to fly to Lima. At least the chairs and benches are comfortable. I caught myself nodding out a couple times. Just hoping I can repeat that on the plane.

Finally boarded the plane. On the plane I pre booked a ride from Lima airport to my temporary accomodations there. That simplifies things a lot so I don't have to scamble to change money.

Mexican Immigration escorted  a group of 20 0r 30 people onto the plane. The immigration officers were holding both their passports and cellphones. My guess is they were being deported.