Cultural notes, part 4

Yesterday after graduation, I hugged Mireilla and Melissa goodbye as they headed off into the rainforest and on to Sámara this weekend. I had lunch at Café Mambo with Ken and Ellie, the students I shared Zeneida's house with my first week in Costa Rica. They're living in an apartment now and have a knack for making gallo pinto and a few other local dishes. Tara and Alison, two of the girls I met my first week in Heredia, are off to Sámara tomorrow as well so we went out to La Rumba Disco last night to go dancing one last time. I wished all of them well and knew they'd have an amazing time on the beach.


A few parting cultural notes on this, my final Saturday afternoon in Costa Rica:

• Tiquismos – local variations on Spanish that are unique to Costa Rica and/or Central America
  
• usted – Though considered formal in standard Spanish, this is the everyday way of saying "you" in Costa Rica regardless of the relationship between the speaker and listener. Vos is highly familiar and usually reserved for long-time friendships. Tú – which in most other dialects may be mildly familiar – is intimately familiar in Tico Spanish and traditionally used only with lovers and God. On the other hand, Silvia suggested to me one time that the continuing homogenization of Latin culture through mass media may have the power to change that, as young people grow up with pan-Latin television, movies and music which promote the non-Tico usage of tú.
  
• ¿Cuánto vale? – the local variant of ¿Cuánto cuesta? ("How much does it cost?") which literally means "How much is it worth?"


• Con (mucho) gusto – "You're welcome." It literally means, "With (great) pleasure" so it has a much warmer meaning than the standard de nada ("It's nothing") which I've never heard once in Costa Rica.
  
• tranquil – I've heard this from many people, including Zeneida. It is a shortened form of tranquilo ("calm") and as an exclamation ("¡Tránquil!") is used to mean "No problem" or "Don't worry about it" as far as I can tell. This would make it roughly equivalent to No problema or possibly even No te preocupes or No se preocupe.
  
• pulpería – a convenience store, roughly analogous to 7-Eleven


• plata – another word for "money" that's much more common here and in other parts of Latin America than the standard dinero. It literally means "silver" and reflects the importance of silver currency in the history of many Latin American countries.
  
• cien metros – "one hundred meters," the standard way of refering to a city block regardless of its actual length


• mae – a tag word roughly equivalent to "dude" or "man," e.g., ¡Tuanis, mae! ("Cool, man!")
  
• As with many rural towns, the population in Sámara is too small to support a dedicated high school. Norma's granddaughter Dailis thus rides to Nicoya two hours each way, every weekday, to go to school.
  
• Even the dogs are friendly in Costa Rica. They walk the streets freely and never wear leashes. Not once has a dog barked at me while I've been here. Sometimes, a random dog will even follow you like he's your pet. So if you plan to visit Costa Rica, know that being a dog lover is practically a requirement!
  
• Going to a salsa club is a different experience from the U.S. or other parts of the world. For one thing, the style of salsa dancing is completely different here and I've only started to get used to it. The clubs also tend to play a more even mix of different styles – salsa, reggaeton, merengue and cumbia. Lastly, it's typical for people to go out in groups and less typical to see people go by themselves, even though the latter is often the norm in the U.S. Asking someone to dance is probably the only situation in Costa Rica where I've ever encountered a cold shoulder.
  
• Ticos have never heard of decaffeinated coffee. It's not supposed to exist.

Graduation day

Today was graduation day. Jesús and I watched the Argentine film La historia oficial ("The Official Story") about a professor who teaches "official" history while her students try to learn about the history the government tries to hide. She works to uncover the real story of her adopted child while her husband tries to keep the past in the past. It was a very moving film that capped off our week's theme of human rights.

I was the only student graduating today. I gave a farewell speech much loved by everybody, that spoke of the wonderful places I'd visited and the friendly people I'd met. Silvia and Jesús wished me many happy trails and both hoped I'd come back soon. I felt sad that this unforgettable chapter in my life was coming to an end, but I promised everyone (including myself) that I would return some day.


My graduation speech:

Mis cuatro semanas en Costa Rica han sido inolvidables. Mis viajes a través de este gran país han sido todo con que soñé. Me he divertido mucho haciendo tantas cosas – ir a montar a caballo, caminar por la selva, ir a toda velocidad en un cable 150 metros en el aire, mirar tortugas en la playa, enfermarme del estómago en un bus sacudido, y aun tratar de surfear mientras estaba lloviznando y caerme en el agua muchas veces. Pero además, he tenido la oportunidad de conocer a mucha gente simpática. A Intercultura, tuve cuatro profesores maravillosos. Silvia siempre mantuvo nuestras clases interesantes por ejercicios y juegos con preguntas inocentes y atrevidas. Jesús, y además Viki y María en Sámara, me desafiaron a que aprenda español y también comprenda la cultura latina más profundamente. También, a través de mis viajes he conocido a posaderos y guías muy amigables. Y he tenido dos mamás ticas que siempre mantuvieron sus casas cómodas y siempre me mantuvieron bien alimentado. Además, he conocido a muchos nuevos amigos de todo el mundo.

Ojalá que yo vuelva a Costa Rica algún día pronto. Ojalá que mis amigos y yo podamos seguir en contacto por muchos años que vienen. Nunca me olvidaré de las experiencias maravillosas, la gente simpatiquísima, los lugares bellos y la cultura encantadora que he descubierto aquí, pues una parte de mi corazón para siempre vivirá en la tierra de pura vida.

Gracias a todos por todo. ¡Que nos veamos pronto!

English translation:

My four weeks in Costa Rica have been unforgettable. My travels through this great country have been everything I dreamed of. I've had so much fun doing so many things – going horseback riding, walking through the rainforest, flying on a cable 150 meters in the air, watching turtles on the beach, getting sick to my stomach on a swaying bus and even trying to surf in drizzling rain while falling into the water many times. But beyond that, I've had the opportunity to meet many friendly people. At Intercultura, I had four wonderful professors. Silvia always kept our classes interesting with exercises and games featuring innocent and racy questions. Jesús, along with Viki and María in Sámara, challenged me to learn Spanish and also understand Latin culture more deeply. Throughout my travels I've also met friendly innkeepers and guides. And I've had two Tica moms who always kept their homes comfortable and always kept me well fed. Beyond that, I've met many new friends from all over the world.

I hope I will return to Costa Rica some day soon. I hope my new friends and I will be able to stay in touch for many years to come. I will never forget the wonderful experiences, amazingly friendly people, beautiful places and enchanting culture I've discovered here, for a piece of my heart will forever live in the land of pura vida.

Thank you to everyone for everything. May we see each other soon!

Cultural notes, part 3

I've had two very interesting intercambios this week. These conversational exchanges allow two students to get together, one to practice Spanish and one to practice English, and learn about each other's cultures and travels. On Tuesday, I met Jennifer, a student studying both tourism and special education. She volunteers at a school with a group of Down's syndrome students. As a tourism student, she has seen a lot of places throughout the country. One place she is particularly fond of is Zarcero, a small town about an hour and a half northwest of San José. Though well-known for its local cheese (queso palmito) it is by far most famous for its topiary gardens in front of the town church. Juan is another English student at Intercultura who's seen a lot of places in Costa Rica. When he was young, he would travel a lot with his father, who used to be a coffee trader and thus would visit coffee plantations througout the country. Juan recommended the stretch of the Caribbean coast from Cahuita down to the Panamanian border. It's a little difficult to get to, which makes it a place untouched by heavy tourism. Just looking at some of the pictures of the Caribbean coast I can tell the vibe is different from the Pacific side. It's definitely an area I'd like to see the next time I visit Costa Rica.

These days, Juan's father works as a real-estate agent catering to foreign investors. Even in this economy, the real estate figures prominently in the local economy. In the countryside, there are billboards everywhere advertising land and developments for sale. Many expats from around the world come here to retire; among these are Connie and Douglas from Vermont, whom I met while I was in Sámara. There's a fair amount of U.S. investment in Costa Rican real estate; still, the bulk of foreign money comes from Europe. With the local economy relying more and more on tourism and foreign trade, the ability to speak English is no longer a luxury here – it's virtually essential if you want to get a good job.

Although foreign relations are a big part of Costa Rican culture, it's difficult for Costa Ricans to obtain the right to travel abroad. Jennifer especially hopes to visit Spain someday soon to further her studies in special education, as well as visit family in the United States. However, as she explained to me, it takes a lot of time and a lot of money to get a full unrestricted Tico passport. The government's main worry seems to be that its citizens may leave the country for good, so they ask for a lot of documentation – especially financial records – to show that you have a well-established life in Costa Rica. This makes it hard for a lot of students like Jennifer, who don't have solid, full-time streams of income. It's a rather onerous set of restrictions in a country that otherwise prides itself on political freedom and democracy. We in the U.S. may complain about how our freedoms have slowly eroded away since 9/11 (which they have), but relatively speaking we still have it pretty good.

As welcoming and friendly as Costa Ricans are to most foreigners (especially North Americans and Europeans), amistad tica does have its dark side, which Jesús and I talked about this morning. Since Costa Rica prides itself on being the most economically and politically stable country in Central America, many Ticos harbor strong feelings of nationalism and entitlement toward other countries in the region, especially toward their most embattled neighbor, Nicaragua. The border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica has always been a hotbed of contention. Refugees and illegal immigrants from north of the border have been pouring into Costa Rica since civil war in the 1980's rocked Nicaragua's economic and political system to the core. Many Ticos can be quick to blame Nicaraguans for anything that ills Costa Rica. Even Norma, my mamá tica in Sámara, once told me outright that almost all crimes and killings we see on the news are committed by Nicaraguans and Colombians. I naturally took what she told me with a huge grain of salt. Like the prejudice many Americans have toward Mexicans, this is a sentiment that likely won't go away anytime soon.

Back in town

It's back to city life for my last week in Costa Rica. Gone are the pleasant breezes, calming waves and empty streets of Sámara; and in their place are the noisy buses, bustling shops, jam-packed avenues and diesel fumes of Heredia. It's drier in Heredia than it was three weeks ago. The afternoon rains are either lighter or non-existent as Costa Rica transitions from its wet season to its dry season. The mornings are warmer but the evenings seem cooler, though I don't know if that's due to me getting accustomed to Sámara or to an actual lack of humidity. As much as I loved Sámara and its enchanting beauty, it was nice to return to the milder temperatures and find-anything-you-need convenience of Heredia – not to mention Zeneida's cooking and the freedom from bugs bigger than my thumb. I've been at the very least a high-density suburbanite (and at the most a wannabe city dweller) ever since my days in college, and I'll probably be that way until I at least start a family.

For my final week of class, I'm taking Advanced 4 with Jesús, the substitute who covered for Silvia the first Wednesday I was here. He's a lively character and, as you may remember, spoke a bit faster than Silvia. I don't know if he's speaking slower or if my listening comprehension has improved, because I can understand him a lot better than I did three weeks ago. We are studying the really hardcore Spanish tenses this week – the compound subjunctive and conditional, which are used to express things like, "The party would've been more fun if you'd invited more people." There were a couple of familiar faces – Tara from Ohio, Emily from San Francisco and Alison from Oregon – as well as a lot of new students as well. Melissa is here from Arizona and she's the model image of a globetrotting ecotraveler – travels light and casual with Mac Airbook in hand. She loves to talk about outdoor adventures and is itching to go straight into the rainforest and make her way to Sámara next week. Of course, Silvia was here and it was fun to catch up with her. She's a supremely busy Tica who spends her afternoons at the university, studying for her Master's in teaching Spanish as a second language.

This afternoon I went to La Paz Waterfall Gardens with Mireilla and Nanda, two new students from Holland. La Paz is a beautifully tended section of the rainforest with bird, monkey and butterfly exhibits – and of course some spectacular waterfalls. It was an interesting place to visit, although after getting down and dirty for two weeks in the more remote parts of Costa Rica, it was a bit of a letdown to see this "sanitized" version of Tico country with metal stairs, stone-tiled walking paths and wooden balconies overlooking the waterfalls. I would've enjoyed it more if I'd gone there my first week, but it still afforded me the opportunity to see some of the animals I didn't encounter during my more adventurous trips.

Chasing waterfalls

Friday was my last morning in Sámara. I hugged Norma goodbye and hopped into a taxi to Intercultura with my luggage. She was a wonderful hostess and although her means were modest and her wit a bit caustic at times, she was always friendly and did what she could to make my stay as comfortable as an 80-degree night without air conditioning could be. She reminds me a bit of my Aunt Helen (except for the part about modest means).


In class, my profesora María and I went over my short homework exercise on the imperfect subjunctive. The day before, we'd watched El crimen del padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro) about a young, newly ordained priest who falls in love with a beautiful young village girl. Thankfully, María turned on the Spanish subtitles so I could at least read what they were saying. On my last day of Advanced 2, I wrote my final composition, a commentary on the state of crime and violence in modern society. María said I was ready to skip another level and move directly to Advanced 4. I gave her and Virginia, my profesora from last week, goodbye hugs and thanked everyone I'd met for their wonderful hospitality. I was a little sad to leave such a beautiful place, but I somehow had the feeling I'd be back again someday.



Six of us hopped on a tour van at 2 o'clock that afternoon, bound for Rincón de la Vieja National Park: me, Cathy, Patrick with his mom and sister from Holland, and a Swiss student named Connie. It was Cathy's last day in Sámara, too. She didn't think she could make the trip since her flight out of Liberia back to New York left at 2 o'clock on Sunday, but when she saw how close the park was to the airport (an hour and change), she was definitely in. I was glad she was able to go, since we'd been like brother and sister – partners in crime for the past week and a half. Plus she hadn't been able to take a real honest-to-goodness ecotrip during her two weeks in Costa Rica, so it was great to see her finally get the chance.

We went up the hill to Rincón de la Vieja traveling over the requisite strip of rocky dirt (or was it dirty rocks?) serving as a road. Unlike Monteverde, Rincón is less visited and much less touristy. We arrived at Rinconcito Lodge around 6 that evening and we were the only guests there. The lodge made plenty of excellent food during our stay, including steak, chicken and fish with the requisite gallo pinto at breakfast and garlic mashed potatoes at dinner. Rinconcito has its own tour guides and horses so it can tailor a variety of tour packages for its visitors.

Saturday morning we got right on the horses and rode up to the modest ziplines. There are fewer ziplines than at Monteverde Extremo, and there are no rappeling lines or tarzan swings. Cathy, Patrick's mother and his sister were ziplining for the first time. These were slower ziplines than at Mondeverde, so we had opportunities to do tricks like free-spinning and Superman. The three of them were a little afraid at the start but got the hang of it quickly. Our tour guide Walter was a friendly, how's-it-hangin' sort of guy with Rastafarian hair. He taught us a few tiquismos such as "¡Tuanis, mae!" ("Cool, man!") and "Manuela" (a euphemism for self-gratification).


Afterward, Walter left us with our other tour guide, José, and it was back on the horses and off to the park. Rincón de la Vieja is an active volcano that last erupted in 1998, so the park encompasses hot springs that, unlike Baldi, are untouched with no spa resort built around them. We got off our horses and hiked through the forest about a kilometer and a half to one of the hot springs. Connie, Cathy and I sauntered into the water, while Patrick and his sister Chantal opted out. (Patrick's mom had decided to go back to the lodge after ziplining.) The water was warm and relaxing, effusing the distinct smell of volcanic sulfur. This place was really in the middle of nowhere, and it was a relief to get away from all the tourists and do a little trekking off the beaten path. We didn't encounter anybody else until we got back to the park entrance where our horses were waiting. It was a real down-and-dirty hike with puddles, fresh mud and rivers to trudge across. We all just grinned and bore it, getting our shoes wet as we waded calf-deep through the rivers – except for Connie. She was really averse to the current and rode on José's back every time we crossed a river. It was funny to watch. José spent a lot of time joking that he was in love with Connie, which we all got a kick out of.



We rode our horses out of the park and out to a trail leading to a waterfall. It was about a half kilometer hike down. The water was cold, and it was a refreshing way to cool off after a long hike. Again it was just Connie, Cathy and I in the water – which was ironic considering how afraid Connie was of crossing those several rivers. After that we headed on back to the lodge. By this time our horses, much active than the ones we rode in Sámara, were itching to do some serious running. José's horse at one point sprinted for what seemed like a mile despite everything he tried to get him to stop. And of course, when one horse sprints, the rest want to do the same. Connie and Patrick had two of the fastest so they were praying for their horses to slow down. I'd figured out pretty early on how to position my weight during their gallops, so I was enjoying the brisk pace.


On Sunday morning we all hugged Cathy goodbye as she jetted off to Liberia International Airport. Connie and I went hiking with Walter to a small 10-foot waterfall which was just as cold as the other one. We left the others behind, as they'd brought only one set of clothes and those were already pretty dirty. But one of the dogs that lived at the lodge came with us. This little guy was a trooper, hiking with us three kilometers out and back. But there was one river he couldn't cross on the way back (although I can't figure out how he got across on the way out). So I had to rescue him, which of course wasn't possible without stepping in the river and getting my shoes all wet again. Ah well, all in the name of pura vida.



After lunch, we all hopped on the van back. I got off in Liberia, said my goodbyes to my friends (who were returning to Sámara) and hopped on the bus to San José. Since this bus originated in Liberia, I got an assigned seat and didn't have to stand like I did going to Sámara. The bus route, operated by Pulmitan de Liberia, traverses about 200 kilometers over the Pan-American Highway, which until just about 20 kilometers outside of San José is an unmarked two-lane road traversing the countryside. The fare was unbelievably cheap – 2,900 colones ($5.80). The bus route goes over the mountains and into the clouds for the second half of the trip. The landscape is quite spectacular through the higher altitudes though it was impossible to take a picture amidst the dark clouds, rain and fog. With all the bus routes traversing the country, it's pretty easy to get to most places without a car. Just travel light!

I hopped off the bus at Juan Santamaría International Airport and took a taxi to Heredia. I got there around 6:30 in the evening, and Zeneida was waiting with open arms ready to cook dinner for me. She gave me the downstairs bedroom this time since Ellie and Ken had already moved out. It's much quieter than the upstairs room next to all the college students, although it doesn't have the nice view. It's smack in the middle of the house, but it isn't hot like I'd feared. Strangely, it feels like I'm coming home after a long vacation. It's hard to believe that next weekend, I really will be going home.