One Month

I’ve been in Costa Rica now for a little over one month, and I cannot believe how much adventure and travel has been packed into these first few weeks.

Every weekend in January I traveled along with other American students from the same university to a different part of the country. First, we went to two beautiful beaches: Tamarindo, on the northern Pacific side, and Porto Viejo, in the South of the Caribbean side. The following weekend we visited Volcan Poas (where we were lucky enough to be able to see the actual greenish volcano crater, which is often obscured by clouds), walked through a nature reserve filled with everything from exotic frogs to hummingbirds, and went white water rafting. The final weekend I went to Monteverde, where we walked to a waterfall, went down waterslides in some (artificial) hot springs, and went zip lining through the rainforest.

Two Sundays ago was Election Day in Costa Rica and I went along with one of my classes to drive around the country, see several voting booths, and generally get a feel for what this day was all about. If I had to summarize it in one word I would say “festival!” Everyone was waving flags of their candidate’s colors, honking their horns at each other, laughing and shouting with fellow supporters and opponents alike, and driving through town in random parades support for of the same candidate. The thing that struck me the most was how involved the children were in this entire process. Kids as young as four or five were out wearing t-shirts, helping out in the poll booths, and waving around mini flags. Costa Rica seems to take their right to vote seriously and moreover handle it with both pride and joy. It was wonderful to be a part of this day.

This past weekend was the first time I had a chance to travel on my own, so a friend and I went to Jaco a beach well known for its surfing. We stayed in a hostel with brightly colored hammocks and a huge painting of Bob Marley near the entrance. It was the first time I’d stayed in a hostel and I loved the random collisions of backgrounds and stories that went on there. In our hostel room, we got two top bunks and fell asleep before anyone else Saturday night so that when we awoke on Sunday there were four random guys sleeping in the same room. One from Colorado, one Tico, a Brit, and a very old man with white hair from Sweden.

So far my travels have taught me a lot about Costa Rica. I love the country for preserving its natural resources and beauty so well. Somewhere between 25-30% (I’ve heard both from guides and professors) of the land is protected by law, which means that driving through the country is always an absolutely stunningly beautiful experience. I also adore the Costa Rican “Pura Vida” lifestyle which is kind of like “the good life.” It is embodied by a story my Tico dad told us over dinner the other night. His grandma told him that there are always always always problems in life, but not to worry about them. Just take out a piece of paper, write down all your problems, and put it away for a month or two. When you come back, you will realize that either you were able to work through the problems, the problems worked themselves out, or the problem is still a problem but you’ve been living through it just fine. Also it is embodied in a statue they have of one of their great heroes that stand prominently in the center of one town’s square. The statue has the face of the French sculptor’s apprentice and is wearing a French army uniform instead of the Costa Rican one, but still the statue stands. The guide said something like “Other countries might get mad about this but we Costa Ricans, it doesn’t bother us.”

So far from my study abroad experience I’ve gained so much more tolerance for uncertainty and not knowing what is going on at any given moment. You have to kind of surrender yourself to the beauty of having no idea what this lump of brown stuff is on your plate but just plopping it in your mouth anyway. Also I’ve gained many good friends from across the US who I got to know on the excursions but I have to say one of my goals for the coming months would be to get to know more locals and practice some more Spanish.

Until next month!

Pura Vida. J