Costa RIca

It’s been about a month since I left for Costa Rica upon my return several people asked me to tell them about it. It’s hard when describing something in which there were so many events, places, and goings-ons that happened. I decided that in honor of the 10 days that I spent there I would make a top ten list of the things that I love about Costa Rica. I know I have been writing a lot of lists lately but hang in there, I will get back to narrative one of these days.

1. The Embrace of Their National Love of Mayo

I love the way that Costa Ricans love mayo! In America, people who love mayonnaise are considered lowbrow, or poorly educated, or morbidly obese. Saying that you love mayo is akin to admitting you like Miley Cyrus “music”, or you shop at Wal-mart, or you enjoy watching American Gladiators. However, the Ticos love them some mayo. They use it like elementary school kids use ketchup. It’s everywhere! Most restaurants have it sitting on the table with the ketchup in the yellow bottle (no mustard to be found). I may have gotten terribly sick from the room temperature mayo that I consumed in great quantities, but it was well worth it. It’s not even cruddy lite mayo; no…it’s perfectly full-fat, full-fun mayo!!! Catherine and I ate our way through Costa Rica and you can bet your bottom dollar that I ate my way through Costa Rica with a side of mayo!

Mayo Love! And a rather large picture of a bull.

2. Cane Sugar Coca-Cola

The newest love of my life is the Coca-Cola made with cane sugar and not the disturbingly artificial high fructose corn syrup. I don’t know which was more wonderful the thick glass bottles with the worn down ridges or the fizzy deliciousness of high levels of caffeine and more obscene levels of pure sugar. I think that a liter of this soda is more of the daily-recommended sugar consumption…I’m pretty sure I had at least two a day. I’m not sure what effect that much sugar had on me was but I do know that sipping that sweet nectar of life made everything more delightful. No matter what we were doing or where we were going if there was a Coke around I probably would get one for the road. There’s something that’s so fantastic about the smoothness of the sugar cane, there’s not a hard after-burn like Coke products in the United States. It’s like a million little bubbles rolling around your taste buds and each one is saying, “Ahhh!”

Sweet nectar of life.

3. Dads and Kids

I think that dads all over the world care about their kids. However, the Tico dads that I saw were so very loving and would go out of their way to show it to their kiddos. I saw more dads and kids holding hands, walking linked together, playing in the parques, and sitting and enjoying each other’s company than anywhere else I’ve ever been. It was nice to see the outward affection being shown over and over and over. Sometimes, I think that dads in the U.S. either lack the time or feel it is not macho to show how much they care about their families. It is so frustrating to see my students eagerly awaiting even the tiniest bit of outward affection from their parents and not getting it. Ticos seem to be a fairly expressive society and they are touchy-feely in their greetings, their time together, and their goodbyes. I think that it would be nice to grow up in a place where the men are secure enough to show their soft spots.

4. The Tour-Guides

It’s an amazing thing to watch people talk about what they love. The tour guides in Costa Rica love the things they are talking about. I am sure there are a few less than enthusiastic tour guides in Costa Rica but for the most part the ones that we encountered were absolutely fascinating. Their passion about crowned tree frogs, the smallest orchid in the world, or the native scorpion population made me want to become more passionate about the things I love.

Of all the tour guides we had, the one that I had the biggest crush on was the one that the Ranario (Frog Pond) in Monteverde. He was all nerd armed with coke-bottle glasses, a headlamp, frog sounds, semi-inappropriate jokes about amphibian sexuality, and the worst/best puns I’ve ever heard. He was simply hilarious because he didn’t know he was hilarious. I enjoyed everything he had to say about the frogs and toads. Not only because it was informative but also because he would make up things and sound completely convincing…a skill that I admire and practice from time to time. At every frog display he would try to get the frogs to croak back to him. Each time they wouldn’t croak back. Each time he would say that he didn’t have the right accent. He repeated that joke about 25 times and every time I guffawed. Of all the things that we saw in the cloud forest area it was one of my favorites!

The crowned tree frog that the L of my L was enamored with.

5. The Food

Costa Rican food is not spicy or extremely flavorful but it is delicious. It doesn’t have a lot of variety but what it does, it does well. I particularly enjoyed the chicken and rice with a batido (fruit smoothie). Catherine preferred the casados, which are like the lunch daily specials, they usually had a piece of chicken, pinto gallo, fried bananas, salad with vinaigrette, and then something special like yucca, spaghetti, or fruit. Mix anything from a Soda (lunch counter) with a Coca-Cola and I was a happy camper.

Another thing that Costa Rica has in abundance is ice cream shops. They have all sorts of flavors and psychedelic colors. They don’t hesitate to use food coloring that is for sure. What’s interesting is the different types of flavors, everything from prickly pear to “Winston Churchill”…every scoop is an taste adventure!

This shaved ice man gave us a taste adventure...not necessarily a good one though.

6. The Sound Of The Rain In The Rain Forest

In Costa the amount of green is almost overwhelming. There is green on every scale imaginable from the hills covered in emerald to the tiniest moss coating all the surfaces both vertical and horizontal. Walking through the forest is dizzying because all you can see in any direction is varying shades of green. For those of you who think that rain forests are filled with plants and animals of every color that is somewhat inaccurate. There are some blooms and some animals but for the most part it is just green, green, green. I don’t have the vocabulary to describe what it is like to see nothing but green but what is even more impressive then the sheer amount of plant growth is the sound of rain on that many leaves. I love the sound of the water drops hitting broad leaves...times that by a million and it sounds like a continuous bout of thunder that ebbs and flows as the shower passes. I tried to capture this on video but failed miserable because the sound is so much more tremendous that can be captured on a recording device.

7. The Central Valley

There a hundred of places to visit in Costa Rica. Most people will tell you exactly where you should go without a moment’s hesitation. I agree that people should go to the “typical” tourist destinations but I think most people make the mistake of overlooking the central valley. We stayed mostly in the central valley and I am so glad that we did. It has so much to offer but not in the tourist centric way. It is a little slower, a little more rural, a little understated. It is basically where the working people live and play…Costa Rica’s agricultural backbone. It is lovely with the patchwork fields of different crops, living fences, cows in the road, local markets, the quaint feel of a simple life. This is how living off the land should be done; the smell of dirt, rolled up shirtsleeves, weathered old faces, and a peace that comes with working hard. We spent about four days there at the end of our trip, we could have spend another forty exploring all the little known gems that sparkle upon closer inspection.

The local butcher.

The patchwork fields.

8. How Ridiculously Nice Everyone Is

People in Costa Rica are ridiculously nice! I expect that people who are in the tourism business would be nice but even people who had nothing to gain by being nice were nice. Everyone was genuinely interested in how we were, where we were from, and how we were enjoying our stay. The food services people, the taxi drivers, the tour guides, the hotel people were thoughtful and engaging but even people on the streets would smile and say hello. The one exception to this is bus drivers, but they have a hard job so I don’t blame them for being a little cranky, especially when two girls cannot seem to understand why a particular bus doesn’t go to where they thought it did. However, the people on the buses would always tell us to get off if we were about to miss our stop.

9. Café Delicias

In Alajuela, there is an amazing little café called Café Delicias. It is wonderful! They have salads, sandwiches, pasta, comida tipico, pasteries, coffee, batidos, and the best of all coffee frappes! After discovering this fantastic café we went every night we were in Alajuela. I am still dreaming of the whipping cream, it was like whipped frosting with a hint of awesome. The people watching was amazing and the staff watching was even better. The people who worked there were funny, animated, and a little clumsy, which makes for many hours of entertainment.

Even the chairs are cute here!

These were amazing!

10. The Parque Central

Of all the things I loved in Costa Rica, numero uno is the way that people enjoy the central parks. In every little city there is at least one central park. Most of them are adjacent to a beautiful church and have a ice cream shop in the near vicinity. It's really not the park itself but rather the way the parks are used throughout the day...it's almost like the rythm of the city can be felt in the park. In the early mornings there are little old men with their newpapers and canes. In the middle of the day there are business people eating lunch and sharing a laugh. In mid-afternoon the high school students walk through arm in arm. In the early evening, the parents and young children come to play and enjoy the out of doors. In the evening there are events and gatherings around performers and music. After dark is when the young adults come to make out on the cement benches. We decided that the national past time of Costa Rica is sucking face because no matter where you look someone is doing it.

The central park that we most frequently visited was the Alajuela Parque Central. Here is a short list of some of the things we saw at the parques:

-A revival lead by a Christian rapper

-A television news crew filming a story

-A spring festival with traditional dances

-The world's largest ox yoke (the world's largest ox cart was being fixed on the day we visited)

-A compilation of the best Broadway musicals being performed by children

-A reenactment of the proclamation of statehood.

-A craft fair complete with churro maker

-A very drunk man giving his best rendition of MacBeth in spanglish

-A mutant squirrel showering me in mango bits

-The filling of a very large water fountain

-A shaved ice maker who added malted milk and sweetened condensed milk to the tutti-fruitti flavors...a taste explosion.

-Hundreds of couples participating in the national past time

It was refreshing to see people simply enjoying each others company. I think the problems in America can be attributed that there is not a strong sense of community. I don't know my next door neighbors let alone the other people who live on the next block. I think that a too hectic lifestyle and television are destroying how connected people feel to those around them and to their community. It's a shame that people here don't just sit and talk for the sake of sitting and talking. I rather enjoy kabitzing about nothing and the spectacular people watching that the parks provide.

A dance celebrating spring.

Love blooming in the park. The concrete benches are essential to the sitting and watching.