Medley of Musings

My Host Family
My host family here inclusive of the daughters of my host mother and father, and their daughters’ kids have welcomed me in since the moment I stepped foot in San Ramon. They are so wonderful, so warm, and always happy to see me, asking for me when I’m not around. They tell me I always have a place to come in Costa Rica. I attended a the wedding of a Tica sister a few weeks ago, I´ve met nearly every family member, my host sister gives me manicures whenever she can (for free!), the young kids all hug me and kiss me on the cheek when they see me, I converse with my host mother for hours on end and she tells me deeply personal stories...

My host mother said to me that the experience of having me in the house has been “muy linda” and it’s an experience she will never forget. And she tells me she will cry when I leave. As she says this, she starts to cry. This is the second or third time she’s said this to me, and followed it up with tears. The first time she cried was only 1 week after I arrived, a phenomenally brief time. It is truly remarkable to have someone tell you this when you’ve only known him/her for 2 months. And I cherish that she tells me these things. And my host mother tells me she’ll always be waiting for me to come back some day to visit.

Puerto Viejo Beach, Carribean Side of Costa Rica



There's something very different about this beach. The word I could think of was that its very forgiving. Waves are forgiving, mild as they come into land, softened as they pass through the corral reef that hug the beach side. As they come in, they seem almost like fingers playing across the entire span of the piano in rippling form, graceful smooth and without pause or uncertainty; like a level of confidence that everything in the world is okay and safe. The feeling of the beach was very kind of lazy and sleepy and not overly touristy but still had some tourists. There are a lot of people of African descent on this Carribean side beach. There is also a bit of a Jamaican feel to the atmosphere.

I had my first try at rice with chicken and coconut. Very tasty.

We went to a breakfast place twice called Bread and Chocolate which was very western but the food was all natural and a lot of their ingredients were home made. They played jazz music, so when I was there, for a moment I felt as if I was back in the states having brunch in northern virginia, except at a beachy setting.

Reggae and reggaeton music are very prevalent here. I really like reggae and reggaeton music, its great to dance and move and sway to. Its got a very kind of liberating, tranquil sort of lazy appeal while also being spunky with an attitude and edge. It makes you feel like there is a rhythym at the very heart of yourself that kind of just erupts in the form of head bobs and hip moves and light steps in dance with your arms halfway up in the air, and you sway your hips and you can feel the music.

Puerto Viejo was beautiful cobalt blue again as well, but the beach side coast side was more like curvy and then close to the curves often times were the corral reef hugging the coast, and deep nooks that you could swim in. Also it was more easy to float in the water here without much effort in treading water.

Bocas del Toro, Panama

I went to Bocas del Toro for two reasons:
1. I needed to leave the country for 72 hours and re-enter with a renewed Visa. Tourist Visas are valid for just 90 days and mine was to expire shortly.
2. I have been planning to go to Bocas del Toro since January.

That said, my main takeaway from this archipelago in Panama: Disappointing. I don´t even feel inclined to describe it, but my experience was that it took very long to get there (see below), it was inconvenient to get around, locals trying to make money follow you around to offer a ride to whatever part of the archipelago, and the beaches pale in comparison to some I´ve seen.

Bus from San Ramon to San Jose – 1 hour
Bus from San Jose to Sixaola – 6 hours
Cross Border to Panama – half hour
Taxi from Border to coast just past city of Changinola – 1 hour
Water Taxi from coast to Isla Colon in Bocas del Toro – half hour
Total Travel Time = 9 hours

General Observations on Travelling in Costa Rica and Neighboring Places

With the high unpredictability, some level of spontaneity, lower level of organization of transit, the ad hoc nature of traveling here, I’ve found that the only way to go is to take it in stride. In the US, if a bus/train/plane is late, or stops mid-way during a trip, likely passengers get frustrated, get on their cell phones to alert affected parties, and they look up and around to assess the delay. Here in Costa Rica and perhaps other parts of Latin America (and I would guess many other countries in the world), it is understood and almost expected that things happen. Bus drivers sometimes stop for apparently no reason, until you see a muchacho come up onto the bus to sell local strawberries, or the bus driver pulls over and his little kids hop on the bus to greet him for a minute, give him a hug, and then leave. And the bus sometimes stops to pick up people waiting at miscellaneous points en route to your destination. Because it’s harder to access information in the country and it’s not always as organized and planned out, and different representatives tell you different information sometimes, it is more difficult to plan trips definitively beyond just departure and return dates (if even that). So you are inevitably faced with potential stresses, such as you may not get to the border by the time it closes for the day; or you may miss the connecting bus; or you may miss the last water taxi which is at 6pm; or hostels could be sold out during Holy Week; or banks may not accept your debit card; and even if they do, they may be out of cash and meanwhile many restaurants don’t accept credit card so you’re kind of in a situation if you don’t carry enough cash on trips but you never want to carry too much cash on trips through Central America. Or you show up in Panama to find out that it’s National Election Day and many places are closed or are not serving alcohol. Or the schedule you found online doesn’t match the actual schedule of buses. Or your bus is winding through curved roads in the Central Valley and thinking to yourself how shitty it would be if the bus toppled down the side of the mountain. Or the trip takes longer than expected because the bus is stopped two times along the way so that police can check all passports. Or you cross the bridge at a Panama border that has aged wooden planks with loose screws, and big gaps, and you’ve already heard that someone once died five years ago while crossing the bridge. And so through all this, all you can really do is take it in stride and have confidence and trust that what will pass will pass, and you deal with it as it comes.

Some fellow American (I think she was from California) started crying on the bus in front of everyone because someone took her seat after we all got off to have our passports checked. The person apparently wouldn’t let her take it back, so she flipped out I guess because she just wanted to sit next to her husband. She then sat in another seat and continued to cry and gasp for air, and then turned back to the people and said, “You might think I’m crazy, but your system is fucked up. You’re the ones that are crazy.” I felt really bad for her because also she and her husband were the first to arrive to get seats on the bus but a handful of other people who arrived later cut in line and got on the bus first. I asked her twice if she wanted me to say anything because she was clearly annoyed and continued to comment while we waited to start boarding. She said it wasn’t worth it. I went ahead and did it anyway, as it was a small group of girls around my age from Canada who seemed to think they could do whatever they wanted. So I poked one girl and said to her and her group “Some people [motioning to the California lady and her husband] have been waiting here longer than you all have”. The one girl started “Yeah, well-” and apparently couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to retort on account of being called out in public. Then this California lady must’ve gotten some confidence from me because she then declared to her smartly, “Oh I get it, you’re beautiful so you can get on first” (I guess she said this because one of the girls that cut in line was skinny and blonde). I subsequently patted California’s shoulder and said, “Ok, that one was unnecessary.” And she understood and I suppose attempted to ameliorate her comment by calling after them (after they already mounted the bus anyways), “That was just sarcasm.” But I don’t think they heard or cared.

So the key things for traveling in Costa Rica (and likely all of Central America): expect that your schedule may change, be flexible, be patient, accept that rules we generally accept as understood don’t apply here, pack light, bring: tissues (in case public toilets don’t have any), hand sanitizer, a flash light and/or a candle (power outages happen; and in shared hostels you sometimes need to respect others already sleeping). For the most part, tap water is potable in Costa Rica but apparently in Bocas del Toro it is not potable on account of being an archipelago.

Teaching English

I started my new volunteer project a couple weeks ago. The class is taught by a Tico and so my role is to assist with pronounciation, correct mistakes I hear or see, assist when the teacher doesn´t know something, and also help run class. The class consists of 20 some students who have been studying English for several months already and are technically intermediate level. Most of these students have been studying English for at least 6 months, and yet I’ve noticed they don’t speak very well at all. Only the ones that have spent some time living in the US are better at speaking. So I suggested to the teacher that we spend more time conversing. He gives the students assignments that involve a dialogue that is presented in front of the whole class, but I suggested that they should not prepare their dialogue in writing first because then they can get away with reading what they wrote.

So, I suggested we split the time, devoting half to grammar and the second half to pure conversation and speaking. The other day I led the second half. The lesson focused on "if clauses"; phrases like: “If I could ______, I would ______”.

We did an exercise where I asked them hypothetical questions and selected different people to answer. They included:
1. If you saw someone stealing at the grocery store, what would you do?
2. If you had one more day to live, what would you do that day?
3. If you had to live on an island with nothing but you could bring 3 things with you, what would they be?
4. Complete the sentence: “If I could change one thing about myself, _______.”

I’ve also offered that one or two times a week students who are interested can meet me for an hour or two to converse and practice in English. Some of them seemed to already express interest, so I provided a sign-up sheet for them. Next week I will see who signed up and pick a time and place in the center of town where we can meet.

Random Thoughts

The Evil Eye
I’ve noticed something, which my friends and I like to laugh about. Though most of the time you see locals greet each other, kiss, hug, smile, laugh, talk ... every so often you encounter a different class of locals. Costa Ricans (usually when standing alone at a bus stop or waiting for something) look angry. We don’t know why. If you looked at some men or women standing waiting for a bus, no joke – they look as if they’re ready to kill someone. Heads tilted slightly down with eyes big and slanted upward and staring, crinkles in the forehead; lips pursed downward. I think it’s just habit/culture, so it’s not really scary. Just funny, really.

Music in Costa Rica
In case you are curious, one of the more famous Reggaeton groups (which some people in the US may know) is Wisn y Yandel. I will bring back a few songs of this genre back when I return to the States if you’re interested in hearing any!

Also for some reason, 80s music is really, really popular. Think Madonna, Jon Secada, and I can’t think of any others right now because I’m not a huge 80s fan. (Kari, you can help me out here)

Otherwise, salsa, meringue, cumbia are very popular as well and somehow most Ticos seem to know how to dance all three types as easily as they can breathe. Meanwhile I can’t tell the difference between any of them when I watch people dance. (Joe, do you remember when we took salsa lessons at CMU?!?)

On the Chinese fascination:
-A guy who I’ve never seen before passes by our house to look for someone and says “Hey! You look like you’re from China!”
- A man in a corner grocery who I’ve never seen before says to me (as I’m standing next to my host mom while she pays for a loaf of bread), “Hey! You look like you’re from China!”
-Old man in San Jose walking his dog in front of the National Theater: “China, right? Don’t eat my dog! No, no.” (wagging a finger at me). This is the second dog comment I have received. He came back about 15 minutes later again and said something so my friend and I asked him to stop bothering us.
-Random people in the street trying to get my attention say, “Eh...Chinita…”

Quotes:

Dona Ada: (on heavily buttered toasted white bread): “It’s really healthy; It’s good for your colon.”
Where did she learn this? If she heard this from a doctor in San Ramon, I have to ask, is there really such a disparity in the medical knowledge in the US from here in Costa Rica? Isn´t the base curriculum the same around the world? And if she did not learn it from a doctor, where did she get this from? That is like if I were to say that French Fries are good for the heart.

I find myself sometimes surprised at the types of questions that Ticos ask me. I had one person recently ask me "Are there a lot of trees in the US?" Someone also asked me if I could sell my return flight ticket to someone else if I decided I didn´t need it anymore. I explained how dangerous that would be if it were permitted, and that more importantly regulations were tightened after September 11th.

These types of questions bring us to the difference between people who have the opportunity (money, time, access, support from family and friends, etc) to be educated and to travel (such as myself). Most Costa Ricans have never travelled out of the country, let alone been on an airplane. Though we all are aware of the gap in knowledge across the world, my experience here has made that gap more tangible.


© Copyright Stephanie Lin Wu



Some Pictures