First Stop: Nine Days in Costa Rica

To capture this trip in its entirety, I will go back in my diary and transcribe it from the beginning.  For starters let me thank my dearest Mother for helping me with everything from host-family gifts to anti-malarial medications and the almost impenetrable paperwork needed to study abroad.  Ma, you have made this pilgrimage possible, smooth, and enjoyable.

On August 12^th my whole family packed me off well before sunrise on a plane to El Salvador.  There I caught my connection to San Jose, Costa Rica where our family-friend Javier Yglesias was waiting to pick me up.  Javier lives on a farm (la finca) in a small town named Turrucares thirty minutes outside of San Jose.  The surrounding green mountains and the view all the way down to the Pacific allow space for clear thought in Turrucares.

Javier took me and his five-year-old Mateo to a private wildlife park during my first few days.  The park is situated between coffee and strawberry plantations on the shoulder of the Poas volcano.  We marveled at the spectacular collection of rainforest fauna: huge hummingbirds, vibrant macaws, butterflies, snakes, monkeys, ocelots, and jaguar.  Equally impressive were the three waterfalls (cataratas) ranging from 85 to 130 feet.  With that experience and my own jungle to explore on Javier’s property, I did not feel the need for the typical Costa Rican canopy tour.

The next three days were very different.  I went to live in the center of San Jose with Javier’s brother Joaquin and Joaquin’s wife Valeza.  Joaquin took me to the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Museum to get a taste of pre-Colombian history, and the National Theater for a concert of Latin American renaissance music.  Absent from that description is the extreme poverty that exists in San Jose.  As in many other urban centers, San Jose has some rough territory.  Two of the most classic Costa Rican slang phrases I picked up there are “mae” and “pura vida.”  “Mae” is used at any point in a sentence to mean “dude” or “man.”  “Pura vida” is a flexible phrase used as a general greeting as well as a show of thanks, agreement, or enjoyment.

Soon I was acquainted with “plátanos maduros.”  These plantains are matured to sweetness and sliced down the middle to form a boat for the deposition of good things such as sugar, butter, milk, and cheese.  After a couple minutes in the oven to melt the goodness, you throw on natilla: a sweet cream typical of Costa Rican cooking.  The plátano maduro by Javier’s mother Doña Orietta definitely stole my heart.

“Back at the ranch,” Javier and I took a ride on horseback through his expansive property.  The mud, insects, and constant downpour (aguacero) made the ride through the rainforest all the more real.  We also did a little round-up action of young horses and he took me up to a bluff from which we could see the Pacific through the mist.  By that time we were more than ready for an Imperial, a popular beer of CR.

My last days were spent enjoying Javier’s family as much as possible.  I met his brother Juan’s children and Doña Orietta made us a feast of real Italian pizza and lemon pie.  My last morning there broke beautifully when we woke up to make the airport run.  Doña Orietta figured that a plátano maduro would be the right thing to fortify me against the winding lines and proud officialdom of the airport.  Thus, I was sent off by the loving family.  Pura vida Costa Rica!