Return Culture Shock

 1- Small talk with strangers happens in ENGLISH in this country. I am struggling to put together sentences after 6 weeks of speaking as much spanish with as many people as possible.

2. Toilet paper is flushed down the toilet. I am not sure how long it will take for that to be natural again, but every bathroom I have been to in this country, I have been LOOKING for the trash can for toilet paper.

3. SO MANY PEOPLE!!! I understand I am in JFK, one of the busiest airports in America, but it's 5:30 AM, I have not slept a wink and I need to leave the secure area of the airport with ALL my luggage just to go BACK through security with ALL the other New Yorkers who are awake and at the airport at 5:30 AM to go wherever they are headed! I should have stayed in Costa Rica until Monday, much less crowded then. I thought Manuel Antonio was crowded. Phew, it was NOTHING compared to this!

4. Pura Vida is GONE. In Costa Rica, I had very few responsibilities. Now I am staring down the barrel of ALL the work I need to do to leave one school and start at another. Also, I have been catching up on what has been happening outside of Costa Rica (I did watch the news every night over dinner with my host family, but it focused on news of Costa Rica). Um, how many waves of a million different serious diseases are circulating right now? I am masked and wiping EVERY surface I come in contact with. I am hoping this is just travel jitters because the knot in my stomach was GONE for 6 weeks, and I don't really want it back.

5. Stairs are HARD! Most of the buildings and homes I was in in Costa Rica were one story. The only stairs that stand out were the stairs for climbing the mountains in Monteverde (stone stairs so that the path didn't wash away in the rain) and they absolutely killed me. 

6. Remembering that laundry can be done in less than 3 hours if you're motivated. I got to the cousins' house, they offered me the laundry machine, and I thought, "well, I am here for a few more days, so no matter the weather the next few days, the clothes will have time to get dry," and said yes. That's when I remembered machine dryers :)

7. Speaking in ANY language. Someone says thank you, I say "con gusto." Someone hands me something I need, or supplies the word I am trying to say, and I say "gracias." All my "auto pilot" words (the words you say without thinking, the ones your mind has a pavlovian response to, like after someone sneezes, you say the "response" like you're on autopilot.) are in Spanish right now. But also words like after and before are coming out despues and antes. 

8. So in Santo Domingo, EVERY SINGLE HUMAN you crossed paths with said hello in some way. Buenas, Buenas (Dias, Tardes, it was all shortened to Buenas). Yeah, we don't do that here.

9. Light switches are up down here, not side to side. Small thing, but an adjustment I didn't realize I had made when I got there, but here, it is hilariously hard to go back.

10. Costa Rican FOOD! I just want some Casada, but can't find it anywhere! I have typed ALL KINDS of crazy things into google to find a restaurant that has Costa Rican food... (friends, help me out if you know where to find any of the following: Gallapinto, Cas, Casada, good (read healthy) refrescos, banana leaf tamales.) I am getting recipes from my host family, but I am missing the food, BIGTIME.

On the other hand, soaking in a bathtub has been HEAVEN.

Adios Santo Domingo

 I will admit, I am ready to come home for only 1 thing: a bubble bath.

Ok, I am excited to see my family for a few days before leaping into an exciting new job at an exciting new (literally) school.

But there is SO much to miss here. On my día final, I enjoyed my final meals with my amazing host family, my surprise visit to Lapa Verde to see the final graduation of our round of students from Common Ground International (apparently there's a whole new batch of folks coming in next week), and a final stroll around town.

If you are EVER in Santo Domingo, swing by for some of Flory's bread and deserts.
They are NEXT LEVEL!

Lapa Verde (the blue building on the left) was my school every weekday M-F.
There is a beautiful sign, but I would have had to cross the street to take a photo of it
and I limit my crossing of THAT particular street to ONLY when necessary.

There are street names, but addresses rarely use them. Instead, everything is based on landmarks.
Lapa Verde is x meters south of McDonalds. That archway was my EVERYTHING the first
few days as I learned many new streets of Santo Domingo (because I'd made a wrong turn or two on my way to school)

Every colonial head city of Costa Rica seems to be built in the same pattern. The center is a park, with a church or basilica next to it. Then, even streets grow higher the further you get from the park, odds on the other side. And Avenues follow the same the naming patterns, evens on one side, odds on the other.

And in the park itself, a sign telling you where you are and what is important to this area, culturally.

Anyone catch that line about "head city"? Yeah, this whole time, I have been living in Santo Tomas de Santo Domingo de Heredia (in Costa Rica)

The last stop on my goodbye tour of the sites and smells of Santo Domingo was the Bus Stop. Yeah, that white sign that says "Parada de Autobuses", it's a MIRICLE that that even exists. I happen to NOW know that it's where you can pick up a few of the buses that go into San Jose, but there are others and they stop at COMPLETLY random locations around the city. I walk past SEVERAL covered bus stops with a bench on my walk to school, but I have never been in a position to wait for a bus there.
Also, not ALL the buses that stop there are going to San Jose. And the papers in the window of the busses say the names of the first and last cities the bus is going to. But not which direction it's going or where there might be a stop in between. It is not just the extranjeros who ask the driver for confirmation that it this bus is indeed the one they need before they get on.

Costa Rica, you have no military, and all that money goes into healthcare and education and I LOVE that. And hey, centralized public transportation is pretty great, you know?

One last surprise tour!

 So, they say it's a small world, but no, I think it is just a great world where a particular kind of wonderful weird folk attracts that same kind of awesome folks AND THEN they connect each other with those "kindred spirits".

Such was the case a few weeks ago when I got a reply from the ABV Schmooze list to my announcement that I was headed to Costa Rica. At the time, I was looking to explore southern Costa Rica (I eventually decided ONE weekend at home would be kosher (funny because I then spent the weekend cooking a Jewish meal) and this Worker's Circle comrade has a friend in Costa Rica who just so happens to live in Southern Costa Rica.

I got in touch with her friend and guess what, she has an apartment JUST down the street from my host family. We arranged to have breakfast at the Hotel that my host family has been TELLING me to visit, so I can see the garden.

Ok, I get it, I TOTALLY get it, this place isn't a garden, it's it's own botanical garden! Absolutely INCREDIBLE! So here's ONE LAST (maybe) post full of flowers.

Oh, and moving to the saga of me TOTALLY missing what has been in front of me this whole time. Many MANY posts ago, I mentioned going to the zoo and seeing the Lapa Verde. It's a BIRD, I realized. And yes, my Spanish school was named after the bird- Lapa Verde. When I asked the founder, she explained that many folks were upset about the low numbers of the Lapa Rojo, but the Lapa Verde was just as endangered, but not getting the same attention. 

What does this have to do with today? Well, as we were exploring the garden, I asked about what she is doing down in Limon, and she explained that she and her husband have created a wildlife preserve specifically to reintroduce the green macaw to the region. That afternoon, I was sharing what I had learned with my host family and learned that Macaw isn't a spanish word when Dinia understood what I was saying, but Jose Luis didn't. Dinia clarified that I was talking about the Lapa Verde and I nearly fell out of my seat. Sometimes it can be INCREDIBLY difficult for me to learn information that has been staring me in the face ALL SUMMER! Now I know one of the places for the list for when I come back to Costa Rica.

Anyway, on to the flowers :)

LOOK AT THESE!

ALL the amazing COLORS!

There was a look out point, and this was directly below. FULL of butterflies.

GIANT FLOWERING BROMILIAD!! WOW!

I always smiled when I saw these dudes, but when I saw THIS one, I realized it was the perfect example of both ways that the plant presents, and I love them both!

Another tree that is just begging me to sit in it and read!

At every phase, this is just BEAUTIFUL!

Those pink and purple things are PLANTS!

I was SO happy with my camera that day!

Running Spice

 Seriously, WHAT is the "spice" all about in Star Wars?!

Well, this was a spice farm that grows some of the most expensive spices we have on this planet. And I got to take a tour and learn WHY they're so expensive. Seriously, I will not look at Vanilla the same way ever again!

So, where does a spice tour at a farm called Villa Vanilla begin?

Claro que si, with chocolate!

First, our guide opened a cacao fruit and gave us each a bit of the brain like material inside. The "fruit" of the cacao is actually very yummy, it's a lot like Mamon. Very yummy.

Our tour was about all the senses, when we got the go-ahead, we pit into the seed to discover the taste of the bean un altered in any way.

SOOO Yummy!

Of course, not everyone says "yummy" to raw cacao, so they put the beans through a drying...

... and then a cracking process. At this farm, they actually altered a sugar cane processor to help crack the outer shell of the bean. BUT all the actual removal is done by human beings.

And then of course, came the tasting of the nibs. Seriously, I LOVE this stuff!
So SO good and nutty and yummy

And then we took a tour of the Chocolate Trees.

Just kidding, the rest of the tour was of a specifically lined path for us to see trees and plants that are on the farm in one location. It was AMAZING. Sure it was raining so hard I could barely hear myself speak, but everyone on the tour had a very pura vida attitude about it, our guide worked hard to make sure everyone was includes, and when someone missed something, EVERYONE else helped out. I really lucked out with my tour mates for every tour and activity on this trip.

First up, Vanilla. I knew one flower produced one bean, and I vaguely remember knowing that the bee that polinated vanilla went extinct long ago, but I did NOT know that there is only a 7 hour window to polinate a flower and I DEFINITLY did not know that the beans stay on the vine maturing or 9 Months, and then it takes another set of months of alternating sun and sweating for the vanilla bean to be ready to use.

But wow when our guide opened up a bean and showed us what the seeds
and the oil of vanilla is like it was WAY cool.

Next up on the "wait, THAT's how it's grown?!" tour was this gem. See that pretty flower? The bean looking things under it are the spice.

But wait what are those HUGE stalks behind around the plant with the spice? Why woulf they plant something the flower needs to compete with for sunlight? Nope, those stalks are the same plant, and the tiny beans on the spindly vine like thing at the bottom, THOSE are the spice.

So THAT's why cardamom is SO expensive (actually there are a BUNCH of reasons)

Next up was pepper. Now, I am generally not a big fan of pepper, BUT I also don't HATE it, so when offered the chance to pluck a peppercorn and eat it, well, I would totally try that out. I made a video to record my reaction to eating straight peppercorn. And I was fine. About 10 seconds later, I needed to record a second video- MY MOUTH WAS ON FIRE!

Next up, we said hello to a "true cinnamon" tree. The guide had a pre-prepped stick to show us how they remove the first laver of bark to get to the middle layer, the cinnamon slice. Personally, I was blown away by the leaves. One snap of the leaf and I was smelling cinnamon from across the field.

Finally the rain cleared up and we went up to a look out point. I was in SUCH a happy place up there. and then, I FINALLY noticed a card on the tables. IT WAS A MENU! Tasting menu?! Oh, I was ACTUALLY in heaven!

The one with the spoon has cayenne the one without does not. Again, I am not generally a fan of spicy, but I wanted to try it the way it was prepared as the "drink of the gods." I did like the spicy better, but I drank it first so that I could cool my mouth with the SIN cayenne version.

This was my last tour activity of Costa Rica, and it was perfect. From the danish couple who knew EXACTLY what each spice was, but couldn't remember the name to the couple from Oklahoma where the wife was a retired school principal and is now on the board of Americorps for Oklahoma. We had a GREAT time together. And the last group on that tour was a family. Mom, Dad, a 3 year old and a baby The guide explains in English to the rest of us, and in Spanish to the family. When we got to the tasting, I sat at the table with the family, and found out they live in California but Spanish is mom's native language and they are raising the kids bilingually. I mentioned that my folks did the same in Yiddish, and it turns out that Dad is Ashkenazi Jewish. He asks the 3 year old what "this" *points to his nose* and the kid says "shnoz" without missing a beat. He can communicate fully in both English and Spanish, and has some Yinglish slang mixed in. I had a lot of fun eating with this family!

But all things come to an end. One last "am I at the right bus stop, seriously, the bus is supposed to be HOT PINK, how could I miss it, it was supposed to leave at 1, but it's now 1:25, did I miss my bus" panic (no, I didn't miss it, it was just on Tico time) and I was headed back to Santo Domingo for my last set of "lasts" with my host family and time in Costa Rica. How did it do by this quickly?!

Manuel Antonio by Day

 By night, Manuel Antonio was the land of the frogs. And by day there were still A MILLION frogs :)

My wonderful hotel staff drove me right to the park and got me in on a tour right away (no lines for me)

Thank goodness for guides and their scopes!

Heads up, the photos loaded in the reverse order of when the photos were taken, but I am too tired to set them right, so, from last to first:

I was walking alongside a guide as we left the park, practicing my spanish,
 and he pointed out some GREAT things!

My hummingbird love has grown to epic proportions in this country.

He also noticed another guide pointing out this snake to his tour,
so he told me what we were looking at and YES, I should take a photo.

There were a number of Capuchins running around, but I was ready to go back
and get clean! Instead, I ran into this dude.

These guys really do look like fish, but like, the KING of all beasts as well.

I found the hermit crab on my own. He reminded me of home.

Watching the monkeys play around was indeed great entertainment.

Um, bamboo and asparagus- are they in the same family? Because I was POSITIVE that was a ginormous asparagus stalk.

This was the photo I took from the ground with my camera. The rest are through the guide's scope. I had seen other sloths sleeping or scratching, but when this Oso Peresoso climbed down one branch to climb up to another branch to eat, it was EXACTLY as slow and methodical as I had hoped.

I love spiders

Like LOVE spiders!

This is a crab that absolutely belongs on another planet!

I am told there is a baby on it's parent in this photo. If you see it, contact me with WHAT and HOW?

Absolutely majestic!

But animals was not the ONLY draw for my visit. OCEAN PACIFICO! One more dip before retuning to my Atlantic waters.

I have the POWER to lift (and curl) the waves!

And cause them to crash (and curl, LOOK at that curl) at my whim!

So so happy to finally see this in action!

Just AMAZINGLY beautiful.