 Beautiful flowers fill the streets of Puntarenas with vibrant color. It's in stark contrast to the pure white landscapes Houghton will display in a few months. (Click on photos for larger images.)
Tico Time
¡Hola mis compañeros! Due to the veritable flood of information that’s washed over me since I first arrived in Costa Rica, this article is going to be even longer than last weeks. In the amount of time that I’ve been here, I’ve been noticing some big differences between the US and my new home.
First and foremost is the food. Although variety is the name of the game, ticos (the name Costa Ricans call themselves; short for costarricense) eat rice with EVERYTHING. Even breakfast sometimes! Multi-veggie salads, salsas and soups are commonplace, and various kinds of marine fish are an important part of their diet. Also, they try to eat as many different kinds of fruits as possible. For example, my host mother, Iris, prepares all of her juices by putting freshly cut fruits such as pineapple or, my favorite, sandía (watermelon) in a blender with ice. She never uses powder concentrate mixes, and, in my opinion, her juice tastes much better than Kool-Aid!
While Costa Ricans call themselves ticos, they (and pretty much everyone below the Mexican border) call Americans gringos. It is generally a neutral rather than derogatory term, but depending on the context it can be considered negative. I guess it depends on whether the person saying it likes Americans or not.
The weather here is also very different than what I was used to in Michigan. The average temperature year round in Puntarenas is a balmy 84 degrees Fahrenheit! The humidity here is very high, especially during the daytime. This forced me to shave off my beard (much to my girlfriend’s dismay) after only a few days. It is also much easier to get sunburn since I am so close to the equator, and the suns rays are more direct. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the weather can change very drastically here during the course of a day. It could be in the 90s and sunny for the first half of the day, then suddenly clouds roll in and torrential rains come down. This has been the case for most of the past week.
 At the market, a fisherman told me that this cartload of fish were shark (right) and marlin (top, center).
I’ve also learned that ticos have what they call "Tico Time." This basically means any time you make plans with somebody to hang out at a certain time, expect them to be at least twenty minutes late. Apparently, when it comes to informal meeting times, nearly the whole country has a punctuality problem! Besides that, there’s the issue of non-confrontation. For some reason, ticos try their hardest to avoid confrontation. They are a very peaceful folk (perhaps this is why they don’t have an army). To avoid disappointing or angering their new acquaintances, ticos will do whatever it takes, including lying, to keep everybody happy. So, for example, if someone (such as myself) comes up and asks them for directions—even if they have no idea how to get to where that person is asking—they’ll give them an answer. This can be quite frustrating at times, and, personally, I’m getting a little sick of going in circles!
I also need to get used to and be more cautious of the frequency of theft here. Costa Rica has very little violent crime compared to the US, but robbery and petty theft are endemic to the country. Yesterday, I biked to the beach to bask in the sun's rays in an attempt to rid myself of my dreadful farmer’s tan. No more than twenty minutes later, upon returning to the bench where I had locked my bike, I found that both my bike and lock had vanished. After quite some time of walking up and down the beach aimlessly looking for the bike, I threw my arms up in despair and walked home. From now on, I’m going to try to be more aware of my surroundings, and keep a closer eye on my belongings.
In last week's article, I stated that all my classes are in English. This turned out to be only semi true . . . my Spanish class is supposed to be in all Spanish. But, if I absolutely need to, I can speak some English to help get my point across. Otherwise, my professor discourages the use of English.
Sunday I'm going to Caldera at the Boca de Barranca, famous surfing area, to try out skimboarding. I'll let you know how it goes in next week's article. Also, I’m planning a trip with a couple new friends of mine to the Nicoya Peninsula next weekend in hopes of seeing some leatherback sea turtles, the world’s largest reptile. As I am a student of the ecology discipline, you can expect that most of the trips I plan and the subsequent articles that I write are going to be wildlife oriented. I hope that you’ll join me on my adventures, and I’ll do my best to give a thorough report of my experiences.
¡Hasta luego!
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