Adios, Costa Rica

Folks,

And so to the end of my last week living in Costa Rica. I leave on Wednesday for Guatemala, and although I'll be back once or twice over the next couple of months (I fly home from here in December), I will just be staying for a night or two.

The pic of the week shows the writer at work. Probably my most typical pose (although I usually face the ocean, I just did it this way for the camera). You can see that I'm putting quite a strain on the poor hammock, and lets just say it now bears the scars.

The 'real' Costa Rica
----------------------
One of the reasons that I wanted to move to the coast was because I thought of it as the real Costa Rica. In choosing to come to Costa Rica, the two coasts were a major deciding factor. However, having lived in the central valley and now on the coast, I realise that the central valley is actually the more authentic.

Heredia
--------
Living in Heredia gave me a sense of how real ticos live. I learnt about tico life from my students and I lived a similar life. I used the same markets, shops and sodas. I lived on a nondescript street off the Avenida Central. I woke in the morning to the loud bustle (too loud for some of my guests) of the city getting its early start. I walked to work every day. I went to local bars.

In Heredia, everything is tico run.

Santa Teresa
-------------
I have loved my three months here on the coast. I think I've been happier living in my one room casita than anywhere else I've ever lived (ok, so not having to go out to work helps). But it's not the real Costa Rica.

It has all the beauty in the mountains, the ocean, the lush vegetation and the animals. But in terms of people everything is built around the tourist dollar, or the dollars of people from the States that have moved here. There are big houses on hills overlooking the ocean everywhere, but I don't know any that are owned and lived in by ticos. The supplies in the shops and the menu in the restaurants are all geared towards holiday-makers. You hear lots of English spoken and a large number of businesses are run by foreigners.

That's not to say that it's touristy or pushy. Everything is laid-back and relaxed, and it's a wonderful place to take a break away from it all. It's just that for me, on reflection, life in the central valley is how ticos live.

Looking back
------------
I have loved all of my time in Costa Rica. I think back to getting off the plane in April 05 without place to stay, and looking for a job in which I'd virtually no experience. I sometimes wonder how I had the courage to do it!

I feel I have been incredibly lucky. People tell me they don't believe in luck, and that life is what you make it. But in getting the job in Intercultura, the apartment in Heredia, the casita here, it's just incredible how everything always fell into place.

I have met wonderful people, particularly in Intercultura, some of whom I will always keep in contact with and hopefully meet again.

In particular, I've met some wonderful Americans. The Americans who have chosen to live in a country like Costa Rica working for buttons are very different from the loud, whooping Americans you so often encounter on travels. And they'd make you wonder how George Bush could ever scrape a few votes together.

I will also never forget the beauty and variety in this tiny country. Remember that it's about two thirds the size of Ireland, and has the diversity of the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, volcanoes and mountains 4 times the height of any in Ireland.

There are monkeys, egg-laying turtles, sloths, iguanas, geckos, whales and many animals and creatures that I don't even know the names of. Including the green thing that's just landed on my desk. It has six percent of the earth's biodiversity in just 0.03% of its landmass.

Of course there are also earthquakes, scorpions, tsunami alerts and tornadoes.

I've loved my rich experiences here, but I'm sure that there are more to come.

Possessions
-----------
I arrived with one rucksack. It's been supplemented by other rucksack-loads after visits home, things visitor brought from home, and by purchases over 2 years until my stuff fairly filled a 2 bedroom apartment.

Then I had to downsize to what would fit in a car to move here.

Now I have to downsize to what I can carry back on the bus to Heredia.
-----
And so the end of another phase. I'll continue with my mails one a week, but depending on where I am and when I'm travelling the days I send them may become a little erratic.

So until next week,

Pura vida, y adios,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Poll: Better for Yes, but it is a virtual draw