Blog #9 – Parque Diversiones, Hacienda la Chimba, and More

Hola chicos,

These past weeks haven’t been the most eventful of ones I’ve had since I’ve been here, but I wanted to still write and provide some more reflections I’ve made since being here as well as update you all on some of my latest adventures since being here.

Reflections

As my time here in Costa continues to dwindle as early May approaches, I waft through the feelings of homesickness of the United States with also appreciating even more the time I’ve spent here.

I’ve been thinking about how this experience will impact me once I arrive back to the U.S. and have some time to reflect. And I genuinely don’t know if I’ll have the words to describe it. I already know that I’m going to miss so many things from my life here in CR: my host family, my friends, Spanish, the weather, and more. I’ve been even more sentimental recently as a lot of my friends leave next weekend, so we’ve all been rushing to spend time together and cherish the final moments that we have together.

I also have been reflecting deeply on how much I take for granted that I live in a country (the U.S) where my native tongue is spoken. Being here has really given me the appreciation of simple interactions I used to take for granted easily – whether it’s going to a restaurant and being able to fully converse with the waiters/waitresses, or trying to understand my program director as I practice Spanish with her, or whether it’s trying to decipher all of the billboards posted around the city. I never realized how difficult it could be to do all of those things until I’ve been here. Having to navigate and live my life where language barriers/communications happen often gives me this sense of appreciation that I can, in fact, speak a language fluently. I also have such a greater empathy for immigrants, refugees, expats, or frankly anyone who uproots their lives to live in another country that doesn’t speak their native tongue.

These past few weeks, I’ve also had the opportunity to meet and hang out with some locals, which has been a very interesting experience. They could speak English well, but our conversations have mostly been in Spanish, which, again, has given me such a more complex understanding of how we use language in our daily life. I never realized how many dichos (sayings in english) that I use in my daily vernacular. Likewise, Spanish also has its dichos, and when locals use them, I understandably don’t understand exactly what they are saying. Again, these conversations have humbled me because they not only show that I still am not as proficient in Spanish as I wish I was, but that language and communicating is such a beautiful gift that we all take for granted. Of course the locals will explain it to me, but, if I’m being totally honest, it can get a bit frustrating at times knowing that I can’t fully communicate the way in which I’d want in all settings.

On the flip side of that, I also feel so proud of myself and accomplished that I can even form relationships with people while using another language than my native tongue. I’ve continued to grow my relationship with my host family, and knowing that I’ve created this special relationship with an 82 year old señora in a language that is not my native one es muy chiva (in english = is really cool/awesome). When I have those moments when the language flows off my tongue and I can fully understand what locals are saying, I feel a sense of deep accomplishment – like the work I’ve put in to learn the language is actually paying off. It’s almost like a challenge that I embark everyday – like a 1,000 piece puzzle that I’m trying to solve. There’s so many moments where I try to fit pieces together that don’t fit, but when that moment comes when two pieces fit together, it’s such a rewarding feeling that encourages me to practice more.

Unrelated to Spanish, I’ve also had some fun days that I wanted to share in this blog from the past weekend:

Saturday (3/18)

Today was the day that I got to do one of my bucket list things here in Costa Rica: go to their amusement park. As many of you know, I am a huge rollercoaster/theme park junkie, so getting to visit a theme park in *Costa Rica* was definitely on my bucket list.

The first thing I immediately noticed was how cheap it was to enter the park. We bought a bundle of 4 tickets that cost around $50, meaning it was about $12 per person to enter the park. In other words – it was super cheap. That theme continued within the park, as I saw options to get theme park food combos for $6. It was truly wild to me how cheap everything was.

My friends and I had a great time. The park had a couple of upside down rollercoasters (one of them shown below), but what I loved about the park was how quaint it felt. In one area of the park, it had these really cute, old buildings that were super fun to explore.

My friends’ and my favorite ride was this spinning rollercoaster that had these wicked turns. It caught us off guard and we had such a fun time riding it.

We spent more time riding the other rides there and really just had a great day. One thing I found super interesting was that we saw a thunderstorm nearby (with lightening) that was approximately 3-5ish miles from the park. We thought, when we saw it, that everything would close down. But nope. Everything continued as normal as if it didn’t exist. This included the *water* rides that still had quite long lines for them even as lightening was imminent. The thunderstorm didn’t actually hit us directly so nothing happened, but I found it very interesting and a bit funny that the park continued to operate even with lightning nearby. This definitely wouldn’t have happened if we were at a U.S. theme park.

After our busy, I returned home, had some dinner, and prepared for the next fun day.

Sunday (3/19)

My friend Yesenia and I went to Hacienda La Chimba, a finca (like a property/estate) that had a famous hiking trail that we wanted to go on. We made our way there and began our trek through the trails.

I don’t think either one of us realized how difficult the hike would be. The hike ended up taking over 2 hours to complete, which consisted of mostly incline hiking. Neither one of us are in the best shapes in the world, so we definitely were huffing and puffing and had to take many breaks during the hike. Fortunately, however, there were many spots along the route where we could take breaks and take in the spectacular views.

As we continued our hike, we grew more and more tired, but persevered! It was a very sunny day that also happened to be really warm. After reaching 4 kilometers, I was questioning whether or not I could still continue the hike. We cheered each other on, and upon kilometer 5, we got to witness the view that everyone talks about.

We definitely spent at least 5 minutes trying to take in the views and attempting to document the moment. I was so glad that I got to experience this moment with my friend, Yesenia.

We had the option to continue the hike for an additional 4 km, but we were so exhausted that we headed straight back to the main lobby area, enjoyed some gelato, and made our way back to San Jose.

I spent the rest of the day recovering and rehydrating from our strenuous day.

—————–

I’m going to end this blog entry here. I’m going to the beach tomorrow and this week is the last week before a lot of my friends leave, so I’m sure I’ll have a lot to write about. Until next time, pura vida!