Thoughts on a Foreign Land

7/29/2012

Upon arrival and the end of our plane ride, we were suddenly immersed in the lush jungle tropics of Costa Rica and a foreign language: Spanish. I speak some Spanish, so I am able to get a general idea of what people are saying. Today might be the start of my very first international cultural experience. We didn’t do a lot today, just flying from Indianapolis to Atlanta, Georgia and finally to San Jose, Costa Rica. Jose, our shuttle driver for the day and knows only one months worth of English, drove us to our first hotel, the Vista del Valle Plantation Inn. On the drive over, we saw sugar cane, mango, and other strange tropical fruit plantations. Everything is incredibly damp and green here. It’s almost surreal actually being in the rainforest. According to our travel guide, we drove through El Rosario which is a town of middle-class Costa Ricans. Everything here is so different. We had lunch, time zone shifts two hours behind, at the hotel’s restaurant which overlooks a huge river valley and also serves incredible guacamole. The food at least at this restaurant is not strictly Latin American. They had pasta and tex-mex options too. Then, after a brief lesson from my sister and me to the family about basic Spanish pronunciation, we went to the hot tub and pool to relax after a long ay of traveling. Then my brother and I went off exploring. After skipping blithely through the tiled paths and nearly stepping on a snake, we decided it best to walk slow and keep a good look out. We let the adventurous sides of ourselves get the bet of us and promptly got lost on our way down through the valley. The sign said “to waterfall”, but the caution tape seemed to say otherwise. As of now, everyone is asleep except for me and we might miss dinner! It has been 75 degrees Fahrenheit all day but really cloudy. I hope the sun comes out for our volcano trip tomorrow. Being her is so surreal. I feel like all of the plants and birds are just a part of my fantasy, but then I blink and it’s all still there. Living temporarily in these new surroundings is kind of stressful. I don’t know exactly where I am, and I am the family’s best bet at communicating with anyone who does not speak English. However, I am enjoying it immensely! It is much different from home, but I think that it why I like it. 

Places we will go in Costa Rica