TRAVEL
MY COSTA RICA
Traveling . This wonderful word that makes our hearts beat faster and our eyes light up with excitement . It ’ s unbelievably hard to put into words what traveling can stand for , but I am going to try . The story I am about to tell you began when I graduated from university . You can sure remember – or imagine – what that time is like , can ’ t you ? That ’ s when most people suddenly realize that the adult life has begun – and that it ’ s going to be anything but easy . The sudden freedom , ironically enough , meant the end of the free life – the life free from the obligation of making decisions of utter importance . As soon as you enter a university , the following 5 years are pretty much planned out . You go to classes , you write papers , you do homework , you study for exams . Those aren ’ t easy , but they are all constants , you just do them , without having to think twice about it . And now , after this beautifully organized time of your life is over , the quantity of options that open up all at once overwhelms . Cause you could do pretty much anything . Anything ! And that is a whole lot of things . As for me , I could start applying for jobs here in Russia , start building my career and settling down . That didn ’ t sound too appealing . I felt way too young for that – my soul was yearning for adventures . I needed to go away – far , very far away . So the question was , how exactly do I do that ? I had heard from a friend of mine of an organization called AIESEC , that helps young professionals from all over the world get internships in different countries . That sounded like a good idea , especially because the most popular job on the list was that of teaching English . Having always had a huge interest in the Spanish language , I started looking for job offers in the Latin American region . For some reason , I had my mind fixed on Colombia – but life really wanted me to go to a little central American paradise called Costa Rica . I received several job offers from there , and , clear enough , had to go google what the heck – and where the heck – the place was . Having located it on the map , right between the North and South Americas , I looked up information about its climate – and immediately decided I would go . The average yearly temperature was 25 degrees Celsius . For a Russian girl who has gone to school at the temperature of -30C , this was a killer argument . Never having to put on a coat ? I am there ! Pacific and Atlantic Oceans a couple of hours away each ? I am so there ! So , basically , the decision of moving to the other side of the world for a year and a half , where they speak the language I didn ’ t , where I knew virtually no one and nothing , the existence of which I had just confirmed minutes ago on Wikipedia , - that decision took me about 15 minutes . Would that make me decisive or nuts ? Not sure . Whichever one it is , it turned out to be one of the most significant , life-changing decisions I have ever made . I had a hectic couple of months trying to collect all the necessary papers . Finally , my one-way ticket to Costa Rica was bought , my luggage ready and my head a complete mess , full of confused thoughts , fears , hopes and expectations . I remember the day when my parents were driving me to the airport quite vividly . Or , to be precise , I remember what I felt . The word excitement falls short of describing it . I felt like I was waking up after a long , long sleep – I was finally going to do something huge , I was going to discover another part of the world ! I felt alive . It ’ s this feeling that comes over me every time I travel , but that time it was truly special . The feeling grew stronger when I arrived in the airport of San Jose . I was picked up by an AISEC member , who found me with the help of a picture he had downloaded from my Facebook profile . Since that afternoon , full of palm trees that were flying past us as we were driving to my hotel , and for a couple of weeks I was overwhelmed with the burning sensation of being alive . Every cell of my body vibrated with the realization of the fact that every day , every look and every breath would bring me something I had never known before . No other feeling could ever compare to that . Everything was new . The language people spoke , the way they lived , the food they ate , the jokes they told . What was incredibly different is the way they named their streets . That is to say , the way they did NOT do that . Back in the day , the city expanded so fast , and so chaotically , that the people never really had time to give names to its streets , and even less than that , number its houses . This is what the locals told me , anyway . Along the way , I learnt that to find a place you had to follow very questionable instructions , like “ Go straight , then , at the old gas station , turn right , and then go down the street , until you see a mango tree ”. “ The old gas station ” was long gone , of course , and how on earth is a person supposed to find and recognize a place where people used to fuel their cars once , I would never know . After a week spent at the hotel , I moved to a house in a different part of the city , quite far from the center . I moved my stuff , arranged it a bit and went out . The landlady had warned me that she and her family , who were also living in the house , would be gone for the weekend . I was left alone , and in case that I got lost , it would be difficult for them to help me out . I was pretty confident that I would be alright . I knew the name of the neighborhood , and coming back would sure be easy enough , I just had to locate the house . I was supposed to meet with another AIESEC member , who was going to show me around the center a bit , give me a taste of the city ’ s night life . We went to a couple of bars , I tried the local beer , an object of much pride for ticos , and learnt the two most important items of Costa Rican vocabulary - “ Pura vida ” and “ mae ”. “ Pura vida ”, which is roughly translated into “ pure life ”, can be used to express pretty much any sentiment whatsoever : it is used as a greeting , as a way to thank and give praise , and generally means a life devoid of any kind of troubles . And even though this isn ’ t the case for many ticos , this surely is the way they choose to look at things . Don ’ t worry , be happy – that song should be a second national anthem in this country . The word “ mae ” is the Costa Rican equivalent of “ dude ” that , as I came to learn in the following years , tends to be insanely overused . But let ’ s get back to that epic night now . My so-called buddy , the person who took it upon himself to be my go-to guy whenever I had problems , got into the cab with me to make sure I got home safely . And I was incredibly happy that he did . We got to the neighborhood without a problem . The trouble began when the driver asked , “ Where now ?” “ I wish I could tell you , I really wish I could ”, I thought to myself . I had absolutely no idea . In the light of day everything looked totally different . I could swear my house was easy to tell apart from the rest of them – apparently , not when it was all dark though ; they all looked completely the same ! We drove around the neighborhood for good 15 minutes , without any result . Finally , clutching at the last desperate hope , I got out of the cab and tried to open one of the gates with my key . Clear enough , the key did not work , and we heard a blood-curdling barking coming from the garden . The driver was terrified and suggested I got my butt back in the cab quickly , or else he would leave without me . This was it , I had to give up . My kind buddy offered me to stay at his house , and I gratefully accepted . The next morning I had the pleasure of meeting his family . They were super nice to me and not at all surprised to find an unfamiliar Russian girl in their house . They were rather glad to see me , especially the guy ’ s aunt – she wanted to talk to me of all those Russian books she has read and loved … Only I , to my utter disgrace , hadn ’ t read most of the ones she mentioned . She couldn ’ t quite hide her disappointment . “ But these aren ’ t very
30 missLINGVA / Autumn , 2016