Canada: It’s a Beauty Way to Go…Maybe (Part V)
Moving 7,000+ kilometers is never easy. Doing so in times of COVID made every interaction include the word “maybe” as well as the phrase “it used to work like this.”
Tag: costa rica
Adventures in Moving
Several pointed replies came to mind, but I weighed my need to reply to his veiled threat of future ownership against the fact that I needed this man and his team to do a decent job of packing and loading our goods. The last thing our departure from Costa Rica needed was another complication.
Always on the Run
The parents in the movie had done some illegal (nothing evil, but they were sideways with the man). Their kids were unaware of this significant wrinkle. All they knew is that they were tired of moving in the middle of the night to another town where they would again be forced to start over with a new school, friends, etc.
Thomas Wolfe Was a Coward
I, therefore, need to find more bravery than Mr. Wolfe while also resisting the urge to go full Grandma. I do not have the luxury of being considered elderly (though I believe I qualify for AARP membership) nor do I have the cover provided by death—at least not yet.
La Vida en la Isla (en español)
Con esto como telón de fondo puedo dar fe de mi empatía con las personas que visitan Pura Vida y que parecen no tener idea de dónde están o por qué están aquí. He llegado a ser, principalmente en el pasado, esa persona.
The Island Life
I leaned forward and asked the cab driver, in broken Spanish, “Why are the sewers on fire?”
Without missing a beat he said that the sewers held a lot of methane gas.
I squinted at the rubble all around us where a city used to be.
“What happened to … everything?”
He again replied matter of factly, “Well, there was the earthquake, the civil war and, of course, the hurricane…”
La historia de la Tormenta Tropical Nate en una comunidad: derrumbes, miedo y resiliencia
“Eso no puede ser correcto”, pensé. “Nate se convertirá en un huracán en el Caribe. Estamos en lo alto de una montaña en el lado occidental de Costa Rica. ¿Por qué sufriríamos acá de lluvias torrenciales?”
Thank You — France?
It’s definitely a small world in which we live. A small world full of independence day celebrations where relations with the prior empire are in many cases surprisingly good, and at least in a couple of cases, the prior contributions of the French are under-appreciated — unless stinky cheese is present.
Contents May Shift During Flight
His hot breath stinking of garbage that to my knowledge he hadn’t eaten, my dog pushed still closer from his awkward perch on the passenger seat and once-again dry-heaved. I flinched yet again, trying to push him back over to his side of the rental car whilst keeping one eye on the road — which I couldn’t see through the torrential downpour we’d driven through for the past three hours.
Gringo con Nombre Secreto
I’m a gringo. I don’t take any offense at wearing this descriptor but there are a lot of complicated, cultural issues surrounding the declaration of your nationality here in Costa Rica.
Flácido
She again pushed her index finger into the flesh above my knee and, this time with an accompanying clucking noise and a shake of her head, restated, “Está flácido.”
Costa Rican Gas Can
It occurred to me as I digested his answer that in the three-plus months I’d been in Costa Rica I’d yet to see an actual gas can. There were, however, a lot of guys holding weed eaters over one shoulder and a plastic jug in their free hand. The jugs, which looked like something that originally held an industrial amount of vegetable oil, often had a scrap of plastic secured by a rubber band as a lid.
My New Barber – Almost
I thought hard for a minute about whether or not I wanted a T-Rex emblazoned on the side of my head for the remainder of this trip — and however long thereafter it took my scalp to reforest the affected area.
Compro – The Costa Rican Car Purchase
I was in this predicament, in the midst of Alajuela, Costa Rica, because I’d agreed to purchase a car from a person I’d never met who was no longer in the country but had left his driver, and as it turns out, his attorney in charge of the sale.
Se Vende — the Costa Rican Used Car
Costa Ricans, or Ticos as they like to be called, are the first to volunteer the fact that their otherwise refreshing approach to life is not compatible with automobiles. “We drive like lunatics,” is a comment I’ve heard from more than one Tico. When the topic is the purchase of a used car in Costa Rica the narrative is, “Don’t believe what anyone tells you…”