Week 2: Language School and Zip Lines

This huge tree is about 100 ft from our classroom.

Bananas! Everywhere! ...Awesome

My alarm clock--el gallo. This guy lives at the house behind

us and he starts crowing at about 3-4 o'clock in the morning. His

days are numbered if he keeps up his early morning routine...

My high school Spanish teacher, Senora Jackson, would have been awfully proud of me this week for my efforts in speaking espanol. I say “efforts” because that’s about the extent of my accomplishments. Five days of language school in Atenas has left me feeling inadequate and slow. Our classes run from 8-12 each morning and consist mainly of different speaking exercises. Class is completely in Spanish, which requires constant thinking and attention. Needless to say, it’s incredibly draining and by 11, my mind usually checks out (my teacher gives me a hard time about that…). But language school isn’t all that bad. We actually have our class outside in a beautiful old fruit orchard and an open-air pavilion is our schoolhouse! The view, the orchard, and the morning breeze make it a really comfortable learning environment.

On Saturday we took a break from school and traveled to the coast, which is about an hour away. For those of you that know a little about Costa Rica, you’ve probably heard of the canopy, zip line tours. They are a big attraction for gringos ( you and I ) and they are scattered all over the coast and forest areas. These “canopy” tours must have been invented by some sicko that got his laughs from making ground-lovers (such as myself) nauseous. When I hear “zip line”, my mind goes back fifteen years ago to my grandparents’ farm where my cousin and I often experimented with old barn ropes, metal pipes, and tree platforms constructed with scrap lumber. Genius ideas were quickly exposed as poor decisions. Fortunately for us, those poor decisions were only made about 15 feet off the ground. Not so in Costa Rica. We took a tractor ride to the top of a mountain and were lead to the first zip line. I started getting sweaty palms when I saw that the first line was at least 35 feet off the ground. I connected my harness to the line and jumped off with little confidence in Costa Rican engineering. I couldn’t see the end of the line through the dense jungle, and that’s a good thing because had I seen the next tree, I don’t know if I would have gone. The second tree platform was at least 50 feet off the ground and the second line was pure NUTS! I was in the middle of something very questionable, and now I had to keep going---only one way down. Several zip lines were no less than 200 feet off the ground and 1000 feet long, stretching across large valleys. I’m getting sweaty palms just recalling the feeling. I probably won’t ever do that again; Good stories though---I will have to tell you more about them in person.

The rest of our Saturday excursion was more to my liking---a few hours on the beach in the sun. I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and got to test my skills on a surf board. A good time was had by all and it was a great break from Spanish classes.

I need to take a few minutes to give some culture updates. There is a saying that was taught to us at orientation in Colorado: It’s not right. It’s not wrong. It’s just different. Those words have proved true in the last few weeks. Just for fun, here are a few of those cultural differences.

In Costa Rica:
- Traffic laws are treated as mere “suggestions.”
- Pedestrians have the right… to get out of the way.
- Building codes are defined by materials available, not by safety. (we probably over-engineer things in the US anyway…)
- PDA is a way of life----obviously. A couple “necking” in the park is perfectly right and normal…
- “Widowmakers” are a luxury. (Note: a widowmaker is a unique device that caps the end of shower head and uses electricity to heat the water passing through. Often, exposed wires and not-so-brilliant wiring can give users that extra kick they might need in the morning)
- window screens are overrated. Costa Ricans share their houses with bugs.
- Toilet paper is thrown in the trash can, NOT flushed down the toilet (this is my favorite one). Apparently TP causes clogs because it catches on the small, concrete pipes. PVC seems like a simple suggestion to this problem, but I guess throwing the TP in the trash can is an easier solution.
- A “besito” is a typical greeting that women give instead of handshakes. Basically, you put your right cheeks together and blow a kiss. Yeah…I’ve already had plenty of awkward “besitos.” I’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.