No Entiendo

Prior embarking on my journey to Costa Rica, I was very good at Spanish. Spanish was something I learned when I was very young so I had a firm grasp on the language and felt pretty confident in my speaking abilities. However, one thing I was not prepared for was all the slang they use in Costa Rica, and how a lot of the words and phrases they use there are very unique to Costa Rica. I remember on one of my first days there my mama tica used the word “jupa.” I immediately asked her what that word meant and found out that this was the word some people used for “head.” Every other Spanish speaker would use the word “cabeza” instead, so this was a big shock to me. I know it sounds like nothing because it is just a different word that means the same thing, but I became so fascinated by the differences with the culture in Costa Rica, compared to other cultures that I have experienced.

My naive mindset told me that this would be one of the only language differences I would find here but boy was I wrong. Come to find out, Costa Rica is well known for the amount of slang they use when communicating, and has an array of unique words and phrases. Allow me to give you a little Spanish lesson and list of a few of these words and phrases I encountered there.

Mae = Dude/Bro

Brete = Work/Job

Yodo = Coffee

Diay = Keep Talking (Conversation Progressor)

Above I have listed some of the most shocking ones I encountered, as well as the ones I utilized the most and continue to use to this day. Lets start with the first one. “Mae” pronounced my, is used when referring to a friend if you wanted to say dude. If you are talking with a true Costa Rica native, I found that this word came up a lot in conversation and is overall a simple term of endearment to show that you are enjoying someone else’s presence in the conversation. The second word “brete” is for work, a small job, or a chore. Whenever I was at my host families house, I would often ask if there were any “bretes” they needed help with around the house, which is just me asking if they needed help with any of their chores. This could also be used if you had to do something real quick before leaving the house such as throwing a piece of trash away. It is essentially similar to how in english we say “I gotta do something real quick.” Next we have “yodo” which was probably the most surprising one to me as well as the one I used the least. “Yodo” is not used very often in general but you could hear someone refer to coffee as this. The final one is “diay” which is pronounced as d-eye. This is another word that was heavily utilized in conversation. If you were speaking with someone and you wanted to show that you were interested in the conversation, you could say “diay, diay, diay” which is essentially you saying how interesting, tell me more, or keep going. This can also mean an exclamation of disbelief or confusion if you say it like a question.

I highly encourage you to check out various other Spanish slang words from many different Spanish speaking countries around the world, it can really widen your language horizon!

Cafecito Por Favor

In my last post I discussed various food throughout Costa Rica and how I thoroughly miss it. However, there is one beverage from Costa Rica that I miss above most of the things I tried there, and that is coffee. Every morning at breakfast, my host mom would bring me a steaming cup of authentic Costa Rican coffee. She would place it down in front of me and say “cafecito para ti.” It was definitely one of my favorite parts of my morning and it really prepared me for the day. What I did not now upon my arrival is that Costa Rica is actually very well known for their coffee. Today, Costa Rican coffee is prized as some of the world’s best. Costa Rica is actually the 13th largest coffee producers in the world and it is shipped everywhere from the United States to Amsterdam. This vast range of coffee buyers is the reason that coffee exports make up around 11% of Costa Rica’s yearly revenue. There are actually 5 main reasons why Costa Rica coffee is some of the best.

1: The first reason is that “inferior” coffee is illegal. What this means is that in Costa Rica, it is actually illegal to grow and or produce coffee that is not 100% Arabica, the highest quality of coffee beans. Costa Rica is actually the only country in the world with such a law, which was passed in 1989.

2: The second reason is that Arabica coffee beans come from delicate plants which need certain types of climates to survive. It just so happens that Costa Rica boasts the perfect climate for such plants due to the high altitudes and mild temperatures. The weather in Costa Rica can be categorized into two parts; the dry season, and the rainy season. Both of these prove to be ideal coffee growing climates. Climate can affect everything from the aroma, body, flavor, and acidity of the coffee produced, making a good climate a necessity in coffee production.

3: The third reason is that Costa Rica coffee beans are handpicked as opposed to mass processed. The people of Costa Rica view coffee making as an art form and a delicate process, so only the ripest beans are picked and processed. Rather than picking all the beans from a plant, only the finest are selected from it.

4: The fourth reason is that Costa Rica has 8 distinct coffee growing regions, all of which have their own unique flavors and blends. Various regions throughout Costa Rica treat the coffee beans differently which leads to a variety of tastes in the coffee. This ability is also thanks to the climate of the country.

5: The fifth and final reason why Costa Rica coffee is so good is because of how clean the environment is there. Costa Rica has various laws that protect over 20% of its land so that it may be preserved and kept clean. The mindset is that if the land is well taken care of, then the agriculture produced will be better.

 

Delicioso

I have to say, one thing that my mom always does in restaurants that embarrasses me is take pictures of everything my family ordered. Not that I think there is anything wrong with doing it, my mom just does it a little too dramatically and everyone in the restaurant always looks over because of all the commotion it makes. She has to get the good angle, the good light, and of course, she has to get a picture of us in front of our plate. Although I always scold my mom for doing this in restaurants, I found myself doing the exact same thing while in Costa Rica. Now, there were thousands of things I absolutely loved about Costa Rica, and most of them I really miss. However, If you ask me what I miss most, without even thinking I would say food. To characterize the food there, it is important to know that Costa Rica has a healthy diet overall, with most dishes involving rice and beans, and many other fruits or vegetables.

To say I was spoiled with good food during my time there is a major understatement. I still vividly remember most of the things that I tasted there; the smell, the taste, the texture, all of it. Yep, it was that good (or maybe I am just deprived of good quality food normally). Every time my mama tica (what I called my host mom) would bring my plate with whatever we were eating for that meal, I would take a picture. That is right, I have a picture of every single dish I ate in that house, apple didn’t fall far from the tree there. However, I was definitely validated for doing so as the food was so fresh and nice to look at. My favorite food I ate there was not anything fancy, it is a dish called “gallo pinto”. It is just beans and rice with some spices in it but it was absolutely delicious. It was served for every meal as a matter of fact, even breakfast.

Not only was I blessed to be able to enjoy my Mama Tica’s amazing cooking, but I also had all the local restaurants to explore. I will admit though, I did embarrass myself really badly at a restaurant one time. I was ordering a sandwich at a local restaurant and I wanted to add onion to my sandwich. The word for onion in spanish is “cebolla” but when I went to ask, I said “caballo” on accident which means horse, and the young woman taking my order stopped mid pencil stroke and stared at me. With a concerned and confused look, she said what translates to “we don’t do that here.” I eventually realized what I said, corrected myself, ate my food, and left as quickly as possible. If I am being honest, I do not really remember what was in the rest of that sandwich, I just remember the onion, not surprisingly.

I highly recommend checking out some traditional Costa Rica dishes, they are definitely worth a try!

 

 

 

 

 

Monkey Business

While in Costa Rica, I would attend classes during the week but the weekends were when I would go on fun excursions and explore the rest of the country with the friends I made there. One weekend, we went to this beach that was about 45 minutes from our school, and all got hotel rooms for three days. What we did not realize, is that this area of Costa Rica was notorious for the many species of monkeys that roamed about. One day, we all decided to go to a local restaurant, and as we were eating our food, I looked up at the ceiling beams and saw at least 10 monkey swinging from the beams and running about, one of which had taken a light bulb from one the hanging lamps. I frantically called for the waiter, and in a voice laced with panic I said “THERE ARE MONKEYS IN HERE!!!.” The waiter gave me a blank look and in a very calm voice simply said, “that is normal here.” I was stunned, I mean, being from the United States, we never see anything like that. I put aside my disbelief and resumed eating my food, but shortly after this, a monkey came right up to our table, and took both a mango and a packet of sugar from my plate. The monkey then perched itself on one of the many ceiling beams and proceeded to eat both.

A few moments later, as I was eating the rest of my food, I felt something strike me in the arm only to find out that the monkey had thrown the half eaten mango right at my arm. I gazed up at the monkey only to find him laughing at me, so I was getting a little annoyed despite how funny this actually was. Once again, I took my attention away from the monkey, and went back to my food. As soon as I turned my head, I felt something on my head and went to the worst thought I could think of, which was that the monkey was peeing on me. Fortunately, this was not the case, as he was simply pouring the packet of sugar on my head. I looked up at the monkey and muttered under my breath “stupid animal.” After saying this, I made a realization, which was that this monkey successfully managed to take food off my plate, throw one of the food items at me, and dump the other on my head. To be honest, I felt like the stupid animal in this situation.

After eating, one of the locals began to tell me how smart monkeys really are, and I found out something pretty incredible that I had never known before. I was told that monkeys are often used as service animals for people with a disability or serious injury. They can be trained to remind people to take medication, help with cleaning, or even get them food. If there is one thing I learned from this experience, it is that animals are a lot more intelligent than most people think, and we should not underestimate them, as the immense similarities between monkeys and humans is astonishing. Oh, and I forgive the monkey 🙂

 

Why won’t the dog listen to me?

During the end of my sophomore year of high school, I did a study abroad in Heredia, Costa Rica. I still remember the day I left very vividly, I was so excited. As the wheels of the plane touched down in the new land I would be spending my next two months, I imagined the wonderful experiences I would have and the amazing people I would meet. Shortly after landing, I was met by my host family, who took me to my new home. Being it was my first day, it was very overwhelming. I began by sitting down with my host family to tell them a little about myself and get to know my Mama and Papa Tico, who only spoke Spanish and not a word of English.

After talking to them for a bit, I went upstairs to begin unpacking my things. It was then that I met the family dog, a small black and white dog named Cocoa. While unpacking, the dog decided to hop up on my bed and sat right on top of my clothes. I immediately began yelling “down, down, off the bed.” This was highly ineffective though, the dog just stared at me with a blank look, almost like I was crazy. Then it dawned on me, this dog doesn’t speak English. You may be thinking, I’m in a foreign country so obviously the dog wouldn’t speak English and I should be keenly aware of that. However, if you really think about it, whenever we see a dog, we immediately revert to that “dog voice” that everything has which is high pitched and almost incomprehensible as to what we’re saying. We say things like “come here,” “well hello there,” and whatever else comes over us when we see a cute dog. My point is, we see something so familiar as a dog and speak English. However, with this dog it was a different case, because as I mentioned, she spoke Spanish. I felt rather silly speaking to a dog in Spanish, and to be quite honest, I never got used to it the whole time I was there. The command “sit” became “siéntate”, good dog became “buen perra,” and “come here” became “ven acá.” Some other commonly used dog commands can be found here if you want to teach your dogs any.

Throughout Costa Rica, it is very common to see dogs wandering throughout the street. The town I lived in, Heredia, is one of the most dog populated areas in Costa Rica. Most of these dogs are strays but it is very common for people to leave food out for these dogs as if they are their own, and many become regulars at different houses throughout the city. In this city, which is located about an hour from the capitol, San Jose, there exists quite a unique attraction called “Territorio de Zaguates,” which translates to “land of the strays.” Located in the mountains that surround the city, it is a dog shelter which is home to hundreds of canines rescued from the city streets. Needless to say, Costa Rica is very dog friendly, with many dog friendly areas. Overall, however, seeing a dog in a restaurant, store, or even schools throughout the country is not uncommon.

I still remember my last day in Costa Rica just as well as my first, and it was very hard to leave the dog I had grown to love. I grew very fond of that dog in such a short time and will definitely never forget her. Who knows, maybe I’ll teach my dog some Spanish now.

 

 

 

 

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