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  • Writer's pictureanjaligordon

pura vida

Updated: Jan 14, 2019


I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica on January 5th but I feel as though my soul has resided here for much longer than only five days. In this blog, I hope to capture my stay here in this beautiful country, but through the stories, lives, and places of others. I will start by this introductory post where I explain my personal experience so far, however, my ultimate goal is for this to become a cultural anthropological blog where I showcase different faces of people that genuinely impact my heart in my time here... I already have many in mind.


Life is very simple here. "Time" is not a limiting construct to the Tico culture. The professor of my first class was about fifteen minutes late to class and never mentioned anything of it. Being late is not something to apologize for here, because everyone is just simply happy to be alive. I have crossed paths with many people already just within the few days I have been here. I am sure that I will make separate and detailed blog posts about the members of my host family, as well as my incredible exchange sister-- Savannah. However, here are some of my first reactions to my home-stay and all whom has been involved:


When I first got off the airplane, I worked my way through the labyrinth of the airport to find myself exiting the building into a crowd of unfamiliar faces, signs I could not read, and weather much hotter than what I was used to. Almost immediately, I stumbled upon Savannah, dragging two suitcases through the crowd and carrying a gigantic smile across her face, despite having been cooped up in the airport since 4 a.m. that morning. That's when i knew... here's someone who's simply just happy to be alive... she'd fit in quite well with the Tico culture!


Arriving at the home of which I would be living for the next four months was everything I could have ever dreamed. After following the maze of the city of San Jose and finally stumbling upon what would end up being Savannah and I's house, we were greeted by our stylish and amazingly expressive Mama Tica! We were shown to our rooms by our host brother-- Diego who speaks English very well. The outdoor courtyard and living space is what truly amazes me about our beautiful home. It reminds me of all of the fairy homes I once created as a child--lush green plant life, a plethora of wind-chimes stemming off every branch of the lemon tree which sprouts lemons with a rich aroma I had only once imagined, a colorfully painted wheelbarrow giving birth to all types of potted plants. Once I laid my eyes on this area of the house, I was filled with an overwhelming feeling that I truly belonged here, in this home, this country, surrounded by the kind and happy eyes of the people that were so perfectly placed in my life.


In fear of giving too much away initially involving my host family (as I really do plan on creating individual posts of these incredible people), I will end this post here. I hope this was able to give you all a peak into my life arriving in the glorious country of Costa Rica!


photo of me by Savannah Stanley at a trendy coffee shoppe called 'café la sala'



Pura vida!

anjali


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