During our travels today, we saw several different, extremely diverse parts of Costa Rica. From the Central Coast, we went west until we reached the Pacific coast. Then, we headed north and up the side of a very steep mountain until we reached our hotel, El Establo. Overall, the trip took around four hours and we were all super exhausted from traveling all morning; but, a few unique things stood out to me during the trip.

As you leave the city of San José behind, one thing that stood out to me was how the people seemed to change. The city of San José is bustling with energy and that means that the people normally have a faster pace of life. Of course, this is in relative terms because “Tico Time” is used abundantly. As we left the city behind, everyone seemed to be more relaxed and the pace that everything moves at is much slower. It seems as though this happens because, in the city, businesses and jobs come with certain expectations. However, when you leave all that behind, you have more leeway with what you chose to do. Something else that stood out to me was the street shops. In the city, you have some small shops but then you have the chain stores and restaurants. Along our travel route when we were going between smaller towns and villages, you only see the small sodas and bodega-type stores. Every once and a while, you might see a chain grocery store, such as a Maxi-Palí, but that is not very common. I think this is a representation of the slower pace of life because in the smaller communities that we traveled through, Ticos have more time to go into a store and chat with the owner. Additionally, in a more rural community, these sodas and small bodegas are one of the few choices for someone to make a living off of.

My understanding of Costa Rica has changed because, before, I thought that all Ticos were very similar. Similar to how most citizens of other countries stereotype all Americans and group us into one giant group of people, I thought that Ticos would all be very similar. However, they are actually a very diverse group of people. Yesterday, when we visited the National Gold Museum in San José, I learned a little bit about several of the indigenous groups of Costa Rica and I learned how each area of the country is very different from the others. Since Saturday, I have come to realize how each province, and to some extent each little town, has their own identity and culture. It is truly amazing to be able to see the subtle (and non-subtle) differences between each group of Ticos. I cannot wait until tomorrow to be able to learn more about Monteverde and the unique group of Ticos who inhabit the region!!