I had no idea what Costa Rican culture was going to be like before exiting the plane. I have been to Costa Rica previously, but I stayed at a hotel. I thought, “Obviously, a place where people are paid to be nice to visitors is not going to provide a good snapshot of what the real Costa Rica is like.” I was very wrong. Costa Rica is an incredibly friendly place, with people willing to talk anywhere for any reason.

Besides being an incredibly friendly country, Costa Rica is far less reliant on tourism than I thought it would be. I pictured a country with large amounts of tourist groups passing us by on the streets, and a high number of bilingual speakers of Spanish and English. I was surprised that so few people knew English, and I saw maybe one person who might have been a tourist at the Oxigeno human playground, and that was it.

Speaking of the Oxigeno human playground, the existence of such an incredible idea being in Costa Rica was shocking. There were many American shops and I saw a couple Costa Rican versions of typical American mall shops too. What shocked me the most was the Lego community and the VR ride. I drastically underestimated Costa Rica’s development, and also the amount of Americanization of its culture.

Lastly, on a pretty much entirely unrelated note, I did not expect to like the pet bird at my house so much. I cannot explain why I do; I just like going outside and seeing it. Google translate informs me that “Ave” means bird, which is incorporated in the pun of today’s title. I have taken to calling the bird Caesar and refuse to ask for its real name so I can greet it with “Ave, Caesar” and bask in my grand wit every morning.