Pharmacies in Costa Rica: Surprise!

You know how it's so convenient to pick up milk, bread, shampoo, aspirin, and your prescription all in one place?

Well, it ain't so if you're an expat in Costa Rica.

Those ridiculous little shampoo bottles they let you bring on the plane last about two washes, and things are different here, so it's good to have a heads-up as a first-time visitor with dirty hair.

Expats in Costa Rica: 5 Crucial Travel Hacks

Remember when air travel was fun?  Before you had to get a colonoscopy to just go to your gate, and peanuts were free?

Or when gas was so cheap, you and your best friend could make a last-minute road trip for Cinco de Mayo?

Yeah, those days are gone.

Now, if you want to travel, but aren't independently wealthy enough to own a private jet, yacht, or Magic Bus, there will be Inconvenience.

Disruption.  Difficulties.  Disturbance.

And Butt-Numbing Delays.

Gas is expensive and Siri gets disoriented.  Airlines find more ways to nickel-and-dime you.  Luggage gets lost.  People get lost!  All of these things and more have happened to us, because that's just the way it is.  

We've figured out a few things to make the whole process easier by learning the hard way, so you won't have to.

Tienen un buen viaje!

Expats in Costa Rica: Culture Shock

1. You know about culture shock, right?

   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   Not to be confused with Culture Club, one of the best bands in the world.

   
   
   
   

   

   I dare you to listen to Time (Clock of the Heart) and try to hate it.  See, you can't!
   
   
   
   Culture shock is the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply travel to another type of life. 

You can do research all day, watch hours of Discovery Channel documentaries, pore over all your aunt's travel photo albums, follow Rick Steves religiously, and still not be prepared for what you find the first time you visit a new country.  As I found out.  Your mileage may vary.

Top 3 Culture Shocks for this expat in Costa Rica:

3.  Baking Soda is sold in dime bags.

I use baking soda for everything: cooking, cleaning, personal care - everything.  For weeks, I scanned shelves at the mercados looking for a box of bicarbonate de sodio.

Instead, I found this:

This is a 15 gram bag of baking soda, and it costs 405 colones, or about 80 cents.

I'm used to buying a giant bag at the warehouse store for pennies a pound - or in a pinch, a 16-ounce box at the grocery store for about 3 bucks.

Looks like I'll need to tweak some recipes.

2.  TP goes in the basket, not the bowl.  

This was in our bathroom in Orosi.  Hey, don't laugh.  Her English is way better than my Spanish.

To paraphrase our lovely Escazu hostess Liza, Costa Rican plumbing is delicate and must be treated gently like a baby.

I guessing aging rural septic systems, maybe?  I just don't want to be the one who trows paper in the toilet and causes an international incident, so I put the paper in the basket.

Generally, the baskets have lids and are emptied daily.  I got over it within a day or two.  It's really not that big a deal, and surely extends the life of an expensive-to-upgrade infrastructure.

1.  "Suicide Showers"

This is where culture shock could become an actual electrical shock.

At first I was like, "Oh hell no! I'll just be stinky! I'm not about to die naked in some stranger's bathroom!"

And then I got over it (after Husband went first and lived).  Electric shower head heaters are used safely all over Latin America every day, and they work fine (most of the time).

The water is heated just as it comes out, eliminating the need for a giant energy-hogging hot water tank.

It saves energy, water, and space, and I'm mostly ok with it now.

Mainly, though, it made me realize that hot water is a first world luxury, and I'm lucky to have access to it at all.  Hot water does not necessarily come standard in Tica/o houses.

And The Moral of the Story Is …

The way I've done certain things my whole life isn't the only way, or necessarily the right way.

Part of the point of traveling is to have new experiences, and if you want to enjoy your travels, it helps to be flexible and open-minded.

Also?  There's no substitute for Culture Club!

When have you experienced culture shock?  Let me know in the comments!

5 Social Faux Pas Every Expat in Costa Rica Can Avoid

People are more or less the same wherever you go.

We remember different foods from our childhoods, but most of us love our Grandmothers.

We like different music; but the generation before usually despises the next one's favorite.

Everybody likes a barbecue!

Humans are social animals - we want to connect, belong, have a purpose, and have our basic human dignity recognized, and we meet those needs through culture.

That said, culture is a social construct and what might seem innocuous to a visitor from the USA may be regarded as uncouth by our Costa Rican hosts.

Here's what you need to know to avoid the most common social faux pas…

Tastes like chicken.

Food, Fun, and Monkeys: Expats In Costa Rica Meet The Howlers

A troop of howler monkeys live in the mango trees outside our cabina.

There's The Patriarch, who sounds exactly like your crotchety old uncle belching politics at the dinner table.

Then there's a Junior male, who alternately throws tantrums fruit and takes naps, like teenage boys the world over.

The two Mamas are usually pretty chill, and make soft hooting or grunting noises at the two wee babies.

In Seattle we didn't even know our neighbors. 

I can understand them perfectly.  Turns out learning Monkey is way easier than learning Spanish.

Watching baby monkeys play is more relaxing than Valium, more fun than a sack of hundred dollar bills, and funnier than Donald Trump's toupee. 

Filming them with an eye-phone is tricky, but Husband captured this exclusive footage.

Content Note: The film you're about to see is not graphic and will not be disturbing to certain viewers.  Viewer indiscretion is advised.

The Howlers at Cobano

If only they would pee on Donald Trump's head.

7 Tips for Traveling Comfortably

The week before leaving for Costa Rica, my sisterfriend Della asked, "What are you going to miss most?"

We were living in the jewel of the Puget Sound region, Seattle, with all its natural beauty and technological wonders, like wifi and dishwashers.

Me:  "Beyond my kids and friends, I really don't know.  I don't even know what I don't know."

Her:  "Well, surely, there's got to be something, like, maybe, Dr. Pepper?"

Me:  "You wanna know the truth?  The truth is, the prospect of not having toilet paper terrifies me."
………..

After being in Central America for 2 months, I can report that toilet facilities are usually well beyond my spoiled lady expectations.

Even in somewhat run-down buildings, the bathrooms are usually immaculately clean, with modern soap dispensers, paper towels, and yes, toilet paper.  Although sometimes, you do have to buy the TP first.  (Looking at you, San Jose bus station.)

But let's face it: There are times in a traveler's life when one needs … more.

So although there's no particular "thing" I can't do without, but there are a few things that make traveling much easier.

And since I'm a totally qualified expat in Costa Rica of 8 whole weeks (really only 7) and I want you to come over -- I'll tell you what the guide books won't about traveling in comfort.

These horses give zero biscuits about TP.  Photo credit: Husband on eye-phone 6.

Expats in Costa Rica: This Bathroom Is Inhabited, Please

This is Pipa.

She’s a teeny tiny "house" gecko, and she lives in the bathroom at our cabina.

You can’t really tell from the photo, but she’s about as long as a toothpick, and as big around as 3 toothpicks put together.

Pipa was my nurse and companion today while Montezuma took his revenge.

Wave after wave of nausea caused me to retch helplessly into the sink.

Luckily, I could reach it from the seated position.

Pipa looked on sympathetically from the shower, her tiny reptile eyes warm with compassion.

“I’m so sorry, Pipa,” I said. “I didn’t mean to barge in here and trash the place.”

"No te preocupes, hermana," she said.  "Mierda sucede."

(Don't worry, sister.  Shit happens.)

  

Mind Open: Mouth Shut

August, 2015

Cobano, Costa Rica is a lovely little village on the southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula.

We stumbled into town, hot, grumpy, and out of sorts, looking for something and somewhere else.

But we found paradise.

If you know what kind of flower this is, please tell me. 

Our cabina is not fancy or new, and our room doesn't have air conditioning.

But it's perfect for us.

Mangos litter the ground.  Howler monkeys throw them down constantly - sometimes with one or two bites out, sometimes perfect and ready to eat.

Dude, your aim is crap. 

A brown gecko the size of my index finger lives in the bathroom.  I call her Morena.

This afternoon, the proprietor spent 45 minutes or so with us in an impromptu conversation about Costa Rica, United States, people, culture, and language with lots of good humor and laughter.

Kindness knows no language barrier.

Although this place is the hub to Lots! Of! Exciting! Activities! the thing I'm enjoying most is just being still, enjoying our numerous animal neighbors, and savoring the quiet moments.

It's a superb place to rest.

Pura Vida.