Tico Living

Life out and about Quepos

Things we are recognizing about life here 

(keeping in mind there is a lot we don't quite understand)

• all the children seemingly in the majority of the country wear school uniforms to school
• school children appear to either start really late to head home very early, it seems they all walk home about 10am or so OR they head home for a few hours and return later to avoid the heat of the day, but it's not clear
• they don't seem to take a holiday and generally only get Sundays off
• Football aka Soccer is widely played and the fields are the most well maintained parts of the cities/towns
• Grocery stores are named Super and then a name, the Super Christian, Super Victoria, Super Joseth, etc. etc, other than the Pali and the MaxiPali, which are Wal-Mart's Costa Rican stores
• there are no pickles or relish, BBQ sauce and several other condiments that we take for granted, you can get them, but at a price and at a "super" more specialized for us tourists I guess
• the stores are very busy, very hot and hard to navigate
• often you cannot buy everything in one store that you are looking for
• fresh fruit and other items such as cheese, vegetables can be bought off the back of a truck or a small market and are often likely the better option
• there are butchers selling just meat in their little shops every 3-4 store fronts
• they seem to eat all parts of their cows and pigs and meats are handled all by butcher similar to deli's, you cannot buy your meat in pretty packages off a shelf
• ribs are cut into "riblets" so they are quite tiny
• moped and bicycles are popular modes of transportation
• we are told that gas is imported so most vehicles are diesel
• we are told people do require business licenses here, interesting fact considering everyone seems to run a "Soda" from their home
• taxes are quite high
• health care is available and free to everyone and is also considered quite advanced for such a country
• power outages are frequent
• all road work is done by hand, there are no big trucks or equipment so the guys pouring concrete up the road are doing it with shovels and buckets

From my first visit to my second I do feel that Costa Rica is a livable county (other than perhaps the incredible humid heat) and I'm not sure I feel quite as at "home" for lack of a better term in another other foreign place (here's hoping I am fortunate enough to find out).

  I don't intent to move, but if I were to I think I could live here without going completely crazy.  It's certainly a far cry from home and just learning the lifestyle would certainly take a lot of patience and time, not to mention the Spanish, but it's incredibly beautiful and the people are patient and friendly.  So really if we tried not to get bit by a snake or a strange bug then we might do alright.