Things I Miss

One more Costa Rica entry from my train ride and then I promise I’ll get new stuff to write about!  Though now that I think about it, this looming adventure is probably what is prompting me to finally get these entries out.  I know that I will have so many new adventures and things to share that if these are ever going to make it out, now is the time!  On that note, I think it is appropriate that my last Costa Rica post (for now, anyways) be about the things I miss:

- Pura Vida: I am still working on explaining this philosophy properly but the internet does turn up some good information.  On a similar note, I apologize to anyone that gets irritated with me due to the cultural aspects I picked up which are probably the same ones that irritated me when I first got there.

- Gallo pinto: Rice and bean dish, but it has to be made from leftover rice, not fresh.  Some day I will make this for myself, but for now I think I will have to settle on couscous being my new gallo pinto.

- Casados: Meat, rice, beans, cabbage salad, maybe some potato side dish, fried plantains (platanos)

- Platanos: I miss them so much they get a separate listing.  I also miss platano chips.

-Fresh fruit and fruit juice everyday: Hoping to get some of this in Morocco :)

- The people from my life there: My classes and friends and the kids from my job and tica family, of course.

- Going ziplining/canyoning/hiking/swimming/scuba diving on the weekends.

- Warm weather, even though it did rain almost everyday.

- Speaking Spanish: I forgot what it’s like to travel to places where I don’t speak the language and how bad I feel having to ask if they speak English.  My last two big trips before the one I’m on now were to Costa Rica and Argentina so I didn’t have to do this.  Now I feel like that American who didn’t bother learning the language because everyone else speaks mine.  Better get used to it since it will probably be a little while before I can communicate in Arabic…