Things I love, and don't love so much

Here's a list of things I love about Costa Rica, 6 weeks into being here:

- that people greet each other on the street
- how women hold your forearm as they talk to you
- when people see someone they know, they always ask how their family is doing
- that the teenage boys wear half a bottle of axe to school
- the phrase "pura vida" and the fact it's used as a greeting, farewell, response to a thank you, you name it. (literally means pure life)
- the deaf people i've met. They are doing some great things.
- eating patacones with retried black beans.
- dancing. Salsa, cumbia, some meringue. I need to get better at it!
- that the response to gracias is "con (mucho) gusto", meaning with (great) pleasure.

What I don't care for:
- prostitution and it's popularity here
- what I've termed the One Week Travel Expert. There are too many people here who think they've got the whole country figured out. Based on ONE experience in ONE place. Drives me nuts. Example: "good luck getting a tico (term that means a local costa rican) to teach you verbs past tense. They hardly use that here." - dude who has only been learning Spanish for the three months he has been here. (ps, they DO use past tense- it's how you talk about things that have already happened...how could you not?!) "panamanians sure do know how to treat tourists, unlike costa ricans." - old guy who was in a gated community in panama, then came to good ol' do-it-yourself non-touristy mountain town in costa rica.
- the Traveler with a capital T. This may be the same as the One Week Expert, but not necesarrily. This person, the Traveler, will tell you how many countries they've been to within the first 5 minutes of meeting them. And everything is better (normally meaning cheaper) in another country. And that country is always halfway around the world. Examples: "when I was in Mexico the piña coladas were twice this size." "I would go scuba diving off of the coast of Honduras, but I heard that it's not as cool as it is in Thailand, plus it's way cheaper to do it there." "I don't need to take a taxi, this is the 30th country i've been to." literally the first sentence out of his mouth. Not, hi my name is..., how are you? Nada. Ugh.

I also love not being in San Jose right now! Hopefully I'll be doing Spanish homework at a spring-fed pool later today. Yesterday the Germans and I hiked to a lookout point with a bottle of Champagne Para Pobre that cost 3 bucks. It definitely was cheap, and made from raspberries I think. And then it started pouring rain, so it was a good thing that we had something to entertain ourselves with! As of today: it's been 6 weeks. :)