Getting Around Town

You all know that I am in Liberia to be an English teacher for the locals.  While I have not yet begun teaching classes (first class is 7/18), I have started doing "assessment interviews" with students who want to join my classes.  This has been extremely helpful and fun because I get to meet my students one-on-one in advance of classes so I know who's who, and it allows me to see what my students know, so I know what I should/should not teach during my time here, what we need to review, etc.  It's also been sort of a nice segue in to teaching because I just have to show up at my "office" and meet with students.  I have a little desk in the Del Rio Condominium office, which is more or less a real estate office for some condos they are building across the street.  I'm not 100% sure how this office is connected with the CALITUR office (Liberia Chamber of Tourism/my employer), but it is.  This is where I have free wifi and air conditioning.  Love.

Anyway, the point of this blog is not to tell you about what I've been doing, but rather, to tell you how I get around.  So, I started my interviews on Monday morning, and was given a bike so I can go back and forth between my house and the office.  I do 3-4 interviews in the morning, and then I go home for lunch, and come back for 3-4 interviews in the afternoon.

Here is a picture of my awesome bike:

As you can see, it's a little red beach cruiser with a basket, lock and everything.  This is my first time ever riding a beach cruiser and I like it a lot.  I feel like I'm just meandering through town.  It only takes 8-12 minutes to get from my house to the office, which is super nice, and it's more or less a straight shot from one place to the other (only two turns, so that's good too, since I get lost easily!).  I do, however have to cross two busy roads, but I've learned that you just have to be patient and eventually the traffic will clear up or someone will honk at you to get a move on :)  In CR, cars are king, so pedestrians and bikers have to beware!)

On my ride, I go through a little of downtown Liberia, and then I end up in what appears to be sort of the outskirts.  There are some farms and some schools, so it's not too residential.  This is a picture of what I get to see on my route:

So pretty!

I have also learned a few things while riding around on my bike.  First, you have to really watch where you're going.  The roads (and sidewalks!) here can be a little treacherous, so you have to pay attention to where you're going so you don't end up in a gigantic pothole.  We all know that I'm a total klutz, so I've been doing my best to watch the road, other cars/bikes/pedestrians, in addition to the scenery, so I don't fall or get in an accident.  In Liberia, the sewage drains are just big holes on the corner of two streets (like with no grate or anything over it) and one time I was turning a corner and cut it a little close to the curb and almost fell right into one of the sewers!  That was a seriously close call, and it definitely would have hurt!  Avoiding injury is just one of my many goals for my time in CR :)  

Another thing I learned is that people like to hiss at you when you're riding by on your bike.  Kirsti already warned me about catcalls and about being called "macha" and/or "macha gringa."  Macha means blonde, so I think you can all guess why I'd be called "macha."  She also explained to me, though, that when people call out at you, it's not necessarily a skeezy/sleezey thing.  I mean, it can be, but mostly they just want to get your attention and say hi.  As per Kristi's suggestion, I notice that when I say hello or wave, they just smile and wave back.  It's actually just kind of funny.

Finally, the last lesson, and perhaps the most important lesson, is that you have to ride your bike slowly here.  It is so freaking hot that if I ride too quickly, for example, I'm all nasty and sweaty by the time I get to the house/office.  The funny thing is, while I'm riding my bike, I feel great!  There's a nice breaze, I'm just chillin, it's all good, but then I get off the bike and I'm like, oh my god, I'm dying, I need water! hahaha.  I think it's partially because the house is hot too, so it's like a little sauna, which doesn't help much.  Thus, I have to absorb the Costa Rican lifestyle mantra of Pura Vida and combine that with Tico Time, and just sloooowww down.  That's kind of hard to do since I'm so used to being all "go go go" in the States.  I've learned that it's impossible to do things quickly, and there's mostly no point in planning things in advance b/c that's just not how it's done here.  I sort of just have to take one day at a time, which is both awesome and surprisingly difficult.  Fortunately, I think it's a good thing to get the hang of.

So now you know how I get around town.  In style, as always :)