After my adventure to Puerto Viejo, it was nice to be back in Liberia, if also a little anti-climactic! Before I left for Puerto Viejo, I had almost completely packed up my entire room, so my drawers and closets were empty and my bags were sitting in a corner. I pretty much spent my last few days with my host family sulking/fighting off depression and finishing any Christmas shopping I needed to get done. Since my host family was heading up to Nicaragua for Christmas, Nieves was busy cooking TONS of tamales and arroz con pollo and other deliciousness! I was lucky enough to have a few tamales reserved for me and they were the BEST DAMN TAMALES I've EVER eaten. Nieves explained that they were Nicaraguan tamales, which means they have amazing/seasoned/uncooked meat (it cooks when it gets steamed so it's sooo juicy!), sauce, potatoes, onions, tomato, rice, peppers and deliciousness cooked into them. But it was really quite a production! The poor woman was slaving away in the kitchen for two and a half solid days to get everything ready for their trip and was exhausted by the time she left!
But still, I got to eat those tamales! Check out the production process:
But alas, December 24th was also the day I had to start my goodbyes as my host family took off for the north before my American family flew in to Liberia. At first, the whole family was going to stay in Nicaragua through New Years day, so it really would have been my goodbye, but at the last minute, they all decided they wanted to meet my family and planned to come home on January 1st so my two families could enjoy a little Christmas celebration.
My family was coming bearing presents for my host family, but one of my presents for the family was a new digital camera. They were so in love with using my camera to take photos that I thought it would be nice for them to have one of their own. And of course they needed it so they could take Christmas pics the next day! When Nieves opened the gift, she was so happy and excited it made her cry (which of course made me cry). As I became Facebook friends with more of my students, I realized that many of them don't have many photos online because a lot of them don't have cameras and/or computers of their own. It never even donned on me before that people just wouldn't have the ability to take photos, and it felt pretty great to be able to provide my host family with their own means of taking photos to remember all the good times.
My Family Comes to Town!
On Friday afternoon I made my way to the Liberia International Airport to welcome my family to CR! My mom started crying a little when she finally saw me and I got to give her a nice gigantic hug! The crazy thing about having Skype around is that I felt like I got to see my family all the time! So when I saw my mom in person, I felt like I had JUST seen her! (Of course, she thought being able to physically give me a hug was a pretty big deal ;) I thought things were going much more smoothly with my family's entrance to CR than when Jane came to town, but it turned out there was an issue with our hotel transportation and we ended up having to wait for like 45 minutes for our ride to come back for us. Funnily enough, it was the company owner's husband (who happens to be the Chief of Brain Surgery at the local hospital) came to pick us up. Because of the delay, he took us on a little tour of Liberia, which was fun b/c my family got to see the town, which was in good form because they were having a little festival in the park for the walk of the Virgin Mary to the church. There were lots of loud bombas and it was a fun, festive atmosphere. Nice bonus!
We spent Christmas Eve/Christmas Day up at Borinquen Mountain Resort and Spa up in Rincon de la Vieja. Forget reverse culture shock when I got back to the US; I got it at a resort in CR! I was surprised at how weird it felt to be in the lap of luxury! And don't get me started on the restaurant menu prices! I almost had a heart attack! Growing up, I was the "hotel snob" but boy had that changed! I actually felt uncomfortable being in such a swanky, nice place, which was just too weird. But it was a beautiful hotel, with very expansive grounds, and was a pretty picturesque place to spend Christmas; even if it was missing the cold and the snow that Jeffrey so wanted!
Enjoying cafe con leche on the private balcony of mine and Jeffrey's room:
Vamos a Tamarindo
On the 26th, we made a pit stop at the Liberia airport to pick up KC (yay!) and then we all headed to our amazing rental house in Tamarindo!!! After running around the awesome house, absorbing all it's greatness, we made a pit stop at the corner store for some beers, a stop at the rental office to book the all important tourist excursions, and then hit the beach!
Hello beautiful house!
No trip to Costa Rica would be complete without....excursions!!! My family convinced me to do the white water rafting again (down the Tenorio...with the awesome big rapid) and I did it happily!
Ready to raft! (except you could only have four in a boat, which means we loaned KC out to another family for the afternoon. Don't feel bad for him, we had lots of water/splashing wars with him and his boat!)
So fierce!
Even though Emilio and I hadn't been able to see each other from the time school ended, through the time my family came to visit, he WAS able to get some days off work to come stay with my family and I for a few days after Christmas, which was amazing (YAAAAY!!!). And he arrived just in time for ziplining/horseback riding day!
And other stuff too
When you go to Tamarindo, you obviously need to get in some quality time on the beach. Before Emilio arrived, Jeff, Jeffrey and I took some surf lessons (ei yi yi!), KC rented a surf board, and we generally roamed the beach!
The morning of New Year's Eve, I was supposed to go scuba diving with Jeff, Jeffrey and KC, but since Emilio had to leave that day, and because, let's be honest, I was hung over (okay, thought I was hung over...more to come) from drinking with Emilio and KC the night before, I decided to stay behind. By this time I thought I had come to terms with the fact that Emilio was leaving that day, that I was moving back to the US a few days later, and understood that our little "summer romance" was over. But when the moment actually came for us to say goodbye, I burst in to tears. It was the first time I had really cried about leaving Emilio, and really, Costa Rica in general, and it was like everything just hit me at once. My heart ached and I was just so sad for this little chapter in my life to come to a close. I walked Emilio to the bus, with the hope that we'd be able to see each other briefly in Liberia for one last goodbye, but knowing this was the real thing. It was pretty sad. And then it was pretty good that I didn't go diving because it gave me time to just be sad and start coming to terms with leaving :(
On top of the heartache, it turned out that I wasn't just hung over, but had caught some form of "Montezuma's revenge" (which was funny because I had been drinking CR water for five months, and the only other time I got remotely stomach sick was the first/last time I had been in Tamarindo!) Note to self, the water in CR is fine to drink...unless you're in Tamarindo! Then, avoid it! All day I was nauseous, couldn't eat anything, and if I tried, it came right back up, so it was an all around miserable day. I made it out for a New Year's Eve dinner, but despite my best efforts, I couldn't make it to midnight and came home to the house at like 11:30. I spent the first moments of the new year barfing up my dinner :( (sorry for that detail guys!) Actually, I continued to be sick until a week or so after I was back in the US....and my mom ended up getting sick too. It did not make for a fun plane ride home for her!
But back to pictures!
Back to Liberia, and a Series of Sad Sad Goodbyes
After saying goodbye to Emilio, I would intermittently break into bouts of tears. Each time I got a Happy New Year's text from a student, or reminisced about a moment from my little adventure, I'd start to cry, which was just so weird. On the one hand, I was having a jolly good time with my family, but on the other hand, I was just so sad and heartbroken to leave, because I knew I may never get another chance to experience a completely different life again.
Still, we made our way back to Liberia, where I showed my family around town. Sadly, it was New Year's
day and a Sunday, which means pretty much everything was closed closed closed and empty empty empty (so I was extra glad my family had been able to see Liberia at it's best on Xmas Eve!). Then we made our way to my host family's house where I got to introduce my moms and siblings and everything. It was pretty great. Everyone was so excited to meet everyone else. And it was also kind of awkward because communication was definitely difficult...and both parties had to rely on ME to translate! Yikes!! We exchanged more gifts, and I gave my host family a photo album I created for them, so they'd be forced to remember me forever! They loved it, and I was glad I got them something useful (the camera) and sentimental (photos of ME!...okay, and the rest of the family too!).
When it was time to head back to the hotel, I had to start the final final goodbyes, which was really really hard. There were definitely lots of tears, and actually, as I'm writing this two months later, it still makes me want to cry! My host mom grabbed the family cab, and Luis drove the other car (lots of people and LUGGAGE!), and Nieves accompanied us back to the hotel, where she refused to let us pay our fare! (That was a gift from her to us). I straight out started sobbing when I had to say goodbye to Nieves and she was crying too, which was crazy because she's such a strong lady! I think that's a testament to what a meaningful experience this was for both of us.
My last night in Costa Rica, I was pretty much a mess. I sobbed when I said goodbye to my host family, and I sobbed when I said goodbye to Emilio on the phone. I cried as I packed, and I tried not to cry at dinner. And I also tried not to make my real family feel horrible for taking me home with them :) But alas, the morning did arrive when it was time to go home, and I kept myself together pretty well. I helped my mom navigate the airport (since Jeff had to make a run back to the hotel because I had left one of his bags in my room! oops!), and we had plenty of time after that to settle in and wait for the flights. My mom, Jeff and Jeffrey took off first, and left me at the airport to wait the hour or so until my flight (KC's flight was later in the afternoon so he was on his own!).
I really thought I did a good job of keeping myself together. Until. I saw. Diego. As you know, many of my students work at the Liberia airport, but amazingly, the only one working that day was Diego, who works as part of the ground crew. He came up to my gate just as my flight was boarding, and the second I saw him, we both burst in to tears. There were lots of hugs and goodbyes, and I was pretty much the last one on the plane because I just didn't want to go. After I got to my seat (thank god it was a window seat), Diego called me and I was able to wave to him/sob, from the plane. The poor 22-ish-year-old dude sitting next to me did his best to ignore the full out silent meltdown, slobbery mess situation that was happening next to him. Emilio tried to call me to say goodbye again and I couldn't even answer the phone because I couldn't talk, I was so sad. Needless to say, I spent the first 30 minutes of my flight crying quietly to myself. I think I was probably well on my way toward Mexico by the time I got my shit together! Fortunately I was composed again by the time I had my layover in Houston, where I was able to more or less re-join American society.
The Aftermath and Reverse Culture Shock
I had prepared my friends and family for some serious reverse culture shock symptoms upon my return to the US, but aside from sobbing again as we approached home on my first night back in the States, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Coming home was much easier than I had originally anticipated. I definitely still have moments of extreme sadness when I think about my time in Costa Rica and the people I left there. But fortunately, I've been able to speak to my host family quite a few times since returning (they tell me my Spanish sucks!) and I've kept in touch with a lot of my students on Facebook. It's not the same though. I think that because I moved back home with my parents, which is also where I was living before my adventure (just temporarily, to save money for my venture guys!), it just felt like my room and life were the same, and like Costa Rica was a weird little blip; I had to remind myself that I had actually been GONE for six months and it wasn't all just a dream. Definitely a weird feeling, and a little sad.
That being said, while I've readjusted to life in the US and my friends and family have been great and so supportive and welcoming, I've still managed to hold on to the Pura Vida outlook I adopted in CR, and try, every day, to maintain the sense of adventure I developed while I was abroad. I'm working at a "temporary" job now while I plan my next adventure. I'm thankful that among so many things, my time in Costa Rica gave me the knowledge that I CAN do anything I want to do. That I am capable of taking care of myself, and that no matter what, I'll be okay. That's pretty great.
Thank you to everyone who read my blog while I was gone, or who has stumbled upon it since I've been home. I hope you enjoyed reading about my silly adventures as much as I enjoyed experiencing them.
No comments:
Post a Comment