Travel Journal: Costa Rica
This morning I said goodbye to friends I'll likely never see again. It's amazing at how close people can become in only two weeks. When life slows down and true human interaction is embraced, differences in ethnicity and language vanish. I'm so grateful to my host family for their warm hospitality, patience, and friendship. I lived, along with another KIIS participant named Tyler, with a family of four. Elian, Mirian, and their two daughters, Marihangela and Fabiola, hosted us.
Our departure as a group was a town event. All of the families were waiting with my classmates as they were picked up. Time flew by here in La Paz. In my Civilization and Culture of Latin America class we talked about the famous hospitality that has come to define, in part, this region of the world. Not only did we study this aspect of society, we lived it.
Sitting at breakfast this morning, our host mother, Mirian, took a moment to thank us for allowing them to host us. In truth, she and her family deserve all of the thanks. She made a note to say that if we ever find ourselves in Costa Rica again, that they will be waiting to receive us. That gesture gave me an incredibly warm feeling; to know that I'll be remembered and welcomed back to a place I can safely call my Costa Rican home.
Our travels now take us to the Caribbean coastline where we'll stay in a beachfront town called Puerto Viejo de Talamanca (Puerto Viejo for short). While we'll still be in Costa Rica, we expect to encounter a completely different culture.
Stay tuned for some exciting beach stories!
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