Life After Maximo

I have now been home a full month, endured the gluttony of the holidays amidst continuous harassment by my new neighbors in Newton, and couldn't be happier looking to cover the clean slate with colorful experiences that come with the new year. I am still astonished at the rate in which time passes in the United States. One month back in the rat race and I am already having a difficult time remembering the different lessons I learned while traveling abroad. Fantasies of long term travel and learning new cultures while teaching English have given way to social media, online marketing, conversations with lawyers, and the sale and use of rugs. I had no idea how much education I would need in order to enter the world of floor covering. From Wiltons to loop piles, Karastand to Shaw, and sisals to bolon, there is a whole new jargon I have learned and will continue to research in the coming year. But before I shift my thinking to that, I want to share how I spent my last few weeks in paradise...

Upon finishing my time in San Jose, I relocated roughly 20 kilometers away in the former capitol of Costa Rica, Cartago. There, I resided with my friends Martin and Chelsea, my new family run by the matriarch, Vicky, and 10 university students attending the nearby technical school. For $260/month we enjoyed room and board, 3 meals a day, and laundry. I spent my days studying Spanish on Live Mocha, sneaking into the University's gym, refining my blog and wandering around my new city. I traveled back to San Pedro often to visit the Lorias and share cervesas with my old friends at Maximo. I basically lived life as a Tico student and filled my head with plans I intended to put into practice upon my return home. The days passed slowly and I began to grow anxious wondering about my incumbent departure from my suspension of reality. On the weekends I continued to travel. I spent three days traveling solo to a place called La Fortuna that sat in the shadows of one of the world's most active volcanoes, Arenal. There I met fellow travelers, drank some litros, waded in the natural hot springs, and went on a 15 kilometer hike with a Dutch traveler named Geert. We swam in the translucent waters at the base of the spectacular Fortuna Waterfall and hiked to the top of Arenal's older brother, gazing into the green waters of Cerro Chato. At first I was discouraged by the way in which the tourism industry stole the innocence from this beautiful place, but I was relieved after finding that not everything in La Fortuna had been stripped of it's natural essence. The following weekend Martin and I were invited to spend our TEFL instructor, Iani's birthday at a bed and breakfast in the mountains of Heredia. We had no idea what to expect, but we were welcomed by Iani's British friend Emily that was house sitting and managing this mountaintop villa. We spent the night doing the usual while experiencing one of the most unusual and overwhleming views of the dim lights of the Central Valley which looked like fireflies. We spent the next day trespassing through a neighboring coffee plantation en route to another waterfall, this one polluted by rainswept garbage rather than awestruck tourists. Then, on the 18th of November, Christina arrived with a backpack as big as her small frame and an even bigger smile after our 10 week seperation.