We Have a Lot to Learn

Touching down in San Jose, Costa Rica was exciting. This is the family’s first international trip since we rented out our house.

Right out of the gate we left one of our suitcases at my sister’s house and had to go back for it. We have 4 backpacks and 2 suitcases, so it is disconcerting and embarrassing that we left one behind. It is definitely a sign that we are overthinking things to a point of losing common sense.

We survived Spirit Airlines, although they must not teach their pilots or their plane guiders how to park. On both flights, they had to make everyone sit back down after landing because the plane was not close enough to the gate.

We took a taxi to our hotel (Radisson in San Jose City Center). The Orange taxis at the airport are “official” taxis. The fare was metered, so there were no surprises.  Uber is a cheaper option, but the fare was reasonable.

The Radisson is the same hotel we stayed in four years ago when we came to Costa Rica with Michael’s family. We used hotel points for the one-night stay. We chose this hotel because it is near the bus station where we got the 6 a.m. bus to Sixaola to cross the border to Panama (Post on that to follow).

After we arrived at the Radisson, we dropped off our luggage and took an Uber to the bus station to buy our tickets. The cost of a ticket from San Jose to Sixaola at the time of writing this post is 7375.00 colones (roughly $14). We forgot to get cash out at the ATM upon arrival in Costa Rica and the Mepe bus ticketing center does not accept credit cards.

Having to hunt for an ATM worked out well because when we were walking to the ATM we found a park. The boys got to play for a while and then we walked to dinner near the park.

Dinner was delicious. We ate at a small restaurant called Fritanga Patricia. We had plates of chicken and pork with rice and beans and plantain chips. Henry had a drink that tasted like melon and he said it “blew his mind” (and even did the mind-blown hand gesture). The entire meal cost USD 23.

Henry kept asking why the city looked old and dirty.  It was an opportunity to talk to Henry about cities and how cities can be different. Seeing where and how other people live and learning about other cultures is one of the reasons why we are doing this.

Lucas spent the night looking at Google Maps and telling us how many stars the restaurants and hotels had on the map. Geography and navigation lessons.

We wish we knew more Spanish (we are working on it), but we are getting by. Having google translate is helpful, but I feel like we are cheating.

If you speak Spanish and learned it at an older age, what worked best for you?

If you have kids who learned Spanish on the road, how did you immerse them while traveling?

Bettering Ourselves

One thing we quickly confirmed is how sheltered we all are. The fear, prejudice, and distrust that are engrained in us in the United States will be challenging to overcome. That bias, unconscious or not, is real and it is strong. If we want to have meaningful interactions and experiences, we must reprogram our thoughts and beliefs.

Many of our family and friends are worried for our safety on this trip. We appreciate the concern. There are risks in traveling anywhere in the world, including places within the U.S., but part of that fear stems from the prejudice we are taught from a young age about things and people that are different from us. The negative media coverage in the U.S. that is given to much of the world does not help.

I keep thinking that this is a great learning experience for the boys, but now I see that it is also an important learning experience for Michael and me.

How do we raise our boys to transcend and be better than we are?

This is only day one and our minds are blown like we just had a melon drink for the first time.