Two hermanas in Costa Rica
Anna:
The continents collided
with a vengeance, launching volcanoes that sent
molten rock flowing down their sides to cool into islands in the ocean.
Or so I read as we flew
south, following the long leg of Mexico down
into Central America on our journey toward Costa Rica.
The islands built and
merged, until they formed one continuous land
bridge connecting North and South America. At three million years
old, Costa Rica is only barely older than humanity, and the country
served as the junction of two well developed floras and faunas.
Here, thousands of North and South American species intermingled,
interacted, merged. It was this center of biodiversity I had come
to see.
Our journey was my
sister Maggie's first foray out of the United
States, so I should have been the worldly one, coming to the end of a
full year travelling around the world. But I was terrified of
Central America, writing in my journal fears of being "robbed, raped,
and killed." On our first days in Costa Rica, all I thought about
was survival.
Maggie:
My
expectations were not very clear entering into this foreign land.
I did not know what Costa Rica would be or
how it would change me. Looking back
with perspective, I see that I was a tourist and trespasser at first.
Only later, after gazing into the eyes of a
girl on the bus to Monteverde, did I put on my new (Vietnamese)
sombrero and
become Peace Pilgrim, the explorer.
3-2-01
“I
spent an hour or so watching an
extremely cute little girl. She sat in
front of Anna and me, balancing on front of the seat back. She
ate chips and talked to the two blond
bunned ladies behind her… The girl’s
face was very expressive and almost always smiled.”
I
crashed into this new
land speaking bad Spanish and misinformed about so many things.
I used the word “American” to distinguish
myself from the locals, even
though their continent was Central America.
I was shocked to see so many “American” things, when what I
meant was “Western
brands”. After a point, however, I
stared into their eyes enough that I was immersed. I
became a pilgrim or an explorer in this
beautiful land.
I
write
about the politics of Costa Rica (and the economy), but before coming
to Costa
Rica, I had never traveled abroad, nor had I experienced poverty to
this
degree. I remember how scary and
invigorating it was for me to ride on that bus to Monteverde.
It went fast down unpaved mountain
roads. When you are a passenger on a
moving bus though, there is little you can do to control how or where
you land.
Want
to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the
RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed.
