Chapter 6

I SAW A SLOTH. My time here can end and I’ve done all I came to do (not really but pretty darn close). Besides seeing a sloth, I have begun to find a routine in the not knowing whether or not I will have class, take the bus to school, walk, do work, etc. Being a person who really really likes to have a plan this has been rough, however surely a part of the “pura vida” lifestyle that is so deeply cliche yet in many ways true. For example, I have not yet had a complete week of classes, this week will be my fourth in school and I am only going for three days. While I miss the consistency of knowing I have to be at school every day I certainly don’t miss the workload.

A few days ago I learned the origin of the word gringo. For those who don’t know, gringo/a is (in the context I’m aware of) a person, normally American, who is not Latino. For the purpose of clarity and conciseness when I say American I mean someone from the US. A lot of times it's seen as a negative but at this point as a very white American from the USA living in a Latino country it's normal and I simply shrug and nod. The gringo story is a small part of a larger one, Juan Santamaria day which celebrates the Battle of Rivas and is celebrated on April the 11th. I won't explain the whole story; however, the war was essentially brought by American William Walker, a man who had taken over Nicaragua and intended to do the same to Costa Rica in the name of Manifest Destiny. As it goes, or as I was told, the Costa Ricans spoke little English but enough to name the color of the American soldiers in their green army uniforms and what to do when they saw said color. Therefore when the Americans landed the Costa Rican army yelled “green go”, which when mispronounced became gringo. In the end the gringos were defeated but the term is still used to this day pretty much across all of Latino America.

Chapter 7

Chapter 5