Aero: Kelly Bailey – Costa Rica 2016 – City Life

Aero: Kelly Bailey - Costa Rica 2016 - City Life

Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project

The cities of Costa Rica and Nicaragua were amazing and beautiful. Every house was a different bright color, and at the center of each village was a giant church or maybe two. This churches seemed to be always filled with pious people. In the church in Grecia we watched a woman on her knees starting from the very back of the church and inch her way forward slowly to show respect and repentance.

Kelly Bailey

Kelly Bailey

The Cities never seemed to sleep, no matter the hour people would be just hanging out in the streets. Another popular place to hangout was in the central square which is usually positioned on the east side on the church. Despite the fact most stores closed at 9PM everyone would still be sitting in the park or out on the streets like Mayra and Pablo.

Another aspect of the city was the beggars. In Costa Rica beggars were less common I believe simply because the standard of living is higher. Still both countries had children, disabled, and elderly people who would come up to you with their hands outstretched. One of the tour guides from Nicaragua told us some parents will take their children out of school and make them beg because they will make more money than they could.

Electricity was inconsistent. Sometimes Mayra would switch the fuses so only certain parts of the house would have power. She frequently did this when she was cooking and at night time. This may have been to try conserve power or to just make sure the power was strong in the places that she wanted it to be. I feel as though we take on consistent power for granted and I would hat not being able to turn the heat up because the power wasn’t working. In Costa Rica they don’t use hot water heaters instead they heat their water electrically. As I mentioned the electricity is not the most reliable. So, at Mayra’s I had one warm shower. I had many theories about why the water never got hot. Now I believe it is because the electrical part of the house which the heater must have been attached too was switch off.

Modern Languages @ FLCC: Costa Rica Study Abroad 2016

Kelly Bailey
LEAF Contributor
ML@FLCC: Costa Rica 2016