News from Costa Rica Sept.29, 2008
The trip to Cahuita
For the trip to Cahuita, I called my friend Luis Diego Araya www.ticorides.com and requested a friendly young man named Gustavo who had been one of the drivers who had escorted us to the hospital during the treatment days. We enjoyed Gustavo’s enthusiasm as he pointed out things of interest and stated his pride in being Costa Rican. He declared his admiration for both past and present leaders who helped to shape the positive direction Costa Rica has taken (dismantling the military, ecotourism, emphasis on education, healthcare, fair employment, etc.). He also pointed out things that could be improved upon, such as a dangerous, above-ground, gas pipeline that runs for many miles through rural and residential areas, right next to the road.
Mid-morning we stopped for brunch at "Dona _____" a restaurant that served the traditional Costa Rican breakfast of beans and rice (w/coconut milk), fried plantain, tortillas, huevos (eggs), and whatever breakfast meats you might desire. They had wonderful exotic juices so I had to try one. They also offered the steaming hot Café con Leche (dark coffee with steaming milk) so I had to have one of those also. When we left I had enough food left over for two more meals and 3 partials drinks for the car. While we were eating, I told Gustavo that it was nice to have such an enthusiastic driver. I recounted that last year my daughter and I had hired a driver to take us to Cahuita and he had been so tired and hung over that I was a little concerned as the trip wore on. Gustavo got a kind of sheepish look on his face and then admitted that he had spent all day, yesterday, at a barbecue at a friend's house. He said that he drank and ate too much but ended up dancing some of it off before hitting the bed about 9:00 pm. He told me he had gotten enough sleep, but he was a little hung over. “No problem”, I offered awkwardly. And that was the end of that discussion.
Gustavo spoke English quite well. We were tipped off that he was a fairly proficient speaker when we first met and he said “My English sucks!” He was actively adding to his vocabulary by learning a new word each day. We spent some time giving him our definitions of words that he couldn’t easily understand such as, pigeon and garbage. We then spent some time discussing the prefix “dis” and how it changes the meaning to become “not” whatever the base word is (but since it is English, we assured him that there were almost always some exceptions to any rule). I enjoyed asking him how to say the phrases I wanted to know in Spanish. We worked on this exchange for most of the trip and we all learned a great deal from one another.
Gustavo was learning to play the guitar and voiced an interest in American music. I shared my CD collection, playing a few songs from each CD so as to give him some exposure to a variety of artists. We ended the trip with R&B Hits of the 60's. Gustavo & I sang loudly while Fred attempted to play his guitar (which proved impossible because of the rutted, dirt road we were traveling on). Upon arriving in Cahuita I offered Gustavo a cold drink and a little time to rest. We were given chairs to sit on in the yard (I was informed later that the locals are usually not allowed on the property and NEVER in the house). It ended up with Fred giving Gustavo an impromptu music lesson and learning to our dismay that our new found friend was going to earn a total of $12 US for 9 hours of his time. We tipped him another $24 and wished him well.