tourists to the left, travellers to the right

Costa rica is one of the few countries that has both the carribean and pacific ocean on its coasts. Along most of the Caribbean coast you'll see very simple homes some with no walls, open air and very basic construction with thin tin roofs. There are no large hotels or high-rises. Life definitely has a laid-back Afro-Caribbean atmosphere, where everyone is relaxed and enjoying themselves. Nobody is in a hurry and you can easily spend 2 hours enjoying a meal (or stressing because you want to finish and head to the beach but your bill hasn't arrived...I experienced both, I must admit.) The restaurant and shop owners aren't trying to greedily make money like they are in the States. You can rent a bike for $2.50 for the entire day, even in peak season. What you don't get done today, you may not do tomorrow either, especially if the weather is nice. Plans change according to the weather, which is a nice reminder of who's the boss. Most if not all of the lodging are small cabinas, tents or bungalows on the beach, and simple two-level eco-friendly houses.

A friend of ours was travelling on the west coast during the same time. Her opionion was that it was overrun with tourists and that she didn't feel as if she was experiencing another culture. She had no trouble avoiding using Spanish and spent U.S. dollars everywhere she went. In the small, coastal town we visited most places didn't take credit cards and I surely felt like an asshole many times for not being able to speak Spanish (other than "lo siento, mi español soy muy malo.") The Pacific coast has lots of resorts with swimming pools, guided tours on luxurious yachts, shopping and lots of family fun for tourists.

Almost all of Costa Rica's black citizens live along the Caribbean coast. They came from from Jamaica to build the Atlantic Railroad or later to work the banana plantations. Because of this, there is lots of really good Carribean food to devour. My favorite thing was eating fried plantains. (I crave patacones right now!) The original inhabitants of Costa Rica are the Bribri. The Bribri people have maintained an indigenous culture on the Talamanca reservation in the town of Bribri. We didn't get a chance to visit the reservation, but our friend Joe did. He got to meet a 106 year old man, who he said appeared to be in his 80s. He also smoked something special out of a papaya. Cool!

Unfortunately at the end of our trip, when we arrived in San Jose exhausted on New Years Eve, we were almost robbed by some fake cab drivers. Be careful when you are approached by cab drivers offering rides---this is true even in American cities. The young gentleman first tried to get us to stay at another hotel (to get a comission, I'm sure) and then after safely arriving at our hotel (thank you for not raping and killing us!) a smiling man on the sidewalk (his accomplice, unbeknownst to us) took my luggage inside for me. Luckily, the hotel front desk was watching and kicked the guy out rescuing our luggage. Ooops, our bad! Other than that minor incident, we felt very safe the entire stay in Costa Rica.

Necesito aprender cómo hablar español de modo que pueda ser un viajero mejor.