Beach Blues

Now that a fresh mango, papaya and pineapple are commingling at a fruit-themed mixer in my stomach, I feel as though my initiation into the Costa Rican lifestyle is complete. The Costa Rican locals differ so much from one to the next that I find them more challenging than a 4x4 Rubik's cube to figure out. Understandably, they take more kindly to tourists attempting to speak their native Spanish with them. Today I met an exception to this, however, when a man in a convenience store persisted on speaking English with me despite my protesting like a four-year-old mid-tantrum.

Another observation- Americans here stick out not like sore thumbs, but like throbbing thumbs that have just been obliterated by those old-school anvils from Looney Tunes cartoons. That, my friend, is not a thumb you want to see. Generally, the dead giveaway is their footwear or overall dress code accompanying their pasty complexions and light hair. Foreign travel changes ones thoughts about their fellow countrymen immensely. Whereas in the United States the thought of a stereotypically rude New Yorker makes me cringe, seeing one here could provoke me to run over to him with open arms.

While staying in this tourist trap of a town, I have developed an enviable skill set. First, food is so overpriced to take advantage of tourists lacking common sense. Instead of paying more for a meal than I would for a dinner at a 5 star-rated Yelp restaurant, non-matinee movie and top-shelf drinks back home, I forced my stomach to shrink from sheer starvation, concentration camp style. I spent the majority of the day in a hunger-induced state of delirium, and only after half a salad filled me up did I realize the size of my new mini stomach. My new Canadian friend and I discovered an all-you-can-eat breakfast place for only around $4 and have been dreaming about it all day and night.

The beach no longer appeals to me after two days. My hotel room is covered with sand to the point where it is in places I don't know how it could squeeze into. I'm ready for the city tomorrow, but not the 4 hour drive to get back....