The Golden Key to the Idiosyncrasies of Costa Rica Culture.

Not being able to report on the beautiful weather on such an un-beautiful day, the team at Costa Rica Pages has been racking their brains about the weird and wonderful daily happenings that make up our lives in Costa Rica. Here are some of our findings!

Culinary delights: it will not take you long to get just a little bit fed up of the never ending chicken, beans and rice. What was that? Mm hm: more chicken, beans and rice. Wholesome and belly warming though they may be, those seeking a change will be thrilled to find out that McDonald’s and Burger King do home delivery. All of the normal nutritious delights are on offer, with the McPinto as a local addition: that is, Gallo Pinto, McDonald’s stylee. (Translation: egg and – oh yes – beans and rice.)

Naming the kids: bring on equality and female empowerment! Children in Costa Rica take both their father’s and their mother’s last name, albeit with the father’s name first. Middle names will often be publicly displayed too, meaning that a Costa Rica business card could read something like: Randy Roberto González Rodríguez. You will see this abbreviated too, either to Randy Roberto González R. or simply (well, more simply) Randy González R. Somewhat clearer, now? While the name Pablo Ramirez Ramirez may now elicit some snickers, note that just like the Smiths of the United States and England, this does not mean that their parents were closely related.

Road-trip: trekking through Costa Rica in a vehicle is just not easy. Although containing over 35,000 km of highways, a meagre 12% are actually paved. With six months of rain, rain, rain, if your Travel to Costa Rica falls between May-October, road travel will be tricky. Onto some road language: in England, speed bumps are referred to as “sleeping policeman”, but it seems those coppers would not fair well here in Costa Rica. The slang is muertos, the translation being: “dead people”. Ooh-er!

Matters of cleanliness: for those with their sights set on sweet romance in Costa Rica, you shall be pleased to know that Ticos treat cleanliness with a high order of gravity. Visit their house and you shall not find a speck of dust. In addition, every Costa Rican must have a desk drawer, because that desk drawer is home to a toothbrush. Before breakfast, after breakfast, and a further two or three times do these Costa Ricans clean their teeth: yes, be prepared for a minty fresh first kiss if you get lucky with a Tico.

Just plain strange: forget a nod in the right direction or that oh-so-rude finger point. Directions will be given to you in Costa Rica with a pout of the lips. Think of blowing a kiss but without the final lip smack. I can assure you this is true, having fallen about in heaps of giggles when my boss “lip-pointed” at an imaginary plant and my other colleague turned his head asking “where!?”. Continuing on this sweet theme, Costa Ricans do not refer to their “other half”, but rather, their media naranja – the, uh, other half of their orange.

Additions appreciated!

This post's rating:

Related Stories

Filed under: Living, Tico on October 28th, 2008