You say goodbye I say hello

That Beatles song is always running through my head here. People say ¨Adios¨ (¨bye¨) when they pass you in the street. Sometimes I´ll say Hola and the response I get is Adios...
Every place that I have gone in Costa Rica there are roosters that begin crowing before the sun rises and little dogs that bark aggressively and right when you think that you might get bitten a woman appears and yells calmly - as if all is normal and your life was never in danger. I´m going to miss this place.

This place has been a really important life experience for me, where I have learned mostly about myself. Here, I often feel that people are too kind, that I could be doing more or working harder, but any effort that I make or work that I do, the people seem so impressed with me. ¨Que valiente¨ they always say. So valiant. I don´t feel so valiant, but soon I will return to my country and the men will no longer constantly be telling me how beautiful I am and the woman will no longer be so incredibly impressed with my will to work outside and my ability to cook and life will be more how I expect it I suppose. I will be normal, not an anomaly.

I´m going to miss the people so much and the simple lifestyle. They buy milk from their neighbors and slaughter their own chickens and walk more than they ride, the showers are never hot, there isn´t glass covering the windows, people very very rarely eat out of the house, clothes are dried by the sun,... This life is rich. Everybody knows one another and greetings are hugs and kisses on the cheek. There is a lot of love in this community.

On my last day my mind is filled with preparations for leaving, loose ends here that need tying, excitement for something new, anticipation for the unknown, and the difficulty of leaving the people that I´ve met here knowing that I will likely never see most of them again, which comes with the desire to make evident how much I really really love them and the seeming inability to convey how strong my feelings are...

Pura vida, twenties, buenísimo, adios Costa Rica