Costa Rica...

Costa Rica is a small country located in Central America. It is famous for many different things, such as ecology, tourism and the kindness of the Costa Rican people, but there is also another aspect for which the “ticos” are known for, its culture.

The Costa Rican culture embraces a variety of particularities that may seem strange to foreigners. For example, the way a tico will give you directions to get somewhere is very unique.

Even though most of the streets and avenues have names or numbers, people are not used to them, and they would refer to them using points of reference such as “de la pulperia de la esquina” (from the corner store) or “del antiguo higueron” (from the old fig tree). Let’s say you need to get to the nearest bank agency downtown and you ask someone in the street how to get there. He or she would say: “de aquella esquina que ve alla, camine 200 metros hasta llegar a una casa que tiene tapia blanca, de ahi son como 25 metros para abajo” (meaning from that corner you see over there, walk 200 meters until you reach a house with a white fence, from there it’s around 25 meters down). It will be a miracle if you don’t get lost, especially with the meter amounts. One block, regardless of its measure, will always be 100 meters. So be prepared to ask a lot to get to the bank agency.

            Another peculiar thing about ticos is their sense of time. This does not apply to all Costa Ricans, but there is a concept which is called “la hora tica” (the tico time). Let’s imagine that you would like to meet a friend to go for a cup of coffee and he tells you that he will see you at 3:00pm, “hora tica”. This means he will probably be from to 15 to 20 minutes late, at least. And it is not because he wants to, but most ticos would not be offended for his tardiness, most likely both will get there at the same time.

            Finally, some Costa Ricans tend to leave everything for the last possible minute. Procrastination is a rule for them. For example, on the last days of December you will see huge lines of people trying to pay their car’s registration or “marchamo”. It is very common to wait until the last day to do this. Only a few will pay this as soon as they can.

            But even with its peculiarities, although some of them may be thought of as flaws, the ticos will treat a tourist with a warm smile and respect. So don’t worry if you get lost a couple of times, or if you have to wait a few more minutes to meet someone, they will still make you feel as welcome as if you were home.

by Andrés Brenes