Soy una gringa en
camino.
I’ve dreamed for years of going abroad as more than just a
tourist. I’m now about to embark on the first of what I hope will be many such
adventures. My specific longing to see Costa Rica began when I was 6 years old.
My first grade teacher had a son-in-law from Costa Rica. She would tell us
marvelous stories and had a plethora of photographs to show her wide eyed
pupils of this magical, tropical land so different from the Colorado Rockies
and plains on which I grew up. I’ve wanted to visit ever since.
Now here I am on the eve of leaving my beloved Whitworth, in
the much despised perpetual snow of Spokane and I’m getting a little bit anxious
and nostalgic. This adventure I’ve dreamed of for ¾ of my 21 years has now
become a daunting and rapidly approaching event. I’ve been abroad twice, but
never been outside of my comfort zone. Mexico and the Caribbean hardly count
when you stay in English speaking resorts or cruise ships. I’ve never had to
flounder in a completely new culture. So, of course, the anticipation is
killing me. So many emotions bottled in one person!
But I’m keeping my head up. I know that many adventures
await me in Costa Rica. I’ll go there as a complete gringa, speaking only the Spanish
I’ve learned in school, and knowing only the things I’ve read in books. The
colloquialisms, the idiomatic phrases, the food, the bus system, the climate,
the social life; I’ll have to relearn it all. I’m a gringa, but I know that I’ll
soon change. I intend to own my gringa-ness. I’ll go in with humility. I have
much to learn from a family who doesn’t speak my language, knows of my culture
only from Hollywood, and for some reason has still signed up to deal with a 21-year-old
kid in culture shock, and the severe language barrier that will ensue. I’ll
repay this kindness with my willingness to learn, to try, to improve, and to
understand. I’ll try to become more than I am.
So I am a girl en route. Soy una gringa en camino.
I know that I have much to learn, not only about Costa Rica,
or Spanish, or politics, but most importantly about myself. I’m a girl on a
journey. I’ll start out tomorrow with my last goodbyes, a wide-eyed gringa embarking
on an adventure of self-discovery. I’ll be making a memorable stop in the cloud
Rainforests of Costa Rica, while I’m en camino.
