Aqui estoy...

Here I am, back in Costa Rica (where DID that last year go??). Six times now in the past six years have I flown from the Pacific Northwest into San Jose airport. I was reminiscing yesterday of the first time we flew in...how young I was...and what a different person I am today.

There is something special about coming back to a place and a people that is familiar...I overheard some female tourists, not much older than me, chatting about their new adventure of coming to Costa Rica. The flight from Dallas to San Jose, they were reading their travel guides and cramming their last minute spanish into their brains (I definitely was in their shoes 6 years ago).

But I had to laugh at some of the comments (ones I probably made at one point too): "Did you know that they sometimes use "adios" to mean 'hello' as well as 'good bye'?", one young lady queried. (They don't, it's just used for good bye). "Oh, that's like 'aloha' in Hawaii I guess", her friend responded. (True of Hawaii I hear; not true of Costa Rica).

I could have stepped in, I guess, let them know the truth. But hey, part of the adventure is figuring this stuff out on your own. I do wish I could be there to hear this girl greet her desk clerk at the hotel with a confident "adios!" :)