{"id":3411,"date":"2018-05-29T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T14:50:42","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T18:50:42","slug":"so-your-character-is-from-costa-rica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/so-your-character-is-from-costa-rica\/","title":{"rendered":"So Your Character is From Costa Rica … Featuring Hannah Costello @ Que What Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"


<\/span>
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n


<\/span> It’s time for this week’s So Your Character is … Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last week’s  So Your Character is from Hawaii … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!<\/span>
\n
<\/span> Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.<\/span>
\n
<\/span> (None of the Images are Mine)<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>Originally from Canada, Hannah (15) now lives on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, about half <\/span>an hour inland, almost in General Valley. You can find her playing with her cats, chickens and goats, reading, or talking to her friends online. When she isn\u2019t catching up on her homeschooling, that is. She has a twin brother, as well as a younger one, who are a constant irritation, but she loves them. She is attempting to learn Spanish through full immersion. And if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she\u2019ll say \u201ca writer,\u201d even though she has barely written anything. <\/span>
\nBlog<\/a>\/\/Twitter<\/a><\/span>
\n
<\/span>
<\/span> What do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?<\/b><\/span>
\nThe volcanoes and gorgeous beaches are obvious landmarks. There is a mountain range in the middle of the country. Mount Chirripo being the tallest of the peaks, is the only place in the country to ever receive snow, though it does not stay on the ground. Arenal and Turrialba are probably the most recognized volcanoes and the most active up until recently. Playa Ballena is a national park in Uvita (a small town on the Pacific coast) with one of the most beautiful beaches. This is one among many protected reserves and parks around the country. <\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mount Chirripo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Playa Ballena<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Turrialba <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The celebrations that I think of are the Independence Day celebrations and the indigenous Boruca tribe\u2019s Dia De Los Diablitos, in which the young men in the tribe wear masks they make themselves, and run around the village chasing another man dressed as a bull. There are mock bullfights, which the bull always loses, to represent the fact that the Boruca tribe was never conquered by the Spanish. This is only one of seven indigenous tribes in the country. <\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n


<\/span> Tell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?<\/span><\/b><\/span>
\nBeing so close to the equator, Costa Rica does not get winter, instead, what we get is a rainy season. From May \u2018til mid-November is typically cooler, more overcast and with more rainfall than the other half of the year, the dry season. Most mornings, pretty much year-round, are sunny; the sun is intense. In the dry season, the sun stays all day, most days. During the wet season, it is almost inevitable that you will get the heaviest rainfall you have ever seen, every afternoon. <\/span>
\n
<\/span> We love going to the beach, the ocean is at room temperature, and beaches here are so plentiful, they are usually near empty, unlike the crowded beaches of North America during the summer. <\/span>
\n
<\/span> I also absolutely love the city of San Isidro De El General, which is the city nearest us. It is not a tourist attraction so it is full of ticos and presents the real flow of life that you only get when you\u2019ve been living here a while. The city has a wonderful and authentic feel to it. <\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
San Isidro De El General<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Tell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?<\/span><\/b><\/span>
\nThe food here is actually kind of bland, but I love it, nonetheless. <\/span>
\n
<\/span> A typical lunch or dinner dish is called a \u2018casado.\u2019 This is rice, beans, meat, vegetables, with a side of some sort (cooked plantain, \u2018picadillo\u2019, etc.). This is the typical meal for anyone, it\u2019s what people make at home, it\u2019s super cheap at a restaurant. In a restaurant, you can pick your meat and the vegetable will usually be a salad. At a \u2018soda\u2019 (a small, usually family-run restaurant or snack stop), you might simply order a casado and they will bring you whatever meat and vegetables they happen to have in the kitchen that day. <\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
casado<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A typical breakfast is \u2018<\/span>gallo pinto\u2019, or simply \u2018pinto\u2019, a mix of rice and beans, spices and cilantro, served with eggs, bacon, or whatever side you want. <\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gallo pinto<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

My favorite snacks here are empanadas (a corn-flour pancake, filled with beans, cheese, or meat, folded and sealed into a pocket, and deep-fried), and <\/span>patacones (plantain bananas which are deep-fried, squashed into pancakes, deep-fried again, and used as chips). <\/span>
\n\u2018Lizano\u2019 is the name of the sauce used as a seasoning in everything, including pinto. <\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
patacones<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Tell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as \u201cbiscuits\u201d instead of \u201ccookies\u201d?<\/span><\/b><\/span>
\nPeople here call themselves \u2018ticos.\u2019 I have read that this originated from the word \u2018hermantico\u2019 which means \u2018little brother,\u2019 in this way, everyone in the country is affectionately called brothers and sisters. Ticos like to add the suffix \u2018-ito\u2019 to things, making them \u2018little.\u2019 \u2018Agua\u2019 (water) becomes \u2018aguita\u2019, \u2018ahora\u2019 (now) becomes \u2018ahorita.\u2019 This does not change the meaning of the words, usually, it just makes them more affectionate and slang-y. <\/span>
\nThe word \u2018ma\u00f1ana\u2019 literally translates to \u2018tomorrow,\u2019 but here is just means, \u2018not today,\u2019 any time in the near future is acceptable. Same goes for \u2018ahora\u2019 meaning \u2018now.\u2019<\/span>
\n
<\/span> The language here is much faster, slurrier, and slangier than the Spanish spoken in Spain. Spaniards enunciate more clearly and speak more formally than ticos do. If you tried to speak Costa Rican Spanish to a Spaniard, they would likely not understand what you were saying, or at least not all of it. You would have to slow down and enunciate more properly, as well as use more of the formal forms of words. <\/span>
\n
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n