Aero: Ana Northrop – Costa Rica 2016 – Life at Home

Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project

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One of the most significant things I noticed about families in Costa Rica is the large amount of love they show publicly.  The children lock arms with their parents or hug them at an older age where here in the U.S it wouldn’t be considered “cool” to do that in public.  Here that could lead to mocking of the child.  To me this is a very special trait the ticos have.

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Ana Northrop

Also, the kids often live with their parents into their 20’s especially if they are attending college. If they do go to college most kids don’t have to have jobs either.  Here most kids are rushing to leave their parents’ house by 18, go to college and work. Maria Marta and Marcos’ sons Daniel and Marco spoke more English than their parents.  They were close in age to us all so we would talk a lot about music, school, what they do for fun and generally how they live their lives.  We had more in common than I thought we would.  It was really chill and I think everyone got acquainted fairly quickly.  Usually Maria and Marco ate after us or separate then we would play games with the boys like Mario Kart and Secret Hitler which was so much fun.

On the last day at the house we had our own pizza party and made homemade pizzas. Maria Marta owns a religious store near her sisters that sells items that I would often see in homes in religious scenes depicting the nativity scene.  I also saw in homes crosses and bibles which to me showed how religion is a major part of life in homes.  By the end of the trip we all felt really comfortable at the house with our host families.  We would all joke around and laugh with, and at each other.  It was sad to leave because of how nice and caring they were about their kids and all of us together. That family is some of the nicest people I have ever met, much like the rest of people I met while there.

Ana Northrop
LEAF Contributor
ML@FLCC: Costa Rica 2016

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