The Art of Costa Rica Expat Living

I’ll have to admit that sometimes life in Costa Rica gets under my gringo skin. You see, we gringos don’t live very contemplative lives for the most part. We don’t have time to, or at least we don’t take the time to.

There’s simply too much to do, too much money to make, too much pressure to bear, and too little time to stop and smell the roses.

That go go until your gone attitude is what built our country into the economic power it still is, right?

I think one of the greatest culture shocks for a gringo trying to adapt to Costa Rica life is that here things are just different. Here the saying goes that “hay mas tiempo que vida”…or, that there is more time than life.

Here things get done not “on time”, but when they, well, get done. It can be, to put it mildly, frustrating for the gringo with that go go attitude. The tico’s response to that frustration would be, well then, grin-go-home.

Gradually I’ve begun to adapt. To walk (and drive) slower, be friendlier, notice things, take my time, learn how to be patient, and to enjoy the present moment rather than always “time-traveling” into the future. Believe me, old gringo habits are hard to break, but I’m coming around more and more these days.

Getting the heck out of San Jose, like I did some 8 years ago, and moving to San Isidro de El General (or Perez Zeledon), in the southern zone, a place where the “pura-vida” culture is as alive and well as anywhere, has certainly helped.

Some time ago we fixed up an apartment we rented adjacent to our house to be used for my wife’s salon (or, “peluquería”, as they are generally called here). We hired my good tico friend, David Picado, to paint a mural on a wall where Lily intended to install a small garden.

Now David is the quintessential tico. He’s never in a hurry to do anything. Slow and deliberate is his manner. When will it get done? Well, when it’s done. And the end result is always very nice.

If you think about art in general, the artist performs his work slowly and deliberately, with great focus on the present moment. It’d be downright impossible to perform a great work of art, a masterpiece, by rushing to the end, wouldn’t it?

Of course, we all adore the accolades that reaching the end can bring. But those delightful end results might just never arrive if we focus too much on them, and ignore the process that gets us there.

In that sense, their way is a more artful way to live life.

I’ve gradually come around to accepting that fact. And to realize the importance of focusing more on the art of Costa Rica expat living.

Here’s a little more tico artistry from my friend David “Chino” Picado…un muchacho muy talentoso…