Costa Rican Slang: Pachuco y Tiquismos

I've been here for around eight and a half months now in Costa Rica and my Spanish has improved tremendously. I can pretty much communicate with anyone in any given situation sin problema.

Playa Samara, siempre tranquila

Still I don't feel like I'm fluent, and I really want to continue my study of the language - especially more vocabulary and the complex verb tenses (subjunctive and perfect tenses). I do study occasionally at home when I have the time - I'll sit down and open up the dictionary or check out verb conjugations I've been meaning to look at. But hanging out with the locals has made one thing for sure - I've learned a ton of Tico Slang, or Pachuco as they call it here. It's a lot of fun to use, and it definitely makes me feel like less of a foreigner, but this stuff is puro tico, which means most of it only functions here in Costa Rica, so if I go traveling to other Latin countries, I'll be back to square one with the word on the street...

Below is a list of some of my favorite and most popular Tiquismos. This is mostly for those of you who speak Spanish, or people who are coming here or living here now. The only one I can't seem to figure out is why the men say "Adios!" when a pretty girl passes by. It's like saying goodbye when you mean to say hello...don't you want to invite the girl to come talk to you? Or are you just sending her on her way? Maybe boys are just stupid;)

Al chile? - Seriously?

Qué me dice? - What do you say? or What's up?

Que es la vara? - What's the deal?

Solo bueno! - Only good! or It's all good!

Póngale! - Hurry up!

Buena nota - A “cool” person

Nada que ver! - Nothing to see! or No big deal!

Zaguate - A womanizer (literally a mutt or a street dog)

Pura vara! - Lies!

Un pichazo - A large blow or a huge hit of something

Que dicha! - How great!

Por dicha - Fortunately

Profe - A teacher

Blanco - A cigarette

Chinga - A cigarette butt

Jetón - Liar

Me presta una teja? - Lend me a buck?

Que vacilón! - How fun!

Viejo verde - A dirty old man

Zarpe - The last drink or one for the road

Como amaneció? - How did you wake up or how do you feel this morning?

Jueeeeee...puta! - daaaaaaamn! or son of a bitch! (comes from hijo de puta or hijueputa)

Upe! – Hello, is there someone there? Anybody home?

Que despiche! - What a mess! or What a good time!

Que quería, galleta María? - What do you want, a cookie?

Meter yucas - To tell lies

Media naranja - Your better half, or perfect mate

Estar puros dieces – To feel great (literally to be at pure tens)

Agarrar el mensaje - To get the hint or idea

Clavo - A problem (literally a nail)

No se monte! - Don’t mess with me!

Tumba la vara! - Stop bothering me!

Hay gente para todo – There is a fool for everything

Vaya busca brete! - Go get a job!

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View from Punta Islita

In other news, Semana Santa provided a nice week of vacation, with perhaps a little too much guaro (that's the Costa Rican National Liquor, but the word is also used to refer to any form of alcohol in general). The trip to Samara was wonderful - a stunning drive (on the QUAD!) through country roads with beautiful ocean views and stops at secluded beaches. It was great to see my good friends there and the fiestas civicas were in full effect when we arrived - rodeos every night, amusement rides, street style tico food, and a mix of fun music ranging from musica ranchera (traditional Guanacasteco) to salsa and merengue, and of course a good bit of reggae and reggaeton...gotta love it!

Fiestas Civicas, Samara 2010

Back in Montezuma and Mal Pais, the full moon party/live reggae night at D&N (aka Tabu) last Monday was a blast! I spent the next three days recuperating, reorganizing, and planning for my April classes. It felt great to actually not leave Cabuya for a few days...super tranquilo! I took solo walks along the beach and cleared my head a bit after what felt like a month of non-stop action and fun. Now it feels good to be starting back with classes, although it seems attendance may be dropping a bit (I was warned many times about this). Finally found some speakers for my iPod (they were actually only ten bucks!) so I will be incorporating some music and listening activities soon.

Marisol & I at the Rodeo















Amigos Ticos in Samara
















Happy April everybody!

Charlando de Cafecito (Coffee Talk)

You know you live in Costa Rica when...

You can't wait to take a cold shower to wash off the layers of dust and sunscreen and sweat from a day at the beach and a few rides on a quad.

You catch yourself craving gallo pinto in the morning even though you've already eaten rice and beans every day that week.

It's totally normal for your students to arrive to class 10, 20 or even 30 minutes late with no apologies.

Rio Miguelon

The big decision you have to make most often is where to spend your free time between this beach or that beach, a waterfall, a river, an island, or a national park.

Your typical night out involves buying your drinks at a store and drinking on the street just outside the bar, and then going inside the bar to dance to a mix of salsa and reggaeton.

You frequently speak in Spanglish with no conscious effort.

You get really excited when you see a cheese like feta or gorgonzola on the menu at a local restaurant, and you feel a huge sense of achievement when you locate a grocery store that sells soymilk.

You're not phased by creepy crawly things even if they fly down your shirt, and giant iguanas and howler monkeys seem as normal as squirrels running around in the trees.

The Chilean boxed wine they sell in the corner stores becomes an acceptable choice of beverage (so do pre-mixed Cuba Libres sold in cans).

You are blown away by the kindness and hospitality of the locals who invite you into their homes for a fresco (fresh fruit drink) or a cafecito (little cup of coffee), and stop whatever they're doing to sit and talk (and laugh) with you...pura vida!

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Playa Montezuma

Todo bien aqui, everything is good here, just getting into the teaching/planning routine and riding around a lot on the quad! I got the good news from ALIARSE that I can stay here teaching through the end of the year (till mid December) and I'm so happy! It's so nice to know I'll be here for a while and I can really settle in. It's also unbelievably exciting to know that I will get to see the progress my students will make over the course of an entire year. They will be speaking English so much better by then and it will feel like such an accomplishment, really getting to see and experience their improvement. I'm so thankful for this opportunity!

Teaching is going good. I've got five full classes in Santa Teresa and the students are great, very interested in learning. We have fun but we also work hard on grammar and pronunciation. I have around 70 students in my five classes in Santa Teresa (a lot of new names to remember, like Anayancy, Yadira, Crislay, Nubia, and Dago for example), and I'm expecting to have at least 100 in total between all of my seven groups. My two classes in Montezuma began this past week and there weren't too many students, but I know more will come this week. It's tough to get the word out around here. It's also tough to have new students coming in who missed the first lessons because I don't want to repeat too much, but it should be fine once we get going. The new classes went well, although they are each four hour time blocks which is a lot to plan for. I'm still figuring out how to plan for so much time and how to know which activities will take more time than others. The other issue is keeping everyone busy and learning when you have mixed abilities in one classroom. I'm working on ways to keep the quicker students busy while I help the more true beginners to catch on.

My Costa Rica Plates!

RUBI (mi cuadra) is freaking awesome, she has totally changed and enhanced my life. I couldn't be happier with my purchase and my gear shifting is getting smoother every day!

Julia from ALIARSE came to town this weekend for a volunteer visit. We met with the local partners and discussed the program's objectives as well as our own feelings and concerns, but the meetings felt more like casual visits with friends. We rode all over the place on the quad and Julia had no complaints about the bumpy rides and my less than perfect driving (thanks J for being a good guinea pig). It was super fun having a friend in town to explore with and we had a few incredibly delicious meals together: the first night at the Panaderia (Bakery) in Cabuya and then the best pizza in town at my friend Juan's restaurant on Saturday. Que rico!

Julia & I - Playa Carmen

Very excited that more friends will be coming to visit soon...some friends from Samara are coming next weekend and my girl Merideth from ATL is coming the following week. I can't wait to give them all tours of my area and surprise them with a jump off that 15 meter waterfall! This also means I've got a lot of work to do this week preparing my lesson plans...I want to have everything basically set up for the rest of the month ASAP! Hopefully I can pull it off and I won't have to do too much out of the classroom work while my visitors are here.

I also plan on returning to Samara the weekend of the 26th for the start of Semana Santa (Easter week holidays here - I have off). There are fiestas starting on the 25th in Samara with salsa dancing and rodeos all set up in the streets! It will probably be a bit crowded but super fun...and I can't wait to see my sweet mamatica Marisol and go dancing at one of the best bars on the peninsula, Tabanuco. YAYER!

More to come soon, thanks for reading and I hope spring comes soon for all of you people back home in the States!