Putting my time in Costa Rica into words is an unfeasible task. But telling it through the people I met may anoint it more justice. Without trying, the people who surrounded me throughout this trip transformed my viewpoint on what humanity can be.
Despite the infamous “Costa Rica Plague” disseminating through the Class of 2028, I never wanted to return to school more heavily than I did on Sunday night. Three thousand miles has nothing against the links formed in the past week, and I’ve never been more inspired to live than from the hearts of Costa Rica.
Letters for two women, forever different but charmingly aligned, is my greatest attempt to faithfully render the sentiment of this trip.
The first link is Sophia, a helper after our school service and my angelic lunch buddy. Despite the fact she couldn’t comprehend my vegetarianism and I couldn’t say “brown hair” in the right manner, I didn’t leave her side til the bus came.
She convinced me that the beauty of language shows through the youngest members of society, as it does not yet hold the many regulations of speaking as an adult. We talked of her school, sports, and boys. We talked of colors, youth, and sisters. She casually told me of her sister in “el cielo” and translation became irrelevant. Humans became humans, beauty became beauty, and death became death. No adult translation was needed, no tears, no writing – just people.
We exchanged each other’s truths. She left me the hairclip holding me together as I write. I left her three hugs and a piece of my story.
I found my second link like it was a fairytale. She welcomed us into her home and gallery, immediately displaying her work with pride. On the brink of tears, I listened to Ruby tell me everything I could be. She didn’t bother with asking what had gone wrong or what needed to be fixed in our lives. She asked where we were from and where we were going and took it from there.
I was told that who I came from meant I may have a knack for what she spent half her time mastering, all while this lovely woman glimmered from the inside out. Listening to a person share her passion in such a manner was a gift in itself but this inspiring individual left us with the story of her life’s work. She gave us the gift of her experience. We left her with hope for a world of disconnection.
And from these two wonderful women, I took things past the itinerary. I took home promises to keep in touch and inspiration for art. I took stories I will share for the rest of my life.
And most importantly, I took a link with people truly worth living for, just because we all need to see how things turn out.
