some things I've learned

1. I am bad at Spanish. Anyone reading this blog--if you know anything about Spanish--will not find that insight terribly earthshattering. The only verb I seem to remember in the past tense is "went" which I keep using when I mean "was" and, well, enough said.

2. If you have a fairly flat roof (most are, here) and it's made of metal (most are), then you can hold it down in strong winds by putting big rocks on it.

3. Lizards are our friends.

4. April seems to be beetle season. Some fly. (Can beetles fly? If not, what are those awful creatures?) I don't mind bugs in general, but these big ones tend to fly and then suddenly fall, often upon me, sometimes in my bed, and I find this grotesque. The possibility exists that I experience the same beetle over and over again as I can't bring myself to kill them (not out of humanitarian impulses but because I couldn't stand the crunch) and so I carry them outside. Do understand that these bugs are at least 1.5 inches long, fat, noisy and constantly coming in my house.

5. Even 9 weeks in Costa Rica isn't quite enough. I haven't made my way to Guanacaste where the beaches are supposed to be fabulous, or to a coffee plantation, or to a volcano where I could see anything. I only went to San Jose briefly a few times (mostly to the bus stations). And I would have liked to get to know more Costa Ricans.

6. The people here are truly kind and generous, patient with gringas who stumble around in their language and culture.

7. I can live on my own. I'd never done it before, and now I feel pleased to know I could do it again.

8. I'd prefer not to live alone. I am a talker, it turns out, and lack a certain ability to entertain myself.

9. I can stop my list at nine instead of charging ahead to number ten. But I won't.

10. This experience has been completely worthwhile.