Costa Ricans v. Americans

Before going to visit our new sites, we spent two days in the mountains with our “counterparts.” Our counterparts are the Costa Ricans who will be helping us integrate and who will be supporting us as we begin our work. We did an activity where the “the gringos” (Americans) expressed their impression of “the ticos” (Costa Ricans) and “the ticos” expressed their opinion of “the gringos.” I thought it was pretty HILARIOUS so I am just going to share some of the conclusions.

What GRINGOS think of TICOS:
-women do all the housework
-women wear TIGHT clothes, lots of jewelry and lots of make-up
-women wear high heels for everything (like walking in the mud or a mile on a gravel road)
-they have lots of kids who they take care of alone
-there is ALWAYS coffee
-there is always rice & beans
-there is no concept of time
-men watch tv – mainly soccer
-men have mustaches
-men drink a lot

What TICOS think of GRINGOS:
-wear informal and sloppy clothes – torn pants
-wear dirty tennis shoes or flat ugly sandals no matter the occasion
-always tie a rain coat around waist
-always wear a backpack
-always thinking about where we are going to travel
-always have dictionaries
-we don’t smile and we don’t like jokes
-MUCH BIGGER!
-dance like a broomstick
-TIME IS IMPORTANT! Always thinking about time
-we have a lot of money
-we always have lots of POCKETS on our pants
-always have water bottles
-wear the same thing NO MATTER WHERE WE GO
-lots of suitcases with wheels
-work is #1 priority! Spanish is #2. Travel is #3.
-we always have books

*Clearly these are stereotypes on both accounts. But their view of Americans cracks me up because it is clearly based on the fact that their MAIN connection with Americans is travelers. And of course when Americans travel to Costa Rica they don’t track over the country in their high heels, jewelry and make-up! So it just makes me laugh to think of all of the US walking around in torn jeans, dirty tennis shoes, a backpack and a water bottle at ALL times. Hahahaha….

i´ll put a picture of my counterpart on here soon! i have a really cute one, but someone else took it, so i have to get it from their computer!