Once we arrived in Costa Rica, I quickly learned one thing: the way
of life is different here. I know, I
know- my skills in observation are astoundingly deep. More than learning life is different here; I
learned how quickly we adapt to those differences. The most immediate example of this difference
is that walking is a way of life here.
I have been to churches in Oklahoma that have shuttle systems for
the people who have to park on the outskirts of society at the ends of the
parking lot. You get picked up by the
stretch limousine of golf carts (a cartousine if you will) and driven like
royalty to the front door. You get to
wave at all of your friends while you ride by as a king would wave at his
peasants from his chariot. I am not
knocking that in the least. But, it is
interesting that my apartment is basically at the edge of a large Assemblies of
God church parking lot. The walk is
about the same as at large churches in the States. While I was in the States, I would have been
bummed that I had to park on the edge of Pluto (which is now, and forever will
be, a planet!). Especially as there was
no cartousine to charter me back to civilization. I used the cartousine before and I’ll do it
again. However, for now Angela and I
decided we wanted to attend a different church, so every Sunday we walk half a
mile to the bus stop, ride it for about 15 minutes, walk another ¼ mile to
church, and then repeat the process to come home.
In the final few months leading up our departure from the United States,
we lived in Mustang, Oklahoma. My sister
was about ¼ mile from my house, the snow cone stand about 1 mile, and a grocery
store just under 1 ½ miles. If I went to
any of those places, I was driving. If I
needed to go to get something I had left at my sisters, it was necessary
for me to drive there, because I only
had 30 minutes before I needed to start doing something else. The ONLY reason to walk to the snow cone
stand is because we had an evening free, the dogs would enjoy the walk, and
Angela wouldn’t feel as unhealthy if she walked two miles to go drink 2 cups of
liquid sugar rather than driving. But to
walk to the store was just idiotic. Why
on earth would someone walk that far knowing they are going to have to walk
back carrying a whole bag of groceries?
Now that we are in Costa Rica, the nearest grocery store is about ½
mile away from where we live now. Even
if we had a car, it would be ridiculous to me to even think of driving
there. I will walk a half mile there and
back, uphill both directions (downhill both directions too), carry the
groceries all the way back during my hour break between classes, and not even
think about it twice. It is common practice
for the entire city. Granted, the roads
are not as nice as Oklahoma. To take a
taxi at the wrong time of day here could mean it will take 30 minutes to get 1
mile as a result of the old road system and massive influx of traffic since
they were built. It is true it probably
is quicker and easier to walk for the short trips than it is to take a
vehicle. But, even when congested
traffic isn’t a concern, it is interesting how quickly my mind has changed from
“why would I not drive there?” in the United States to “we would only be on the
bus for a mile. Let’s just save the
$1.50 bus fare and walk.”
I feel like I’m supposed to reveal the epiphany I had as a result of
this post…I guess this is it. We as
people take advantage of the conveniences our life affords us. There is nothing wrong with that. Everyone does. Unfortunately- for Americans, many times that
means life has afforded us the ability to be pampered. I am not saying we are lazy at all. We work hard, we are just pampered. From only walking 39 steps and then a short
drive to be at the grocery store to being able to buy canned diced tomatoes at
that store (ask Angela about that), we live a pampered life in the states. It is interesting to see life outside our
box.
Cory
