Costa Rica

Lately, I have run into many friends who are talking about Costa Rica.  I don't know if I'm hypersensitive to the country because I have been there or if people are going there because they know it is safe because I went there for an extended period of time.  I feel like it is the latter.  I don't know Spanish fluently, but I made it.  People in this area think they know Spanish enough to make it in a Latin country.

Language
First of all, there is a language barrier.  I have studied Spanish for years and I could not do day to day things because I could not communicate my ideas.  I caught a bacterial bug on the third day of my program and I couldn't eat or sleep.  I had to try to tell a pharmacist what was wrong and used various translators.  They gave me an over the counter remedy and sent me on the way.  Needless to say, I was sick until my last week.  My housemate got saltwater in her phone on the first weekend we were there and tried to have a technician fix it.  Needless to say, she didn't have a phone almost the entire time we were there.  I played charades with my house mom just to make day to day conversation.  When we tried to go out in the city, it ended up being too much of a hassle to tell her where we were going and when we would be back.  Scheduling taxis to take us and drop us off was also another challenge.

Tourism

Another big misconception is that Costa Rica is all jungle and tropical.  I lived in a dirty city and had to take 6-8 hour bus rides to get to the beach.  Everything is Americanized and not cheap, like people think.  It is like going to any other travel destination, you will spend your money because they know you're American and you have it!

I promote my experience in this beautiful county. Traveling abroad deserves respect and consideration.  Costa Rica is a less wealthy country than America and many people live very differently than we do.