In May 2010 I went to Costa Rica and had the opportunity of living in a beautiful Costa Rican family home. When I arrived at my host mom's house with my backpack and an open mind, I was greeted and welcomed with open arms. This photo was the first view I saw as I entered the front gate of the house. An open concept entry that extends into the backyard; a typical layout of a middle-upper class Costa Rican home.
My apparent fascination with this view led my host mom to give me a tour of her entire backyard. In spanish (our only way of communication; perfect for me as a Spanish student), she pointed out the different kinds of trees and greenery that she had growing out there. She had everything from avocado trees, to lime trees, she even had a banana tree! This being my first trip outside of North America, I found this incredibly fascinating. Three of my favourite fruits in the world, and this woman was lucky enough to have them all growing in her backyard.
Apart from the plant life and beautiful flowers, there were a few other things living back there too! This is where her two pugs spent the majority of their time; what dog wouldn't be content with this living space!
The other moment I will never forget was what happened while I was exploring the backyard before my host mom gave me the official tour. I was out playing with the dogs shortly after arriving to the house and I heard someone saying "HOLA!" (spanish for Hello). I could tell it was coming from outside and I could here some voices from the neighbours above and to the left of me, but I couldn't see anyone. I continued playing with the dogs and heard it again... "HOLA". I still didn't see anyone, but I said Hola back. Feeling a little puzzled not knowing who I was speaking with, I ventured back to the entry of the house and then my host mom wanted to show me her backyard. The first thing she showed me was her pet parrot! As we approached the parrot, I finally realized who I was essentially talking to. I couldn't help it, so I burst out laughing and then had to tell my new host mom what had happened. She got a kick out of that story and it made for a good icebreaker into her home.
This was only the beginning of my Costa Rican cultural experience, and it was a fantastic start to my amazing adventure!
I think these photos are more examples of what we were talking about in class today or representative of a reality. Although that is true about all photos, your description of the photo and the story behind it is what really struck me. No one will ever feel the same way about these photos, not even your host mom. Because I have no connection to them, I believe you when you say they are photos from Costa Rica because I feel like I have no need to question them unlike photos we may see in the media or on the internet that we may be more likely to critique.
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