Snow | Rain.
Pine trees | Palm trees.
Classical, easy-listening music | Loud, pelvic-thrusting reggaeton.
Coats | Flip-flops.
Yes, Costa Rica Christmas decorations are everywhere. Of course there are - this is a Catholic-heavy country where locals make the sign of the cross every time they pass a church. But something is wrong about seeing the tawdry, shiny decorations when it is pouring down rain and your hearing the thumping Latin cacaphony blasting out the windows of the 1980s piles of rust racing down the street.
I've been through this before. China didn't exactly give me the same nostalgic feeling I get every year when November comes around. And reasonably so: the official religion is atheism. The decorations they DID have were inaccurate and substandard. That's what you get when you decorate with westerners' factory "leftovers", including posters of Santa hugging giraffes and 'Merry Christmas banners' drawn with bunnies and blue ribbons. But because it was cold, because there was maybe an inch of [acid] snow, and because my friends were all getting into Christmas, it made up for it. It still felt a little bit like my favorite time of year.
Rainforest definitely derails the "happy holiday feelings" that accompany this season for me. However, this is why I move to other countries, right? To experience the culture? I talked with our base's maid, Doña Carmen, last week about the Christmas Season. She said she loves this time of year. She loves the feeling and the weather. Now, I didn't hear the next few things she said as I tried to unscramble my bewilderment of the fact that there is actually a different 'feeling' among a climate that doesn't change, but I think she explained how the air is fresher and there are different flowers this time of year. It's the first full month without rain following the rainy season (a.k.a. winter), and it is tad chillier.
Maybe there is something to Costa Rica's Christmas season. I may not "feel" the same nostalgia of the local Ticos, but there is at least something TO feel. I can adopt it, bright and tacky and all, as my green, flowery, fresh, rainforest Christmas. ¡Pura vida!
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