It’s a big day for our “Maeology” column, which celebrates language and culture in Costa Rica: our first guest post! When Atenas-based writer and Tico Times reader Shannon Farley took a look at our piece “Costa Rica, The Quiz: How Much Has Your Adopted Country Changed You?”, she thought of a few of her own measures of Costa Rican-ness. Fortunately for us, she shared them with us. Come and get ’em, Ticos and wannabe Ticos of the world!
-5 points if you eat rice or beans at least 3 times a week; 10 points if you eat rice AND beans at least 3 times a week; 50 points if you can’t live without rice and beans and eat at least one of them every single day.
-10 points if you own an olla arrocera.
-10 points if you bring your own snacks, lunch, and drinks on a day outing to the beach. 20 points if that includes any of the following: huevos duros, latas de atun, galletas soda, arroz con pollo, Imperial o Pilsen.
-10 points if the first word out of your mouth when surprised by something or someone is: Diay! 20 points if that happens when you are not in Costa Rica.
-5 points each if in the past week you have: parked on the wrong side of the street and thought it was perfectly fine; flashed your lights at an oncoming car to let them know traffic police are ahead; or stopped your car in the middle of the street to talk to a friend not caring about other cars behind you.
-5 points if you purposefully try to finish all errands or appointments before 1:00 p.m. during rainy season.
-10 points if you enjoy a cafecito every day around 3:00 p.m. … “¡la hora de cafe!”
-1 point for every kind of picadillo you know how to make.
-1 point for every juice you know how to make from scratch: cas, guanabana, tamarindo, chan.
-5 points if your world stops whenever La Sele is playing. Subtract 20 points if you have no idea what La Sele is. 50 points if you wear an appropriate shirt or decorate your car on these days.
-20 points if you know what “Quéjese aqui” refers to.
-1 point for every national park you have visited.
-5 points if you keep your car radio tuned to any station playing the national anthem at 7:00 a.m. every morning; 100 points if you can sing along.
-5 points if the commands for your pet dog are in Spanish … and its name.
-1 point for every kind of rain you can name in Spanish.
How’d you do? What questions have we missed? Let us know.
Read more Maeology columns here.
