Before I left for Costa Rica a friend of mine gave me a traveler’s journal to record my experiences. I’m not big on writing a lot but I promised my friend that I would use her gift. So I did. However, toward the end of the program I noticed something interesting about my journal. At the top of each page of the journal it says: “Place___ Date:___”.  Instead of recording the places I had visited, I had recorded the names of people I had met. I wrote very little about the golden made buildings, tropical beaches and fancy homes. On the contrary, I had written about the personalities of the sister of my homestay mother who was willing to let me stay in her home until her sister prepared a room for me, the stranger who walked me to my home when I had gotten lost (and refused to allow me to pay her), the hospitality of my friends from dance class and the trips with my mother on her job. This is very different from my last abroad experience where I took many pictures of buildings and landmarks. I believe I had discovered what really matters and that is creating relationships with others.

It was relationships with the Costarricans that made all the difference. I had more fun asking directions from strangers, bargaining at the markets, joining extracurricular activities and practicing with the school’s basketball team then I had attending plan trips with the American students.  Also, I have already forgotten the details of San José’s  national theater and other expensive excursions but I will never forget the unique experiences with the local people.

My Spanish skills are yet to be perfect but they have increased immensely. I can only credit that to the many good experiences with very nice Costa Rican’s. Now I love Spanish so that I can listen create relationships and I now believe that the real significance about traveling abroad (or anywhere) is the people.

Kamero Neblett