Even more comments about Costa Rica

Here are more comments about our life here in Costa Rica:

The people here are called "Ticos".  An Asian person is called a "Chino" (Chinese), no matter if they're from China, Japan, Korea, etc., and any white person is called a "gringo", no matter if they're from U.S., Europe, Australia, etc.  From their perspective those are not insults.  An egg roll here is called a "taco Chino" (Chinese taco).    Also, we are not "Americans", we are "North Americans".  They consider anyone from North America, Central America, or South America an American.

The currency here is "colones", named after Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus).  The exchange rate is about 500 colones to 1 dollar.  They use coins and bills just like in the U.S.  The coins have denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 500 colones.  The bills have denominations of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 50,000 colones.

Paying bills here is different than the states.  Instead of paying the company directly through online banking or mailing a check, you pay at a pharmacy, grocery store, or bank.  And you're not guaranteed to even get a bill each month, but even if you don't get a bill you still need to pay or the service will cancel. Last month we went to the bank and paid our bills; I told the teller our account numbers and he looked it up and told us what we needed to pay.  Our landlady told us the day of the month that we need to pay each bill (water, phone, and electric) and she gave us the account numbers so we can go to the bank and pay with or without the bill. 

As crazy as the traffic is here, and as much as they disregard traffic laws, it is surprising that motorcycle drivers wear a helmet and a reflective vest.  I can only think of one time that I saw a motorcycle driver without a helmet.  

Almost all technology words are not translated to Spanish, they just keep the English name.  For example, internet, modem, mouse, iPad.  The other day we were taking a taxi and I pointed to the GPS that was suctioned to the windshield and asked the driver what the name of it was in Spanish...and he said "GPS"!  If only it was all that easy.