Yeah, I wrote a post about the weather

I write this post on a delightful afternoon here in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí. It is in the lower 80s (26-28 C), sunny, the skies are blue with puffy white clouds, and there’s a slight breeze blowing through the palm tree leaves just outside my window. The window and door to my room are of course open. I focus on the weather not just to torture those of you trudging through the snow, but rather to focus on the fact that this weather isn’t a whole lot different than the weather here in April, July, or October (from what I’ve been told).

During one’s first three months working for the Peace Corps (at least in Costa Rica) the focus is on getting to know one’s community: the people, the government institutions, the community groups, the strengths, the weaknesses. This is so that the Volunteer will be able to better help the community develop, do something the community wants, and be fruitful in his work. So, what this really means is that I have spent lots of time walking around town just trying to get to know people. There wasn’t much to do my first two weeks, as it was Christmas and New Years, and all the public institutions were closed, as were many businesses, and I figured people didn’t want to be disturbed while they were feasting with their families, making tamales, or watching the bull festivals on TV.

(February in Clive, IA)

Since then, though, I have managed to interrupt my reading or television watching with some walks around the various neighborhoods around town, introducing myself and chatting with the people sitting out on the porch. (I figure the people sitting on the porch are fairly open to chatting with some goofy foreigner with a thick accent.) I have also gone into the stores, and disappointingly not bought anything, but just introduced myself and chatted until a real client arrived. More recently, as they opened back up, I have carried out a few formal interviews at some of the public institutions around town. This is all in trying to achieve the aforementioned goals (as well as for a report we have to write—kind of the Peace Corps’ way of keeping us in check).

So not to digress further, often, the weather is one of the things the people ask me after they ask what state I am from. Yes, they are always disappointed that it’s not one of the few they know. If only Field of Dreams was more popular in Central America. My time in China had prepared me well for the ridiculous question of “what’s the weather like in America?” I would then have to engage in a lengthy explanation that, like China, America is a giant country spanning many latitudes, from the Caribbean to the Arctic Circle. I would give examples of the differences between these similar parts of China, from Haerbin to Hainan. The inquirer would then see the folly in such a question, and I would explain what the weather was like in Iowa.

Unfortunately, I get the exact same question here. I guess most of us human beings tend to ask questions before thinking about the answer, but, I generally do my best not to, and am always hopeful that others make the same effort. Questions like “what’s the weather like in America” prove my hopes wrong. The problem, is, that I can’t explain America’s diverse weather to the Costa Ricans like I can to the Chinese. Yes, Costa Rica does posses many microclimates. Because it has mountain ranges through the middle, and the weather coming in off both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, traveling just a few miles here can separate dry and humid climates, as well as swings in temperature. But, these swings in temperature aren’t all that big, and the microclimates still all fall under the tropical umbrella.

(February in Costa Rica---a lot like the rest of the year)

So, answering this question pounds the assertion that “it’s all relative” into the ground. After explaining that America is the third/fourth biggest country in the world, with Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic coasts, and thus has all sorts of weather patterns, I’ll explain that right now in Iowa there’s snow all over the place and it reaches ten below (-28 C) at night the Costa Rican will then respond “oh, so it’s much colder there.” I respond affirmatively, but then explain that it also reaches 95 or 100 in the summer (36 C). Now I’ve got a flabbergasted Costa Rican on my hands. In a region where the annual variation in temperature is about 20ºF, it’s pretty difficult for the residents to comprehend that there is a crazy place called Iowa where not only does it get much, much colder than here, it also gets hotter! I’ve heard that the cat that said everything’s relative was pretty smart, his theory certainly helps me understand the incredulity of the Costa Ricans to the concept of snow, rain, and hot sunshine all in the same place.