When you say “gracias” to a Tico, they don’t reply with “de nada”, but instead with “con gusto”, with pleasure. That exactly sums up the hospitality of this beautiful country.
It was everywhere I went, from the Monteverde campus of the University of Georgia, to the beautiful beach town of Nosara, where hustling tourists in the scorching heat bound to make someone grumpy and wishing for a nap more than anything else.
And it was in the phrase: “We invited you here, you ARE one of us.”
Yes, I went to Moshi, Tanzania for two weeks during our school’s intersession, and I didn’t climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. In my defense, I wasn’t really prepared for such a physically challenging feat.
However, what I did get to do:
– Saw baby zebras at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
– Got my glasses stolen by a very curious toddler.
– Dug a foundation for a new school building and carried surprisingly heavy buckets of cement under the intense Tanzanian heat (Important: Keep hydrated, always).
– Hiked the Pare Mountains range (did I mention that I was very out of shape?).
The Curious Case of Chau Pham 