Tico Time At It's Finest

I'm pretty sure if I kept track of the time I waited for my food, drinks or anything else in Costa Rica it could easily amount to a significant amount of time. I laugh at the thought that in the US I get upset about waiting 5 minutes for my Starbucks drink.

In a previous blog entry I mentioned this phenomenon called Tico Time, it's real, and here is the best example of it I have so far:

It was a hot day in San Jose yesterday, and a cold coffee drink was calling my name. One of my roommates and I went over to a local cafe, called Cafe La Musa Confusa after our Spanish class. We had been there once before and had lunch, but this time we just wanted a frappuccino. We got their right in the knick of time too, because their was a line of people quickly growing behind us. Both of us ordered a muffin and a frappuccino, expecting it to take 10 minutes tops--I was giving it some leeway since I am in Costa Rica.

5, 10, 15 minutes passed, and there was no sight of muffins or frappuccinos. After waiting for 20 minutes our patience was running out. It's a frappuccino for crying out loud, it's not like I ordered a meal. I'm sure within 20 minutes time, I could have gone back to the kitchen and learned how to make a frappuccino and been out the door. The owner called us over, and told us that she would give us our money back for the frappuccinos and instead get an ice-tea drink or mango juice on the house. She continued to tell us that it was just too busy to make it and they weren't going to have time to be able to. Granted it was lunch time and very busy, but it's just a blended drink...not too difficult.

Well I walked out of Cafe La Musa Confusa with a chocolote muffin and a cold ice-tea in hand. Not what I wanted but it was going to have to do.

Tico time is probably the hardest thing for me to get used to here in Costa Rica. Patience is not my strongest suit, so this is very much a learning process. Everyday in Costa Rica is a challenge in some way, whether it's learning to have patience, breaking the language barrier, risking your life will walking across the street in fear a crazy driver will hit you or staying awake during Contemporary Latin American History. Learning to adapt and learn about another culture is not something any teacher can teach, it's just one of those things you have to learn on your own through trial and error.

PURA VIDA!