International Lunch Meeting
One of the very best things about travel is the people you meet. I´ve met some very peculiar people, and some really great ones. I´ll leave the peculiar for later.
Since this was a short trip, I only had time to go on one excursion. Coach and I signed up for a day trip to Isla Tortuga, with promises of white sand beaches, a ride on a catamarn, and a gourmet lunch under white umbrellas among palms trees.
Im very pressed for time today, so I´ll make this short and sweet.
The trip was all it promised to be. It was beautiful and delicious. But the very best part was our serendipitous traveling companions.
When John and I arrived, by taxi, to the pick up point at 6¨45 in the morning, we were carrying the excursion boarding pass for a young Japanese woman that the school had given us to deliver.
We quickly found her, and she had already befriended a young man from Mexico City, who was here working in San Jose.
The four of us fell in together, and we boarded a very plush bus for the two hour trip to Puntarenas. During a short stop where breakfast was provided, we all got our pictures taken with the resident toucan.
The hour and a half long catamaran ride to Isla Tortuga was beautiful, splashy and very elegant.Men in white shorts uniforms made continuous rounds with big trays of fruit and drinks.
Our Japanese friend struck up a converstation, in Spanish, with another young guy. He looked European, but his Spanish was so good, I wasn´t sure of his nationality.
Upon arrival at the picture postcard beach, there was time for snorkleing, swimming, volleyball or an impromtu game of soccer. (Yesterday was the equivalent of Super Bowl Sunday, only it was soccer that had everyone all revved up.)
At lunch, the Japanese woman, the man from Mexico City, Coach, the man of unknown origin, and I, who cannot be described, all sat together in very happy companionship.
As it turns out, the three younger people all spoke not only their own languages, Japanese, Spanish, and German, as our mystery guest was indeed German, they spoke a little French and a lot of English.
Since John and I have very basic Spanish, the linguea franca (sp?) of the day was English.
These three young people were astonishing.
The 23 year old man from Mexico City was with Proctor & Gamble, in Marketing and Research for Latin America.
The 32 year woman from Japan is in Costa Rica to research language schools. There is athe growing demand in Japan from retired Japanese professionals for experience and learning based tours and vacations.
The 25ish year old German man was here to start his internship with Chamber of Commerce International.
We all eagerly exchanged email addresses (they asked for mine first, much to my amazement).
Here s the note to self I came away with: WAKE UP! The world is very, very large and full of fantastic people that are as interesting, accomplished and as kind as anyone you ll ever meet.
It´s a changing, blending , wide, wide world out there. I hope I get to see more and more of it, because meeting people like this is really, really fun.
Since this was a short trip, I only had time to go on one excursion. Coach and I signed up for a day trip to Isla Tortuga, with promises of white sand beaches, a ride on a catamarn, and a gourmet lunch under white umbrellas among palms trees.
Im very pressed for time today, so I´ll make this short and sweet.
The trip was all it promised to be. It was beautiful and delicious. But the very best part was our serendipitous traveling companions.
When John and I arrived, by taxi, to the pick up point at 6¨45 in the morning, we were carrying the excursion boarding pass for a young Japanese woman that the school had given us to deliver.
We quickly found her, and she had already befriended a young man from Mexico City, who was here working in San Jose.
The four of us fell in together, and we boarded a very plush bus for the two hour trip to Puntarenas. During a short stop where breakfast was provided, we all got our pictures taken with the resident toucan.
The hour and a half long catamaran ride to Isla Tortuga was beautiful, splashy and very elegant.Men in white shorts uniforms made continuous rounds with big trays of fruit and drinks.
Our Japanese friend struck up a converstation, in Spanish, with another young guy. He looked European, but his Spanish was so good, I wasn´t sure of his nationality.
Upon arrival at the picture postcard beach, there was time for snorkleing, swimming, volleyball or an impromtu game of soccer. (Yesterday was the equivalent of Super Bowl Sunday, only it was soccer that had everyone all revved up.)
At lunch, the Japanese woman, the man from Mexico City, Coach, the man of unknown origin, and I, who cannot be described, all sat together in very happy companionship.
As it turns out, the three younger people all spoke not only their own languages, Japanese, Spanish, and German, as our mystery guest was indeed German, they spoke a little French and a lot of English.
Since John and I have very basic Spanish, the linguea franca (sp?) of the day was English.
These three young people were astonishing.
The 23 year old man from Mexico City was with Proctor & Gamble, in Marketing and Research for Latin America.
The 32 year woman from Japan is in Costa Rica to research language schools. There is athe growing demand in Japan from retired Japanese professionals for experience and learning based tours and vacations.
The 25ish year old German man was here to start his internship with Chamber of Commerce International.
We all eagerly exchanged email addresses (they asked for mine first, much to my amazement).
Here s the note to self I came away with: WAKE UP! The world is very, very large and full of fantastic people that are as interesting, accomplished and as kind as anyone you ll ever meet.
It´s a changing, blending , wide, wide world out there. I hope I get to see more and more of it, because meeting people like this is really, really fun.
posted by Karen | 2:20 PM
1 Comments:
"I´ll leave the peculiar for later."
Why?? That's the best stuff :)
Yeah, I love these kinds of trips. Only downside is that I fill like an idiot when I'm the only one in the room who can only speak one language. I once was in a meeting with three others who each spoke FIVE languages fluently. Yikes.
Jake
Post a Comment
<< Home