This morning, just as I was finishing up my 7000-step walk, my neighborhood friends Luz and Noelie appeared on Calle Esteban heading toward Calle Los Angeles heading in my direction. So, I greeted them and reversed course to walk with them to the road and back to their place.
During this time, Luz put on a lively Christmas song that is a favorite of hers. In Spanish, it celebrates Navidad (Christmas). The lyrics are about welcoming Navidad with song. It was such a catchy tune. Luz tried to teach it to me, but I only got a few of the words. (I just tried to find it online but failed. Drat!)
As we approached their driveway and the tail end of their walk, Luz bent down in front of me on the calle and picked up a few petals from a plant that was growing there with several clover-like petals. She stood again with three of the petals in hand and put one of them on her shirt and one on mine. Then she tried to affix the third petal to Noelia’s shirt, but the fabric she was wearing didn’t accept it: it kept falling off. Our cottom shirts readily accepted the petals, though.
The petal has shriveled and darkened
considerably since it was affixed
three hours ago
I thanked her for the gesture because I could tell it signified something in this culture by the way she presented it to me. So I looked up “friendship/love” plants/flowers in Costa Rican culture. Up popped a lot of information about how the lush plants and flowers here are traditional ways for Ticos to express affection for loved ones. Of course, this information made me go all misty!
It’s the easy, simple things that matter here
These are the types of gifts/blessings that happen here. Fruit from neighbors’ trees. Affixing friendship petals. Walking a stranger to a location they’re trying to find. Helping lift the shopping carts of strangers up and down the steps of city buses. There is no need to buy pricey gifts; Ticos share what they have: nature’s bounty, their bountiful hearts and spirits.
I am utterly enchanted by this kind, patient, welcoming, inclusive culture. Gestures of affection and goodwill are soooo common here. I intend NEVER to grow so accustomed to them that I begin to take them for granted. They are intensely special and heartwarming.
Pura vida, indeed!