Over New Years, I went to Costa Rica. It ended up being an incredibly relaxing week where I read lots of books, sat by the pool, took walks on the beach and turned off my work phone. I did not realize that it would also be a great opportunity for me to practice my Spanish. When we got picked up from the airport, we had an hour and a half drive with a Spanish-only speaking driver. We started to converse about where we were heading as well as the politics, currency, national parks, environmental tourism, weather and more about Costa Rica more generally. Throughout the week I continued to use my Spanish, to order omelettes at breakfast, converse with our non-English speaking boat driver and speak to the resort staff. I had trouble at times but it was wonderful to practice a bit of Spanish and celebrate the new year in such a beautiful place. In 2017 I will definitely seek out more opportunities to converse in Spanish, I had forgotten how much I enjoy speaking the language.
