Living in Costa Rica During the '70s

I arrived in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, in 1973 and lived there for six years. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and its people are very friendly especially out in the countryside and beaches. My father was a textile engineer and was contracted to work for a Costa Rican textile plant which is the reason for my being there. 

I went to an English-speaking school called at that time the Costa Rica Academy and enjoyed it since I met many friends and played soccer there. The school was located in the area known as The Sabana where the Olympic Sized soccer stadium was located. After I was there for two years the school moved to a monastery which was located near a swimming club called Ojo De Aqua which means “Eye of Water” because of a Cartesian well that was located in the middle of the club. 

While I was at the Costar Rica Academy we went on several field trips. One of these was to the large rain forest known as Santa Rosa. It was very humid and very colorful. I saw my first and last Quetzal Bird (or what the locals called it). It was a beautiful experience to see such vibrant colors in a natural environment. At the edge of the rainforest there was an archaeological dig going on that had uncovered an old Indian village that had stone water troughs that still trickled water from a stream in the forest. 

Another field trip took me to the local snake farm where we saw bush masters and pythons. We saw how anti-venom was made and we saw how we could distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes. I had a healthy respect for snakes after that visit.