I've been chillin' in Costa Rica with sixteen other pretty awesome people for a biology study tour that will actually garner me school credit for the last week or so. It's been pretty great. No lie. I've been hiking in some pretty sweet mountains, seeing some pretty sweet plants, wanting to pet some pretty sweet mammals and being scared out of my mind by some pretty sweet birds that are flying too close to my head.
Today we hiked down from the study station we've been staying at to the nearby town of San Vito. Let's be honest. You've never heard of it. It's not exactly tourist-central and the only thing of note nearby is the study station where a bunch of septuagenarians get really good at bird watching. You have to be looking for San Vito for a reason to find it.
We hiked down a ridiculously long trail (especially for an out-of-shape-non-athletic college student like me), up a road (which we happened to turn the wrong way on which resulted in us walking about 4 miles out of our way), up a few thousand hills, down a couple, up a few thousand more, all to get to this town.
Our goal? Buy cutesy touristy stuff for our friends and family to commemorate a trip they weren't on.
What we found? An American-centric community like I have never seen. We walked through shop after shop and found none of the hand-carved bird statues to sit awkwardly on mantels. We found fake Nike shoes (the swoosh had an extra little bump in it), overpriced Aeropostale and American Eagle purses, clothing stores modeling after American styles and (my favorite) a store called The American Store, which was basically our Goodwill, but for American clothes.
A simple explanation was offered by a lady from Costa Rica who had spent time living in New Jersey: "It's what the people want."
My question: Why?
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