Costa Rica ‘Time & Space’ – It’s Different!

Standing in line at a crowded pulpería (small corner store in Costa Rica), or mom and pop supermercado almost always fills my soul with tension and dread.

OK, maybe it isn’t that extreme, but when I am standing with my two avocados, a couple of carrots, some chips and Coca Cola Plata (Coca Cola in the silver bottle) I am often filled with uncertainty as to whether I will ever be attended to by the wonderful woman behind the counter.

She seems to have a system much like eenie-meenie-miny-mo for choosing the next customer who has the right to purchase their goods. The customers are shifting spaces, moving closer to the counter, asking questions and generally not waiting their turn or standing in what could even be loosely described as a line.

The tension builds. I wonder, “Is it going to happen? Am I next?” I ask myself, “Will people continue to cut in front of me and pass me by until my vegetables wilt and I, out of sheer desperation, resort to shoplifting or I just leave a cinco mil (5,000 colones or $12.50) at the counter and walk away?”

The most difficult part, as I stand with my blood pressure rising and perspiration beginning to bead up on my brow, is that the Costa Ricans are totally unconcerned with this chaos!

They see the order in a situation where I feel totally overwhelmed by my inability to cope! I think you can see the dilemma I’m in, and perhaps you have found yourself in a similar place at some point during your time here in Tiquicia. (The land of Costa Rica and it’s ‘isms’)

Well, it has everything to do with the Costa Rican sense of time and space. One of the most important dimensions of a culture is the relationship to time and space.

If you put all cultures on a continuum, you could place “time-oriented” cultures on one end and “event-oriented” cultures on another.

In a time-oriented culture, the most important thing is efficiency and linear activity. People are constantly checking their watches, saying “I’m running late” and insisting on doing “one thing at a time.”

An event-oriented culture doesn’t worry about being on an exact schedule and is not overly concerned with efficiency. The important thing is that they are focused on the current project, that they are following the correct procedures and relating harmoniously.

The quality and type of relationship is much more important than finishing the task at hand on any timetable or in any specific order.

So, what does this have to do with the pulpería experience you ask? In an event-oriented culture, people are not as concerned with linear behavior. Things do not have to happen in a specific order, and space is treated in a more creative manner.

As an example, in Costa Rica it is very common to be driving and have the person in front of you stop in the middle of the road to talk with a friend on the street. You and everyone behind you wait a few minutes while they work out the details of watching the Seleccion Nacional (National Soccer Team). Or you might be driving through downtown Escazu and a delivery truck will park and block both lanes while he unloads a couple of cases of Pozuelo cookie products.

The wonderful thing about these circumstances-the pulperia, the guy stopping to talk to his friend, and the delivery truck-is that they work! Costa Ricans understand the rules and they play by them.

You and I, being foreigners, sometimes get really worked up and annoyed because we don’t get it, and as expatriates we certainly can’t expect local culture to adapt to us.

An event orientation serves Costa Rica and many countries around the globe because it allows the freedom for Costa Ricans to celebrate the other values that they hold as more important than being on time.

They are free to spend more time on an important conversation. They are free to take a spontaneous coffee break with a long-time friend they run into downtown without worrying about being little late for their evening commitment, and they can drive creatively in response to the large potholes or horrific traffic without being hunted down by another driver suffering from “Road Rage.”

So, if you find yourself in a Costa Rican pulperia and you just aren’t sure if you are ever going to be attended to, remember, there is method to what you see as madness. The clerk will ring you up. Someone may cut in front of you, but hey, maybe they’re late for the beginning of the Sele soccer game, and in Costa Rica that is something that you don’t want to mess with.

What well-adapted Costa Rican residents know.

• When you are going to meet Costa Rican friends, bring a book, some work or another way to pass the time.
• Be ready to make alternate plans at the last minute.
• For work, people tend to be on time. For social events they often run an hour or more late.
• When someone arrives late for an event or a meeting, don’t expect them to excuse themselves or acknowledge their tardiness. You shouldn’t make a big deal out of their tardiness either.
• At small local stores, be aggressive in a polite manner. Smile and place your things on the counter to be checked out.

Eric Liljenstolpe M.A. Ed., is the founder and president of the GlobalSolutions Group, an organization dedicated to creating understanding between people of diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Eric helps people understand the difference between cultures and has helped thousands of people who are thinking about moving to Costa Rica…

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.