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Talking Tico: (Mis)adventures of a Gringo in and Around Costa Rica
Costa Rica is one of the most sought after vacation destinations in the Americas with some of the world's most attractive natural surroundings teeming with wildlife. Most visitors spend years saving up for a trip of a lifetime, or perhaps even a honeymoon, but Joe decided to move there for ten months to get a closer look at life in and around Costa Rica.
Over the course of his time abroad, Joe brings his experiences to life alongside the history of the region as he travels throughout Costa Rica and its Central American neighborhood with stops in Panama, El Salvador and Guatemala. Xenophobic expatriates, delicious food, vibrant market scenes, an epic battle with Mothra, and inevitable culture clashes all make an appearance in Talking Tico, leaving readers with a new impression of this fascinating region.
Over the course of his time abroad, Joe brings his experiences to life alongside the history of the region as he travels throughout Costa Rica and its Central American neighborhood with stops in Panama, El Salvador and Guatemala. Xenophobic expatriates, delicious food, vibrant market scenes, an epic battle with Mothra, and inevitable culture clashes all make an appearance in Talking Tico, leaving readers with a new impression of this fascinating region.
- GenresTravel
236 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 25, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 4, 2017
Talking Tico is yet another book in the popular Costa Rica travelogue/we moved to Costa Rica category. I have read many of them—hell, I have written one myself— and fortunately this one set itself apart.
Talking Tico is the story of the 10 months Joe and his wife Melanie spent in Costa Rica. The title has a double meaning; first, Joe was enrolled in a Spanish program at University for Peace to learn to talk tico, and second, between each chapter he defines a common Spanish or slang-word.
Throughout the book Joe serves up a healthy meal of information about living in Costa Rica with a couple of sides of other Central American countries. The couple travels to many different towns throughout the country documenting their often humorous adventures and experiences. Also included are the stories of side trips to three other Central American countries: Panama, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
What sets this book apart from others in the travelogue genre is the amount of history imparted throughout each episode. While history and travel writing can often be staid, Joe uses humor and opinion to spice up Talking Tico.
It is this last point that is my only quibble with the book—the amount of quibbling. Not so much that the author has an opinion, in fact I thought it was one of the features that moved the book along and made it more interesting, but the few times the opinion devolves into a tedious whine. For me it did not detract from the enjoyment of the book as a whole, but I could see how it could be for others.
Even after living in Costa Rica for 4 years I learned many things from the book. I have no problem recommending Talking Tico to anyone interested in travel or relocation to Costa Rica or Central America. The humor is subtle, the writing solid, and the history fascinating.
Talking Tico is the story of the 10 months Joe and his wife Melanie spent in Costa Rica. The title has a double meaning; first, Joe was enrolled in a Spanish program at University for Peace to learn to talk tico, and second, between each chapter he defines a common Spanish or slang-word.
Throughout the book Joe serves up a healthy meal of information about living in Costa Rica with a couple of sides of other Central American countries. The couple travels to many different towns throughout the country documenting their often humorous adventures and experiences. Also included are the stories of side trips to three other Central American countries: Panama, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
What sets this book apart from others in the travelogue genre is the amount of history imparted throughout each episode. While history and travel writing can often be staid, Joe uses humor and opinion to spice up Talking Tico.
It is this last point that is my only quibble with the book—the amount of quibbling. Not so much that the author has an opinion, in fact I thought it was one of the features that moved the book along and made it more interesting, but the few times the opinion devolves into a tedious whine. For me it did not detract from the enjoyment of the book as a whole, but I could see how it could be for others.
Even after living in Costa Rica for 4 years I learned many things from the book. I have no problem recommending Talking Tico to anyone interested in travel or relocation to Costa Rica or Central America. The humor is subtle, the writing solid, and the history fascinating.
February 7, 2017
A really valuable read for anyone thinking about travelling or living in Costa Rica.
I found the cynical attitude towards the typical tourist/group traveller a bit off-putting at times, but Baur's sense of humour is killer.
I found the cynical attitude towards the typical tourist/group traveller a bit off-putting at times, but Baur's sense of humour is killer.
April 19, 2020
Newly married, Joe Baur and his wife Melanie are leaving the American dream for spending a couple of months in Costa Rica. Ciudad Colon to be more precise - the writer mentions more than once that he prefers places usually described as ´too boring or too dangerous´.
Costa Rica, a country that atracts visitors and adventurers from all over the world, famous for the natural surrounding and the lazy sloth, looks different when you live there on a daily basis. Actually, every country is very different in the reality other than that described in glossy guide books.
Adapting to a new country means also to deal with the rainy season - when usually tourists are recommended to avoid - or with the various insects invading your private space in the ungodliest time of the year.
Curious as a journalist should be, self-ironic galore, full of humour, Joe Baur - full disclosure, I know the author personally - is documenting in Talking Tico (the name given to the local Costa Ricans) not only a country, but the challenge of becoming expat. (Since then, the author repeated the experience in Germany, where he is currently living together with his wife). From there, he travels to other destinations like Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama, beating hard the usual fears and discouragements to avoid such destinations because...´dangerous´ (No offense, but while in the States, was very often warned to avoid some neighbourhours or just walking some streets at all, because...deadly dangerous. It can happen anywhere, you know).
Writing about the places he discoveres is more than part of the journalist´s job description, it has to do with a credo, a writing mission, unfortunately a rare occurence in the current media landscape. ´That´s why I was going to El Salvador - to meet people and find those real stories and experiences, share them and do my part in changing unfair perceptions, because it´s those exchanges that have killed and that will continue to kill those baseless fears we harbor for one another across manmade boundaries´. As for now, mission acomplished, as the stories shared in the book, some of them previously written for the Costa Rican Tico Times, among others, do encourage more than the touristic endeavours, but has to do with the responsible travel that many people part of this writing industry do believe in. Maybe this lockdown during pandemic can be also used as a time of reflection about why and how we travel. This book can give some good inspiration in this respect.
Costa Rica, a country that atracts visitors and adventurers from all over the world, famous for the natural surrounding and the lazy sloth, looks different when you live there on a daily basis. Actually, every country is very different in the reality other than that described in glossy guide books.
Adapting to a new country means also to deal with the rainy season - when usually tourists are recommended to avoid - or with the various insects invading your private space in the ungodliest time of the year.
Curious as a journalist should be, self-ironic galore, full of humour, Joe Baur - full disclosure, I know the author personally - is documenting in Talking Tico (the name given to the local Costa Ricans) not only a country, but the challenge of becoming expat. (Since then, the author repeated the experience in Germany, where he is currently living together with his wife). From there, he travels to other destinations like Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama, beating hard the usual fears and discouragements to avoid such destinations because...´dangerous´ (No offense, but while in the States, was very often warned to avoid some neighbourhours or just walking some streets at all, because...deadly dangerous. It can happen anywhere, you know).
Writing about the places he discoveres is more than part of the journalist´s job description, it has to do with a credo, a writing mission, unfortunately a rare occurence in the current media landscape. ´That´s why I was going to El Salvador - to meet people and find those real stories and experiences, share them and do my part in changing unfair perceptions, because it´s those exchanges that have killed and that will continue to kill those baseless fears we harbor for one another across manmade boundaries´. As for now, mission acomplished, as the stories shared in the book, some of them previously written for the Costa Rican Tico Times, among others, do encourage more than the touristic endeavours, but has to do with the responsible travel that many people part of this writing industry do believe in. Maybe this lockdown during pandemic can be also used as a time of reflection about why and how we travel. This book can give some good inspiration in this respect.
January 21, 2017
Most of the travel writing that exists about Costa Rica focuses on the country's natural beauty, and it's certainly got a lot of that, but that's not all the nation has to offer. Talking Tico is the first travel narrative I've seen that pays as much attention to the culture and history of Central America as it does to the beaches and jungles.
It's also a super fun book to read. The voice has just the right amount of self-deprecating humor. Some of the best humorous moments come when Bauer turns his critical eye on his fellow "gringo" tourists, or even on himself. There's a great balance, too, between the scenes that take a broad view of his travels and the ones that have a tighter focus on his everyday life in Costa Rica. No matter how exotic or mundane the setting, the voice is comfortable and inviting, making the reader happy to be along for the ride.
I've always been a fan of travel writing that lets itself laugh. A book can be both insightful and funny, and Talking Tico strikes this balance beautifully. This is definitely a book that's worth checking out if you have an interest in Central America or even just travel narratives in general.
It's also a super fun book to read. The voice has just the right amount of self-deprecating humor. Some of the best humorous moments come when Bauer turns his critical eye on his fellow "gringo" tourists, or even on himself. There's a great balance, too, between the scenes that take a broad view of his travels and the ones that have a tighter focus on his everyday life in Costa Rica. No matter how exotic or mundane the setting, the voice is comfortable and inviting, making the reader happy to be along for the ride.
I've always been a fan of travel writing that lets itself laugh. A book can be both insightful and funny, and Talking Tico strikes this balance beautifully. This is definitely a book that's worth checking out if you have an interest in Central America or even just travel narratives in general.
January 26, 2019
I love to travel, and so many of my friends have gone to Costa Rica, I wanted to see what everyone was talking about. So I bought the book Talking Tico and loved the descriptions and laughed at many of the things that happen to Americans coming to live in a foreign country.
It felt like I was sitting in a coffee shop listening to a friend discuss his travels. I felt like I was there! And his insights into the people living there, and the tourists who came to see the country seemed spot on. One of my favorite parts was his description of a humongous moth that managed to fly into their room at night and the way he and his wife attempted to remove it humanely.
I, too, moved to a different country in my early 20's, so I identified with so many of the cultural differences he described. I also really loved his descriptions of travels from Costa Rica to a few other Central American countries.
It's a great read and if you're reluctant to make that kind of trip, then this is the next best thing!
It felt like I was sitting in a coffee shop listening to a friend discuss his travels. I felt like I was there! And his insights into the people living there, and the tourists who came to see the country seemed spot on. One of my favorite parts was his description of a humongous moth that managed to fly into their room at night and the way he and his wife attempted to remove it humanely.
I, too, moved to a different country in my early 20's, so I identified with so many of the cultural differences he described. I also really loved his descriptions of travels from Costa Rica to a few other Central American countries.
It's a great read and if you're reluctant to make that kind of trip, then this is the next best thing!
May 4, 2017
I honestly didn't like the author's personality. I don't think he would be the kind of person with whom I would enjoy having a beer.
With that said, he wrote an entertaining and accurate account of his experiences in Central America. I've visited all the places he talks about in the book (even staying at the exact same hotel he visited in Playa El Tunco, El Salvador). He provides an honest and humorous look at living in Central America.
With that said, he wrote an entertaining and accurate account of his experiences in Central America. I've visited all the places he talks about in the book (even staying at the exact same hotel he visited in Playa El Tunco, El Salvador). He provides an honest and humorous look at living in Central America.
January 3, 2024
intriguing, well written
If you enjoy travel stories, especially about Central America, or if you love Costa Rica, I recommend this book. Mr Baur puts his own spin on visiting various places and makes a fair assessment of all.
If you enjoy travel stories, especially about Central America, or if you love Costa Rica, I recommend this book. Mr Baur puts his own spin on visiting various places and makes a fair assessment of all.
January 5, 2017
Joe Baur is my doppelgänger. Or maybe I’m his. On paper, we’re practically interchangeable.
Joe arrived in Costa Rica shortly after I did, to study at the University for Peace. When I learned of his arrival, I looked up the usual sites—Facebook, LinkedIn—and was shocked to discover our similarities.
Joe grew up in Cleveland, while I spent most of my adult life in Pittsburgh. Like me, he’s a writer, videographer, photographer, podcaster, and traveler. He has produced sketch comedy, as have I. We both have Germanic surnames and personal interest in our Central European heritage. We are both avid cyclists and abhor automotive dependency, and we both refused to drive for many years. We were both avid contributors to The Tico Times, especially the travel section. We have both written for a range of publications about craft beer. We are both recreational runners and chronicled our first races in the tropics. We both married to our longtime girlfriends in streamlined weddings shortly before we became expats. We both moved out of our longtime homes and lived with our in-laws for a short period before the big move. We resided in Costa Rica for similar stretches of time, and our casas were located 10 miles away from each other, roughly on the same road. Facially, we could probably pass for cousins or even brothers, especially in Latin America.
And, to complete the Venn diagram, Joe and I have both written first-person books about our respective experiences in Costa Rica. Both volumes are essay collections, they are deliberately good-humored, and they both include a long chapter about the life of Juan Santamaría in the first third of the book.
Incredibly, Joe and I have only ever seen each other twice: Once, during a visit to downtown San José, and the second time at the airport, when we were both departing for the U.S. It’s hard to fathom the brevity of our interactions, given how prolifically we’ve corresponded and how much worldview we share.
So it was a particular pleasure to read Joe’s new ebook, because it covered such familiar territory. (At one point, Joe rides with the ChepeCletas, a bicycle activist group in San José. When he mentions his contact and friend, José, I realized he was probably talking about my contact and friend, José Pablo Avila Arias. As my—our—editor David Bodigger used to say, “Costa Rica es un pueblo.”)
While Talking Tico sometimes felt like a book I had written in a parallel universe (where I am fitter, a better Spanish speaker, and did my graduate studies in progressive leadership), the book is also very distinct from The Green Season. Our paths diverged quite a bit, especially where our professions were concerned. The most astonishing chapter, to me, is Joe’s account of a week-long simulation at UPEACE. Students acted as journalists and aid workers in a political hot zone, where cartels are actively kidnapping and threatening interlopers from other countries. The simulation is all fiction, of course, but Joe recounts getting blindfolded, taken to a mysterious location, and interrogated by hostile men. It’s a real nail-biter of a tale, and Joe allows himself to criticize his peers, whose indecision causes even bigger problems. It’s a tough cautionary tale for people who mean well but have no idea the risks they face in unstable regions.
So congratulations to Joe on his new book, and on all his achievements since leaving Costa Rica! One of these days, hopefully, we’ll actually get to grab a beer.
Joe arrived in Costa Rica shortly after I did, to study at the University for Peace. When I learned of his arrival, I looked up the usual sites—Facebook, LinkedIn—and was shocked to discover our similarities.
Joe grew up in Cleveland, while I spent most of my adult life in Pittsburgh. Like me, he’s a writer, videographer, photographer, podcaster, and traveler. He has produced sketch comedy, as have I. We both have Germanic surnames and personal interest in our Central European heritage. We are both avid cyclists and abhor automotive dependency, and we both refused to drive for many years. We were both avid contributors to The Tico Times, especially the travel section. We have both written for a range of publications about craft beer. We are both recreational runners and chronicled our first races in the tropics. We both married to our longtime girlfriends in streamlined weddings shortly before we became expats. We both moved out of our longtime homes and lived with our in-laws for a short period before the big move. We resided in Costa Rica for similar stretches of time, and our casas were located 10 miles away from each other, roughly on the same road. Facially, we could probably pass for cousins or even brothers, especially in Latin America.
And, to complete the Venn diagram, Joe and I have both written first-person books about our respective experiences in Costa Rica. Both volumes are essay collections, they are deliberately good-humored, and they both include a long chapter about the life of Juan Santamaría in the first third of the book.
Incredibly, Joe and I have only ever seen each other twice: Once, during a visit to downtown San José, and the second time at the airport, when we were both departing for the U.S. It’s hard to fathom the brevity of our interactions, given how prolifically we’ve corresponded and how much worldview we share.
So it was a particular pleasure to read Joe’s new ebook, because it covered such familiar territory. (At one point, Joe rides with the ChepeCletas, a bicycle activist group in San José. When he mentions his contact and friend, José, I realized he was probably talking about my contact and friend, José Pablo Avila Arias. As my—our—editor David Bodigger used to say, “Costa Rica es un pueblo.”)
While Talking Tico sometimes felt like a book I had written in a parallel universe (where I am fitter, a better Spanish speaker, and did my graduate studies in progressive leadership), the book is also very distinct from The Green Season. Our paths diverged quite a bit, especially where our professions were concerned. The most astonishing chapter, to me, is Joe’s account of a week-long simulation at UPEACE. Students acted as journalists and aid workers in a political hot zone, where cartels are actively kidnapping and threatening interlopers from other countries. The simulation is all fiction, of course, but Joe recounts getting blindfolded, taken to a mysterious location, and interrogated by hostile men. It’s a real nail-biter of a tale, and Joe allows himself to criticize his peers, whose indecision causes even bigger problems. It’s a tough cautionary tale for people who mean well but have no idea the risks they face in unstable regions.
So congratulations to Joe on his new book, and on all his achievements since leaving Costa Rica! One of these days, hopefully, we’ll actually get to grab a beer.
March 7, 2017
I received this e-book in exchange for a fair review. Much of the writing is stream of conciousness, interspersed with an occasional observation from a more objective perspective. Granted it is a personal journey through various areas of the country but it seems disjointed and random. More editing is needed and less emphasis on Ohio.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews